OPS Weekly Newsletter 27 September 2026

OPS Weekly Newsletter 27 September 2026
  • Start collecting your colour and mono-chrome prints for our first print competition of the season which is on 20 October.
  • Only five entries so far… We have a gorgeous framed print of Carmine Bee Eaters taken by Ivor which we are giving away to a member. Please email me at i.bray@ntlworld.com if you would like to have the framed print. We will randomly pick the winner out of a hat, or any other appropriate receptacle that is available.
  • Bharat has a photography presentation and exhibition on Wed 30th Sep at 6.00-8.00pm. Entry £15 including Indian finger foods and Chai at Maison Francaise. And there is more: he will be at the Riverside Studios, Chiswick 7.15 on  Monday 12 October. Bharat will be exploring the lives of India’s nomadic and de-notified nomadic communities. See details below:
  1. Last meeting held Tuesday 22 September:  Finding the Frame: Developing a Photographic Style with Fliss van Steenbergen
Fliss is a former member of OPS and it was a pleasure to see how her photography has developed into a very impressive style. Her move from a ‘hobbiest’ photographer to something else was sparked by getting a mirror-less camera. However it was not only technology but a lot of research and support.
She puts it down to inspiring videos run by Camversation and also the support and advice from being a member of SheClicks which encourages and supports female photographers of all levels of experience, from novices using a phone to experienced pros handling top-end kit.
As a teacher of visual art she has a lot of experience working with children and has set up the Oxford Family Photography shooting family portraits in black and white. However the photographic genres she has gravitated to, and excelled in, are Architecture and Street.
Fliss’s architecture inspiration comes from photographers such as Helene Binet, Judith Turner, Paul Strand and Lucien Herve.
She is extremely meticulous at how she researches and prepares for finding the right subject and the right time and light for her subject matter. She will research potential architecture and pin their locations on the phone. Once she has a cluster of them in one place she will start researching the best time of the day for the light she wants.
Her architectural style is either minimalism or abstraction, there are no people in these shots, it is all about isolation, use of shadows, geometry and shapes – and very effective it is. She travels with her family and finding a nearby playground for the children is one of the key criteria of a shoot. Getting up very early while the children are asleep is another strategy which she did in a trip to Valencia.
She showed a series of spectacular shots of buildings, both colour and black and white.
Her street photography was equally impressive, drawing inspiration for Nina Papiorek, Saul Leiter, Ray Metzker, Joshua K Jackson, Vivian Mayer and Fan Ho.
She describes the elements of her approach as a mix of patience, light and shadow, geometry, textures and returning to the same location. She used to teach film studies and her street photography is inspired by the film-noir of The Big Heat, the German expressionist 1922 film Nosferatu, and the film In the Mood for Love.
Like for architectural photography she meticulously plans her shoots. She likes to get her subject in silhouette and at first she was reluctant to get closer to her subjects. She has slowly begun to get in close. Night street photography is only done in winter when the evenings are much earlier and therefore safer for a woman photographer.
Her creativity was fully on show and she had a great shot of distant people photographed through the hole in a take-away coffee cup lid.
A very inspiring talk with excellent photographs and a very clear tips on ‘how to’ get the shots you really want.
  1. Next meeting Tuesday 22 September: Take Five competition
Our Judges will be all the members who attend this annual foto-feast.
  1. Upcoming meetings
6 October: Exploring the Ethics of Photography
Mick Yates
‘Exploring the Ethics of Photography’ will examine how photography has always shaped truth, memory, and power – asking not just how we create and see images, but how images shape the way we see the world. The talk blends philosophy, technology, and decades of photographic practice. Trigger warning – some images are challenging.
13 October: Tequila, Mezcal & More: Stories from Mexico
Anna Bruce
We’re delighted to welcome award-winning photojournalist and author Anna Bruce, who has lived and worked in Oaxaca, Mexico, since 2013.
Anna is a captivating storyteller, bringing to life the people, landscapes, traditions and culture of Mexico through her photography and first-hand experience. Her particular expertise is the world of mezcal, where she has spent more than a decade documenting the producers, families and communities behind this extraordinary spirit.
20 October: Print Competition No 1. Our judge is Peter Cox
  1. Photographic events in and around Oxford
Nomadic Lives of India
Charity Evening featuring Bharat Patel’s photography
Charity Evening in support of the Nomadic communities of India. Photography presentation, exhibition
Wed 30th Sep at 6.00-8.00pm/£15 including Indian finger foods and Chai
Maison Francaise
Norham Road
Oxford
OX2 6SE
Colonial Views of India: Photographs by Eugene Clutterbuck Impey
This free photographic exhibition in G29 offers a rare glimpse of late 19th century India. Ends 26 October. 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
  1. Photographic events further afield
In Focus: James Clifford Kent & Bharat Patel – Riverside Studios
12 October & 2 November 2026, 7.15pm
Exploring themes of belonging, healthcare and marginalisation, their work spans care environments in Cuba and the UK and the lives of India’s nomadic and de-notified nomadic communities. Kent and Patel will share their approaches to building trust, documenting sensitive human stories, and the role of documentary photography today.
James Clifford Kent is a London-based photographic artist whose research-led practice explores culture, health and social change. He is the author of Aesthetics and the Revolutionary City and is currently developing his first photobook.
Bharat Patel is a documentary photographer using the camera as a tool to connect with people in overlooked, difficult, or marginalised conditions. His work focuses on labour, survival, and human dignity, capturing the quiet strength in spaces society often ignores.
Tickets
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
  1. General photographic interest
How to Recognise the Right Shot
Excellent advice from Jamie Windsor who shares eight tips for choosing the right photograph from a shoot, drawing insights from the book Magnum Contact Sheets:
  1. Don’t pixel peep: Focus on the overall impact and composition rather than zooming in to obsess over technical sharpness.
  2. Leave time between shooting and editing: Stepping away creates objective distance, helping you see the image for what it is rather than how it felt to capture it.
  3. Edit twice: Perform an initial edit while the memory is fresh, then revisit the work later to gain a new, detached perspective.
  4. Ask someone else: Get an external opinion to see what resonates with others, which can reveal images you initially overlooked.
  5. Ask what the photograph is actually about: Look beyond your original intent; the images might tell a different, deeper story than what you thought you were capturing.
  6. Learn to work intuitively: Trust your gut. Your intuition is the result of years of visual experience and subconscious processing.
  7. Choose the image that says the most: Prioritize meaning and narrative over pure information or perfect composition.
  8. Use contact sheets to learn how you shoot: View your contact sheets as a “psychoanalyst’s casebook” to identify your patterns, habits, and decision-making processes.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Djm-X5-MD1Y
Paws for applause: the Feline Oscars – in pictures
More than 200 cats came to compete in the Romania International Cat Show, an international feline beauty contest known as the Feline Oscars, in Bucharest
Block parties and boxing clubs: Martine Barrat’s tough and tender New York – in pictures
The French photographer and actor’s deep love of Harlem and the Bronx was so strong it led to her being invited to gang apartments, child boxing matches and even a stranger’s wedding
From the Oasis tour to Glastonbury – Abbey Road Studios reveals the best music photos from the past year
Abbey Road Studios has revealed the winners of the 2026 Abbey Road Music Photography Awards competition, delivered by DHL. During an evening of celebration, held across the iconic Studios One and Two, the night recognised the winners and finalists. The Abbey Road Music Photography Awards (MPAs) is Abbey Road’s flagship competition, celebrating the art of music photography, while elevating and empowering the talents behind the lens, as part of the studios’ mission to create opportunity, and spotlight creativity at all levels.