OPS Weekly Newsletter 14 September 2025
- Our Take 5 competition is on 30 September so please start selecting your finest five images.
- We also have print exhibitions and competitions coming up so please let Dave Belcher know how many mount boards you want so he can put in an order for them.
- Last week’s meeting Tues 9 Sept: Photography Through The Seasons with Daniel Trim
Daniel had given us a talk some years ago about his photography which started as young man going to Thailand, not for the usual tourist attraction, but for spending hours laying in mud taking photos of mud skippers. This talk was about how he approaches the British climate through each much and was full of advice and tips as well as some stunning photography. He began with:
January: it can be a bit bleak and there is not much photography opportunity for shooting animal behaviour. January photography is more about the weather conditions than animal behaviour. If there is snow around then taking photos of foxes in cemeteries is a good bet and they do look good in the snow. Waxwings sometime visit the UK in January and if you go north as far of Scotland you can get close to mountain hares which will sit about doing nothing and look miserable. There are also chances of photographing red squirrels. Wrap up warm.
February: another month that is more about the conditions not the subject. It is also ideal time for shots of frogs and toads. It is the mating and spawning time when the frogs go to the ponds to mate and form mass spawning events. The frog spawn floats on the water for a day or so and then sinks to the bottom so timing to crucial. Toads are a couple of weeks after the frogs. Lots of laying low down, very much like his Thailand experience but now much older he lays on a ‘therm-a-rest’ (other brands available) for warmth and comfort.
March: warmer mornings herald the arrival of reptiles. Daniel had a very good close-up shot of an adder sunning itself, motionless in the early morning. It is also the month for the Great Crested Grebe’s courtship display, with its weed dance and lots of ups and downs and wagging of beaks. Early morning and a placid stretch of water required, plus a long lens. Though Daniel has a 500mm telephoto lens he sometimes uses a tele-converter.
April: at last it is spring and flowers are beginning to bloom. It is the time for pasqueflowers, which are not all that common and can be seen on the southern edge of a chalky field – you can find them near Goring at Hartslock nature reserve. There are also lots of other spring flowers waving their anthers around to attract butterflies which can be photographed at nature reserves near Oxford, see here.
It is also the time of fox cubs, Roe deer are around and so are hares.
May: birds become abundant photo fodder, so do insects such as dragonflies which can mass in some wetlands. Daniel was the winner of the Hidden Britain award in the British Wildlife Photography Awards 2025 with his shot Roosting Dragon. This was a double exposure of dragonflies climbing up from the undergrowth as the sun was rising. It is also the time of reptiles and Dorset is the best place to see them, especially the sand lizard.
June: now we are entering summer. Its warming and male stag beetles are around displaying their wares and trying to impress a mate. They are very active a dusk and will fight other males in vicious battle for supremacy in passing on their genes. It is also the ideal time for photographing sea birds. Daniel is of the view that Britain is the best location for photographing sea birds and by the shots he showed he is probably right. June is what he calls a ‘honey-pot’ month.
July: now in mid-summer and insects, spiders, butterflies, caterpillars are for the taking. The light though can be very harsh. Daniel showed some excellent creamy macro shots, especially a carb spider in a rose.
August: two things stand out for Daniel – the roe deer rut, when the deer look in their prime, and the heather is at its best. He shots the roe deer at a heath near Woking. He can chase the heather blooming up the country to the north to Scotland and catch the red grouse, and hopefully not accidently shot at by followers of the (in)Glorious Twelfth. It also a good month for mammals, especially in Scotland and he had on show some great shots of Pine Martins.
September: can be a tricky month for animals, though can be good for foxes, especially in graveyards for some reason.
October: another ‘honey-pot’ month. Autumnal colours and loads of fungi. He had great shot of porcelain fungus from different viewpoints with the help of a small LED light. It also the month of the red deer rut and he had shots from Bushy and Richmond park in south west London.
November: is all about coastal waders in Norfolk. At Snettisham there are 10,000 knots – the feathered version – that gather in huge flocks at this time of the year. Towards the end of the month it is cute seal pup time, and the seal bulls start to jockey for position.
