Talk - Lee Sutton - My Photographic Journey 03/02/21

‘My photographic journey’ is a story frequently told these days. If his presentation is anything to go on, Lee Sutton’s journey has the characteristics of both an express and a roller-coaster. Seeking a change from a job as a night club bouncer, Lee turned to photography as recently as 2012. Starting from scratch with a second-hand Canon with kit lens he soon joined Preston Photographic Society to learn from ‘the best photographers’ as he put it. He was clearly a man on a mission. Lee presented examples of his early images warts and all. He clearly aimed from the start to tackle a wide range of genres showing us landscapes (despite not liking walking far from the car), portraiture, sport action, still life, street and creative.

He is now a member of Chorley Photographic Society and many of the people he quoted as influences are well-known in photo club circles. He credited a number of well-known photographic models and shared tips about his own capture and editing methods. I’m sure members were impressed with the breadth of his work and the standards he has achieved in a short space of time. Lee’s list of photo accreditations included some which were new to me; I did not know there was a Global Photographic Union, as well as a prolific haul of awards and medals.

These and other images show here the variety of his subjects taken from screenshots of the evening’s presentation. Thanks Lee for entertaining us so well.

Lee Sutton - Hedgehog

Lee Sutton - medals and awards

Lee Sutton - Lego

Lee Sutton - first gold medals

Monthly Challenge - Scapes 27/01/21

Tonight we had another monthly challenge, this time on the theme of Scapes. Rather than the narrow focus of landscapes alone, the category allows for vistas encompassing a broader range of subjects. This includes the more traditional landscapes we're all used to, plus seascapes and cityscapes.

It is always a popular topic, helped in no small part by so many members being fortunate enough to live in an especially scenic area. This has provided plenty of inspiration during the long months of lockdown. A few lucky snappers were further assisted by a serendipitous snowfall just before the deadline for submission. In total 42 people attended to see work contributed by 28 members, all competing for points towards the Monthly Challenge Prize. This is an award handed out every December for the highest aggregate score in monthly challenges over the year. Perhaps 2021 could finally see someone dethrone serial winner Richard Fulcher?

As ever, the first part of the night comprised feedback from two of our more experienced members. This time we benefitted from the wisdom and insight of Chris Rogers, leader of our Scapes Special Interest Group, and Duke Gledhill, who has proved himself to be one of our more accomplished workers in the Scapes category. Both provided a very thorough and considered analysis of each image in turn, giving the authors lots to think about when they're back out in the field.

Finally, the scores of the club's voting were revealed. The top three images this month were:

1. Lotherton Hall by Jon Harris with 31 points

2. Denby Dale by George Fewster with 17 points

3. Twistleton Scar by Paul Campbell with 14 points

1st - Jon Harris

2nd - George Fewster

3rd - Paul Campbell

Congratulations to them and everyone who took part.

The London Salon 20/01/21

Forty-two members tuned in to the Club’s Zoom meeting featuring a review of the 2019 London Salon. This is an annual event in which members are treated to a narrated view of a selection of the salon’s accepted images. The overall impression of this year’s selection was that the Salon acceptances were more accessible to the HPIC members, four of the more experience of whom, volunteered to give their thoughts on four or five images of their choice from 131 acceptances.

Edited versions of their comments are shown below: -

Bad Hair day by Rod Wheelans MFIAP,MPAGB,FIPF,Hon PAGB

Bad Hair day by Rod Wheelans MFIAP, MPAGB, FIPF, Hon PAGB

Reviewer Tony (R): The real success of this image is the capturing of the model’s facial expression. A kind of tentative smile, knowing smile, rather like that of the Monalisa. This requires a certain rapport to have been established with the model. The image has great detail, particularly in the hair, texture and beautifully controlled lighting. Rod Wheelans is a well-known photographer and has given many lectures on Keighley days.

Last Glow of the light by Rebecca Nex

Reviewer Alan: Last glow of the light – a very pleasing result of intentional camera movement made by the colour of the sunrise or sunset. Would be happy to have it on my wall.

Red Robes by Peter Brisley ARPS, DPAGB, BPE2

Reviewers Kevin/Carla: This image has a great sense of place, mood, atmosphere and it does this with a limited amount of information. The blur and warm colour pallet make you feel as so you were actually there in South East Asia / Indian subontinent. The square crop helps the image which is quite pleasing to look at despite its business.

One Up Two Down by John Pegram

Reviewers Kevin/Carla: A visually striking, bold image featuring the contrast between the black and white design of a staircase in the Tate Britain. The eye is drawn down the well of the stairs leaving one guessing as to what could be down there. The people give scale and the framing of the image is excellent.

Foot Note

Thanks to Duke for enabling the evening to happen by being on top of how to get the London Salon “video” and “step through” files to work properly in Zoom.

Also, thanks to Kamal for providing a more background on the content of one of the image

commented on by the author of this news article (not shown). The image was called “Dancing Shadow” by Maggi Tilloson ARPS and depicted the shadows thrown on the surrounding wall by a model of small naked girl as depicted in the iconic image taken by Nick Ut in June 1972. Realising this put a whole new level of understanding to the image.