John Gay (photographer)

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For other persons named John Gay, see John Gay (disambiguation).

John Gay was born Hans Gohler in Karlsruhe, Germany, in 1909, and attended art college in his home town. In 1933 he left Germany, following Hitler's appointment as Chancellor, moving to England with his friend Walter Stern and Stern's family, including his mother, the photographer Martha Stern.

He settled in London and launched a photographic career, finding work as a self-employed commercial photographer, before serving with the Pioneer Corps from 1939 until the end of the Second World War.

Following his marriage to Marie Arnheim in 1942, the couple settled in Highgate, London. Here he based his professional photographic practice which covered a varied range of subjects from animals for pet food companies; architecture and country scenes for Country Fair Magazine, to the portraits of literary personalities for the Strand Magazine.

In the summer of 1949 Gay captured a series of evocative and enchanting photographs of Blackpool holiday makers, many of which now typify the popular image of seaside holidays of the past.

John Gay’s love of architecture, nature and the countryside are reflected in his work. His photographs are published in six books. It was his second book Prospect of Highgate & Hampstead (1967) that put Gay on the map as an architectural photographer. In 1972 he published London’s Historic Railway Stations with Sir John Betjeman but his most well known book is Highgate Cemetery, published in 1984, with Felix Barker. A subject close to his heart, John Gay was actively involved in the rejuvenation of the cemetery following its years of neglect after World War II. He died in Highgate in 1999.

The National Monuments Record, the public archive of English Heritage, holds an extensive collection of John Gay photographs. Over 5,000 of his images can be see online on the Viewfinder website.