Weekly Reports by Steve Wells
(Older reports in Archive)
F1st March 2021
Once again it is that time of the year when Thornbury Camera Club takes a look at what N&EMPF (the North and East Midlands Photographic Federation) has been doing. N&EMPF is made up of photographic clubs and societies primarily in Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire. Each year N&EMPF holds a competition for the 53 clubs in the federation and produces a CD to showcase the entries and winning images. The 2020 competition had over 3000 accepted entries in both print and projected categories.
The standard was, as usual, very high, and, as usual, the Rolls Royce (Derby) club came top!
Compared with previous years, the subject matter has shifted a little. It seemed to me that while portraits were as popular as ever, there were fewer images of models made up to look like Victorian down and outs. Last year I noted that nudes were in evidence: not so this year. A more romantic style seemed to have come to the fore (leavened, of course, by the odd punk – some very odd!)
Sport seemed to be one of this year’s main themes. I noticed cricket, tennis, golf, rugby, swimming, polo, running and ice hockey (I undoubtedly missed some). Very often the sports images were close in to the face showing the effort being expended to gain that last fraction of a second.
As in previous years, wildlife was in evidence. Birds were more popular this year than I remember: and not just spectacular birds of prey. For me a photograph of a Bittern in flight stood out. The Bittern is a secretive bird which hides in reed beds and is difficult to see at the best of times.
Perhaps the highlight was a series of nature photographs by David Keep (ARPS, DPAGB, ABPE). An underwater photograph of gannets diving to take mackerel was of a standard which would impress David Attenborough.
Once again it is that time of the year when Thornbury Camera Club takes a look at what N&EMPF (the North and East Midlands Photographic Federation) has been doing. N&EMPF is made up of photographic clubs and societies primarily in Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire. Each year N&EMPF holds a competition for the 53 clubs in the federation and produces a CD to showcase the entries and winning images. The 2020 competition had over 3000 accepted entries in both print and projected categories.
The standard was, as usual, very high, and, as usual, the Rolls Royce (Derby) club came top!
Compared with previous years, the subject matter has shifted a little. It seemed to me that while portraits were as popular as ever, there were fewer images of models made up to look like Victorian down and outs. Last year I noted that nudes were in evidence: not so this year. A more romantic style seemed to have come to the fore (leavened, of course, by the odd punk – some very odd!)
Sport seemed to be one of this year’s main themes. I noticed cricket, tennis, golf, rugby, swimming, polo, running and ice hockey (I undoubtedly missed some). Very often the sports images were close in to the face showing the effort being expended to gain that last fraction of a second.
As in previous years, wildlife was in evidence. Birds were more popular this year than I remember: and not just spectacular birds of prey. For me a photograph of a Bittern in flight stood out. The Bittern is a secretive bird which hides in reed beds and is difficult to see at the best of times.
Perhaps the highlight was a series of nature photographs by David Keep (ARPS, DPAGB, ABPE). An underwater photograph of gannets diving to take mackerel was of a standard which would impress David Attenborough.
22nd February 2021
Photographs rarely come alone. They come in groups: a set of photographs of a holiday or a wedding. When showing photographs we often want to show a panel of three, four, five or more images: a group of images conceived as a single entity, not just grouped together. The Kingswood Salver is a competition for panels of five images. Thornbury Camera Club will shortly be assembling its entry for the next competition. So, it was timely for Mike Martin (AWPF, AFIAP) from Bristol Photographic Society to join us on Zoom for an evening to talk about how to choose and arrange a set of images. Mike has been producing composite image and panels for nearly two decades and was behind the panel which came second in last year’s competition: "Seize the Moment".
A theme which ran through his talk was consistency. Images should have similar backgrounds. Horizons should be level and at the same height, the colour balance should be similar. In a row of images think of the images at the ends as holding the images together: like bookends. Images should be presented in a consistent way: the same height and width. Shapes should be echoed from one image to another: a vertical line in one matching a vertical line in another.
Links can form stories. One of the panels presented by Mike was of a frog. In the first image it was sitting on a leaf: in the second it was stepping off the leaf. In the final image it was by itself.
Looking at images in groups like this provides a new way to imagine the presentation of photographs. The club must now learn the lessons and produce an image for the Kingswood Salver, knowing that it will be set against a panel assembled by Mike.
Photographs rarely come alone. They come in groups: a set of photographs of a holiday or a wedding. When showing photographs we often want to show a panel of three, four, five or more images: a group of images conceived as a single entity, not just grouped together. The Kingswood Salver is a competition for panels of five images. Thornbury Camera Club will shortly be assembling its entry for the next competition. So, it was timely for Mike Martin (AWPF, AFIAP) from Bristol Photographic Society to join us on Zoom for an evening to talk about how to choose and arrange a set of images. Mike has been producing composite image and panels for nearly two decades and was behind the panel which came second in last year’s competition: "Seize the Moment".
A theme which ran through his talk was consistency. Images should have similar backgrounds. Horizons should be level and at the same height, the colour balance should be similar. In a row of images think of the images at the ends as holding the images together: like bookends. Images should be presented in a consistent way: the same height and width. Shapes should be echoed from one image to another: a vertical line in one matching a vertical line in another.
Links can form stories. One of the panels presented by Mike was of a frog. In the first image it was sitting on a leaf: in the second it was stepping off the leaf. In the final image it was by itself.
Looking at images in groups like this provides a new way to imagine the presentation of photographs. The club must now learn the lessons and produce an image for the Kingswood Salver, knowing that it will be set against a panel assembled by Mike.
