A month by month summary of the Society activities.
DECEMBER 2016:
At the December Club Night, members were treated to an interesting presentation by fellow member, Gail Girvan, entitled, “From the Shadows into Colour: Pastels to Camera”. Gail’s journey through the graphic arts began early, and by the age of 12 she was selling her pencil sketches in cafés, garden centres and small stationery shops. Her graphic art skills continued to develop into her adult life and Gail was able to sell her pastels whilst living in the Middle East, where women are restricted in their work options and earning abilities. On returning to the UK, her artistic talents continued to flourish and began to merge with her developing photographic imaging skills. Gail then showed a series of vibrant and colourful abstract works which combined her photographic and artistic talents, displaying great imagination.
In part two, “Pastels to Camera”, Gail moved on to her recent photographic work, influenced by her early graphic arts background. Her superb collection of pictures included stunning seasonal landscapes taken in the UK and Namibia, and then progressed to her more recently developing interests in wildlife. Particularly outstanding were her photographs of deer in the early morning mists, and the subtle Autumn colour palette of British woodlands.
A full range of her displayed work included greeting cards, notelets and large imposing canvas prints. Her work was greatly admired by her fellow Society members, and the applause indicated the appreciation of her interesting talk.
NOVEMBER 2016:
At the November Club Night, Viveca Koh FRPS gave a presentation entitled ‘Urban Exploration to Fine Art: A Photographic Journey’. A self-taught Fine Art photographer with many exhibitions and lectures to her name, Viveca spoke of her photographic development over the past few years. Coming across UK Urban Exploration in 2009 led her to photograph abandoned mental asylums and hospitals, which encouraged her to experiment with digital post-processing, gradually developing a very different style of photography. The photographs Viveca showed of an abandoned children’s ward and demolished asylums, atmospherically illustrated the desolation of buildings that were once full of life. More experimentation with texture overlays led to a collection of images based around what remains when people leave a building for the last time – her images perfectly captured the look of decay and loneliness of empty buildings.
Recently, Viveca’s work has moved towards a more artistic and painterly style, which she calls her Fine Art Photography. Her passion for abandoned buildings, tiny details and ‘small parts of bigger things’, was superbly illustrated by the images shown. Viveca is particularly skilled in using texture layers and overlays and experimenting with digital double exposure, giving her images an added visual and sometimes haunting dimension. She was awarded the highest Fellowship distinction of the Royal Photographic Society (FRPS) for her work in 2014. Viveca’s presentation was inspiring, conceptually exciting and visually stimulating throughout, and very much appreciated by her audience.
The second of our annual photographic exhibitions was held in the Deddington Parish Church on Saturday 22nd October. Being the same day as the Farmers’ Market, it drew a large audience. The Society was delighted to be awarded £200 by the Deddington Farmers’ Market Group to put towards display screens.
OCTOBER 2016:
At the October Club Night, professional photographer Peter Preece, supported by his wife, Margaret, gave a presentation on ‘Wildlife and nature photographs: Every picture tells a story’. Peter took up photography on his retirement, but resisted transferring to the digital format until three years ago; his main interest is in photographing wildlife. Peter is also deeply involved in the Heart of England Forest project, which was set up by Felix Dennis before his death in 2014. This project has acquired 6,000 acres of farmland in Warwickshire, where they have landscaped areas to create wildlife habitats and planted 1.4 million trees. Peter has free access to the estate, where he has set up nest boxes and hides so he can indulge his passion for bird photography, perfecting a technique for attracting his favourite subject – the kingfisher – and showing many action shots.
Peter uses pop-up hides and his car (painted in camouflage colours) to get near his subjects. He told us how he attracts birds or mammals to the spot where his camera is pre-focused, sometimes using animal carcasses which have been stored in his freezer as bait. He travels regularly to Scotland and to northern Spain, and most of his photos captured the subjects in action. As well as birds, Peter also showed shots of mammals, including voles, harvest mice, wood mice, rat, weasels, foxes, grey seals and hares, together with butterflies, damselflies and dragonflies. Peter does not like to adjust his wildlife photos by using Photoshop, other than cropping them, but he finished by showing a few amusing manipulations that he uses for Christmas cards and calendars. In summary, this was a most interesting presentation by a very experienced wildlife photographer that was much appreciated by his audience.
