Architectural Photography - Tom Peck LRPS CPAGB

As soon as Tom began his talk last night, we knew we were in excellent hands.  With a confident and relaxed presentation style, he gave us an excellent understanding of his approach to fine art architectural photography.  

The talk was very well structured, clear and informative, in essence a masterclass on how to create fine art images of contemporary modern architecture.  He encouraged everyone not to pick up the camera too soon, to look at the building(s) from mulitple positions from far and near - look for the angles, the lines or curves, the symmetry etc.   Using mostly black and white, to emphasise the shapes and lines, plus slow shutter, to remove people and make the most of passing clouds, he shared some stunning images from London, Paris, Berlin and  York.   And how to deal with those converging verticals - inevitable when angling the camera to capture the height?  Make it look deliberate, find one element of the scene to the side or centre of the image and make it vertical, to balance the image.   Whilst he usually works to remove people from his images, now and then, he found including a person added to the story and gave the viewer pause for thought.   He finished his talk with colourful images from Venice and a very quick example of his post-processing.  It was a thoroughly enjoyable evening.

Tom has  been taking photographs for many years now. He originally focused mostly on macro photography of flowers, and then expanded to include landscape, architecture and portraits.  He shoots with Sony & Leica cameras, and also his phone, mentioning some very usedful apps, such as ReeHeld for slow shutter and Average Camera for multiple exposures.

As well as giving a range of talks, Tom Peck also leads photographic tours through his organisation Quest Photography  See Tom's blog for more inspiration.

Street photography: How to Feel the Fear, do it Anyway, and get Great Images - Caroline Preece

We were delighted to receive Caroline on her second visit to our club for her talk on street photography.   She began by explaining that there is no clear definition of street photography but, as a genre, it serves as a social documentary and offers great opportunities to record humanity in a variety of styles and interpretations.  Amongst Caroline’s own engaging images were photographs and quotations from several renowned photographers such as Joel Meyerowitz, Elliot Erwin, Saul Leiter and Don McCullin.

She explained that, apart from herself, many well-established street photographers continue to suffer nerves and she suggested remedies for overcoming the fear of taking photographs of strangers in the street.  When shooting street photography – be it in a busy London street, or at the beach – she sets her Fuji mirrorless camera to shutter speed priority and uses a number of lens styles to capture a story or interpret a mood. She keeps post-processing to the minimum but tries to convey the mood and atmosphere of a shot by subtle alterations to colour or tone, and drawing attention to the main subject by careful cropping.  She recommends starting with easier shots - look low, or use reflections to gain confidence, before raising the camera for headshots, where you actually make eye contact.  Caroline’s well-structured talk was a great encouragement to those wishing to engage in the art of street photography and the members praised her detail and generous hints and tips.  it was an excellent evening..

Caroline was recently interviewed by Camversation about her work.  It lasts approximately 25 minutes and can be found here: https://youtu.be/S-xnr-XJzX4?si=z9nOfaitiHpFDwQE

Can’t See the Woods for the Trees - Dave Peck

From a keen youngster exploring Kodachrome, to a printer for a photographic company Dave Peck's career has taken him  onto cruise ships and across the world. He has used more cameras than he cares to count ranging from 35mm to 10x8 and created many thousands of images over that time.   Photographic inspirations include Bill Brandt, Henri Cartier-Bresson and the war photography of Don McCullin. Lately, he has been impressed by the landscape work of Joe Cornish, Simon Baxter and Mark Littlejohn, all masters of the craft.  

Dave gave us  great insight into his passion for trees and woodlands.   He gave us excellent tips on how to photograph in woodland - how to find magical images amongst what appears to be a very messy environment.  Look for the light, colour, for the textures and patterns and use depth of field to create separation and to draw the viewer's eye to what you are trying to show.   Misty conditions help with separation also.  Dave encouraged everyone to "If you see something, anything that catches your eye, photograph it."   Dave left us all with the feeling that we will now look into woodland with very different eyes.  You can find Dave on YouTube, where he now does a regular blog and lots of inspiration on his website.

Zoo and Nature Photography - Steve Williams

Steve Williams would say he is not a 'nature expert', but he does manage to capture excellent animal portraits as well as a huge range of birdlife along with butterflies, dragonflies and damsel flies.   Whilst many images are taken in the wild, the more exotic creatures in his collection were actually captured in zoo enclosures.  But with skill and careful planning, he was able to keep elements of the zoos well hidden.  As he presented his images, he also took us on an extensive tour ofthe zoos, wildlife parks and nature reserves of the UK along with many tips on how to plan to get the best of what you find there.  The image above however, was actually taken in his back garden, proving that you don't always have to travel far to capture nature in action.  This is Steve's second visit to the club.  Steve's website gives more information on his work and his other talks.

