Practical Evening

The next meeting brings us another practical evening and as usual your encouraged to bring along your camera and take part. As well as a macro demonstration we’ll have someone available to talk to you about using and getting more out of Flickr. You can also ask any photography related questions and we’ll try our best to give you an answer. But lets get on to the main event of Thursday which will be a studio shoot with a band. We supply the lights, backdrop, musicians and even a smoke machine. You just turn up with your camera and get the most out of the evening.
Ask questions, mingle and talk with everyone. As well as it being a chance to learn some new techniques or ask questions, treat it as a social event. If you’ve not been coming to the club for long or just haven’t managed to be at many of the meetings it’s a great opportunity to get to know everyone. Although I can guarantee by the end of the evening I still won’t remember everyone’s name.

There are only two things we would like you to do if you turn up on Thursday.
The first is, if you take pictures of the band then please email, Dropbox or bring them in on a memory stick so that we can let them have copies. They are giving their time up, for free, for us. They didn’t ask us if we wanted to take pictures of them, we asked them to come along. So play fair and lets pay them back for their time by giving them the photo’s.

The second thing? That’s easy, come along and have fun, enjoy yourself and take some great pictures!

Round 3 results

The results of Round 3 of our Open Competition are in. Thanks to Nick Ball for taking the time to judge the competition for us.
Congratulations to Arthur Belton on winning the Print section and Alison Davies for her first ever win in the Digital Projected.
Thanks to everyone that took part and congratulations if you managed to get in the scoring. Scroll down to see the winning pictures.
I’ve done a few things differently this time. If you have a Flickr account then I’ve made it so that if you click your name you get taken to your Flickr ‘stream (if you have one and even if you haven’t posted anything to it for ages). If you have your winning picture on your Flickr stream then clicking that picture will take you to it on your Flickr ‘stream. If it’s not on your Flickr then you will get taken to the Clubs Flickr ‘stream.
I’m also trying out a new, and hopefully better, way of laying out the pictures. So If something doesn’t seem to be right with the layout then please let me know.

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Winner Digital Projected: Naughty Girls Night Out Alison Davies	Winner Print: Bag, Towel & Shoes Arthur Belton
2nd Digital Projected: Ceratophrys ornata Mark Stone	2nd Print: Dee Barrie Tovey
3rd Digital Projected: Ice Tree Richard Price	3rd Print: Contemplation Richard Price
Highly Commended Digital Projected: Art Gallery Barrie Tovey	Highly Commended Print: Leopard Barrie Tovey
Highly Commended Digital Projected: Sky Dance Julie Coombs	Commended Print: Stand & Deliver Alison Davies
Commended Digital Projected: Flasher Richard Price

Take these pictures for us...

It's inevitable at some point when someone you know or a friend of a friend finds out you enjoy photography and are pretty good at it or have a decent camera they will try to get you to take pictures for them.
What happens when it's obviously being done just to save themselves money but they promise that eventually they just might, pay you the next time you take pictures for them? After all if they are good enough to use on your companies website then surely they deserve to get paid for taking them, right? Follow THIS link to read about an advert posted on craigslist that one photographer took exception to.

Competitions, theme’s and the gnashing of teeth

 

This weeks meeting we get to hear the results of Round 3 of the Open Competition. Which should be good, despite what might be said its still fairly open and a few people are vying for the title this year.

Now as you know we have a Flickr Group and those of you who receive the club email will know I’m always nagging you to join up. We’ll yep you’ve guessed it this is another one of those times. Although now you have even more incentive to join us. We’re starting a Flickr only themed competition. Each one will last for around 2 months, including the voting, and the winner gets to pick the subject for the next competition. If you want to see a list of the themes that have already been suggested or want to suggest some of your own then go take a look here. If you want to see the rules then they can be found hiding in the corner here. The first subject will be chosen randomly on Thursday. If your feel you need a kick to get you taking pictures then this could be the thing to get you out and snapping away.

Digital Manipulation - can you go too far?

Last nights meeting certainly made it clear that even before Photoshop and the age of digital manipulation people altered, manipulated and generally messed about with their photographs. Brian and Keith showed lots of their pictures and slides which had been manipulated in various ways, of course they also showed a lot that they hadn't altered. It sparked a lot of debate and showed a clear divide between those that thought extreme manipulation was good and those that thought even the slightest alteration was wrong. It's a topic that always seems to cause a lot of heated debate and by an amazing coincidence we have just been given our first guest blog post. Which touches on that very subject.

So here it is our first guest blog post by iBeastie.

Digital Manipulation - can you go too far?

The debate regarding the use of Digital Manipulation in photography has raged since the digital age first invaded the inner sanctum of the photographic world. The protagonists at each end of the spectrum we shall call The Purists and The Processors. As well as defining the combatants, we need to ponder on the history of photography, the validity of the reality of a two dimensional image and revisit the “Photography or Art?” discussion, perhaps by looking at some examples from the world of Art and Photography. This brief journey will hopefully make clear our conclusions.

