AGM, Tom Sage and practical session

Lots of things going on with Reflex at the moment, many of which were summed up in last weeks annual general meeting. It looks like the club committee and members have been hard at work behind the scenes with planning and organising the future of the club. If you didnt make it to the meeting (like me - slapped wrists) then please take the time to read our newsletter which outlines a few changes that we all have to look forward to. As a result of feedback from members there are all sorts of new ideas being implemented, offering us a great deal of variety over the year and even more opportunities to get stuck in and participate rather than just sitting in chairs.

This week we are back to our normal meeting day of Thursday and we are expecting a presentation by Tom Sage, a photographer who worked with the Press association on Fleet street for 15 years and then moved on to work with hot air balloons. It should be interesting to hear his experiences of press photography.

We have a little advance info regarding the meeting in two weeks time on May 24th, this will be our last practical session of the season, now at the moment its all top secret and all Ive been told is that we need to bring our cameras and an empty memory card. We will be venturing outside the walls of the school, so you softie southerners will likely need big furry boots, winter coats, hats, gloves scarves ( ha - waiting for the retaliative abuse ). Oh and apparently it would help if we could all be at the club for 7pm that evening, ready to brave the weather by 7:15.

Congratulations to Mark O Grady who has had a print accepted in the London Salon exhibition on his first ever entry, its great to see our members doing well.
Mark o Gradys flickr

Robin Gregory

At tonight's meeting we have guest speaker Robin Gregory who will show and talk about 200 images and a few audio visual presentations. He will also show how he put together some of his images in Photoshop. The photograph is one of Robins and has been reproduced here with his permission.

Also please don’t forget that tonight is the final entry date for Round 4 of our Open Competition.

Thursday’s Meeting

Instead of the advertised speaker we have Martin Edwards who will be presenting a talk called “Film Photography in the Digital Age' and is about the resurgence in interest in analogue techniques now that digital photography is mainstream. He will also be bringing some of the camera’s he uses to take his images. If you’d like to visit his website and see some of his work then you can go here.

 

 

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David Burnett

This week see’s us enjoying a presentation by Photographer David Burnett entitled ‘Burnett’s Baroque’. "In Burnett's Baroque, David will take us on a tour of the baroque cities and architecture of Europe, beginning in Dresden and ending in Pottsdam (Berlin), with Prague, Venice, Verona and Rome in between. David appreciates any comments and feedback during his talk."

If your into architecture or just want to see what the buildings are like in various European cities then come along and enjoy the show.

Contrasting views

If you were at last nights talk by Andy Beel you may of just noticed a smile appear on my face when just after he started talking he made a massive sweeping statement that nearly made me shout “YES”!.

“With digital it’s not just what you do in the camera.

What you do with the file afterwards is just as, if not more important!”

 

I should imagine that quite a few of you that used to shoot film probably turned off at that point and got all nostalgic about how digital isn’t really photography and there isn’t any skill to it anymore. I’m sorry I just don’t agree with you. Well kind of. Digital photography is a totally different skill set to film photography. But then again it all depends on how you take your pictures. If you shoot JPG and only do a little or no editing on the computer afterwards then you’ll find that it’s more like traditional film photography where you need to get as much, if not all of it right in the camera. Whereas if you shoot in raw then I believe you should be aiming to purposely shoot for a fairly flat image that retains as much detail across the whole of the picture from the darkest shadow to the whitest white. Because your going to edit it on your computer. You are going to choose where the brightest highlights and the deepest, darkest blacks are going to be. Everything in that image is yours to do with as you will. Which is obviously a totally different way of seeing photography. Which is better? I can’t answer that but I know which is best for me. If you haven’t figured out which you prefer yet then just give both ways a go. Experiment & see just how long it takes you to get bored sat in front of the computer. If it’s only a few minutes then maybe you need to re evaluate the way you take your images and go back to shooting JPG. There’s no shame in that. It’s only stuck up self righteous buffoons (there’s a good word I haven’t seen used in ages) that will tell you otherwise.

