Members’ Informal Critique Evening, 2nd Oct 2024

Keswick Photographic Society holds a number of formal internal competitions with invited judges, and as a society enters a number of external ones, but last week’s meeting consisted of a very informal session with members looking at each other’s images.

David Leighton: “Winter Road”

Members supplied six images in advance which were then circulated and, on the night, attendees were split up into groups of three to four with another group participating via Zoom only.

Graham Smith: Bluebells and Hawthorn”

The intention was to allow members of all levels of experience to have a discussion about the merits of their images in a less threatening format than in a formal competition with a formal judge.

Marta Almar: “This is home son”

Not only did it provide feedback on the photographs, it gave members the opportunity to look carefully at other people’s images and discuss the good, and not so good, points and to consider why some of the images “worked”.

Tricia Martin: “Essex Skippers”

Although low key and relaxed it turned out to be a thoroughly enjoyable session.

Richard Petty: “Kelvingrove”

In fact there was some difficulty experienced dragging people away from their discussions, first to have their half-time tea and biscuits and finally to wind up and go home!

Antony Melling: “Slow Tide”

 

 

Tony Marsh: “A Naturalist with a Camera”, 25th Sept. 2024

Tony Marsh, our chairman, took the stage on Wednesday 25th September for his talk “A Naturalist with a Camera”, and gave an individual & thoughtful talk illustrated with images taken this year locally as well as on his travels around the UK and on a specialist photography trip to Bulgaria.

Since being introduced to the possibility of seeing the magical contents of the Observer’s Book of Birds in real life as a child, Tony is a life-long nature-lover. He reaches for his binoculars first, and photography is a “bonus” rather than the sole purpose of the trips, but with modern technology it has now moved on from being a technical challenge to not only enabling a record of sightings, but also freezing and magnifying details of the natural world’s beauty which would otherwise not be seen.

He pointed out a variety of these in an entertaining and self-deprecatory style which belied the excellence of the images, many of which, although not taken to impress competition judges, are winners. He showed some unique action including a spectacular sequence of a rabbit chasing a stoat.

His slight dissatisfaction with the outstanding images (although still of wild animals) which he has taken at commercial set-ups with a staged environment and sometimes lighting resonated with the society’s members, often preferring the more natural results showing “how it really is”, with a hard-won but sometimes also half-seen glimpse of an animal shaded by distracting foliage.

Simon Roberts