Welcome back!
And so it begins again, a new club year, a new chairman – congrats Geoff, a new committee and loads of things to be doing in the upcoming months.
Geoff began the meeting with a brief personal introduction and some thoughts on photography, inspiration and creativity. A journey that can challenge, frustrate and excite. Geoff also gave us an outline of the programme for the next few months. Lots to do including guest speakers, competitions and excursions.
Several of our members took up this year’s summer challenge to choose one letter of the alphabet and photograph 26 things beginning with that letter. We took time to view some of the pictures which you can see via our Google Drive link page. There will be more to share over the coming weeks.
Part of becoming a better photographer is of course – taking photos! To this end the plan is to run 4 competitions this season. John, our Competition Secretary, outlined the various competitions and how each will be judged.
One of the other ways of improving your photography is to look at the photos of others. In addition to sharing our own photos members will be asked to share their favourite photo. This can be one of their own perhaps or alternatively a photo taken by another that has inspired them to try something new.
Mel started us off with a photo by William Egglestone.
For Mel, this photo is all about pattern and colour. The replicating patterns of the leaves on the ground, on the woman’s dress, on the couch upholstery and in the background. And the clash of the colours of the dress and upholstery. The photo inspired Mel to take her own series of photos of people on their couches which has morphed into a project entitled ‘Left Behind’ which we hope to see exhibited at some future date.
Egglestone was a controversial figure being one of the first photographers to exhibit colour photos. An interesting article can be read here. Below are two more (in)famous Egglestone photos.
A great beginning to the idea Mel, your choice sparked some lively discussion which can only be a good thing! In case you’re interested, two other photographers to embrace the use of colour in their work are Ernst Haas and Saul Leiter though both have a more visually artistic aethestic than that of Egglestone. Check out Haas’ photos of the bullfighting which you can find by navigating through the menu on his website – Classic Color > Motion