A month by month summary of the Society activities.
DECEMBER 2015: At the December Club Night, John Credland APAGB gave a presentation entitled ‘Salon des Refusés’, loosely interpreted as the ‘Gallery of Failures’. A professional photographer, John showed first his skill in both his professional and amateur work, including use of the High Dynamic Range (HDR) technique for commercial work in low light situations. He also depicted how HDR could enhance architectural images and street photography, showing a large number of photographs and demonstrating his use of the ultra-small Casio EX ZR 1200 compact camera for the latter – a personal favourite. Continuing, John then discussed his experience in seeking an Associate accreditation of the Royal Photographic Society. Submitting a panel of 15 HDR prints to the judges, two prints failed for various technical reasons, a result that John discussed with a great deal of humour and which also provided an intriguing overview of the judging process.
The second part of John’s presentation concerned his audio visual (AV) work, in which he showed three AV clips that had been put together using ‘Audacity’ AV software. This was followed by a fourth AV sequence called ‘The weather forecast’, that had been submitted for accreditation by the Photographic Alliance of Great Britain but which too had been rejected by judges. Again, John discussed his failure with much humour, ascribing it mainly to the nature of the HDR image content and the rather frenetic accompanying ‘pop music’ soundtrack. Overall, this was an intriguing insight into both the commercial photographer’s world and the eccentricities of judging panels, recounted with humour and many anecdotes by an accomplished professional photographer, which was immensely enjoyable.
NOVEMBER 2015: At the November Club Night, Micki Aston CPAGB gave a presentation entitled ‘Istanbul and Jerusalem: two ancient cities’. A widely-travelled photographer, Micki introduced her audience first to the religious tapestry of Jerusalem with its Crusader walls and – through her camera – to life in the Muslim, Armenian, Christian and Jewish quarters of the old city.
The Muslim quarter is the largest and most populated, with many religious sites, stunning medieval Islamic architecture and busy bazaars. Micki showed a range of photographs, demonstrating her skill at landscape and street photography, including the use of a ‘fisheye’ lens to provide unusual images of people and architecture. She then visited the Jewish Quarter with its ancient Roman Cardo street, the old Byzantine bazaar and Hasidic Jews at the West Wall. Continuing, Micki went on to the Christian quarter and the site of Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection, before ending in the smaller Armenian quarter, which has been continuously occupied since the first century BC.
In the second part of her presentation, Micki took us to Istanbul, a large city divided by the Bosphorus that separates the Christian and Arab communities. Once capital of the Eastern Roman Empire, the city is characterised by religious and Byzantine architecture, such as the Hagia Sophia, existing in close proximity to once fine buildings that have long since become derelict: a mix that provided opportunities for many contrasting images. Micki concluded with her usual street photography, commenting that the different religious clerics in both cities appeared to live in friendly harmony, without religious or ethnic factionalism. This was a most interesting presentation by an articulate, accomplished photographer, given with a great deal of humour, which was much appreciated by her audience.
OCTOBER 2015: At the October Club Night, the Society’s Chairman, Richard Broadbent, gave a presentation entitled ‘New Zealand: A Tale of Two Islands’. Unfortunately, his scheduled co-presenter, Phil Le Mare, was indisposed, so Richard himself led his audience on a photographic tour of the islands which he and his wife, Janet, visited last year. Starting on the North Island, Richard took the Society through Auckland and the Coromandel peninsula, taking in such features as the Hidden Railway, Hot Water Beach, Cathedral Cove and the geo-thermal Hidden Valley at Orakei Korako, before crossing the Cook Strait from Wellington to the South Island.
Continuing, Richard’s travels took us on to Nelson, the sea and beach wildlife at Cape Farewell, past the vineyards and mountains to Kaikura and then to Christchurch, where the city centre is still largely unbuilt following the devastating earthquake of three years ago. After visiting the Moeraki Boulders and crossing Manapouri Lake, the journey ended at Te Anau with its nearby dense, moss-draped rainforest. Throughout the presentation, Richard showed a range of unusual and visually striking photographs, complemented by his inimitable description of events. This was a fascinating photographic ‘tour de force,’ that was much appreciated by his audience. The evening concluded with a reprise of photographs from the Society’s annual exhibition, which was held at the Adderbury Institute in September.
SEPTEMBER 2015: At the September Club Night, member Mick Brittain gave a presentation entitled ‘Art school to Photographic Society: In search of a personal style’. Reviewing his early life, Mick left school early to enrol at the Birmingham School of Photography, which introduced him to the 5×4 and 10×8 inch film camera formats, but the environment left him dissatisfied. He subsequently moved to Bournemouth, adopted 35mm photography, and became involved in photographing students at the local School of Fashion where he learnt the techniques of studio lighting and modelling.