December: starling murmuration time and Daniel had great shots of them at Aberystwyth pier in the dying light of the day. It is also the time of cold frost and Christmas lights in urban settings.
It was a fascinating and engaging talk with lots of advice of what to shoot at different times of the year. The images he used to illustrate his talk were exceedingly good.
- Next meeting 19.30, Tues 16 Sept: Digital Image Competition no 1.
Our judge will be Colin Mill.
- Upcoming meetings in September
23 Sept: What Makes a Photographic Project with Philippa James
30 Sept: Take 5 Competition
You can see the programme up to the end of the year here and download it: https://oxfordphotosociety.co.uk/programme-download/
- Photographic events in and around Oxford
Photo Oxford: Open Call Winners’ Exhibition
5 September-5 October 2025
Modern Art Oxford
30 Pembroke Street
Oxford
OX1 1BP
Photo Oxford, Oxford’s biennial photo festival, returns for its fifth edition in 2025. This year the theme for the festival will be Truth and we will explore what this huge word means within the context of photography.
What happens when photographers challenge their medium’s relationship to reality? What truths lie beneath the surface? Photo Oxford 2025 invites you to look closer and find your own truths in photography.
Message from Ania Ready: I’ll be running a workshop at Modern Art Oxford on Saturday 20th September on funding creative ideas (such as photobooks, exhibitions, and events), including how to make use of crowdfunding platforms. I remember that several OPS members were either working on or planning publications, so I thought this might be of particular interest. You can find more information and booking details here: https://fienta.com/crowdfunding-creative-ideas-for-artists-by-ania-ready
I’d also like to warmly invite you to visit an exhibition currently on at the Soldiers of Oxfordshire Museum in Woodstock (I’m sure many will remember it from previous OPS exhibitions). The show, entitled Life Lines, is in the upstairs gallery and features strong photographic elements. It responds to the encounter between British soldier Arthur Tyler and Holocaust survivor Naomi Kaplan Warren during the liberation of Bergen-Belsen, and his role in helping her reconnect with family in the US. The permanent exhibition downstairs also includes material about the camp and the days of its liberation – a powerful but harrowing display.
The exhibition is on until 5th October.
Developing Us: Photography, Family and Feeling Photography Exhibition
A daughter’s journey through her father’s photos — exploring loss, legacy, and emotional repair.
Old Museum Shop,
Oxford Town Hall,
St Aldate’s,
Oxford
OX1 1BX
29-30 Sept 8.30-18.00
Artist Aliki Braine In Conversation – a Photo Oxford event
Explore Dutch and Flemish still-life painting through dialogue with contemporary photography.
Ashmolean Museum
Sat 25th October 2-3pm £20
Camera and Photography family drop in History of Science Museum
Discover the history of photography in this drop-in family event at the History of Science Museum.
1-3pm/Free/Wed 29th Oct
History of Science Museum
Old Ashmolean Building
Broad Street Oxford
- General photographic interest
How personal projects shape great photographers
Our emerging photographer series aims to shed a light on up-and-coming talent. Photographers are offered a platform to share their work with a wider audience through the AP channels, with the scope of furthering their careers. We also get an insight into their inspirations, the camera gear used and future aspirations, as well as the journey taken into photography – which doesn’t have to be the most traditional route!
Chris Steele-Perkins’ photos connected us with the humans behind the headlines
The Magnum photographer captured the Troubles, teddy boys and Thatcher, but it was one shot of a 1970s Wolverhampton dancehall that resonated loudly with me
Astronomy photographer of the year 2025 – winners and finalists
Judges have announced the winning images from the Royal Observatory Greenwich’s annual competition. The photographs will be exhibited at the National Maritime Museum in London from Friday
Sit, swim, sleep, cycle, skate: the sublime poetry of the everyday – in pictures
Floating teens at summer camp, sleeping students in Georgia, rollerskaters at Venice Beach … Mark Steinmetz’s stunning black and white shots capture kids across America
Minimalist photography competition winners revealed
The Minimalist Photography Awards have announced this year’s competition winners from more than 2,600 entries and over 7,000 images submitted from photographers across 50+ countries. The 2025 awards once again highlight the remarkable creativity and vision within contemporary minimalist photography across 12 categories.
