Author: Keswick Photographic Society

Our speaker at the latest meeting of Keswick Photographic Society did not have far to travel, nor did he require much introduction. Dr Keith Snell LRPS MPSA EFIAP is a longstanding member and a past Chairman of the club. His topic was ‘In-Camera Creative Photography’, specifically the techniques of intentional camera movement (known as ICM) and multiple exposure photography. As Keith pointed out, both of these techniques are possible to simulate with computer software such as Photoshop, but his preference was to achieve the effects in the field and using the settings available in the camera. He felt that this was a more intimately engaging experience as he could modify the camera settings in response to the landscape environment and conditions at the time of taking the images. The intention in his talk was very much a ‘how to’ description of techniques, together with examples of the kind of effects that could be created by their application.

 

In the first half Keith discussed intentional camera movement which requires that the camera settings should be adjusted to achieve a slow shutter speed, anywhere between 1/10 second and many seconds. While the shutter is open, various movements of the camera by the photographer will blur certain areas of the image, often producing an impressionistic effect or even an abstract image where patterns would predominate over representation of the subject. He emphasised that there were no rigid rules but he described a range of movements and illustrated in his images the effects that they produced. A striking image of the night-time lights of Funchal in Madeira was produced by rotating the camera around a fixed point and a circular movement, which tracked the tumbling waves of a stormy sea at Maryport, invoked something of William Turner’s impressionist painting style.

After the break, Keith moved on to the multiple exposure technique where each image is superimposed upon the preceding one; in the time of film cameras this often happened when inadvertently forgetting to wind the film on between exposures! With digital cameras it can be achieved in a controlled way, visualising the emerging composition in the viewfinder or on the back screen of the camera. Between exposures it is possible to change some of the camera settings and Keith described the effect of using different modes of blending of the exposures on the final image. He also showed the striking effects of changing the white balance setting in the camera between exposures. Most photographers use the camera’s automatic white balance setting which adjusts the colour cast to compensate for the different ambient colour temperature of a sunny scene or a cloudy scene for example. But one can set the colour temperature manually and create unnatural colour casts on the separate exposures which, when blended, produce striking abstract images. One of Keith’s examples was the interior of the Oculus building at Ground Zero in New York.

Keith also described the effects achievable by keeping a subject in close register during a series of exposures, producing an impressionist style of image. The other approach is to ‘sample’ different elements of a scene, or even different scenes, in separate exposures and blend these together. After showing many examples of the variety of final effects one can achieve with multi-exposure photography, he finished his presentation by describing what is possible with mobile phone cameras and showed an example of a multiple exposure scene at the Manchester International Festival this summer taken with his iPhone.

Altogether, this was an intriguing talk exploring some creative approaches to photography which were new to many of the members. With Keith’s revelations of the techniques needed, it is possible that many members will be tempted into the ‘dark arts’ of trying them out. They were certainly inspired by the variety of images on display and showed their appreciation for a thought-provoking talk with enthusiastic applauses.

There is an opportunity to view the photographs of our members at our Annual Photographic Exhibition at Keswick’s Theatre by the Lake from 12 October to 11 November.

On 27th September Keswick Photographic Society were pleased to welcome as their guest speaker, Kathryn Scorah MPAGB EFIAP FBPE, who had driven up from her home near Southport to deliver her talk ‘Ever Changing Perspectives’. Although it was a projected image presentation, we were delighted to see that Kathryn had also brought along print versions of her images which revealed the full quality of her work, including a striking print of tree trunks where the textures seemed convincingly three-dimensional. Many of the members had to touch it to convince themselves that it wasn’t printed on textured art paper!

Kathryn explained that the primary motivation in her photography is an emphasis on depicting mood or relating a story to engage the viewer. In order to take her images to the next level from the moment of capture, Kathryn makes extensive use of post-processing manipulation in the computer. This could selectively enhance areas of contrast or brightness in the image to focus the viewer’s attention and evoke an emotional response. An isolated boat adrift in a calm sea or a stormy wave bearing down on a lighthouse were both images which benefitted from this treatment. And she showed many before-and-after examples of how her post-processing skills could transform an initially mundane image into one with striking emotional impact.

Many of her photographs were composite images in which she seamlessly combined elements from separate images to produce a newly-created picture which conveyed a scene born out of her own imagination. Again, the goal being to tell a story or create a mood for the viewer to engage with. A beautiful girl with her lambs in a snowy winter scene and an isolated church next to a stream out on the mountain side were examples of her imagination at work to produce creative images with impact.