Suitably encouraged, Mick relocated to London, only to find that fashion photography there was exclusive and extremely competitive. As a consequence, he turned to reprographic work for advertising agencies and magazines, becoming a specialist in interpreting clients’ requirements and enabling the early use of computers in publishing. Throughout his presentation, Mick showed photographs taken at various stages of his career, including some stunning photographs taken in Croatia – a favourite holiday destination.
In later years, Mick converted to digital photography and became interested in HDR (High Dynamic Range) using Adobe Photoshop, the intention being to create a ‘Super Real’ image of a particular scene. This involves the superimposition of several photographs and software manipulation to create a visually interesting effect, rather than necessarily being a true image of the subject. The final part of Mick’s presentation was devoted to showing examples of Super Real images, demonstrating the HDR technique. This was a stimulating presentation from an accomplished commercial photographer, which was greatly appreciated by his audience.
AUGUST 2015: At the August Club Night, member Paul Brewerton gave a presentation on ‘A photographic journey: How the love of the countryside influenced my photography’. Like many others, Paul’s introduction to photography was via the ubiquitous Kodak Box Brownie camera, and he showed a selection of prints taken from his early film cameras and enlargers to later images on digital cameras. His interest is primarily in landscape photography and, as an enthusiastic fell-walker, Paul showed many intriguing and unusual images taken from the more inaccessible parts of the Yorkshire Dales and Cumberland coast. He concluded with some photographs and stories of his various excursions to Switzerland and elsewhere. This was an interesting and wide-ranging presentation, much appreciated by his audience.
JULY 2015: At the July Club Night, member John Cavana gave a presentation on ‘My travels in Africa through the camera: Kili, Kruger and The Cape’. John’s other home is in Cape Town, South Africa, so understandably he showed an array of interesting images depicting different aspects of life there. He captured diverse subjects – more recently with his Canon EOS 70D – to include one of its biggest tourist attractions, the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront, with its colourful mélee of boats, restaurants and musicians making wonderful music on old instruments. In the townships, John photographed children of different ages playing together. One of their favourite haunts was a row of loos which they liked to clamber on and run merrily along the roof tops. There were colourful photos of the Cape Town carnival; star-trails from the Taal Monument in Paarl; the beautiful blue Hout Bay; and views of the majestic Table Mountain.
Using a Panasonic FZ28 superzoom camera, John’s visits to Kruger National Park brought a wonderful selection of images of impala, elephants, lions, hornbills, weaverbirds, and water buffalo, sending a frisson of excitement around the room on seeing these powerful and beautiful animals.
But perhaps the highlight of John’s presentation was the photographic record of his climb up Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania. Inspired by an 84 year-old friend who had climbed Kili at the age of 68, he – John – at 65, and two of his friends, at 70 and 71, decided to make the climb. As one is not permitted to ‘go it alone’, they hired an outfitter from Tanzania to organise the trip and carry all their equipment, including the all-important portable loo. In all, 18 people went on this expedition – the porters and the three climbers. It was a feat of endurance, taking the men five days to climb up and two to come down! The air got considerably colder and thinner the higher they went up – about 20,000 ft asml. The first camp was at 10,000 ft, and they, of course, celebrated when they reached the summit. Greeting successful climbers is the message, ‘Congratulations, you are now at Uhuru Peak, Tanzania – 5,895 m amsl’. Ironically, throughout this trip, John used only a disposable Boots camera, not being able to carry any heavy equipment on the journey. John’s amusing stories accompanying his presentation and the images shown were a fascinating window on life in Kili, Kruger and The Cape, and was much enjoyed by his audience.
JUNE 2015: For the June Club Night, an evening photo-shoot was arranged in the grounds of Blenheim Palace. A group of 18 members met at a rather obscure gate in Woodstock, which gave access to a little known ‘public right of way’ across the Blenheim estate. Chairman Richard Broadbent then led the group on a circular tour around part of the gardens, along the lake and through the wooded areas, giving members the opportunity to photograph the wildlife on the waters, some fleeting appearances of Muntjac deer, and distant views of the Palace itself. Finally, towards the end of the evening, the setting sun highlighted the tree foliage, casting the long shadows that emphasize the appeal of outdoor photography. A somewhat weary group eventually made their way to the local hostelry to exchange experiences, partake of some libation and enjoy a well-earned rest.