Here's my usual set of brief notes as a reminder of what we covered last week in our April meeting. The meeting was in two parts. We started with four talks showing projects and panels of work. This was followed by the 'portfolio review' session where we discussed individual images.
There was some excellent work shown and we again had a lively discussion. I was left with two particular thoughts. Working on a project really does focus the mind and gives a purpose to our photography, but finding a 'personal project' is not easy. What is a personal project? How do you find a subject that's worthy investing so much time? I think this is a subject worthy of discussion at our next meeting. I shall do a bit of research to find some examples. There are lots out there. Maybe you could also do the same. The more examples we have the better our discussion.
The second thought I had was that you can't please all the people all of the time. We had a lot of abstract images shown, and these are a bit 'marmite'. Some people liked them, others not so much. But this feels like a good thing. Its better to really excite half the audience, and leave the other half maybe disappointed, rather than leaving all of the audience feeling just lukewarm.
Here's what we covered:
- Judith has been working on several digital art projects which have developed in parallel and fed off each other. They are still work in progress but Judith put together an excellent presentation of images and words which intertwined around 'waiting for owls'/woodlands/south coast chalk/abstract. Collectively these were called 'Landscapes of the Imagination'. Really impressive work which raised the bar for all of us.
- Greg followed with another approach to presenting images. Encouraged by Iain McGowen of Chichester CC, Greg grouped 25 images together into a 5x5 panel. This was an effective, and unusual way of presenting so many images at the same time, which had the additional benefit of creating a new 'poster' which was attractive in its own right. Greg showed us four examples with photographs of sand patterns, a slate quarry, Cornwall and Glen Etive.
- David showed us a panel of commercial vehicles photographed from Sedbergh Hall in Halifax. These were carts, once used for transportation and no doubt pulled by horses, but now in the museum. David had constructed a panel of six that held together as a panel should (all the angles and lead in lines working together), and had captured the colours beautifully.
- Brian showed us his latest set of abstract flower images. This is also a project that I believe Brian has been working on for some time and gets better and better. Brian explained that the individual flowers were photographed on a light box, and then in photoshop cut out from the white background. A textured background was added and blended in with the flowers. A simple and very effective technique.
In the 'portfolio review' session we discussed individual images from Malcolm, Gerry, John, Iain, Brian and me.
There was some excellent work shown and we again had a lively discussion. I was left with two particular thoughts. Working on a project really does focus the mind and gives a purpose to our photography, but finding a 'personal project' is not easy. What is a personal project? How do you find a subject that's worthy investing so much time? I think this is a subject worthy of discussion at our next meeting. I shall do a bit of research to find some examples. There are lots out there. Maybe you could also do the same. The more examples we have the better our discussion.
The second thought I had was that you can't please all the people all of the time. We had a lot of abstract images shown, and these are a bit 'marmite'. Some people liked them, others not so much. But this feels like a good thing. Its better to really excite half the audience, and leave the other half maybe disappointed, rather than leaving all of the audience feeling just lukewarm.
Here's what we covered:
- Judith has been working on several digital art projects which have developed in parallel and fed off each other. They are still work in progress but Judith put together an excellent presentation of images and words which intertwined around 'waiting for owls'/woodlands/south coast chalk/abstract. Collectively these were called 'Landscapes of the Imagination'. Really impressive work which raised the bar for all of us.
- Greg followed with another approach to presenting images. Encouraged by Iain McGowen of Chichester CC, Greg grouped 25 images together into a 5x5 panel. This was an effective, and unusual way of presenting so many images at the same time, which had the additional benefit of creating a new 'poster' which was attractive in its own right. Greg showed us four examples with photographs of sand patterns, a slate quarry, Cornwall and Glen Etive.
- David showed us a panel of commercial vehicles photographed from Sedbergh Hall in Halifax. These were carts, once used for transportation and no doubt pulled by horses, but now in the museum. David had constructed a panel of six that held together as a panel should (all the angles and lead in lines working together), and had captured the colours beautifully.
- Brian showed us his latest set of abstract flower images. This is also a project that I believe Brian has been working on for some time and gets better and better. Brian explained that the individual flowers were photographed on a light box, and then in photoshop cut out from the white background. A textured background was added and blended in with the flowers. A simple and very effective technique.
In the 'portfolio review' session we discussed individual images from Malcolm, Gerry, John, Iain, Brian and me.
