Weekly Reports by Steve Wells
(Older reports in Archive)
7th June 2021
As we come out of lockdown, we can revisit our favourite restaurants and coffee shops. Members of Thornbury Camera Club were asked to imagine a coffee shop and to produce six images which might decorate the walls. These might be pictures of the process of making coffee: the machines, the jugs and cups. Alternatively it might be pictures of people and places where you imagine the coffee is sold.
In the event there were two distinct themes: views of people, coffee and food inside cafés; and views from round the world. The travel views took us from Venice to the Greek Islands and to the Houses of the National Trust (after all National Trust houses have cafés.) As we travelled, the journey included a history of lighthouses and a selection of narrow boats.
We were presented with a series of pictures in which coffee beans were arranged with coffee cups and saucers to create comic faces.
The scenes inside the cafés showed the modern world intruding: mobile phones and laptops dominating the small tables with barely any room for the coffee itself. As to the food available to accompany the coffee, a variety of chocolate and sponge cakes were provided together with a toasted sandwich.
Whatever your taste it was here and available. Lockdown is coming to an end.
As we come out of lockdown, we can revisit our favourite restaurants and coffee shops. Members of Thornbury Camera Club were asked to imagine a coffee shop and to produce six images which might decorate the walls. These might be pictures of the process of making coffee: the machines, the jugs and cups. Alternatively it might be pictures of people and places where you imagine the coffee is sold.
In the event there were two distinct themes: views of people, coffee and food inside cafés; and views from round the world. The travel views took us from Venice to the Greek Islands and to the Houses of the National Trust (after all National Trust houses have cafés.) As we travelled, the journey included a history of lighthouses and a selection of narrow boats.
We were presented with a series of pictures in which coffee beans were arranged with coffee cups and saucers to create comic faces.
The scenes inside the cafés showed the modern world intruding: mobile phones and laptops dominating the small tables with barely any room for the coffee itself. As to the food available to accompany the coffee, a variety of chocolate and sponge cakes were provided together with a toasted sandwich.
Whatever your taste it was here and available. Lockdown is coming to an end.
24th May 2021
What do you do if you are asked to take a photograph of “Empty”! Well, that is what members of Thornbury Camera Club were asked to do at a recent meeting. You would think that a photograph should be of something… but “Empty”? Well, in the event, sixteen photographers rose to the challenge. There are plenty of “Empty Things” in the world. The photographs which were shown ranged from empty bottles to empty glasses and empty containers of all types found in the streets and round the house.
The Covid Lockdown raised its head several times with several empty pubs and empty streets. Several empty car parks were illustrated. It made me wonder what time of day the pictures were taken: on days when I want a parking space there is never one to be found. A photograph of the M5 with absolutely no traffic was particularly eerie – it is such an unexpected sight. Somehow, motorways are supposed to be congested and noisy.
Images which had clearly been taken from holiday snaps showed harbours with the tide out (empty of water), and beaches empty of people. Two photographers had clearly been on holiday to the same place in Cornwall. Both had photographed an old petrol pump in St. Mawes. On the pump you could still read the price: 2/3d per gallon. Sadly, before the queues start to form, the sign also indicated that the pump was “Empty”.
What do you do if you are asked to take a photograph of “Empty”! Well, that is what members of Thornbury Camera Club were asked to do at a recent meeting. You would think that a photograph should be of something… but “Empty”? Well, in the event, sixteen photographers rose to the challenge. There are plenty of “Empty Things” in the world. The photographs which were shown ranged from empty bottles to empty glasses and empty containers of all types found in the streets and round the house.
The Covid Lockdown raised its head several times with several empty pubs and empty streets. Several empty car parks were illustrated. It made me wonder what time of day the pictures were taken: on days when I want a parking space there is never one to be found. A photograph of the M5 with absolutely no traffic was particularly eerie – it is such an unexpected sight. Somehow, motorways are supposed to be congested and noisy.
Images which had clearly been taken from holiday snaps showed harbours with the tide out (empty of water), and beaches empty of people. Two photographers had clearly been on holiday to the same place in Cornwall. Both had photographed an old petrol pump in St. Mawes. On the pump you could still read the price: 2/3d per gallon. Sadly, before the queues start to form, the sign also indicated that the pump was “Empty”.
17th May 2021
Thornbury Camera Club holds five competitions through the year. The results accumulate to produce a winner at the end of the year. This evening should have been the fifth, and last, of those competitions. In fact, due to the complications of lockdown, the fourth has yet to be judged. This will take place in June. So, we still don’t know the overall winner.
