Speaker – Christine Hodgson CPAGB ARPS ‘Simply being me’ 30/11/23

It’s always a pleasure to see a presentation by one of our own members. In this case the title belied the incredible creativity of Chris’s work. Personally I always like to see mounted prints displayed and Chris showed us three of her recent projects, each with a different approach to capturing and displaying images.

The first was a series of images taken at Yorkshire Sculpture Park during visits using an annual visitor pass. Eschewing the usual approach to capturing the whole of an artwork, Chris photographed portions of works and converted them to monochrome to create a consistent style throughout. Intriguingly each print was a small square format and mounted in a window off centre to the left of a portrait-oriented mount thus avoiding a central presentation.

The second project reminded our members of the recent workshop on Immiscibility. Circular petri dishes had been dosed with various solutions and dyes to create incredible swirling patterns in stunning colours. Chris had had to work quickly to capture the desired effect as movement occurred in the dish. Each dish had been photographed by placing it on a flat-bed scanner with light shining up through the glass. The finished set of 20 prints were circular and mounted in circular windows, another departure from convention.

The third and final project was based on captures taken in her house using light painting techniques. They were all presented as mounted A4 prints and Chris gave us advice on how each had been taken.

Thanks Chris for sharing you work with us and inspiring members to think outside the box and also develop project-based series of images.

Outing - Huddersfield 22/11/23

Tonight's outing was rearranged from the intended visit to Castle Hill, to meeting in St. Georges square in Huddersfield centre. The task for the evening had been changed from "night time photography" to taking images of "Transport". This was determined as any type of transport, stationary or moving, cars, buses or any other type. Fortunately considering how the weather had been during the day it was fine and dry albeit a little breezy.

Considering the short notice that members were given about the change to the plans, we had quite a good turn out for the evening, with around 16/17 members attending. James gave us all directions on what to try and capture and we left the square around 7:40pm with the plan to meet up again around 9:00pm.

Some members decided to try their luck on the train station and some managed to get in free, whereas others had to pay to get in. The rest of us went our separate ways to attempt to capture anything that was moving. At the end of the evening, when we all met up again, most of us were persuaded to try a tipple or two at the Sportsman pub. It will be interesting at a later date to see some of the images that all the members managed to capture. I'm sure that there will be quite a mixture of subjects. I think that it would be fair to say that a good evening was had by all.

Speaker – Chris Shepherd 'London Light/London Life' 15/11/23

Once more showing the benefits of Zoom in bringing in speakers from afar, this week we had an illustrated talk by Epping Forest based Chris Shepherd.  Chris is an accomplished photographer with awards for entries to Landscape Photographer of the Year but much of his photography is achieved nearer home.  His talk to us was subtitled ‘Can you become an expert in your own lunch hour?’.

Chris is fortunate in having an office in the City of London which gives him plenty of scope for taking architectural shots, candid street photography and recording some significant events on his doorstep. The challenge he set himself, and us, was to take a camera to work, go out come rain or shine and try something different whether it’s pointing straight up or positioning yourself and waiting for the Cartier-Bresson moment.  He advocated taking a light camera body with a short telephoto lens so as not to attract the attention of security guards in areas where seemingly public areas are actually private.

The four screenshot captures here give a flavour of the range of his imagery. The first is taken at the latest free viewing point at 8 Bishopgate, the second a juxtaposition beside an advertising hoarding, the third a climate demo in the rain and the fourth a close crop of a Red Brigade woman in a startling group of XR demonstrators.  I’m sure we were all left thinking about how we can apply Chris’s advice: ‘all artists must practice your craft’. I’ll definitely be visiting some of those City of London buildings when next ‘in the smoke’ and we can all try out some of his ideas nearer home. Thanks Chris for an entertaining evening and thanks also to Sue Gibson for organising the session.

Author: Chris Shepherd

Author: Chris Shepherd

Author: Chris Shepherd

Author: Chris Shepherd