OPS Weekly Newsletter 6 September 2026
- Our ‘theme challenge’ for the first half of the season is ‘contrast’. This doesn’t mean the use of the contrast slider in Photoshop (other photo editing software is available) but an image that uses the concept of contrast – it could be contrast of shape, size, colour, tone, age, speed – you name it, there is bound to be an opposite to whatever it is. Images will be ‘judged’ at the end of the year. And images have to be taken during this season. Looking forward to seeing the results.
- Please start choosing your images for out first projected digital image competition in two weeks time and also your Take 5 images at the end of the month.
- Last meeting held Tuesday 1 September: The Art of Travel Photography with Paul Sansome
We kicked off the new season with an excellent evening of photography and stories by Paul Sansome.
As a 30 year old Paul went on safari and like all safari tourists he took a camera – actually he bought one to take. So thrilled by the experience he joined a camera club and took to the art form. In 2002 he got a very generous redundancy package and decided he would become a professional photographer. He would go to events to take photos, some 20 events a year, and see if he could sell the photos he took.
In 2005 he started working for a ‘travel photo holiday’ company leading their trips and also selling his fine art photography. Eventually he realised that he could organise the tours himself and went freelance.
For Paul the real reason he likes travel photography is meeting people. He showed some of his portfolio of ‘people’. One was an excellent and warm image in India of two boys looking into the camera from the entrance to their father’s bakery. He returned to the same bakery 10 years later and wanted to show the image which was on his phone. The owner of the shop was found and recognised that the boys in the image were his sons and called them. Paul then got portraits of the young men standing in the same doorway.
He then showed his Smile Poster. Every day for 100 days, throughout the Covid 19 lockdown in the UK and elsewhere, he posted an image of a smile. It was intended to provide more positive posts on social media. He pulled together a series of images of people smiling for the camera and made it into a poster. It is a wonderfully uplifting poster which he sold and donated the sales to a charity which works in Rajasthan.
Paul had the winning portfolio in the abstract section of Travel Photographer of the Year and showed some of the images which included: shots of rice terraces in Vietnam; a flooded St Marks Square in Venice from various angles and viewpoints; intentional camera movement shots of the perennial Venice subject: the gondola, well several, not one; a Chinese fishing net in Vietnam which was a very pleasing image of a shape and a background.
His favourite destination is Iceland which he has visited many many times. He had fantastic abstract images of the capita’sl architecture, an Opera House that ran out of funds and the harbour. Then we were off to Rajasthan again and the famous stepwell. This is a remarkable series of geometric steps going down to the water. The photo had two boys running down the steps. They were chasing a kite that had been brought down in a ‘kite fight’. This ‘sport’ was made famous by a book, and a subsequent film, called Kite Runner. Kite Runner was the debut novel of Afghan-American author Khaled Hosseini which was published in 2003.
He then told us about his latest photo tip he gives to people on his travel photography trips. “Take fewer photos but take more photos.” What this means is don’t take photos of everything you see, be discerning in what you are going to photograph, once you have decided what will be your subject then take lots of photos of the subject from different viewpoints, different angles, different styles etc. He also said that the most important tool in photoshop is the crop tool. He is not a ‘fix it in photoshop’ photographer and doesn’t mess around with his photos. He also takes the ‘clarity’ slider to the left, which is close to sacrilege. He says that he prefers images that are softer – and he has a point – though I think many judges would be appalled.
Paul would also take photos of what he called his ‘stop over’ destinations – such as Hong Kong, Doha and Dubai. These images were excellent architectural shots, and many of them were abstract, playing with shapes and angles, and not revealing what they are.
He ended his talk with images of the UK. The Isle of Harris and a scene showing the softness of beach grass – that clarity slider going leftwards again; intentional camera movement of the coast. Trees on a hill in a Dorset mist. Abstract images of Birmingham’s New Street station through reflections off its stainless steel ceiling and from the roof top of the city’s library, shots of children playing in the fountain area.
Throughout his talk there was a great sense of his humanity, one that he shares with many of his subjects. It was a very uplifting presentation.
- Next meeting Tuesday 8 September: Bhutan – Land of the Thunder Dragon + Show & Tell
We’re delighted to welcome Dave McKay back for another fascinating travel presentation. Join him on a journey through Bhutan, travelling from west to east along spectacular mountain roads, visiting the iconic Tiger’s Nest Monastery, exploring remote villages, meeting semi-nomadic yak herders and experiencing colourful traditional festivals. Discover the landscapes, culture and people of this remarkable Himalayan kingdom, and come away inspired by both the destination and its photographic opportunities.
Show and Tell
Please bring along images on a memory key that you have taken over the summer break to share with the members.
- Upcoming meetings
15 Sept: Digital Print Competition No 1 with judge Micki Aston
22 Sept: Finding the Frame: Developing a Photographic Style with Fliss van Steenbergen
We’re delighted to welcome Oxford-based photographer and former OPS member, Fliss van Steenbergen for an evening exploring how a photographic style develops — and how we learn to see and make images with greater intention.
29 September: Take 5 Competition
- Photographic events in and around Oxford
Lee Miller: A Woman at War
Exhibition of Lee Miller’s wartime photography, from Oxford’s Churchill Hospital to the front lines
Soldiers of Oxfordshire Museum, Park Street, Woodstock OX20 1SN, Tue 2 June – Sun 13 September 2026
Colonial Views of India: Photographs by Eugene Clutterbuck Impey
This free photographic exhibition in G29 offers a rare glimpse of late 19th century India
Ashmolean Museum, Beaumont Street, Oxford OX1 2PH
Jacques Henri Lartigue: Life in Colour
20 June – 4 October 2026
This is the first UK public exhibition of Lartigue’s work for over 10 years. It focuses on an exceptional and little-known aspect of his work: until recently, the majority of his colour photographs had never been seen. The exhibition features more than 150 items including early stereoscopic images producing three-dimensional effects, vintage prints, unique works on paper, archival documents, lightboxes and projections. It also showcases Lartigue’s career from drawings made as a child in the 1900s to the fashion world of the 1960s and late abstractions of the 1980s.
MK Gallery
900 Midsummer Blvd
Milton Keynes, MK9 3QA
- Photographic events further afield
Portrait of a City: A Century of American Photography
Dulwich Picture Gallery
28 July – 4 October 2026
Dulwich Picture Gallery, College Road, London SE21 7AD
Tickets: £16
Tuesday – Sunday, 10am—5pm
See full list of exhibitions here: https://amateurphotographer.com/latest/articles/best-photography-exhibitions-to-see/
- General photographic interest
I met French photography legend Jacques Henri Lartigue when he was 80 – the secret behind his success still resounds with me today!
An interview with French photographer and colour photography pioneer Jacques Henri Lartigue (1894–1986) was a delightful experience.
Fashion, form and the beach: the photography of Max Dupain – in pictures
Photographer Max Dupain’s diverse and creative output helped shape Australia’s visual identity in the mid to late 20th century. A major retrospective, Definitive Dupain, runs at the State Library of New South Wales until July 2027
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2026/sep/06/photography-of-max-dupain-in-pictures
‘I show how energetic it can be’: the photographer capturing Britain’s golden age of jazz
Temi Adegbayibi started out taking pictures of the Ezra Collective and other British musicians as a hobby, then found his work exhibited at the Royal Albert Hall. He discusses Black joy and the movement and stillness of jazz
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2026/sep/03/temi-adegbayibi-photographs-uk-jazz-musicians