Last week’s meeting: I Love/Hate My Relationship With My Phone – Pete Warrington
Before Pete started his presentation, he had a few words from his tormentor and alter ego Sam Sung, who said that despite Pete’s best efforts it is he who is in control of the camera on Pete’s phone. Any half-decent shots that Pete took was due to the fact the Sam was busy up-loading updates or distracted with other things.
Pete likened using his phone to take pictures as ‘masochistic’ – it isn’t easy, though the results Pete showed you wouldn’t have noticed. It all started with a presentation by Nigel Goldsmith on mobile phone photography that Sandra D organised at the start of lockdown two years ago.
The problem is that the mobile phone to not designed to be held like a camera and Pete’s hands are very good for the building trade but not agile enough for a device that is second nature to the speeding digits of the young. To tame his phone he bought a CapGrip which made phone photography 50 percent less infuriating.
Pete then went on to show some very impressive results which we have come to expect from him – the expert use of light featured strongly as did his grandchildren, Amelia and Eliot.
Daily walks near his home enabled Pete to capture Sutton Courtney’s ‘bad lands’, its brooding skies, its wildflowers, a chase to catch a rainbow and (inadvertent?) selfies which appeared to be colourised close ups from Ingmar Bergman’s film Seventh Seal.
Pete’s home and garden featured as scenes for his phone, so did the result of an unfortunate episode with his patio window. Pete managed to capture very well the abstract patterns of the shattered safety glass. He also had excellent indoor shots using the strong light through the window hitting household objects.
No matter where Pete was – Upper Rissington, Didcot, Abingdon, a passenger in a car – that intense gorgeous light seemed to follow him, so did the vivid complimentary colours along with the shapes, people walking into his shots at the right time… and if a little girl running with the low light behind her isn’t enough then there’s a couple of pigeons caught in flight as well. Shapes, colour, light, and people, all caught with an expert eye and a deft touch of the shutter, while Sam Sung was looking the other way.
Pete said that he uses a piece of software, Snapseed, which helps him edit his shots on his phone. He showed various creative example of what to do with the app.
A wonderful presentation with fantastic images that one expects from Pete.