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Great Large Format Workshop by Julian Hawkins |
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On Tues 21st Feb 2012 Julian Hawkins brought along two 5x4 cameras for club members to try out and see how they worked.
Julian has been shooting commercially since the 1980s, started out with still life, but now mostly shoots landscapes on 5x4 and portraits on medium format.
As well as the hands-on demo, Julian made a presentation setting out his philosophy on photography. He regards shooting on large format film as a meditative process, an entirely different experience to shooting digital.
This was an excellent and informative evening. We were very fortunate in getting such a passionate and experienced photographer to give up his time to speak to us.
Julian Hawkins runs Shadows & Light workshops here. |
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Joseph Grimaldi of Clerkenwell |
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Above Sad Clown with portrait of Grimaldi by Bill Gilliam.
Every year in Feb a remembrance ceremony is held for Joe Grimaldi in Holy Trinity Church in Hackney east London.
Joseph Grimaldi (18 December 1778 – 31 May 1837), was an English actor and comedian who is perhaps best known for his invention of the modern day whiteface clown. He chiefly appeared at Drury Lane in pantomime where his greatest success was appearing in Harlequin and Mother Goose; or the Golden Egg and followed with a successful performance at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden.
He lived all his life among the people of Clerkenwell and died at 33 Southampton Street, now called Calshot Street. Islington Council has called the park in which he lies buried Joseph Grimaldi Park to commemorate a great artist. Read more.
Above Prayer for Grimaldi by Bill Gilliam.
In February many of London's working clown entertainers and street performers turn up in costume to celebrate the great mans life. This year the snow prevented some of the usual devotees from getting to the ceremony but club chair, Bill Gilliam, made it there and recorded the photos above. There was a moving ceremony with a blistering vocal performance from one of the Trinity Church congregation followed by a clown show for children. This event along with many others is listed in our Photo Opportunities page on this site.
Photo below by club member, Steve Daszko, who was also at the event.
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Paperchase Postcards hit the stores |
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Members of the Photographic Society were challenged to illustrate the theme "Britannia" for a new range of postcards by Paperchase. The cards have just gone into the stores.
Fish and Chips is by Tom Smith and the Merry-Go-Round is by Roy Wenborne.
I Love London is by Paul Davies and the Phone box is by Jean Jameson.
The Morris men are by Roy Wenborne and the View of St Paul's is by Greg Lambert. |
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On 7th Feb. 2012 we had a fantastic talk by music photography legend, David Redfern. David showed 120 of his famous pictures, spoke about the people in the shots, and how he came to photograph them. The first picture he showed was of Humphrey Lyttelton. David said the first record he ever bought was of Humphrey Lyttelton playing "Bad Penny Blues". The last photo he showed was of Katie Melua taken at Ronnie Scott's the night before he came to talk to us.
David showed us a shot of Gene Vincent playing on a cross channel boat, and his first album cover - a photograph of Kenny Ball, for which he received £25. There then followed a catalogue of just about every important performer from the 1960s to today. David said he reckoned he'd photographed Miles Davis on about 50 separate occasions.
David started using a Rolleiflex, then switched to a Hasselblad. He was so respected that he was given good access, and took many of his most famous pictures using a standard lens. When asked how he was able to get the exposure right shooting on Ektachrome in such difficult conditions, David said that he used a spot meter on the artists faces. Something that we can do today with our DSLRs. David's advice to today's music photographers was to be tenacious and start small, shooting at the less popular, but more accessible venues.
This was a privileged and very special view of a working photographer's long career. David's latest book is available here. |
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Steve Brabner on Photoshop |
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On Tues 17th Jan 2012 we had an excellent talk by Steve Brabner on Photoshop. For the first half of the evening he gave a very detailed explanation of the benefits (and problems) of shooting RAW. Owners of the latest digital cameras sometimes find that their old versions of Photoshop won't open their RAW files. Steve has a simple solution to that - download the free Adobe DNG converter: for Windows, or for Mac. You can then convert your camera's proprietary RAW files to DNGs which will then open in petty much any version of Photoshop. Steve hails for Amersham Photographic Society where you can download his Recipe for Print to Screen colour matching (under Digital Group).
During the second half of the evening Steve showed some of his own work. Steve describes his style as creative and "high risk" and he gave us detailed explanations as to how he'd achieved his top quality artistic results. This was a great evening. Even well-experienced members learnt new techniques. Everybody was inspired by seeing Steve's photographs and went away with new enthusiasm. |
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Photo club members were challenged to illustrate this brief: "Refracting Disability - a photographic exhibition reflecting upon the challenges wheelchair users and others with disabling conditions are subjected to by the built environment."
You can see the exhibition at Café Eterno, 34 Neal Street, Covent Garden, London, WC2H 9PS until the end of March 2012. It is open Monday - Friday 11am - 4pm and Saturday 11am - 3pm (when staffing permits). The cafe offers friendly service, great food at bargain prices, and has excellent reviews. |
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