Light, Cameras, Action! - Roger Evans MPAGB, FBPE, EFIAP/p

'Light, Cameras, Action'  (Not Lights, Camera, Action) Roger gave an entertaining talk to the club on the highlights of his sports photography 2018 to 2022 and included his transition from DSLR to Mirrorless along with shooting prior, during and post Covid.  Most impressive were his photos of the gymnastics and he admitted that this is a favourite subject.  But we have seen Roger before and know that he excels in all sports photography. Each event is carefully researched and he knows where to get the best shots, but he likes to experiment too in the hope he can present the agency with a different 'take' of an athlete/event. He was generous with advice to budding sports photographers with an eye to the commercial aspects: what the agencies and the public like to see, as well as the usual detail on equipment, F-stop, shutter speed and ISO.  Roger can be found on Instagram and Flickr.

The Romance of Landscape Photography, Mark Littlejohn

Mark Littlejohn gave a spellbinding talk to a well-attended club meeting.  His presentation style transported everyone to the wonderful landscapes which he managed to capture with such artistry.  One member described t=his images as 'achingly beautiful' and everyone really enjoyed the evening.  His work has has been featured in a variety of national magazines and he has also written several articles in relation to landscape photography and his particular approach to it.

He prefers the less popular view and concentrates his efforts in the earlier part of the day. In the main he stayed close to his previous home in Penrith situated midway between Ullswater and the Eden Valley, Mark now lives in the north west Highlands of Scotland, Wester Ross.  He sees little point in constantly travelling in search of exotic locations, when quite often a beautiful image can be just around the corner from your front door.  Visit Mark's website for wonderful inspiration

My Creative journey - Lynda Haney FBPE MPAGB EFIAP

Mother's Love

Lynda was introduced to photography by her father at a very young age - 6 or 7 years old, when he described it as 'magic'.  She was hooked. She learned by trial and error, finding her way into new techniques, new styles, whilst she taught physics full time.  She acquired her first digital camera in 1994 along with a copy of Photoshop 4.0 and has never looked back.  She tentatively went into Club competitions and realised the feedback was very useful.  Growing in confidence, she started to do well and was encouraged to enter BPEs.  She finally achieved her Fellowship (500+ Salon acceptances).  She retired from teaching, and started to explore her local area and particularly the zoo, and then just 'started playing' back home.  This way her love of creating composite images began.  Her main photographic interest has always been wildlife and wildlife features strongly in many of her images,  She  enjoys the time spent in post processing as much as time spent with a camera in hand.  Very self-efacing and modest, Lynda is an example of pure passion combined with curiousity and imagination - she'll try anything and never stops learning.  The second half she gave us great tips on how to create some wonderful composite images.  Did you know that if you talk for long enough to sheep - they will turn and look at you!?!

My Journey into Theatre Photography - Cat Humphries

Cat's talk took us all the way from her days as an enthusiastic camera club member to a professional theatrical photographer.  From little acorns .... she attended a camera club outing to a theatre group's rehearsal, but was the only member to turn up.  There was a spark - she shared her best images and when the theatre group were rehearsing for their next performance, they invited her back.  Though quite shy, she kept going for every opportunity, taking risks and learning by mistakes.  She got a break when she met a  professional photographer who was impressed enough to ask her to step in for him, when he was double booked.  She has never looked back.  From documenting young performers at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in the 1990s to shooting vintage Hollywood portraits for Sunset Boulevard in 2019, she took us on her amazing trip through her adventures in theatre photography. She was generous with her hints and tips and lessons she learned along the way.  

Portraits, People and Photojournalism - Roger Hance FRPS AFIAP DPAGB BPE5*

Roger is a highly experienced photographer, perhaps best known for his nature photography.  However, in this talk, he gave us some great hints and tips about tracking something else - people!  He was not only generous in sharing his methods to get a great portrait, or candid image, but he also took us to the places and situations that he finds are a a very good source of images.  In his words:

"In this talk I show a range of 'People Pictures'. The images will cover candid's, photojournalism, as well as studio and available light portraits. I explain, as well as giving examples, why some subjects can work in colour, while others can be considerably improved by converting to monochrome.  I show some of the best places in the UK to go for 'people pictures': Speakers Corner, Brick Lane, Tate Modern, Blist Hill Victorian Village, The Black Country Museum, The Beamish Museum, 1940's weekends, Tough Guy event, and the Victory Show. I also cover working in a studio with flash and show how to take pictures at Live Rock events and explain how to take candid pictures without people noticing you."

Thanks Roger for another very inspiring evening.  See Roger's website for much more.
 

15-30 Minutes of Fame

Another very popular evening at the club when four members give around 30 minutes on a topic of their choice.  This year, we were delighted to welcome these members Philip Miles (top left) : Finding art in Refuse; Nick Bowman (top right) "Water Sports"; Jim Bennett (bottom left) "My Creative Process"; Jane Moore (bottom right) "African Wildlife".   Each put a fantastic talk together, with funny anecdotes, useful processing insights and some serious safety tips!!  Thank you one and all.