After serving in the film unit of the RAF between 1940-1946, John Mackey developed a love of photography and the negative and print processes, eventually joining the Shepperton Matte Department, and later establishing a successful commercials company, ABACUS. His most notable feature credits include The Guns of Navarone (1961), 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) and Mackenna’s Gold (1969).