In order to tackle the question “Can you go too far with Digital Manipulation?” we should define the protagonists. At one extreme are those who inherently distrust digital photography altogether, preferring the “Purity of Film” These are The Purists who dislike any kind of alteration to a photograph after it is taken, possibly tolerating some kind of processing to achieve a true reproduction of what was seen at the time of capture. At the other extreme are The Processors. These are the lovers of digital manipulation who will often spend more time post processing their image with effects such as HDR, cloning and the creation of composite images, than taking the photo in the field. Most photographers will fall somewhere in the middle of this spectrum.

The Purist viewpoint has evolved from the historical perception that the use of the camera, which works in real time with real objects, came to be associated with communication and news reporting and as such was seen to be objective and a means to convey reality. But this is only one side of photography and even reality can be distorted by what the photographer sees, or wishes to be seen. If reality is what they seek, then black and white imagery should have been rejected out of hand as soon as colour images were possible, after all the world is not black and white. Yet its legitimacy survives because of history, not reality. The camera is merely a tool to express an idea; it is not obliged to express truth. From the day that man put pen to paper he used it to record both fact and fiction and this truth holds for photography as well.

A key element to this debate is the validity of the reality of a two dimensional image. By this we mean that the world is 3-dimensional and by the simple fact of being 2 dimensional a photograph, can only at best ever interpret reality, not be reality. The Purists standpoint has to be based on a false assumption due to this one simple fact. Our 3-dimensional world cannot be represented in 2-dimensional “facts”. An example of this is that The Purist might use a zoom lens, which clearly distorts the 3-dimensional reality as it converts the image to 2-D. A blurred background belongs to the 2-D world, as it cannot be seen unless we could stop time. Equally a fish-eye lens will give us a view that no photographer would ever see.

So is photography a form of art or a scientific discipline of its own? Photography has to be a form of art – if not what else can it be? If not Art then it is merely a tool of the journalist or historian to record a point in time but its truth is there to be abused as much as the truth of the written word. Its credibility as a recorder of truth was blown away as soon as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle believed in fairies after seeing Elise Wright and Frances Griffiths’ photograph of fairies in their garden in 1917! There might be a science applied to acquiring an image but as demonstrated already the image cannot ever be reality or fact, only an interpretation thereof. A photograph can convey many emotions, bring back memories and create dreams. To the photographer it is even more meaningful as he will recall the effort it took to produce. It is an expression of what someone sees in the same way that a painting is. An artist like Gainsborough who painted portraits for the gentry, produced an object that would be purchased as a thing of beauty. His client did not want a “warts and all” job of his loving wife to hang over the fireplace, he wanted her to look her best, if not better. So it was up to the artist to make sure she did. How is that different to a little airbrushing? Canaletto was known to have altered the perspective of Venice to suit his canvas and composition. This is what artists do, so why should a photographer tolerate a telegraph pole or road sign spoiling his work? Simply put a Purist will chop the pole down before he presses the shutter and the Processor will clone it out of his image afterwards. Photography then is clearly a discipline of art, just as The Impressionists and The Cubists are.

In conclusion then we have to accept that photography is an art form. Within the art form we must accept that there are many movements or schools of thought. The Purists and the Processors would be just two of these schools of thought. Neither one is the correct one. Quite simply there is no correct one. Each photographer should decide for himself where they sit in the spectrum of photography. Importantly though, once ensconced in their corner of the photographic world they must be open to all disciplines. Practice what suits them but never assume that their way is the right way or the only way. Photography is a living art form and as such is fluid and alive, it reacts to and creates fashion and style. HDR can be the vogue one month, sepia all the rage the next. If you do not embrace it, do not disparage it either and if you can do something better than someone else don’t tell them not to do it because “manipulating a bad image only produces a bad manipulated image”. Budding photographers should be encouraged to try because without trying you do not learn. Similarly, if you don’t like borders then don’t use borders but that’s your choice it does not mean that all photos should not have borders. Put simply you cannot go too far with digital manipulation just as you cannot put constraints on art. Know what you like but never assume that your taste is the only taste. Remember in the words of Jerry Lodriguss, “Writers massage the language of words; photographers massage the language of light”.

If this post has made you want to discuss this subject then just click on "post a comment". Which is just down the page a little bit from here.

Trio Comp. Links to examples

O.K. so when I posted the examples for the Trio Competition I forgot to make them actually link to the bigger size shots on my Flickr account. As I've already been asked where you can see the better quality versions I'm posting the links. Go HERE for the Match example and HERE for the House one.

Trio Competition

Burning Through ©Mark Stone

Coming up on April 7th is the Club Trio Competition. Why am I telling you this so far in advance? Because we’ve had to change it slightly this year and entries have to be submitted by the 17th of March. In the past we’ve always been able to find someone willing to judge the competition on the night without already having seen the pictures. Unfortunately this year none of the judges we approached were willing to do it like that.

If your submitting prints then its really simple. You can either have three separate prints, on the correct size mounts (50x40 cm) or you can mount all of the prints into one mount. No problem there.