This competition had an “Open” subject. That is, any subject could be entered: the judge had to be prepared to compare portraits with still life, landscapes with sport! The judge, John Hudson (ARPS DPAGB SPSA ASPS), was well qualified for this task as his photographic background includes sport, dance, wildlife and travel.
In the print section, Robert England came first with “Kenny at the Double”. George Collett was second with “Bee Eater with Bees”. “River Coupall” came in third place for Mike Ashfield. Other awards went to Dean Packer, Edward Kilmartin and George Collett.
In the projected image section, “Gannet Argument” came first for George Collett. “Sunset at Sandymouth Bay” was second for Mike Ashfield. Edward Kilmartin came third with “Bristol”. Other awards went to Simon Meeds, George Collett, Nigel Newman, Martin Nimmo and Dean Packer.
We must now wait until June for the final round when the subject will be “Street Photography”. Then, at last we will find out who this year’s winners are.
Thornbury Camera Club holds five competitions through the year. The results accumulate to produce a winner at the end of the year. This evening should have been the fifth, and last, of those competitions. In fact, due to the complications of lockdown, the fourth has yet to be judged. This will take place in June. So, we still don’t know the overall winner.
This competition had an “Open” subject. That is, any subject could be entered: the judge had to be prepared to compare portraits with still life, landscapes with sport! The judge, John Hudson (ARPS DPAGB SPSA ASPS), was well qualified for this task as his photographic background includes sport, dance, wildlife and travel.
In the print section, Robert England came first with “Kenny at the Double”. George Collett was second with “Bee Eater with Bees”. “River Coupall” came in third place for Mike Ashfield. Other awards went to Dean Packer, Edward Kilmartin and George Collett.
In the projected image section, “Gannet Argument” came first for George Collett. “Sunset at Sandymouth Bay” was second for Mike Ashfield. Edward Kilmartin came third with “Bristol”. Other awards went to Simon Meeds, George Collett, Nigel Newman, Martin Nimmo and Dean Packer.
We must now wait until June for the final round when the subject will be “Street Photography”. Then, at last we will find out who this year’s winners are.
10th May 2021
Once again, a careful observer would have seen masked figures in Rock Street car park exchanging envelopes. Not some clandestine operation involving James Bond, but Thornbury Camera Club exchanging prints to be judged at the last meeting of the season. Once again, the issue was how to exchange prints given the current state of lockdown. Once the deed was done, the masked figures melted away, soon to meet again for an evening Zoom meeting: a talk by Sylvain Guenot (ARPS) on portraiture.
Sylvain is both a teacher of French and a professional photographer specialising in portraiture. He has been based in Gloucestershire for nearly 30 years.
Sylvain has a particular view of photography which he calls “Peoplescape”. Most photographers would consider the subject of a portrait to be more important than the background. Some photographs use the background to provide context: a cook might be photographed in a kitchen. Sylvain is more interested in the colours, lines and shapes and how they relate to each other. For him the subject of a portrait is no more important than other objects in the photograph: objects which would normally be thought of as forming the background. Both subject and background contribute equally to the whole image.
The links between the parts of an image could be colours: clothing of the same colour as paint on a wall. They could be patterns: stripes on a tee shirt echoing light through a venetian blind. Shapes on the background can echo the movement of a figure or illustrate where an eye is looking. Lines can be aligned so that they continue from one part of a scene to another.
The effect was to produce a set of images which were not just pictures of people, but unified visions of which the person was simply part.
Once again, a careful observer would have seen masked figures in Rock Street car park exchanging envelopes. Not some clandestine operation involving James Bond, but Thornbury Camera Club exchanging prints to be judged at the last meeting of the season. Once again, the issue was how to exchange prints given the current state of lockdown. Once the deed was done, the masked figures melted away, soon to meet again for an evening Zoom meeting: a talk by Sylvain Guenot (ARPS) on portraiture.
Sylvain is both a teacher of French and a professional photographer specialising in portraiture. He has been based in Gloucestershire for nearly 30 years.
Sylvain has a particular view of photography which he calls “Peoplescape”. Most photographers would consider the subject of a portrait to be more important than the background. Some photographs use the background to provide context: a cook might be photographed in a kitchen. Sylvain is more interested in the colours, lines and shapes and how they relate to each other. For him the subject of a portrait is no more important than other objects in the photograph: objects which would normally be thought of as forming the background. Both subject and background contribute equally to the whole image.
The links between the parts of an image could be colours: clothing of the same colour as paint on a wall. They could be patterns: stripes on a tee shirt echoing light through a venetian blind. Shapes on the background can echo the movement of a figure or illustrate where an eye is looking. Lines can be aligned so that they continue from one part of a scene to another.
The effect was to produce a set of images which were not just pictures of people, but unified visions of which the person was simply part.