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.
The Technique of Panning
Alec Brown will speak to us on the technique of panning. This is a skill which takes time to practice but can result in some excellent images capturing the detail in objects moving in front of the camera. He will explain the technique and show photographs that illustrate a moving object against a blurred background. A short video at the end of this session will show someone using the technique.
Our close of evening non competitive look at member’s images will be on the theme of ‘then and now’. This builds on the knowledge gained from last month’s meeting which focused on editing images with the help of popular software solutions.
All photographers sometimes produce images that don’t quite work. Maybe they are too dark, out of alignment, or they would work better if trimmed.
This session will demonstrate how to correct some of these problems. Following an introductory video on an editing workflow, most of the time will be spent in small groups using different editing techniques. At least one group will be for absolute beginners and at least one group will be for people with more experience, so catering for all levels of ability.
We welcome Lucy Kayne to Aldeburgh Library to talk to us about seeking beauty in the everyday.
Lucy describes seeking beauty in the everyday as the underpinning philosophy in how she works. Lucy runs a wide range of workshops for photographers. Details can be found on her website.
Lucy is always on the lookout for new and interesting places to explore and the talk should be informative and interesting.
Our close of evening non competitive look at member’s images will be on the theme of reflections, as demonstrated in the videos presented at the January meeting.
The annual AGM will the first item of the evening. Reports by president, secretary and treasurer will be circulated beforehand and will be available for discussion before the election of committee members and officers.
Regular contributor Chris Atkinson will present on the theme of reflections photography using a smartphone. This should give some inspiration for photos when out and about.
Our usual closing (non competitive) look at member’s photos will be the interpretation of famous photographer’s or artist’s work, showing two original images and the member’s interpretations of those two images. Try looking at the jump photographs by Philippe Halsman, the street photographs of Henri Cartier Bresson or the landscapes of Ansel Adams for example. An alternative might be a reinterpretation of a Constable, a Monet, a Van Gogh or even an abstract piece of artwork.
This meeting is on the second Wednesday of the month,11th December as Christmas approaches.
Our plan is to show two videos on underwater photography. This includes explanations of underwater light, subjects and technical equipment aspects.
A presentation on one of the photography greats, Julia Margaret Cameron has been confirmed. Noted for portraiture and with her photographs dating from the mid 19th century, this should be most informative.
The annual 20 question quiz will be held, subject to timings, with a small prize to the winner. The tea/coffee break will have the added attraction of mince pies.
In our usual non competitive look at member’s photographs, we’ll be looking at landscape photographs.
Justin is a Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society, and an award-winning professional landscape photographer best known for his atmospheric images of East Anglia. He will speak to us in person about the lessons he’s learned as a landscape photographer, with plenty of images to illustrate his talk.
Justin has a new book out titled ‘Discovering Essex’, which complements his recent book about Photographing East Anglia.
Justin has talked to us before and this will be an excellent evening on landscape photography, which we are sure most people will be interested in.
Our final evening segment is our non competitive sharing of member’s photographs on macro and close ups.
This will be a member led session on macro photography where we hope to have at least two set ups where you can try your hand at this interesting discipline and hopefully encourage you to try this yourselves in the field or at home.
You don’t need lots of expensive equipment and we will explain how you can achieve some macro photography with equipment costing between £5 and £15.
Quite often you can photograph something at extreme magnification with a little patience. Sometimes you can get a photograph where it isn’t obvious what the subject matter is.
We will be bringing examples of macro equipment that members can have a look at and try on their own camera or smartphone. A short presentation will precede the practical session with examples using the equipment available.
The public perception of forensic photography.
We are most pleased to welcome one of the country’s leading experts on forensic photography, Nick Marsh, to talk to us. The types of light are of the utmost importance in photographing a crime scene and producing images that can be used in evidence.
This may be off the usual theme of photographic topics, but nonetheless should be an intriguing and most interesting session. As this is a rare opportunity to be informed on this topic, members are encouraged to mention it to friends with an interest in photography.