OPS Weekly Newsletter 14 April 2024
- This Tuesday we will be taking photos around Oxford. Meet at the Swan and Castle pub, Castle St, Oxford OX1 1AY and we start off at 7.30.
- Do start selecting your prints for our 23 April: Print Critique
- Annual Exhibition at the Soldiers of Oxfordshire Museum starts 4 May. Please send your details regarding your entries to Sandra as per her email of Wednesday 3 April.
Adrian Arbib will be opening the exhibition and selecting the winner of the Shelagh Roberts Award.
Adrian has contributed to all the UK newspapers and many international ones. He was a staff photographer for La Repubblica in London for over 6 years and has travelled extensively covering human rights stories; including Rwanda, the Horn of Africa, West Papua and India.
- Last week’s meeting Digital Image Competition No. 3
The scores were as follows:
| First | Helen Webb | Ground Squirrel |
| Second | Dave Atkinson | Starling and nest |
| Third | Dave MacKay | Rakher Upobash Festival |
| Highly Commended | Helen Webb | Mating Bee Eaters |
| Highly Commended | Keith Worthington | Zebra retribution |
| Highly Commended | Adrian Cubitt | Tawny |
| Commended | Sandra Devaney | Behind the scenes of the Red Fort |
| Commended | Dave Atkinson | European Bee Eater |
| Commended | Sandra Devaney | Lottery tickets anyone? |
| Commended | Keith Worthington | Male Hoopoe feeding females |
Congratulations to all winners and many thanks to everyone who entered their images
- Next week’s meeting 16 April: An evening in Oxford with our cameras.
We will be taking photos around Oxford. Meet at the Swan and Castle pub, Castle St, Oxford OX1 1AY and we start off at 7.30
- Upcoming meetings in April
Tuesday 23 April: Print Critique
Tonight David Lowe will be reviewing and giving his views on our prints in a Print Critique evening at the Holton Village Hall, Holton, Oxfordshire, OX33 1PR.
Tuesday 30 April: ZOOM – Speaker event with Joe Houghton “Photography in a AI world”
We have the pleasure of welcoming back Joe Houghton who previously gave us a talk on Lightroom and Photoshop. This evening he will be going through the advantages of using AI.
A link will be sent to all members so that this ZOOM presentation can be done in your own homes.
- Photo themed events in Oxford
Make a traditional black and white portrait photograph in central Oxford
Sessions in our beautiful riverfront workspace. Make a portrait and see it develop in the darkroom.
Salter Brothers Yard, Folly Bridge, Oxford OX1 4LB
Mon 15th April 10am or 2pm £50 or £65 for 2 people
Mon 29th April 10am or 2pm £50 or £65 for 2 people
Cyanotype: Camera-Free Photography Braziers Park
Learn how to make photographs without a camera. Create beautiful blueprints of found objects.
10am – 4pm/From £65. Option to accommodation + food from £35/Sun 28th Apr
24 Braziers Park, Ipsden, Wallingford Oxfordshire
01491 680221 or 01491 680481 https://www.braziers.org.uk/programme/
Bluebell photography course
Capture spring’s stunning display of colours whilst exploring the Arboretum. Learn various methods to photograph trees, plants and views with your own camera
10.30am – 1pm/£50/Sat 4th May 24 Harcourt Arboretum Nuneham Courtenay
Meadow photography course
Capture our wonderful meadow in bloom in the summer whilst exploring the Arboretum. Learn various methods to photograph trees, plants and views with your own camera
10.30am – 1pm/£50/Sat 15th Jun 24Harcourt Arboretum Nuneham Courtenay
Natural Photography Workshop
Leave the cameras at home and try a photography workshop with a difference. Create your own beautiful prints from plants and explore a new experimental photographic technique that references Sir John Frederick William Herschel’s discoveries in the 1800s
10.30am – 2.30pm/£50/Wed 3rd Jul 24. Harcourt Arboretum Nuneham Courtenay
- Photo exhibitions further afield
Saul Leiter: An Unfinished World
17 February – 2 June 2024
10am – 5pm
MK Gallery
900 Midsummer Blvd
Milton Keynes, MK9 3QA
American photographer Saul Leiter (1923 – 2013), one of the most important practitioners of the post-war period and a pioneer of colour photography, celebrated for his evocative images of New York City in the 1950s and 1960s, is the subject of a major survey at MK Gallery.
Leiter photographed every day for sixty years, keenly observing daily life and discovering beauty on the streets of the East Village neighbourhood where he lived his entire adult life and which became his enduring subject. Upon his death in 2013, Leiter left behind a remarkable collection of around 15,000 black and white prints, at least 40,000 colour slides, a similar number of black and white negatives and over 4000 paintings, only a handful of which had seen the light of day. Once lost to obscurity, his work has since been rediscovered and revaluated for its ground-breaking role in the emergence of colour photography.
Saul Leiter: An Unfinished World at MK Gallery is the largest exhibition of Leiter’s work to take place in the UK, featuring 171 photographs alongside a selection of over 40 of Leiter’s lesser-known paintings.
https://mkgallery.org/event/saul-leiter/
Best photography exhibitions to see in 2024
One of the best ways to gain inspiration for your photography and exploring different styles is by experiencing and viewing the work of other photographers and artists. We’ve put together a selection of the best exhibitions on around the UK during 2024 to see photography; including exhibitions that present photographs alongside other disciplines.
Below, you’ll find the information you need including dates, location and ticket details to plan your trips.
https://amateurphotographer.com/latest/articles/best-photography-exhibitions-to-see/
- General photographic interest
Can birdsong make you less stressed?
We’re putting the finishing touches to our new exhibition Birds: Brilliant and Bizarre and we’ve definitely got birds on the brain!
We’ve been looking into research that shows how listening to our feathered friends singing affects us.
Turns out it’s all in the type of tweet, with some finding the gentle sound of chickens comforting. But why is it nature has this effect on us?
It’s evolution! We have a genetically built-in preference for nature. Interacting with it improves our memory, makes us less depressed and boosts our creativity.
https://email-nhm.org.uk/cr/AQiYqwgQiqCWARiws_r_AX48eFAVlyk_AziNEnqVGUmOjrO0jtcr1QRLVxk3fb2J
Interest in working-class photography booms but barriers to industry remain
Despite films and exhibitions celebrating working-class photographers, their voices are increasingly rare today
The Magazine For Photographers
Welcome to a brand new Issue of the world’s best photography Magazine, its even better than the last one. Enjoy the read
Short Courses with the OCA
Are you interested in advancing your photography skills? The Open College of the Arts (OCA) offers two short courses in partnership with the Royal Photographic Society: Photography as Language & Investigating Place with Pyschogeography. Registration for these courses closes 15 May 2024.
