We had reduced numbers at this week's ESIG, no doubt due to holidays and the few glimpses of sunshine we've had recently. But this didn't suppress the discussions. Here's a link to the recording https://youtu.be/mPVNnoNsofA
Present: Peter, Steve, Gerry, Judith, Brian, Mark, Jackie, Gia, Paul, and guest appearance from Paul's family Jean, Sarah and Lucy
Apologies: Peter W, Liz, Ali, Greg
We had three speakers:
Before going into the Portfolio session we had a discussion about the link I had previously sent out by Martin Osner on 'Fine Art Photography - Fact or Fiction'. (Here's the link if you want to view again https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skbYum6I1pY). This had generated some interest up here in my Tynemouth club, so I was keen to get a reaction from ESIG. I guess we could all understand the distinction Martin drew between Photography (well composed record shots), Art Photography (well composed images intended the give visual pleasure and to be displayed on the wall), and Fine Art Photography (well composed but having a message or additional meaning). We agreed there was a lot of grey areas between these three groups and lots of scope for debate. I felt as a group we were unsure whether or not this was a big insight into different types of photography. Liz (by email) made the point that Fine Art is often presented as a genre in its own right, and so asked where it fits alongside other genres such as landscape, wildlife, sport, still life etc. Martin gave a definition of Fine Art photography in which he made a big point about the photographer thinking of himself (or herself) as an artist. So the mindset when out taking photographs is not one of being a photographer, but of being an artist. This is a powerful thought and probably my main takeaway from the presentation.
Our Portfolio session was short of images - just two contributors.
This was the last meeting of the season. Thank you to all members that have attended over the year and a special thank you to those that have given talks and shown their work. I hope you have enjoyed the year, but if you would like the format change in any way please let me know. I know my mailing list contains members that do not attend the meetings. I'm very happy to keep you on the list and hope you find my notes and emails of interest. But if you would rather be removed from the list just let me know.
Enjoy your summer and I'll start the meetings again in September.
Present: Peter, Steve, Gerry, Judith, Brian, Mark, Jackie, Gia, Paul, and guest appearance from Paul's family Jean, Sarah and Lucy
Apologies: Peter W, Liz, Ali, Greg
We had three speakers:
- Paul started us off with something different with a talk on 'The Unappreciated Significance of the Record Shot'. This was a walk down memory Lane, prompted in part, by a discussion Paul had with Dave Hipperson, one of our regular judges at HPS. It seems Paul and Dave lived close to each other for many years in their younger days. This prompted long conversations and the sharing of memories, and for Paul, a project to pull together old photographs from many sources. It was interesting to see and also perfectly illustrated the power of photography to stimulate memories. After our meeting I went onto Google and searched for photographs of where I used to live, and - there they were. Instant nostalgia.
- Brian is a keen follower of Glenys Garnett and recently attended one for her Camversation presentations on 'Photographic Typologies' - the grouping together of photographs and their presentation. You can see examples here https://www.ggcreativeimages.co.uk/galleries/latest-work/. Brian showed us some of his recent work, explained how he goes about selecting and constructing the panels, and just how much he enjoys this approach.
- Finally Gerry showed us photographs of his recent birthday present, but this was no ordinary present. Gerry was given a flight in an aircraft that was then shadowed by the iconic Spitfire. Gerry had some great photos of the day and plenty of stories to tell. What an inspired birthday present.
Before going into the Portfolio session we had a discussion about the link I had previously sent out by Martin Osner on 'Fine Art Photography - Fact or Fiction'. (Here's the link if you want to view again https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skbYum6I1pY). This had generated some interest up here in my Tynemouth club, so I was keen to get a reaction from ESIG. I guess we could all understand the distinction Martin drew between Photography (well composed record shots), Art Photography (well composed images intended the give visual pleasure and to be displayed on the wall), and Fine Art Photography (well composed but having a message or additional meaning). We agreed there was a lot of grey areas between these three groups and lots of scope for debate. I felt as a group we were unsure whether or not this was a big insight into different types of photography. Liz (by email) made the point that Fine Art is often presented as a genre in its own right, and so asked where it fits alongside other genres such as landscape, wildlife, sport, still life etc. Martin gave a definition of Fine Art photography in which he made a big point about the photographer thinking of himself (or herself) as an artist. So the mindset when out taking photographs is not one of being a photographer, but of being an artist. This is a powerful thought and probably my main takeaway from the presentation.
Our Portfolio session was short of images - just two contributors.
- Gerry showed two images of the same scene, one having more at the top and bottom. What surprized us all was that the expansion into the sky and the foreground in the second image had been achieved by generative AI. Astonishing quality and detail.
- Brian showed us a rather low key, moody and very attractive image of some grasses, (taken he added with his new Olympus lens, not his phone).
This was the last meeting of the season. Thank you to all members that have attended over the year and a special thank you to those that have given talks and shown their work. I hope you have enjoyed the year, but if you would like the format change in any way please let me know. I know my mailing list contains members that do not attend the meetings. I'm very happy to keep you on the list and hope you find my notes and emails of interest. But if you would rather be removed from the list just let me know.
Enjoy your summer and I'll start the meetings again in September.
