Here are my few notes from this week's ESIG. And what a good meeting it was too. Several of you have emailed me to say how much you enjoyed the meeting.
Present: Steve, Brian, Judith, Gerry, Peter W, Greg, Mark, Liz, Jackie, Ali and me.
Here’s the link to the You Tube recording: https://youtu.be/JbhEIy37Kjg
We had three excellent talks:
Brian took us through this year's International Garden Photographer of the Year (IGPOTY) and modestly showed us his 2nd and highly commended awards in the 'Beauty of Plants category - see https://igpoty.com/competitions/the-beauty-of-plants-competition-18-results/. This is the 3rd successive year that Brian has gained an award - well done Brian. There are now 18 categories in the competition, covering such a wide range of subject matter, and I'm sure many HPS members would have images that would qualify.
Peter W has recently returned from a workshop with the Outdoor Group, to the Lofoten Islands. The workshop leader was Mark Banks who Peter highly recommends - see https://www.markbanksphotography.com/. Mark it seems is more than just a tour guide, and genuinely provided helpful instruction. Peter showed some excellent images and is planning a panel for the upcoming HPS exhibition. The images including a number involving 15 shot bracketed panoramas - a technique demonstrated by Mark. Peter also was encouraged to try the 'x-pan' aspect ratio of 65:24 (approx two 35mm frames together), the white layer technique in photoshop and also Omega Rag paper from Permajet,
Liz was our third speaker talking on 'the magic of mushrooms'. Liz has recently become a bit fixated with mushrooms, and has been growing them at home, and has built a 'shadow box' studio set up to photograph them. Apparently home grown mushrooms come in different colours (pink, yellow, blue and black oyster) and require watering every 2 hours. Liz has been researching the subject and has been inspired by the likes of Edward Weston and especially the chiaroscuro presentation by Paul Coghlin- see https://www.paulcoghlin.com/fleur-noir-limited-edition-photography-prints. Liz is attracted to the lines, curves, textures and details available and I can still clearly recall one such image Liz showed, which filled the frame and had all these qualities. Well done Liz.
Our portfolio session had a good number of images this month and as usual generated some good discussion.
Thank you all for attending. Our next meeting will be on Tues 8th April.
Peter