A successful photographic exhibition was held at The Institute, Adderbury, on Saturday 17th September, the first of our annual exhibitions, which brought new members to the Society. The next exhibition will be on Saturday, 22nd October, in the Living Room of Deddington Parish Church, 9.00am-1.30pm, the same day as the Deddington Farmers’ Market (ends at 12.30pm).
SEPTEMBER 2016:
At the September Club Night, member Andreas Klatt ARPS gave a presentation on two of his recent travels: to Sri Lanka in 2015 and, earlier this year, to India. Andreas is also the Organiser of the Royal Photographic Society’s Rollright Visual Art Group, so members were anticipating an evening of some very interesting photographs and they were not disappointed.
Starting with Sri Lanka, Andreas took his audience from Negombo to the World Heritage Site of Anuradhapura, the sacred city that has lain untouched in the jungle since it was abandoned in 993, before visiting the rock fortress in the jungle at Sigiriya, the gardens of Polonnaruwa, and the monastic caves at Dambulla. This was followed by a visit further south to World’s End at the edge of Horton Plains National Park before concluding in the bustling energy of Colombo.
The itinerary for Rajasthan, India, embraced the 17th-century hilltop Amber Fort near Jaipur, the fortified city of Nagaur, the 12th-century desert citadel of Jaisalmer (Golden Fort) in the centre of the Thar Desert, down to Jodhpur and Udaipur via the Jain temple complex near Ranakpur, before finishing in the cities of Old and New Delhi.
Throughout his presentation, Andreas showed a fascinating selection of photographs, including temple architecture and carvings, wildlife, native fauna, some stunning sunsets, and many portraits of individuals and street life, for which this part of the world is so well known. Overall, this was a most interesting and absorbing photographic insight into the sub-continent, which was much appreciated by his audience.
AUGUST 2016:
At the August Club Night, ‘Team Namibia’ entitled ‘The Tropic of Capricorn and Beyond,’ based on the experiences of six members who visited Namibia in 2015 at the invitation of Scott Hurd – an original member, now resident in the country. The team comprised Richard and Janet Broadbent, Gail Girvan, Colin Lamb, Wendy Meagher, and Jim Muller.
Led by Chairman Richard Broadbent, a lively account was given by each team member illustrating their 12-day photographic journey, with images contributed by all six members. At the beginning of each day was shown a simple map to indicate the route from Windhoek to Etosha National Park and back. Richard made the introduction and then took us through Day 1: from Windhoek Airport to the Jordani B&B in Windhoek; Day 2: Jim, to the Namib Desert Lodge via Solitaire (cracked fuel-line); Day 3: Colin, to Sossusvlei, Deadvlei and Namib Dune Star Camp; Day 4: Wendy, to Swakopmund; Day 5: Gail, Mola Mola boat trip and Sandwich Harbour tour; Day 6: Richard, the Living Desert tour – here Wendy read out her poem inspired by the native huntsman spider living in the desert, entitled The Dancing White Lady Spider; Day 7: Janet, the Skeleton Coast to Damara Mopane Lodge and puncture number one; Day 8: Wendy, Colin’s birthday, Damaraland and puncture number two; Day 9: Richard, to Etosha Safari Camp; Day 10: Gail, first safari in Etosha; Day 11: Colin, second safari in Etosha; Day 12: Jim, third safari in Etosha; Day 13: Janet, to Otjiwarongo to spend time with Scott and his wife, Judy; Day 14: Richard, our last day – return to UK from Windhoek.
The scenery was stunning as captured in the many images taken en route, with the destination being the Etosha Safari Camp, in the Etosha National Park. The team experienced the excitement of seeing lions, zebras, several species of deer and antelope, giraffes, warthogs, jackals, hyenas, rhinos, pangolins, many colourful birds including vultures and eagles, and the wonder of the elephants which kept on coming to the waterholes. Two punctures resulted in more photographic opportunities, taking in the surroundings while the men got on with the dexterous job of tyre changing; several hours were spent in Solitaire while getting a cracked fuel-line fixed. The team found bonding elements of interest in bird-watching, plant and animal spotting, and determining the geology of the surrounding areas. There was no doubt that it was a hugely enjoyable trip with comfortable accommodations and wonderful meals, all facilitated by Scott and his tremendous knowledge of the country and people.
JULY 2016: In July, Dan Evans gave a presentation on ‘Lens Lore – using the lens for best creative effect’. Although trained as a botanist, Dan changed careers early in life to become a professional photographer, co-founding a photographic training company (Focal Point Photography) in 1981 and later becoming the in-house photographer for the global company, DRS Data Services. He is now freelance, specialising in fashion and design, portraiture, weddings, interview support and various other commercial work including on-location training courses.
