6th September
2000: Andy Hanson
A large audience
was present on September 6th for the first meeting of the new
season. Daphne Hanson, past President of the East Anglian Federation
of the Photographic Alliance of Great Britain, was introduced by our
President, Sidney Reynolds. She spoke briefly of the Lowestoft
Photographic Society and the Lowestoft Camera Club and of their
coming together to form the new Lowestoft Photographic Club. On
behalf of the E.A.F., she wished us every success and urged us to
continue as active members enjoying our photography. At the end of
the evening our youngest member, Adam Smith, presented Daphne with a
bouquet of flowers. The rest of the evening was a lecture by Andy
Hanson, P.A.G.B. Awards Officer, who explained what was required to
obtain Credits and Distinctions from the Alliance. We then had a
chance to judge some of his monochrome prints and compare our
assessments with those of the official judges. During the course of
his lecture, Andy showed us many black and white prints including
portraits, landscapes, architecture and shapes/patterns, with
various printing and lighting comparisons. He also showed how
careful cropping could improve a picture.
27th September
2000: Peter Millard
Members saw
hundreds of high quality slides as Peter Millard, BPE2, from Essex,
presented ‘I’ve Seen The Light’, which proved to be an excellent
demonstration of the use of natural light in all its forms. We were
shown how to get the most out of flat lighting on dull days,
side-lighting from all angles on buildings, interior details, plants
and landscapes. Peter also had some fine shots taken on misty autumn
and winter mornings and finished with some brilliant foreground
lighting against very dark skies which produced a really dramatic
effect. All the photographs bar two were taken in this country and
many were of quite mundane subjects but good use of light, form and
colour ensured that these could still produce excellent pictures.
7th February
2001: Nick Catling
On Feb. 7th
professional photographer, Nick Catling, from Southwold, came to
talk about his work and to show us examples from his permanent
exhibition. He runs a studio and gallery in Southwold where he
specialises in portraiture, weddings and landscape photography.
During the evening we heard how he progressed from an Instamatic
camera at the age of eight, through school photography club to the
army where he again came into contact with photography using S.L.R.
cameras and infra-red film for the first time. After medical
discharge he then went on a course in Kent with the idea of working
in film or the media but, after gaining a distinction, he opted for
further study at Harrow School of Film and Photography. A year later
he became a freelance photographer with a contract from Suffolk
Coastal District Council to update the pictures in their colour
brochure. However, his own particular interest was black and white
landscape photography and he worked at building up a large portfolio
of these pictures to form exhibitions and finally to display in his
own gallery. It was these pictures that he brought along for us to
see and discuss. Many were of the Suffolk coast but some were taken
in America and some in Tuscany and all were large, high-quality
prints. It was a very interesting evening and Nick was happy to tell
us about his cameras, film, papers, mounting, framing, etc. and
those members who themselves specialise in black and white printing
were in their element with so many professional photographs to look
at.
21st February
2001: Ken Bryan
The LPC was
treated to a wonderful evening of superb photography presented by
Ken Bryan. His lecture was entitled, “A Love of Landscape”, and his
pictures showed not only his love of the subject but his expertise
at getting the very best photographs in all seasons and conditions.
As Ken lives on the Isle of Skye, he began with a large selection of
work taken there, starting at sea-level and gradually getting higher
and higher into the mountains. We saw the wide variations in
lighting conditions that he encounters and through his work we could
appreciate the beautiful, soft evening colours and the restful,
horizontal lines of this very photogenic area of Britain. The
simplicity of many of Ken’s photographs emphasised the lighting,
colours, patterns and atmosphere. He also demonstrated clearly the
importance of foreground in a landscape picture. During the rest of
the evening we saw photographs of Derbyshire and Snowdonia,
finishing with some very dramatic shots taken in the Alps. As Ken
has been a climber for many years, a lot of his pictures gave us
unusually high viewpoints of these splendid mountains.
11th April 2001:
Gallery
Members enjoyed
an evening of great variety when members of Great Yarmouth and
District Photographic Society joined us for a joint Gallery Evening.
The entertainment began with Phil Baker, President of the Gt.
Yarmouth Society, who showed us prints of assorted windmills from
East Anglia, Holland, Greece, Mallorca, and gave us a very
interesting lecture on the different types of mill and the various
uses that are made of them. New member, Val Prettyman, then showed
us some of her colourful prints of local seascapes and landscapes
illustrating the attraction for her of our coast and countryside.
Les Prettyman demonstrated his ingenious ideas for trying something
different! We saw his ability to spot interesting items to
photograph at home and abroad as well as his “collage” work
involving cutting and sticking. Barry Smith continued with some
lovely reflections and emphasised the need to go back to a location
when the light is right rather than ‘make do’ with indifferent
lighting. He also showed the importance of choosing the right colour
mounting board and suggested the use of a polariser to make
photographs stronger. The first part of the evening concluded with
some beautiful seascapes taken by Philip Vallis. His black and
white work is printed in soft, gentle tones and Philip is noted in
our Club for his ability to capture beautiful skies and for his
architectural photography. At this point I must mention that Philip
has just had some of his work published in the Pentax Magazine –
congratulations, Philip! After the break it was the turn of the
slide photographers and Bert Collyer started with some excellent
bird photography. Charles Read, from Yarmouth, showed slides of
prints which had been produced digitally and had some wry comments
about digital imaging! Finally, Barry Smith again entertained us
with high-quality slides including natural history and contra-jour
shots.
2nd May 2001:
Spanish Duet
On May 2nd
members were entertained by Daphne and Andy Hanson from Bottisham &
Burwell, with a slide show entitled “Spanish Duet”. Daphne and Andy
have collected many photographs from their numerous trips to Spain
and were able to take us from Barcelona right down to Seville
showing us many of their favourite holiday places on the way.
Members were able to compare the distinctive architecture of Antonio
Gaudi with that of the beautiful Alhambra Palace at Granada and the
Moorish influence in Southern Spain.
16th May 2001:
David Leathers
On Wednesday,
May 16th members enjoyed an evening of excellent monochrome prints
presented by E.A.F. President, David Leathers. David brought along
the award-winning prints which gained him both L.R.P.S. and A.R.P.S.
distinctions from the Royal Photographic Society together with the
twelve prints submitted to the Photographic Alliance of Great
Britain which gave him his D.P.A.G.B. David uses traditional
dark-room techniques to produce his prints and in many instances he
was able to show us what improvements he made to the original prints
before they were ready to be entered for the awards. In all cases
the technical quality was already there with excellent lighting and
composition so that enhancement of the main element of the pictures
and added contrast was all that was needed. Members had the
opportunity to look at the prints at close quarters as they were
displayed on the stands and the quality of the work could be fully
appreciated.
[Thanks to Judy
Leak, LPC]
