Speaker – Adrian Lines ARPS MPAGB FBPE - Let’s Get Creative 10/11/21

Over 30 members as well as a guest came to this our second face to face meeting at our new clubroom. Those that were able to join us experienced a fascinating presentation by renowned amateur photographer, Adrian Lines. Adrian is a versatile, prolific and highly skilled photographer. To get a flavour of the range of his work, just look at his gallery through this link to 500px:

https://500px.com/p/adrianlines?view=photos

This new talk focussed on the creative work which has increasingly become Adrian’s trademark. He displayed around 50 images taking us through their construction and then deconstruction, explaining his methods in terms that all could understand. What came over was a passion for monochrome, an understanding of colour harmony, and a desire for each finished work to display emotion and narrative.

Those of us who are less inclined to make composite images went away with a range of key insights which we can all bring to our work. Adrian’s use of selective ‘dodging and burning’ deployed darkroom techniques to train the viewer’s eye to key elements of his images. Careful use of localised clarity and sharpening gave his images a 3D effect to ensure the main subject stood out. Although the presentation was a digital one, Adrian emphasised that his aim was always to produce a finish print on which he can ‘freeze’ the image to display it how he wants it to be viewed.

Essential truths such as ‘you can get away with all things if the composition is right’ were a reminder that getting it right in the frame should always be the starting point of any image.

Adrian professed to be no expert on Adobe Photoshop. His skilful use of the package was based on him learning 6 things and repeatedly using them. I was particularly struck by his creation of realistic reflective pools in a number of composite images.

The talk concluded with him showing a range of lock-down self-portraits in his simple home studio, each characterised by clothing and artefacts collected from near and far. Many of these are unlikely to see the light of day in competitions but each displayed the attention to detail we have come to expect from this most accomplished of photographers.

Informal meeting - 03/11/21

HPIC returned to face to face meetings for the first time since the first half of 2020 with an informal meeting at a new venue - Kirkheaton Parish Church's Parish Centre.

Although there was no set agenda for the evening, a few topics were covered to keep members entertained. Firstly, Competition Secretary James Gibson brought images entered into a recent competition that had been judged by Andrew Rothery. For each image he took the opportunity to share the score and feedbackon why it had been successful. Babara Sheldrake also talked more about pinhole camera photography.

Refreshments were provided and it was a good opportunity for people to catch up face to face again. We hope that future meetings will be able to continue on a face to face basis, though this may be subject to change depending on government guidelines arising from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Competition - In-club Battle 27/10/21

This evening we had an in-house competition which mimicked a round of the regular West Yorkshire Interclub competition. Five teams, each carefully chosen to include a blend of experienced and less experienced photographers, competed for the chance to win on the evening. In the weeks beforehand teams of up to 7 members had chosen the best set of images to make up a set of 5 each by a different author. In doing so they included one on the theme of Abstract, one on Sport and three entirely Open, meaning they could be of any subject matter. An additional constraint for the teams was that the images must be work which had not been entered previously for a club competition or critique.

In the past we have obtained an independent judge for this competition but this time it was decided to identify 5 experienced members, one from each team, to mark all the images except the ones submitted by their own team. The judges were asked to mark each image as a 2, 3, 4, or 5 with 5 being the best. This is the method in a number of regional and national photographic competitions. In this case the aggregate figure gave an image score which went towards the team total.

There was a good range of images displayed on the night and James called upon each of the judges depending on the genre of the image to give their observations.

Team 5 lead by Andrew Greenbank came out as the clear winners. Their images are shown here. Well done to them and thanks to James Gibson for all the work which went in to planning an engaging evening.

Abstract - Flaming butterfly by Barbara Sheldrake

Open - Church Roof by David Lockwood

Open - Flying Cards by Susan Murray

Open - Not Just A Pretty Face by Harry Wentworth

Sport - Round the Buoy by Colin McGregor