Dan opened his presentation by reviewing the characteristics of telephoto and wide angle lenses, with particular reference to magnification and its effects on depth of field and field of view, commenting that modern digital lenses are now so good that aesthetic qualities predominate when taking photographs, rather than technical issues as previously. Any spurious technical deficiencies can be corrected through post-production software.
Dan stated his normal preference is landscape photography, using ambient light and shooting in RAW at ISO 1600, which is generally noise-free on modern sensors. He then contrasted the full frame sensors found on high-end cameras to the smaller APS-C sensor format of more popular, cheaper models, commenting on the latter’s weight advantage. The high quality of modern sensors means that prints up to A3 size are now virtually indistinguishable between the two formats. He then demonstrated the extraordinary Canon rectilinear fish-eye lens, in which all distortion characteristics are eliminated, and concluded by showing a wide range of his commercial and personal work, accompanied by tips and comments on how he achieved his photographic effects. Overall, this was an excellent, frank and inter-active presentation by an extremely knowledgeable photographer, that was greatly appreciated by his audience.
JUNE 2016: In June, member Randall Miles ARPS gave a second presentation entitled ‘Tales of future excursions in the wilds’, in which he explored wildlife and portrait photography at the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania and the bordering Maasai Mara National Reserve in Kenya. Now retired, Randall had responsibility for television lighting in his previous career, and, in a series of prints, he demonstrated his creativity and mastery of various photographic techniques. The presentation comprised three parts. First, he dealt with photographing sunrises, capturing the extraordinary early morning colours on the plains of the Reserve. Then Randall moved on to the difficulties of photographing wild animals from the relative safety of a Land Rover, showing a series of images of lions, wildebeest, elephants, waterbuck, zebras, giraffes, gazelles and impala in their natural habitat. His preference is to enhance the impact of the image by taking portraits of the animals’ heads, with particular emphasis on the eyes, cropping what he sees in the camera to remove any distracting background.
Randall then concluded by showing portraits of the Maasai people in the Serengeti. In order to put his subject at ease, his normal technique is to photograph from a distance of around 25-30 feet, using a telephoto lens, and again cropping severely in the camera to show the face. Randall explained photographing dark skin sometimes fails to bring out the facial features as it is hard to see the shadows. So his normal preference is to move his models to catch the ambient light and to use flash in order to light the eyes. These were two of many tips given in a most interesting and interactive presentation, accompanied by excellent prints, that was much appreciated by his audience.
MAY 2016: In May, Jannine Timms gave a presentation on ‘Portrait, Studio and Wedding Photography’. A keen amateur photographer, Jannine turned professional three and a half years ago and, since that time, has developed a local business specialising primarily in portrait and studio work. While undertaking some wedding photography for friends, she finds this type of work can sometimes be difficult commercially, due to the nature of the occasion and the number of people involved. Her preference is therefore to act as a ‘second shooter’ at weddings whenever possible, using natural light for the photographs rather than flash. However, Jannine’s main business derives from portrait work, particularly of children, taken informally in the home environment. Again, she avoids flash for this purpose and typically works at speeds of around 1/60 second at 100 ASA using Canon 5D and Canon 5D Mk 2 cameras, with a Canon 500D as back-up. Portraits often involve a degree of post-production work to remove lighting irregularities, skin blemishes, tattoos, etc., and for this work Jannine uses Lightroom and Photoshop for software processing. For more formal portraiture, however, Jannine prefers to hire a studio as she lacks this facility currently – although it does form part of her future plans.
Jannine is very interested in commercial studio photography and promotes her work in various trade magazines. For this purpose, she uses the studio electronic flash equipment and either hires a recognised model, or forms a relationship with an aspiring model who similarly wishes to promote herself. Overall, this was a most interesting and refreshingly honest account of the transition from being an amateur to a professional photographer, accompanied by a wealth of photographs and details of lessons learnt along the way, that was much appreciated by Jannine’s audience.