 

Oh yeah I was talking about Andy wasn’t I. Sorry I get distracted easi………

 

Andy talked quite a bit about curves and custom curves so I thought I would give you a couple of links. That way if you wanted to you could have a bit of a read about them. If you want to discover more about Custom Curves or just find out some background on Curves you can follow either of those links. Yes they both use Lightroom to demonstrate it but you can replicate it in virtually any piece of editing software that has curves.

Open your eyes

Last nights meeting was superb. Not only did we get to see some fantastic photography by Simon Caplan but there was literally “no room at the inn!”.

Simon got the evening off to a great start by explaining just what he hopes to achieve when he takes a photograph but instead of trying to make it sound all arty and full of technobabble he did it in an easy to follow and uncomplicated way. The words were punctuated by some wonderful images which when they appeared on the screen made you stop, look and then think “hang on a minute. I’ve seen that a million times! Why didn’t I take that photograph?”. His images are full of the little details, symmetry and colours that hundreds of people will walk past every single day and not even notice. It really does make you wonder how you could be so blind, How you’ve never really looked at your surroundings.

I’ve actually had emails from a few club members saying how much they enjoyed the evening. That’s never happened before, so I can say if you get the chance, take a look at his work and listen to what he has to say.

Just a quick note about the room. We are aware of the problems we are having at the moment and are exploring our options.

Simon Caplan

Out of the Blue © Simon Caplan

This weeks guest speaker is Simon Caplan with a presentation called “The Extraordinary Ordinary” how photography can discover hidden beauty in the urban envirionment. Simons recently had an exhibition at the YHA in Bristol’s Harbourside area and I’ve been on a few walks around the Harbourside with him and other Bristol Flickr Group members. It’ll be an evening of great photography and I can promise you’ll have walked past where he’s taken several of his photographs and you won’t have even seen what he’s taken a picture of.

Guest Speaker: John Hoskins

This Thursday we have a talk from John Hoskins covering the last twenty or so years of Club Photography. Starting in the Darkroom and following his transition to digital. His early failures, those that have survived and those he’s recently had some success with. It should be a great talk and John would love a bit of audience participation, so he’s open to questions & comments during the talk. Although that doesn’t mean you can have a full blown conversation with the person sitting next to you. If you’d like to see some of John’s work before Thursday then just follow this link to his Flickr ‘stream.

Debbie Young

Last night we had a great talk by Debbie Young. Despite some technical problems (the laptop is currently in the middle of the road on fire after being doused in petrol!) it went well. It was great to see some of the equipment she used in her underwater photography and I know quite a few of you enjoyed looking at her photographs especially the street photography.

I’d just like to take this opportunity to thank Debbie for coming along and giving us a great presentation.

Guest Speaker, Debbie Young

I have an apology to make to Debbie Young and whoever did take the photograph that was up here. it seems somehow a couple of emails have been mixed up and the wrong information was being shown here. I'm really sorry for the mix up and am trying to find Debbie's email with her image that she gave permission for us to use on the Blog.
At this weeks meeting we have a guest speaker, Debbie Young.  If you want to see some more of her work before Thursday then you can visit her Flickr site.

I’m getting there… eventually

 

I’m a bit late this week as this post should of been made on Friday but as the title says “I’m getting there..eventually”

Ann Cook FRPS, came along last Thursday and talked about the Art of Make Believe. It really was a fantastic evening of great Portraiture photography. Even better was Ann’s obvious enjoyment as she talked about her pictures. The talk was informative, entertaining and fun. How many times have you been sat at a club meeting wishing the speaker would just get on with it and talk about the pictures rather than the fact they were taken on their 25th trip to Africa and then get a 15 minute lecture on where Africa is in the world! Well you certainly don’t get that at one of Ann’s talks. I’ve never heard so much laughter or seen such obvious enjoyment on the faces of everyone attending. It was great to get a speaker that captivated their audience. It’s also the first time I’ve known that I have been looking at pictures taken with continuous lighting and I was impressed by the results. It also helped that Ann was obviously a master at using her equipment.

