John Reeves, a long-time member of CAPIC and winner of the CAPIC Lifetime Achievement Award, passed away peacefully on November 3, 2016 with his wife Beverly McGhee and good friend Michael Hood by his bedside. John will be celebrated for his iconic portraits of Canadian and International figures; Margaret Atwood, Oscar Peterson, Jackie Burroughs, Robertson Davies and Dizzy Gillespie to name a few. According to his friend Barry Callaghan, John’s ability to receive was an important factor in getting those great portraits.

“You can give until the cows come home, but if you’re not ready to receive, it doesn’t mean a thing. John was always ready to receive.”

John was published in almost every Canadian magazine. His greatest love, after photography, was jazz music. He said his best experience as a photographer was photographing 100 jazz musicians for a book with Gene Lees, Jazz Lives. He will be deeply missed, especially by the arts community, but John has left us a stellar legacy of over 500 portraits. 

John Reeves: The Human Face as Landscape
A profile of Canada’s finest contemporary portrait photographer. By Vincenzo Pietropaolo