Presentations

Photography on a budget. Talk on 9th July by Fiona Hodgkiss

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Written by SPS Admin

During the pandemic I presented a talk on Zoom, Photography on a Budget. I expect many people have an old camera, or maybe one they recently acquired second hand and could be concerned that they cannot get the results they desire. My advice is to work within your camera's limitations and focus on the photography that it produces well. Be inventive and find ways around your photography problems.

The ultimate issue is 'seeing' a photo. The most expensive latest camera will not take photos if you do not 'see' the photo and have new ideas. I work on the basis that if my eye is drawn to something then it is worthy of a photograph or a project. Something may be out of place or I may see something that makes me feel curious. Of course, many landmarks or beautiful things also need to be photographed. Be observant and be inspired by your everyday surroundings, you might just spot your new project when you are out briefly on an errand. 

I also asserted that mindset is important. It is important to enjoy photography as an activity. Over time one thing has been obvious, if I have passionately enjoyed a location or a project, I have taken far more photos than when I've felt neutral or in a negative mindset.

While I dream of taking a sunset photo showing palm trees at a beach in Hawaii, that is not budget photography! I always thought sunsets look better by water, instead I had a pandemic lockdown challenge where I recorded the sunsets from the bottom of my garden. A view across a playing field towards an industrial area may seem unlikely and not at all picturesque but by paying attention to composition and editing I was able to record a wide variety from the same two fence posts.

Images used in this talk are embedded in this pdf document.

Light Painting with Tim Gamble

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Written by Keith Nuttall

On Tuesday 6th November, Tim Gamble showed us his amazing light paintings, and walked us through the processes used to make each one. He showed us the strange assortment of devices he has made to illuminate his images, and the essential camera equipment useful for light painting photography.

So, what is Light Painting? In short, you start with a blank canvas of an unlit scene — whether it be a night landscape, dark building, or a room in your house — and a way (or several ways) of illuminating objects in the scene and creating objects from light itself. Set up the camera, open the shutter, take off the lens cap and start painting. The possibilities are endless, limited only by your enthusiasm, imagination and resourcefulness!

Tim's images were a mind-blowing feast of the eyes. The varied from obvious scenes, given a surreal quality, to more fantastic scenes, heavily decorated with lighting effects, to totally abstract images.

Tim will be returning on Tuesday 20th November, and leading a light painting workshop at the club. It will be a chance to put what we learned into practice. Bring along your cameras, tripods, torches, gels, and childrens toys!

See more of Tim's photos at:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/fadetoblacklp/

Retro Portraiture and Macro Photography

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Coming up in the next couple of meetings, we have regular visitor Graham Currey running a costume portraiture session on Tuesday 24th April. Graham's sessions always prove popular, and everyone comes away with great photographs.

The theme this time is Victorian. Graham will be bringing his experience as a photographer and model, as well as a male and female model in Victorian garb.

The following week, on Tuesday 1st May, we will be hosts to Justin Garner, who will explore the small world of macro photography.  This talk will cover flowers, plants, insects and small objects how to photograph them.  It will include equipment that he uses, and techniques such as photo-stacking. 

 

Travels in Namibia

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Written by Terry Hewitt

A talk by Terry Ottway, President of Stockport Photographic Society

Mostly desert, rich in wildlife, very hot and no midges/insects, are the aspects I got from the President’s talk last night. Four times the land mass of the UK, with a population of just over 2 million, Namibia has one of the lowest population densities of all.

Terry regaled us with photographs from his autobus tour of Namibia from last November. He visited the two main deserts and a number of wild life parks, as well as a couple of big cities.

There was also a flight along the coast which resulted in the most interesting fact of the night, that there are more seals than people there. A thoroughly enjoyable show with some outstanding photographs.