I would describe myself as mainly a street photographer, and started taking photos with my father’s old camera using 620 film, developing my darkroom skills during camera club at Falmouth Middle School. After graduating from Falmouth High School in 1969, I headed to Woodstock. As I entered the working world, I became a roughneck on an oil rig in Wyoming, a deckhand at Casco Bay Lines, a worker at a truck stop, and eventually joined the Air Force. With a draft lottery number of 125, it was that or move to Canada. Upon my discharge in 1972, I returned to Portland to work a series of odd jobs, like driving a taxi and selling cotton candy with the Ringling Circus. I picked up photography again, this time focusing on the complex characters I saw during my travels. In 1979 I left the U.S. for London with just $200, spent time hitchhiking through Europe, including Spain, Yugoslavia, Greece, Istanbul, Italy, and finally Sweden, where I spent eight years with my wife Susanne, and had two sons, Joel and Leo. We returned to Portland in 1987, where I picked up work as a photocopy tech and later a truck driver. Now retired, I have been looking back over my photography and reminiscing about my long, almost-unbelievable life. My first book was published in November 2021, "Take It Easy-Portland in the 70s", consisting of photos from that period of my life, and the people and places of that time. I continue to roam the streets of Portland and the world, photographing anything and everything that captures my eye.
John’s book is available for sale in most local book stores, Tomaso’s Canteen & Pat’s Meat Market in Portland, and through Island Port Press on the web.
www.islandportpress.com/john-duncan
IG: @johnduncan4332
FB: John Duncan 4332
Contact: jduncan1951@gmail.com
Photography, Archival Prints, B&W Photography, Film Photography
