This month we will begin with an AGM after which we will be very pleased to welcome Catherine Orr. Catherine studied photography at the Polytechnic of Central London when the photographic world was analogue. Those hours watching images emerge in darkroom trays remained a fond memory, so when Catherine found herself disillusioned with the slick digital image she went back to the roots of photography and began exploring the cyanotype process. Years after exposing her first cyanotype photogram, Catherine is still exploring, often with photograms, sometimes with digital negatives. Many of her prints are toned using botanicals such as tea, rosemary and fenugreek.
The cyanotype is the oldest photographic printing process. A combination of iron salts are used to coat watercolour paper. The coated paper is exposed to sunlight, rinsed in tap water and magically the image appears. It’s non-toxic, environmentally friendly and no darkroom is needed. The process can be simple, or you can dig deeper into image calibration and chemistry tocomplicate – or enhance. Catherine’s work celebrates wild and wonderful plants, landscapes and animals, usually from her adopted county of Suffolk. She’s also drawn to more mundane objects, currently completing a year-long project producing a cyanotype for each day of 2025 using single-use plastics.
The next meeting of the Aldeburgh Photography Group will be held on Wednesday 10 December at 7.30pm in the Aldeburgh Library.
This month Stuart Turner, president of APG, will speak about some of the great street photographers. He will explore the genre from the gritty black and white images of Don McCullin to the colours and vibrancy of Alex Webb, whilst not forgetting the pioneering images and approach of Henri Cartier-Bresson.
In addition, another committee member, Alec Brown, will demonstrate the use of timelapse and hyperlapse in photographic practice. The first is when a number of still images are converted into a video and hyperlapse is where the camera seems to move through the scene.Â
The evening will conclude with members showing their images inspired by a walk taken with professional photographer Lucy Kayne in Staverton Thicks and also from a talk given last month by professional photographer David Calvert.
The next meeting of the Aldeburgh Photography Group will be held on Wednesday 19 November at 7.30pm in the Aldeburgh Library.
This month we are pleased to welcome David Calvert, a photographer based on the Suffolk coast, who has been working professionally for over twenty years and specialises in landscape and portrait photography. Since moving here most of his work has primarily centred on coastal images, in particular Aldeburgh and the surrounding areas and most images are available as beautiful fine art prints and cards. His work is regularly used by publications and broadcasters around the world and he has been recognised by more than 120 awards, including 16 UK titles and three international honours. David is a Fellow of both the Royal Photographic Society and the British Institute of Professional Photography, as well as an Icon Master in the USA.
The evening will conclude with members showing their images inspired by the talk given last month by professional photographer Daniel Ruffles.
Following a very successful photo walk at Covehithe last spring, local professional photographer Lucy Kayne is sharing Staverton Thicks with some of our members. Near Rendlesham, this is a beautiful, atmospheric woodland, full of ancient oaks, tangled branches and tree trunks, ferns and moss, and interesting light and shadows that play across the landscape. It’s a wonderful place to look closely at smaller details or to capture the atmosphere of the area. Images taken on the day will be shared at the next meeting in November.
We are delighted to be joined by Daniel Ruffles, an award-winning landscape photographer based in Aldeburgh. Daniel specialises in landscape and seascape photography, and he strives to capture the ethereal beauty of the Suffolk Coast, from its vast, wide-open skies to the tranquility of its sea. He describes his photography as a visual love letter to Suffolk. Daniel will also detail how he has progressed from traditional landscapes into a practice of projects, ideas and experimentation.
Daniel’s success has also been acknowledged further afield with the following awards:
Winner ‘Coastal View’ 2023 Landscape Photographer of the Year
Shortlisted 2020 Landscape Photographer of the Year
The evening will conclude with members showing their images inspired by the talk on photojournalism last month.
Andy Abbott, a photojournalist from Bury St Edmunds, will show us how the best pictures are opportunistic and as a result of being in the right place at the right time. Andy has captured highlights of East Anglian life with his camera for five decades. His ethos is to secure a memorable image that has the ability to tell a story without caption or explanation and which has the reader thinking ‘wow I must read on’. Away from the relative calm of our region he has also undertaken madcap escapades including filming hang gliders and abseilers and once had a gun aimed at him by East German border guards as he pointed a telephoto lens at Checkpoint Charlie. Thankfully nothing will be pointed him at him at the next meeting of the group except members and visitors eager to hear about his amazing career and see his images.
The evening will conclude with members showing their images from the Aldeburgh carnival which, incidentally, will also be shown in the local press and websites.
In August, we don’t meet. Instead we encourage all our members to attend the Aldeburgh Carnival and, if they wish, to take photographs for our next meeting. A small group of members agree to cover each event and to make photos available to support the carnival publicity. Our next formal meeting is in September.
The next meeting of the photography group will be held on Wednesday 16th July at 7.30pm in the Aldeburgh Library with two speakers we hope will stimulate us to experiment and enhance our skills.
Local photographer, Caroline Greenwell, will present her unique take on recording life around her, images that are candid, different and always interesting. She will show what is possible with a smartphone, keen observation skills and, sometimes, a disregard of the photographic rule book.
We will also have the chance to view some amazing images of our committee member Anne Molyneux’s recent trip to Alaska. We will see the landscape and wildlife and have the opportunity to question her on how some images were set up to maximise the chances of success.
The evening will conclude with members showing their images from the June photoshoot at Sizewell.
Beautiful Sizewell Beach is the location for our next group meeting.  Local photographer and writer, Richard Allenby-Pratt, will be leading the photoshoot and he will help us observe and better record the things we see with our cameras and smartphones.  Richard has won international awards and exhibited his work globally.  Closer to home, Richard leads The Suffolk Project, a study of the East Anglia landscape and its people so he is very well acquainted with the unique and fragile beauty of this coastal area.
Please note that this event is restricted to members and regular ad hoc attenders. Our next meeting in Aldeburgh Library will take place on Wednesday 16 July.
Local artist, David Gillingwater, will speak to us on the subject of composition. It will be fascinating to learn about this from a painter as opposed to a photographer and we hope it will stimulate a lot of discussion.