APRIL 2016: The April Club Night opened with the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Society, where Chairman Richard Broadbent reviewed the Society’s activities over the past year, noting that these continued to cater for a broad range of members’ interests, photographic skills and experience. The activities included monthly presentations from both outside speakers and members on a variety of topics, photoshoots to places of interest, support of a number of village activities in both Adderbury and Deddington, including two annual exhibitions at these villages, and also a permanent display at the West Bar Surgery in Banbury. In addition, monthly Workshops continue to be held, which are designed specifically to improve the knowledge of less experienced photographers. Overall, it had been a most successful year for the Society, during which it continued to attract a total of 50 members. Reports then followed from the Treasurer and Programme Secretary that showed a satisfactory financial position, while noting that members’ desire for more outside speakers would introduce additional speaker costs. The AGM drew to a close with reviews of future Workshop activities and the Society’s website, and concluded with the re-election of the Society’s officers.
The evening continued after the AGM with a presentation of members’ photographic ideas on the topic of ‘What is it?’ This comprised 65 projected images with members being invited to guess what each image represented. The result was some extraordinary photographs, viewed with puzzlement and a great deal of humour, of which a significant proportion could not be identified without further explanation by the originator. The Club Night then concluded with members’ inputs to the monthly photographic topic which, on this occasion, was ‘Feet’.
MARCH 2016: In March, member Jim Muller gave a presentation entitled ‘From hummingbirds to cake stands – the sublime to the ridiculous’. Describing himself as a hobby photographer who had more recently taken up commercial photography, Jim delivered his presentation in three parts: landscape, wildlife and commercial photography, noting that – for the first of these two subjects – his normal choice is to use a hand-held camera configured for aperture priority and auto-white balance. Jim’s opinion is that the countryside centred eight miles around Aynho is one of the most beautiful parts of England and he demonstrated this by showing a series of stunning images of sunrises over the local misty countryside, including water reflections and views of the canal at Aynho. He then finished his landscape photographs with images of the hot springs in Yellowstone National Park, Canadian waterfalls, Swiss mountain scenery, and sand dunes and shadows in Namibia.
In the second part of his presentation, Jim showed photographs of a variety of wildlife that is native to the UK and Africa, before returning again to Yellowstone with images of brown bears in their natural habitat, including one with four cubs taken from a dangerously close perspective. He then included some fascinating photographs of different types of hummingbirds, all taken while in flight, necessitating very high camera shutter speeds to capture the fast beating wings – typically 1/4,000 second, using shutter priority. Jim concluded his presentation by reviewing his commercial work to date. This included a discussion on the use of flash and continuous lighting, and embraced a wide spectrum of commercial activities ranging from photographs of house interiors for estate agents, to Christmas food hampers, light bulbs, furniture brochures, conference events (including speakers, dinners and candid images) and finishing with the challenge of shooting shiny metallic cake stands, and how to manage and control the reflections. Overall, this was an excellent presentation by a most accomplished photographer, accompanied by a wealth of technical detail that was much appreciated by his audience.
FEBRUARY 2016: Last month, member Martin Chapman ARPS, gave a presentation entitled ‘Wildlife, landscapes and infrared photography’. An enthusiastic photographer who has travelled widely, Martin opened his presentation with some intriguing images of different wildlife species in the UK, including deer, red kites, snakes, dragonflies and other insects. He continued by discussing his approach to landscape photography, guiding his audience on pictorial journeys to the Acadia National Park in Maine, USA, the Lake District and France. Martin then ended the first part of his presentation with a discussion on infrared photography, explaining how an unused digital SLR camera can be converted to infrared operation by the removal of internal colour filters adjacent to the camera’s sensor – work requiring the services of a professional camera workshop. Once done, the unusual monochrome effect characteristic of infrared images can be readily obtained, as Martin demonstrated in a series of photographs and montages.
Martin opened the second part of the presentation by showing his photographs of the landscape and wildlife in the Maasai Mara National Reserve in Kenya. The landscapes were taken mostly at sunrise, capturing the characteristically rich tapestry of orange/red hues in the early morning sky. He also showed his images of birds, giraffes, antelope, waterbuck and wildebeest, together with predators such as the lion, cheetah, leopard and wild dog. Martin then drew his presentation to a close by revisiting the USA, with photographs of native alligators, manatees and a wide variety of birds in Florida, and concluded by going on to show images of India’s tigers. Over all, this was an extensive and very impressive collection of photographs, supported by a detailed commentary, all of which was much appreciated by Martin’s audience.
JANUARY 2016: The New Year began with the now traditional ‘Members’ Evening’ on the first Wednesday of January, in which members were invited to show the best three photographs taken by them in 2015. In a strictly informal atmosphere, members talked about their images, discussing where and how the photographs were taken, what they learned as a result, and why each photograph was valued by them. This proved to be an enlightening and most enjoyable evening.