OPS Weekly Newsletter 24 May 2026
- Deadline tonight: Reflections challenge (2 images) and the Best of the Year showcase (10 images) will be shown at our AGM Tuesday 26 May: Please upload them to the new software Mathew Lodge has developed, and which we are trialling. Each member will need to set up an account and Jill will approve you as a member, and you can then upload your images. Please see link here
- Last meeting held on Tues 19 May: A Little Bit of This and a Little Bit of the Other – Uwe Ackermann
Some two years ago Uwe gave a presentation on his remarkably creative ‘constructive’ images. This time he was presenting his images that were not constructed and more ‘conventional’.
Water has always interested Uwe. His working life in cardiology meant he focussed on the kidney, which is all about managing water in our body. His ‘watery’ work-life balance meant that he did a lot of sailing, and this was the focus of the first part of his presentation.
Being near water is a good place for contemplation and taking photographs, and Uwe showed a rich variety of aspects of the weather, fish, people who work on the water, ‘stone-skippers’, racing and more ‘pedestrian’ canoeing, play by and in the water, sailing dinghies, and the odd and the whimsical by the water.
Uwe and his friend Mike have sailed together across 1000s of nautical miles and have never said a bad word to each other – given the cramped space and the fickleness of the weather this is quite remarkable and a testament to their friendship.
Mike has a place on Tiree, the most westerly island in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. He established the Hebridean Trust “in 1982 with the aim of helping reverse the population decline in the Hebridean islands by creating jobs and income for those living on the islands, restoring buildings of architectural significance and informing the general public about the Hebrides, its way of life, its Gaelic culture and its natural heritage.”
Uwe showed images of the work of the Trust and also a trip to St Kilda which had stunning shots of an island that is the remotest place in the UK. After many years of sailing around the Hebrides they became a little more adventurous and asked a friend for ideas of different locations who suggested, as one would, the Caribbean to find out if the Caribbean Monk Seal was extinct or not. An academic project was devised, funding secured and Uwe found himself in Havana, Cuba sitting out the hurricane season.
There were lots of shots of Cuba’s bikes and trucks, ladies of pleasure, inside housing with images of Che Guvara and/or Jesus, Santeria (folklore religion), and remarkably dangerous household appliances – one electric shower that was more like an ‘electric chair’, and his landlady Jolanda’s potentially lethal electric cigarette lighter, which to add to the danger, included a rag soaked in kerosene.
Once hurricane season had passed it was off sailing to Haiti on the quest for that elusive Caribbean Monk Seal. Lots of shots of the island’s desperate level of poverty. People fishing from rafts as they cannot afford a canoe or rowing boat. When Uwe and the team went ashore people were very curious and the team asked them, using photographs of various sea animals, if they had seen any of the creatures.
No evidence was found of the elusive Caribbean Monk Seal. An academic paper was written and the conclusion is likely to have the recommendation ‘more research needed’.
Uwe then had a delightful set of hilarious images called ‘word salad’. These were shots taken from the passenger seat of his car of passing lorries and billboards with banal nonsensical slogans that only marketing managers can dream up.
When Uwe retired, he missed the cycling to and from work. He decided that three times a week he would cycle from his home in Botley to Oxford as far as New Marston then onto Summertown and back down to the centre of Oxford before heading back to Botley. This involved going through the ‘Tunnel of Inconvenience’ – a pedestrian tunnel under the railway bridge next to Oxford’s rail station. Uwe showed a series of images of people walking through the tunnel intent on making no eye contact. There was one child in a pushchair who was yet to be versed in the quintessential Englishness of avoiding strangers.
In the second half Uwe shared a slide show of sound recordings he made during his 13 weeks spent in hospital recovering for a seriously dangerous Streptococcus infection. The soundscape was mesmerising with its alarms, rhythmic beeps, what today’s choice of menu is, snoring, conversation around the treatment, and ‘you are currently number three in the queue’. Strangely there was not a sing-song sound of the normally ubiquitous mobile phone.
An enthralling evening of photographs, sounds and interesting stories.
