Blog

On Wednesday 19^th November our guest speaker was Sue Clark who is a long-standing member of Conwy Camera Club. She is also a well-known photographic judge. Sue’s talk on “What Makes a Picture Work” addressed the various elements that are needed for a successful photograph.

She started by describing the core principles of composition used for centuries by artists, and more recently by photographers, such as the rule of thirds, the golden section, the golden spiral and golden triangles. She then covered how elements such as empty space, line and colour can be used to create different effects. Various factors such as balance to create stability, contrast to create interest, emphasis to direct attention to a focal point, movement to guide the viewer’s eye, and pattern to create rhythm, can be employed. In some cases, rules can be broken to shock or challenge the viewer.

Throughout her talk Sue gave numerous illustrations of how these rules had been applied by artists, photographers, graphic designers and even architects.  She demonstrated how a composition could be improved for example by flipping it so as to read it from left to right or by removing distracting elements.  The feeing of a portrait could be changed by taking the photograph from a different angle. Lines can be used effectively, diagonal lines for example can be used to create drama and frames can be used to keep the viewer’s eye in the picture. Using an image of the American Embassy in London and the American flag she illustrated that patterns can be improved by the inclusion of a focal point.

Sue’s talk was a fascinating insight into the principles that many use instinctively in producing an image. In conclusion Sue recommended that Keswick’s members look at a range of images to determine what makes a picture work but added that they should not be constrained by rules.

The latest speaker at Keswick Photographic Society was Guernsey based, Steven Le Provost. For many years a powerful force in UK photographic circles, Steven has judged both national and international competitions and has numerous distinctions from organisations such as the Royal Photographic Society and the London Salon of Photography.

He specialises in creating images that have a distinct “painterly” feel, using techniques in Photoshop that take a number of fairly ordinary initial photographs but blends them together in ingenious and creative ways.

Eschewing sharpness in favour of a degree of blurriness with colours “bleeding” into the background he aims to produce an end result which portrays mood, atmosphere and emotion. He showed us images of still life, mostly arrangements of flowers, images of the countryside, often with small figures within them and “made up” scenes on the beach and in cityscapes. He uses “layers” extensively.

These are backgrounds of mundane items such as peeling paint, an old wall, weathered wood or even the frosted glass of his front door, which can be adjusted in opacity on all or parts the image to create atmosphere and interest. Much of this process involves trial and error but in general what was striking is the creative imagination that is involved to envisage an end result that is both artistic and unique to him as a photographer.

It was a shame that this was a zoom talk, so the meeting could not view prints of his work but instead had to imagine how the images we were seeing on the screen would come to life on carefully selected art papers.

Tony Marsh