I’d like to thank Ann for such a wonderful evening and tell the rest of the world if you want an enjoyable, entertaining and fun evening full of anecdotes and wonderful photography , go along to one of her presentations. You won’t regret it.

Thursday

 

This week we have a visit from not one but two speakers. Joanne Searle ARPS, CPAGB and Linda Harvey LRPS. It should be a great evening with Slides, Prints and AV’s [Audio Visuals, short films] being shown. Clicking on Joanne’s name will take you to her website and Linda’s takes you to her images on the Kingswood Photographic Societies website.

George Reekie

Thursday night, the 14th, we have the pleasure of George Reekie giving us a presentation of his work entitled “Japan to Norton Fitzwarren Via Goodwood”. Now if that hasn’t piqued your interest I don’t know what will. If you want to see some of George’s work before the meeting you can take a look at his gallery on Taunton Camera Clubs website. It looks to be a night of excellent photography and well worth coming along to see.

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.

Thanks from Luis

Luis Bustamante, our guest speaker last week, has sent us an email in which he thanks each and everyone of you who came along to the talk. He wanted to let you all know that he was very impressed by the way in which you not only listened to what he had to say but also the questions that were asked. Actually I think I'll quote him as he put it so much better than I could;

I was really impressed with the way you organised my contribution. The hall was just right and just a bit bracing. The show was perfectly managed despite a non-cooperating remote. The audience were encouraging and alert, with an inquisitive edge.

I think the "just a bit bracing" comment was his way of saying it was bloody freezing. Despite the radiators being on full for an hour before the meeting started!

One of his pictures was chosen as a favourite of the decade by the Guardian newspaper and was published last weekend you can take a look at it HERE.

Last meeting of the Year

Reproduced with Permission. ©Luis Bustamante

First off I want to thank Luis Bustamante for a fantastic talk last night which was very insightful and interesting. I know some people went away mulling over what they had heard and thinking about the way in which they approach their photography. Also you should look out for some of his work being published in the Guardian this weekend or go take a look at, and maybe buy, his book "Brief Encounter".

This Thursday.

It's time to show your funny and strange pictures to add a bit of cheer to the proceedings. If you've taken a picture that makes you laugh, smile or is just of something weird, strange or stupid, bring it in. Share the humour with us. It doesn't have to be sized, mounted, framed or anything special, just bring it in. If it's a digital file you can also send it in via email or our preferred method, Dropbox.
If you keep hearing Dropbox being mentioned and want to use it then just follow THIS link to sign up, it's free. Once you've installed the software, as long as you use the link supplied here, I will get an email telling me when you've signed up and installed it. Which means I can send you an invite to share a folder with the club and that's all you really have to do. Ask me if you want to know more.

We're also going to have a fun little competition so bring along some prints, any prints. Don't worry about the subject's, just make sure they don't really have anything in common. So do NOT bring all portraits, or all Landscapes. Mix them up. we just need you to bring up to 6 prints and all will be explained on the night.

Also, as it's the last meeting before Christmas, if you feel like bringing along some nibbles or snacks so we can make it a bit more of a social event than a normal meeting that would be great.

Don' forget Thursday 16th is also the last day for entries to be submitted for Round 3 of the Open Competition. Prints need to be brought in on the night and Digital Files can either be emailed or sent via Dropbox to me by 10am on Friday 17th.

Luis Bustamante

This week is the Chair’s evening and he’s decided to invite Luis Bustamante around to
give us a talk on his photography.
If your into street photography then this could be your favourite night of the season.
If you’ve always wanted to give this style of photography a go or wondered what sort
of reaction you would get if you started walking around the streets and taking pictures
of strangers then come along and listen to what he has to say. It’s also a chance to ask
him any questions you have about his style or pictures. You can also see a preview of his
book "Brief Encounter" by visiting THIS link

 
Photographs copyright Luis Bustamante and reproduced here with permission.