In finding appropriate people to populate some of her composite compositions, Kathryn travels widely to photograph the actors at the Edinburgh Fringe street shows, the Goths who appear every year at Whitby Abbey, the World War veterans at Pickering or the peripatetic Ragged Victorians. There is much skill in evidence in ensuring that wherever these subjects might then appear in her composite photographs, all elements of the scene are carefully and convincingly  combined with due consideration to matching their tones and colours.

Members were in awe of the skill and imagination which Kathryn brought to her creative photography and registered their approval with enthusiastic applause at the end.

Keith Snell

This week’s meeting was a step away from the normal lecture, presentation or judging session of members’ photographs. Instead it was a novel approach which involved the participation of all members and visitors.  The evening was led by our member, David Price EFIAP MPSA DPAGB.

“Shard and Squares” by David Carine

The aim of the evening was to give all members the opportunity to critique images in a non-competitive environment and in so doing improve their appreciation both of the images and of the role of judges.  The potential for significantly differing opinions of an image would highlight the difficulty judges experience in scoring or ranking images.

“Lone Man in the Landscape” by Marta Almar

Members had been invited to submit up to six digital images prior to the evening’s meeting and David collated and anonymised them.  Members had been invited to bring their own laptops to the meeting and the selection of images were uploaded onto 7 laptops.  The 21 members present were divided into groups of three and invited to discuss the technical, compositional and storytelling merits of the images.

“Tuatara” by Philip Cartwright

They could make suggestions for improvement if appropriate and so on.  There was no requirement to reach a consensus nor to report on their deliberations.  It was simply an interactive experience of assessing images and it worked incredibly well!

“Redwood Glade” by Richard Jakobson

Everyone present immersed themselves in the exercise and it was apparent that there was opportunity for everyone to have their say. The success of the evening could be judged by the fact that everyone was still busily critiquing images when the time for the meeting to close had been reached.  David Price was thanked for introducing this event and I feel sure that the concept will be repeated in future programmes.

David Woodthorpe

For the second meeting of the new season we had a presentation from Tim Fisher, the proprietor of the Northern Lights Gallery in Keswick. Prior to this Tim ran a photographic business in the south of the country as well as working for national newspapers. He has continued an active interest in photography since his move to Cumbria, now concentrating on landscapes and portraiture. This has resulted in several national and international awards.

Tim’s presentation was a new departure for the society in that we were taken through the process of selecting images from a portfolio with the intention of presenting them for competition. The first set of images were composites of local landscapes.

They were composed by combining monochrome photographs taken from a window in his gallery in Keswick together with photographs of coloured paintings by one of the artists exhibiting in the gallery.

As this project developed and he crafted the combined images, Tim began to use a theme derived from Ruskin’s view that the effects of the industrial revolution were poisoning the Lake District. We were shown 45 images and in two rounds reduced that down to only 10 which we felt were the best representation of this theme.

I might add that this was not done by a validated electoral process but by the subjective weighting of the “ayes” and “nos” heard in the room and from our Zoom participants! Tim discussed with us the criteria he uses when selecting images and suggested one of the best methods when selecting is to project the images onto a screen if possible.

After the break Tim then showed a selection of images of mainly children, taken at Appleby Horse Fair in 2017. A change in the weather conditions that year was instrumental in forming the basis of these images ie The Appleby Mud Portraits.

It became clear that the thick, ubiquitous mud was a major player in most of these images. Tim described how the children were willing participants in the project but that the logistical difficulties in obtaining the necessary permissions from parents/guardians were significant.

He also described how the ”punchy” appearance of these photographs was obtained by using a flash to isolate the subjects, but used from low down, so as not to create shadow on their faces.

This was a fascinating insight into how a professional photographer goes about developing a concept, working with it and producing a final portfolio of images.

Richard Jakobson

The Edinburgh International Print Exhibition is an extremely prestigious competition founded in 1861. It is judged prior to the Edinburgh Festival and the winning images exhibited during the Festival.

The percentage of submitted images which are accepted for the exhibition is vanishingly small. It is indeed remarkable and possibly unique that our wife and husband team, Julie and Alan Walker each achieved a Gold Medal in the exhibition this year.

Julie for ‘Bison Foraging in the Snow’ which won the PSA Gold Medal

and Alan for ‘He loves me, He loves me not’ which won the GPU Gold Medal

Many, many congratulations to both who are seen below receiving their medals from the chair of the exhibition