Monday 8th February 2021 – "Nature and Wildlife" by Victoria Hillman

Despite the change of night there was extremely good support for Victoria's presentation. Clearly split into two halves where she initially showed some of her images  and what considerations she made when taking then. Many were of an artistic style as opposed to straight wildlife images. Some were black and white silhouettes. They ranged from small insects, grasshoppers, to large mammals, elephants, and all manor of subjects in-between.  Many were taken within a short distance of her home in Somerset.

After the break Victoria considered how to take multiple exposures, the value of a mini project, the post processing she uses and consideration of how or when to review your images. All illustrated with some of her images. Additionally because of the cold weather and more to come we were treated to some of her frozen bubble images.

A lot covered in a very enjoyable presentation style. Only a shame that lockdown and the snow prohibited a workshop on the day before or after her talk!!

Victoria's web site details some of the workshops, cards and books that she has available. https://www.vikspics.com

Tuesday 2nd February 2020 "Landscape Made Simple" by Slawek

 Again we were able to invite along a speaker to our Norfolk based club who would not normally travel up to us for an evening as he is based near Brighton, Sussex. Slawek showed us some lovely landscape images, many from the South Downs, and he spent most of the first half talking about light. After all Photography is sometimes defined as "painting with light", so this seemed sensible. 

He explained about shadows and where the light needs to be  and at what time of day, mainly early morning at sunrise!! In the second half he shared some pictures taken at the other end of the day, "the blue hour". He shared his philosophy for taking a photo and how he composed it and the thought processes he used. 

Many members found it really helpful and were appreciative of his insights.

His work may be viewed on his web site here.

Thanks Slawek for coming along to WDPC, via Zoom.

26th January 2021 Competition: Theme - Movement Judge: Guy Davies ARPS, EFIAP, EPSA

Many thanks to Guy for judging our Zoom digital competition tonight - 77 images in all to scrutinise so quite a task!

There are many different interpretations on the theme of 'Movement' and we certainly saw many of those tonight.

Some of our top scoring images can be seen below: 

In Members class:

FLOWING GRASSES by Pam Rutty 20/20

A MOMENT IN TIME by Les Thwaites 20/20

BRIGHTON WHEEL by Les Thwaites 20/20

ENERGY FIELD by Mary Laing 19/20

GOING FOR IT by Daphne Lingwood 19/20

In Members Advanced class:

KNOT TAKE OFF by Robin Orrow 20/20

HANDSTAND 132 by Roy Scrivener 20/20

FLAMES OF LIGHT by Liz Blake 20/20

MILKY WATERS by Kim Scrivener 20/20

OBLIVIOUS by David Turner 20/20

TRIPTYCH OF SPLASHING WATER by Jan Murphy 20/20

BISON FAMILY ON THE MOVE by Di Jackson 19/20

CHAIN GANG by Nick Akers 19/20

FULL PELT by Geoff Lingwood 19/20

SPIN DRYING by Tony Smith 19/20

TANGERINE SPLASH by Francesca Shearcroft 19/20

THE SPEED MERCHANT by Di Jackson 19/20

THE TRAIN ARRIVING AT PLATFORM 5 by Jan Murphy 19/20

Tuesday 12th January 2021 – "The Art of Composite Photography"

The first meeting of 2021 and we were delighted to welcome Sharon and Robert Prenton-Jones, all the way from N Wales. Thank goodness for Zoom.

As usual the meeting was in two halves, firstly Robert talked about how he created his stunning images. Not just showing the finished result but he included many behind the scenes images. When out and about with the camera he focussed on capturing many apparently random images, knowing he could possibly use them in future composites. He stressed the importance of ensuring the light/shadows in the different images were the same. He concluded by talking us through how he created a modern version of Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper. 

After the break Sharon talked us through how she created some of her Magical Legends images. Her talk included hints and tips on how to blend images together, how to create mist and again the various layers she used to compose the final images. The inclusion of a practical demo of using Photoshop was much appreciated. Both Sharon and Robert included a slide show in their talks.

The evening was well supported by members who were not disappointed by a very informative and entertaining evening. Thanks to Robert and Sharon.

Tuesday 15th December - Christmas Fun

Well, we may not have had our usual Christmas Dinner celebrations but we still managed to celebrate 'Zoom' style.  Christmas hats, reindeer antlers, Christmas jumpers and flashing bow ties were all seen in abundance and as a special treat we had a visitation from Father Christmas!

We had a slideshow of everyones homemade Christmas cards - some photographically designed, some beautifully painted and all looking splendid.

Next came a Christmas themed quiz which worked surprisingly well. Judging from some rather 'rosy' faces plenty of alcohol and mince pies were being consumed as well!

Wishing everyone a very Happy Christmas and looking forward to a healthy New Year when we can all meet up again.

Some of our Christmas cards can be seen below:

Tuesday 8th December – The Diary of a Nature Photographer

Last week we heard from a Spaniard living in Ireland this week we have a  Dutch gentlemen living in London, Rene de Heer, to talk to us about his nature photography, mainly birds.

Rene took us on a world tour and showed us many stunning bird photographs. It was good to see some of these birds which are not the normal birds seen in the UK, including golden eagles, pigmy owls and cranes.  Rene researched and planned his trips so he knew exactly where to go to find  the species he was looking for. Although frequently frustrated by poor weather, it was evident from Rene's pictures that he was very patient spending many hours in hides, not always in the most comfortable of positions, and it was clear his perseverance paid off.

Unusually for such a talk Rene also included some images of the hides and even an occasional landscape view to show the sort of areas he visited.

An interesting evening which had a good attendance from members who were captivated by the images displayed on screen. Some of Rene's pictures can be seen on his website: http://www.naturepics.co.uk  I can imagine that there will be several members wanting to go along on one of Rene's tours to Spain when travelling restrictions are lifted!

Tuesday 1st December – "Architectural Photography – In search of the genus loci"

We were delighted to welcome Iñaki Hernández-Lasa FRPS, FIPF, AFIAP, all the way from Limerick, to our club meeting this week. When you think of architectural images you tend to think of photos of a building, often in its entirety and in its environment. 

Iñaki shared with us his vision for architectural images which was very different and he tried to capture the spirit of the place by showing abstract or minimalist images. His talk was centred around his two panels, one from the Guggenheim in Bilbao for his FRPS and one based on Valencia for his FIPF; both of which can be seen on his website, https://www.ihlphotography.com  

Iñaki emphasised the need to plan and prepare your shoots, the need to often wander around the buildings for some considerable time before even taking out the camera. He frequently arrived at the venue early before there were too many people around then having the patience to wait until the person/people were in just the right place.  The importance was the thought process behind the image and not the gear used to capture the image. 

Many members commented that they were inspired to go out and take some images of more contemporary buildings when we are able to travel around more freely.