Weekly Reports by Steve Wells
(Older reports in Archive)
2024-2025 ProgrammE
17th March 2025
Anyone involved in photography for just a short time will find themselves thinking about composition. We are taught rules such as the “Rule of Thirds”. What we don’t do is to ask why these rules exist and what would be the consequences if we break them. Bill Brandt pointed out that photography is not a sport where rules are there to guarantee a level playing field, rules are there to help. If the rule helps, use it. If not, ignore it.
Caroline Pearce visited Thornbury Camera Club over Zoom to ask exactly these questions.
She described a photograph as a communication between a photographer and a viewer. This requires that the photographer has something to communicate. So, when you take a picture, what are you trying to say: what message are you trying to communicate? Caroline’s suggestion is that we should think about photographs not as images “of” something, but as images “about” something. As photographers we are not primarily image makers – the image is just the means to an end. At heart we are story tellers. So, what story do you want to tell today?
Anyone involved in photography for just a short time will find themselves thinking about composition. We are taught rules such as the “Rule of Thirds”. What we don’t do is to ask why these rules exist and what would be the consequences if we break them. Bill Brandt pointed out that photography is not a sport where rules are there to guarantee a level playing field, rules are there to help. If the rule helps, use it. If not, ignore it.
Caroline Pearce visited Thornbury Camera Club over Zoom to ask exactly these questions.
She described a photograph as a communication between a photographer and a viewer. This requires that the photographer has something to communicate. So, when you take a picture, what are you trying to say: what message are you trying to communicate? Caroline’s suggestion is that we should think about photographs not as images “of” something, but as images “about” something. As photographers we are not primarily image makers – the image is just the means to an end. At heart we are story tellers. So, what story do you want to tell today?
10th March 2025
This meeting of Thornbury Camera Club was split between two presentations. First, the first part of the annual digital presentation from North and East Midlands Photographic Federation (N&EMPF) was shown. This annual event shows the results of a major exhibition of the best photography from the North and East Midlands. The style of photography has changed a little over the years. We still see the same superb sports and wildlife photography but the number of studio portraits has gone down. Not surprising, perhaps, because there are fewer studios. Also down is the number of fantasy images for which awards for costume and set might be more appropriate than for photography.
In the second part of the evening Simon Meeds gave an introduction to Audio Visual (AV) presentations. This is where a sequence of images is shown with a sound track of music or speech. Simon showed the basics of assembling an AV sequence and showed several examples. One particularly memorable sequence showed three plastic ducks making a pilgrimage into the centre of Bristol.
The demonstration of Audio Visual was in preparation for an evening of AV later in the season when members who have not tried this approach can be encouraged to have a go.
This meeting of Thornbury Camera Club was split between two presentations. First, the first part of the annual digital presentation from North and East Midlands Photographic Federation (N&EMPF) was shown. This annual event shows the results of a major exhibition of the best photography from the North and East Midlands. The style of photography has changed a little over the years. We still see the same superb sports and wildlife photography but the number of studio portraits has gone down. Not surprising, perhaps, because there are fewer studios. Also down is the number of fantasy images for which awards for costume and set might be more appropriate than for photography.
In the second part of the evening Simon Meeds gave an introduction to Audio Visual (AV) presentations. This is where a sequence of images is shown with a sound track of music or speech. Simon showed the basics of assembling an AV sequence and showed several examples. One particularly memorable sequence showed three plastic ducks making a pilgrimage into the centre of Bristol.
The demonstration of Audio Visual was in preparation for an evening of AV later in the season when members who have not tried this approach can be encouraged to have a go.
3rd March 2025
You are nervous. In a dark landscape, a watery moon casts a pale reflection on the surface of a shadowed lake. Then, from out of the shadows comes a brightly lit creature which dances between the trees leaving a coloured trail behind it.
You smile. You have entered the world created by the light painting of David Gilliver. David creates images within his camera by painting onto the world in front of the camera. He creates a surreal new world which we are allowed to visit.
David studied Fine Art Photography at the Glasgow School of Art. Since then he has developed a reputation as a photographer particularly in the world of light painting. David has put together a large collection of light painting tools. Some he buys, some he makes and some are conventional torches and lamps repurposed by him.
Forget the technicalities of Photoshop. This world is created by imagination.
David spent several years in Guernsey. He has now returned to Glasgow from where he will join us on Zoom. His work has received a great deal of attention and has led him to projects for customers including Sony, Three and Lexus.
You are nervous. In a dark landscape, a watery moon casts a pale reflection on the surface of a shadowed lake. Then, from out of the shadows comes a brightly lit creature which dances between the trees leaving a coloured trail behind it.
You smile. You have entered the world created by the light painting of David Gilliver. David creates images within his camera by painting onto the world in front of the camera. He creates a surreal new world which we are allowed to visit.
David studied Fine Art Photography at the Glasgow School of Art. Since then he has developed a reputation as a photographer particularly in the world of light painting. David has put together a large collection of light painting tools. Some he buys, some he makes and some are conventional torches and lamps repurposed by him.
Forget the technicalities of Photoshop. This world is created by imagination.
David spent several years in Guernsey. He has now returned to Glasgow from where he will join us on Zoom. His work has received a great deal of attention and has led him to projects for customers including Sony, Three and Lexus.
24th February 2025
Visit by Hanham & Kingswood Photo Club
Last October, Thornbury Camera Club visited Hanham & Kingswood Photo Club to show off the photography created by the Thornbury Club. This was a return visit: A chance for Hanham and Kingswood to show off their work.
Sue Winkworth got the show off to a good start with a sequence of audiovisual presentations. Her presentation of the Italianate style village of Portmerion included a personal recollections of one of the buildings from before it was transported to the north coast of Wales. I have been intending for some time to visit Portmerion and now I have the impetus I have needed to get on with my visit.
Following Sue, other members of the club took their turn. First, a whistle stop tour of the urban landscapes of Berlin and Scandinavia via The Shard in London. The curved shape of a public library in Helsinki is the kind of building which requires vision and imagination. The result was breath-taking.
Then via diversions through images of birds and wildlife and via motor sports covered in mud, we arrived at a series of underground photographs illustrating sewer maintenance. I suppose Portmerion has sewers but it’s not something you think about.
Visit by Hanham & Kingswood Photo Club
Last October, Thornbury Camera Club visited Hanham & Kingswood Photo Club to show off the photography created by the Thornbury Club. This was a return visit: A chance for Hanham and Kingswood to show off their work.
Sue Winkworth got the show off to a good start with a sequence of audiovisual presentations. Her presentation of the Italianate style village of Portmerion included a personal recollections of one of the buildings from before it was transported to the north coast of Wales. I have been intending for some time to visit Portmerion and now I have the impetus I have needed to get on with my visit.
Following Sue, other members of the club took their turn. First, a whistle stop tour of the urban landscapes of Berlin and Scandinavia via The Shard in London. The curved shape of a public library in Helsinki is the kind of building which requires vision and imagination. The result was breath-taking.
Then via diversions through images of birds and wildlife and via motor sports covered in mud, we arrived at a series of underground photographs illustrating sewer maintenance. I suppose Portmerion has sewers but it’s not something you think about.