Presentations

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.

Getting to Grips with the Gadgets

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Written by Keith Nuttall

Last night, we were treated to an evening of revelations from Terry Hewitt. The eminent (nutty) professor walked us through a technical jungle of jargon, buttons, menus, gadgets and cables with a verbal machete. He made light work of a maze of options, using a camera wired up to a projector, and illustrated his explanations with snazzy graphics. We were entertained and educated.

Covering topics from Colour Space to Zebras, Terry answered those burning questions about auto-focus, bracketing, live view, and the meaning of life (not really) that we’d all wondered about but were too afraid to ask.

Next week, we pit our best photos against each other’s in a friendly competition. But, these photos have to have been taken with our mobile phones! Who will be the winner? And, most importantly, will they be any good? You might be surprised!

The History of Stockport PS

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Written by Keith Nuttall

I wasn't much of a fan of History at school, and it was my first dropped subject. So I was pleasantly surprised when SPS's own Terry Hewitt entertained us with a potted history of photography, Stockport Photographic Society, and how times have changed.

We were taken through the stages of early photography at a brisk speed, which I really appreciated with my short attention span. And Terry related these developments to the emerging trend in photographic societies, which tended to be a wealthy man's domain.

Flying through two world wars, changing facial hair and clothing fashions, numerous venues and activites, and the ups and and downs of male and female membership, Mr Hewitt enlightened us with amusing observations and customs which would seem very strange in today's camera clubs.

All in all, not bad, for a History lesson!