If, however, your going to submit an entry for the digital projected competition then you have to combine all three photographs within the same size area as you would normally only have one picture. Confused? It’s easy really. As shown in the example above you can simply put all three pictures side by side and then size the whole thing to a maximum of 1050 pixels high and 1400 pixels wide. Or you can arrange your images any way you want as long as the whole thing does not exceed that size.

Looking at the example below you can see all three images fit into an area that is 1050 pixels high and 1400 pixels wide. So instead of the whole area being taken up by just one picture you have three squeezed in.

Just use your imagination and give it your best shot.

Don’t forget if you need a bit of help with resizing images then there are some tutorials posted on the clubs website. Just follow that link and they are listed in the Reflex Members download section. If after looking at that you still need help then just ask someone at the next meeting.

Behind the Green Door ©Mark Stone

This week you get two guest speakers for the price of one!

This week we have not one but two guest speakers! They are going to dazzle you with their "Conventional and Digital Dabblings"!
We need to start either dead on time or a little early for Keith Cooper and Brian Swinyard to get through the wealth of photographs they want to show. But not only will you get to see lots of great prints they are also going to be giving a slide show not digital projected images. Which will be great as long as Roy can dig the projector out from the back of his cupboard!
If you would like to get some idea of the work that will be displayed you can visit Brian Swinyard's website. So come along and have a great time viewing some fantastic images.
Please try to turn up a little bit earlier than normal as we would like to start promptly at 1930 as there as so many images to get through.

Vivian Maier Street Photographer

You’ve probably never heard of her, and maybe you never would of if you hadn’t read this blog. Who was she? Well her working life was spent as a Nanny to various families in the USA. In her spare time however she was a prolific street photographer. The reason hardly anyone, until recently, has never heard of her is because she didn’t show anyone her photo’s! A few years ago a storage locker was repossessed and inside it they found boxes and boxes of negatives. These were put up for auction and one guy bought one of the boxes for $400. Inside he found 30,000 negatives. He scanned a load of them and then decided to try and contact other people who had bought boxes of negatives and buy them from those people as well He now has around 100,000 negatives and a lot of those are still on the rolls undeveloped! The video I’ve posted above is an interview with the person who bought the box. If you want to see more of the pictures or see more videos (including videos of the pictures in the form of a slideshow) then just follow this link which is a YouTube search for her name. It’s worth sitting and looking through the ones of her pictures as she took some amazing shots. It’s sad that in 2008 she slipped on some ice, hit her head and died a few months later. She was in her 80’s.

Happy Birthday Barrie

It’s Barrie’s Birthday today. I’m sure he won’t mind me showing you all that he has a soft and gentle side. This was taken at a lavender farm and he thought the flower would look lovely if he put it in his hair. Unfortunately he’d forgotten he doesn’t have enough of it left! Have a great day mate!

Shooting the Hollywood Stars

I don’t tend to watch TV very much but this Saturday there’s a show I might actually sit down and watch, hell I may even record it. Below is the description lifted straight from the BBC webpage. Here’s the link to the shows BBC2 site. It’s being repeated on BBC HD Sun 9 Jan @ 01:20
BBC2 20:00 Saturday 8th Jan.

Shooting the Hollywood Stars

 

Rankin, the UK's leading fashion photographer, reveals the rich history of Hollywood photography and how its most influential and enduring images were created. From Hollywood's golden age, epitomised by gorgeous images of screen goddesses Greta Garbo and Marlene Dietrich to brooding shots of Marlon Brando; from the unparalleled allure of pictures of Marilyn Monroe to iconic black and white stills of Charlie Chaplin, Rankin immerses himself in the art of the Hollywood portrait and explores the vital role it has played in both the movie business and our continuing love affair with movie stars.
To understand how the image makers of Hollywood created these iconic photographs, Rankin recruits a cast of leading Hollywood actors to help him recreate some of the most important - including Leslie Mann (Knocked Up, 40 Year Old Virgin); Selma Blair (Legally Blonde, Cruel Intentions), British actor Matthew Rhys (Brothers & Sisters, Dylan Thomas's biopic The Edge of Love); actor extraordinaire Michael Sheen (The Damned United, Frost/Nixon), and living Hollywood legend Jane Russell.

Sober yet?

Christmas has been and gone. The new year has started and hopefully by now most of you will be over the worst of your hangovers and ready for any challenges 2011 throws at you.

This Thursday you’re going to have to come out of your warm houses and take a trip to the Langton for the first meeting of the new year. The last four months seem to have flown by since we started back in September and we’re now almost halfway through the season! This weeks meeting is the travelling exhibition for the Ace of Clubs Competition. So you’ll get to see some great photographs.

Don’t forget this Thursday is also the last date you can bring in, email or Dropbox entries for the 3rd round of the Open Competition.

We also need you to submit your best pictures for the Battle of the Clubs against A1 Camera Club from Weston Super mare, which we are Hosting on February the 3rd. We need those submissions as soon as possible as they have to be sent off to be judged very soon!

Remember if you want to write an article, have something mentioned on the Blog or in the regular email then get in touch. Because there’s only one way we’ll know what you want featured, written about or if you hate something we’re doing.

You have to tell us!