15th February 2021
The point of photography is to take photographs: an obvious point but many seem to think that the objective of photography is to use a camera! I look forward, therefore, to those occasions when members of Thornbury Camera Club bring along pictures to show off. On this occasion, Simon Riches showed images from several years of making images. Rob England, meanwhile, had created some audio-visual pieces to show the diversity of his photography.
Simon started by taking us on a tour round Europe In alphabetical order we visited Bristol, Budapest, Copenhagen… Simon has a fascination for graphical shapes and for the colour of graffiti. Some images used intentional camera motion while others were intentionally out of focus: bioth ways to break the conventions of what photographs are “supposed” to be like. From Europe his journey took us on to the USA where Denver and New York provided reflections and confused traffic signs.
Finally, back to London for Comicon-19: a convention of science fiction, file, and graphic novels where visitors dress up as their favourite characters from films you have probably never heard of. Having taken the trouble to dress up, they are always willing to be noticed and to be photographed.
Rob, meanwhile showed the breadth of his photography accompanied by music. Audio visual presentations are usually in colour. For Rob, a couple of presentations appeared in black and white: one of Thailand and another of the sights of Bristol. Notable particularly were Rob’s images of children at their end of year prom: dressed to the nines and showing off to their friends.
The point of photography is to take photographs: an obvious point but many seem to think that the objective of photography is to use a camera! I look forward, therefore, to those occasions when members of Thornbury Camera Club bring along pictures to show off. On this occasion, Simon Riches showed images from several years of making images. Rob England, meanwhile, had created some audio-visual pieces to show the diversity of his photography.
Simon started by taking us on a tour round Europe In alphabetical order we visited Bristol, Budapest, Copenhagen… Simon has a fascination for graphical shapes and for the colour of graffiti. Some images used intentional camera motion while others were intentionally out of focus: bioth ways to break the conventions of what photographs are “supposed” to be like. From Europe his journey took us on to the USA where Denver and New York provided reflections and confused traffic signs.
Finally, back to London for Comicon-19: a convention of science fiction, file, and graphic novels where visitors dress up as their favourite characters from films you have probably never heard of. Having taken the trouble to dress up, they are always willing to be noticed and to be photographed.
Rob, meanwhile showed the breadth of his photography accompanied by music. Audio visual presentations are usually in colour. For Rob, a couple of presentations appeared in black and white: one of Thailand and another of the sights of Bristol. Notable particularly were Rob’s images of children at their end of year prom: dressed to the nines and showing off to their friends.
8th February 2021
The Galapagos Islands are a chain of volcanic islands in the Pacific Ocean, straddling the Equator, about 600 miles from the coast of Ecuador. Back in the Eighteenth century it was a haunt of English pirates who attacked Spanish ships carrying gold and silver from South America to Spain. It is more famous today for its wildlife and for Charles Darwin who visited the islands on the HMS Beagle and whose observations of the wildlife on the islands contributed to the publication of “On the Origin of Species”.
Jane Rees ARPS presented Thornbury Camera Club with photographs taken of the wildlife including Darwin’s finches. There is a different species of finch on each island. This diversity provided inspiration for Darwin. It is not only the finches which are unique to each island. The iguanas are similarly varied and include the only marine iguanas in the world. Being cold blooded, the marine iguanas have to warm in the sun before entering the sea to eat algae and seaweed.
Jane’s trip round the islands was on a modern ship called the Beagle. Being small, it was allowed into places and at times where the larger cruise liners were banned.
On the two week trip, Jane visited all the main islands. In the sea she saw turtles, dolphins rays and parrot fish. On land, the Galapagos penguin is the second smallest penguin in the world. It is the only penguin in the northern hemisphere. This is true, if only by a few miles.
Apart from Darwin’s finches, birds are present in abundance. Jane showed images of Boobies and Frigate birds. The Frigate birds survive by predating the other birds. Other birds catch food and the Frigate birds steal it: much like the pirates who once occupied these islands.
The Galapagos Islands are a chain of volcanic islands in the Pacific Ocean, straddling the Equator, about 600 miles from the coast of Ecuador. Back in the Eighteenth century it was a haunt of English pirates who attacked Spanish ships carrying gold and silver from South America to Spain. It is more famous today for its wildlife and for Charles Darwin who visited the islands on the HMS Beagle and whose observations of the wildlife on the islands contributed to the publication of “On the Origin of Species”.
Jane Rees ARPS presented Thornbury Camera Club with photographs taken of the wildlife including Darwin’s finches. There is a different species of finch on each island. This diversity provided inspiration for Darwin. It is not only the finches which are unique to each island. The iguanas are similarly varied and include the only marine iguanas in the world. Being cold blooded, the marine iguanas have to warm in the sun before entering the sea to eat algae and seaweed.
Jane’s trip round the islands was on a modern ship called the Beagle. Being small, it was allowed into places and at times where the larger cruise liners were banned.
On the two week trip, Jane visited all the main islands. In the sea she saw turtles, dolphins rays and parrot fish. On land, the Galapagos penguin is the second smallest penguin in the world. It is the only penguin in the northern hemisphere. This is true, if only by a few miles.
Apart from Darwin’s finches, birds are present in abundance. Jane showed images of Boobies and Frigate birds. The Frigate birds survive by predating the other birds. Other birds catch food and the Frigate birds steal it: much like the pirates who once occupied these islands.