- Next meeting Tues 26 May: Annual General Meeting plus 10 Best of the Year and Reflections Challenge
Who will be getting the annual awards…? The AGM will be followed by the 10 Best of the Year and the Reflections Challenge will be more enthralling than the
- Photographic events in and around Oxford
Colonial Views of India: Photographs by Eugene Clutterbuck Impey
This free photographic exhibition in G29 offers a rare glimpse of late 19th century India.
It is the first exhibition to focus on photographs and negatives in the Ashmolean, and as such features previously unseen photographs of India by Colonel Eugene Clutterbuck Impey (1830–1904).
Exhibition open 11 Apr – 13 Dec 2026
Ashmolean Museum,
Beaumont Street,
Oxford
OX1 2PH
Dylan Brennan, The Big Shot
Blackwell’s Book Shop
Broad Street
Oxford
Wednesday, May 27 from 5:30 pm to 6:30 pm
Dylan Brennan will discuss his new photographic book, The Big Shot with Britain’s most celebrated press photographer, Greg Brennan
The Big Shot: Photographs by Greg Brennan showcases the work of one of Britain’s longest standing and most celebrated press photographers, offering an intimate look at three decades of celebrity, entertainment and major events. From Hollywood and music legends to sporting greats, fashion visionaries and members of the British royal family, Greg Brennan has spent a lifetime chasing every opportunity to provide the public with rare behind-the-scenes insights, capturing encounters with the likes of Jack Nicholson, Cristiano Ronaldo, Lady Gaga, Kate Moss and Queen Elizabeth II.
A ‘Live Aid’ moment for Wildlife
Margot Raggett MBE left a corporate career in PR in London in 2010, to concentrate on her love of wildlife photography. She was a regular ‘Photographer in Residence’ at Entim Camp in the Maasai Mara for several years and also led photographic safaris.
Margot will be talking about the work of the photographers for Remembering Wildlife books and work.
13th June 2026, 10:00am
Warwick Hall
Burford
Tickets:£10 from ticketsource.co.uk/burford-festival
Oxford Photomarathon
12 topics, 12 Photos, 24 Hours
July 25-26 2026
The First Oxford Photomarathon will start at 10:00am on July 25, 2026
Save the date! You will have 24 hours to take 12 photos – the subjects will have a distinct Oxford theme, but you can be based anywhere in the world if you can’t make it here.
- Exhibitions further a field
Best photography exhibitions to see in 2026
More detail here:
https://amateurphotographer.com/latest/articles/best-photography-exhibitions-to-see/
- General photographic interest
Tour groups, temporary routes and toilets: the reshaping of Rome – photo essay
Photographer Lorenzo Grifantini looks at how the Italian capital’s historic centre has gradually reorganised itself around the uninterrupted flow of visitors and the expectations projected on to it
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2026/may/24/rome-reshaping-reorganisation-photo-essay
‘Anger, curiosity and hope’: a planet of protest – in pictures
From Hong Kong to Cairo, New York to Kyiv, the world is caught up in confrontations with authoritarian power. Matthew Connors’ new photo book tells the story
60 Years in Britain: this award-winning photographer reveals a rarely-seen side to British culture
Shizza Majeed uses portrait photography to explore the stories of individuals and communities who are often underrepresented in visual culture. Having been shortlisted for, and won, a number of prestigious awards, she tells me more about her recent graduate project, Babaji’s Britain, which explores her grandfather’s sense of self and identity after 60 years in Britain.
Bold, unapologetic, revolutionary: 90s Britain as you’ve never seen it before showcased in landmark Tate exhibition
The 90s: a decade synonymous with possibility, optimism, a surge of creative energy and an audacious spirit. This autumn, Tate Britain will stage the first exhibition to explore the art, photography and fashion of the 90s. The exhibition will bring together over 100 photographs, paintings, sculptures and garments to re-evaluate, rethink and reflect on one of the most transformative moments in British art.
The photographer who never stopped chasing the perfect shot
Josh S. Rose has been capturing visceral reactions since the 1970s, when he wandered around a racetrack park as a kid to explore the event. He found himself hanging out at the photo booth and loved to watch a team develop film after each race, calling up the winners to the announcer upstairs, then hearing the crowd wildly react. His career kept him intrigued by those early moments of capturing scenes on film.