OPS Weekly Newsletter 3 May 2026
- The theme of our second ‘photographic challenge’ this season is ‘reflection’. Please do start collecting your best ‘reflection’ images and we will show them and pick the winner at our AGM meeting on 26 May.
- Also start selecting your 10 ‘best of year’ for the slide show at the AGM
- Thursday 7 May there will be a ‘private views’ of our annual exhibition at the Westgate Library. Gareth from the London Camera Exchange will be choosing the print that will be awarded the Shelagh Roberts ‘best in show’.
- Last meeting held on Tues 28 April: Long Lens Landscapes with Murray Livingston
Murray began his presentation talking about the why, the what and the how of his long lens landscape photography. He showed a quote from the British photographer Michael Kenna which summarise Murray’s approach:
“Craft is important, but cameras for their own sake are not. A sense of aesthetics, a connection with the subject matter, an enquiring and an inquisitive mind, these factors outweigh whatever equipment we use.”
In terms of the ‘why’: for Murray this was about the interaction between the subject, the idea, the camera and the print, and he showed a graph which had on the vertical ‘y’ axis Grand Visa at the bottom and Small Scale at the top. On the horizontal ‘x’ axis was Literal on the left-hand side and Abstract on the right-hand side.
When he sees a scene to capture his resultant images are usually congregated on the bottom left-hand side of this graph, and as his further engages with the scene the images end up on the top right-hand side.
For Murray a key issue when composing an image was the ‘excluded’, this was just as important as what was ‘included’ in an scene.
He showed numerous examples of this issue as he worked scenes from the Drakensberg mountains on the border of his native South Africa and Lesotho. The introductory shot was very good but difficult to tell what the subject was. Once he moved in with his long lens then it was much clearer what he was looking at and the image was much more striking.
He went on to show how he ‘works’ a scene. Spending time taking shots of the vista then moving in closer and closer until the shots are getting close to ‘macro’ abstraction, being devoid of context. They became images of pattern, texture, colour and light. The images could be ripples in beach sand or bubbles and air caught in the ice.
His slow methodical and thoughtful approach to working a scene resulted in images that were superb and captured the essence of his subject.
- Next meeting Tues 5 May: Print Competition No: 3
Two colour and two monochrome prints for each member. Our judge will be Steven Galvin LRPS
- Upcoming meetings/events
- 7 May: 18.00-19.45 Private View – Members’ Annual Exhibition
- 12 May: Michal Lewek
- 19 May: A Little Bit of This and a Little Bit of the Other – Uwe Ackerman
- 26 May: AGM, ‘Reflections’ challenge, and Best of Year
You can see the programme here: https://oxfordphotosociety.co.uk//wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Programme-2025-26.pdf
- 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
Art Weeks Oxfordshire
The 2026 festival runs from 2 to 25 May with more than 350 venues to visit.
Please see our details here: and all the venues which feature photographic art here.
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
Photo London and beyond – a phototastic May in the UK capital
Photography flourishes in the UK capital this spring, with Photo London helping spearhead a calendar of events including Peckham 24, two book fairs and a new early outing from WePresent
https://www.1854.photography/2026/04/photo-london/
Monk football and sperm whales: All About Photo awards winners 2026
A selection of winning images from the 11th edition of the All About Photo awards – The Mind’s Eye. The 2026 winners receive $5,000 in cash prizes. First place was awarded to Matt McClain
Raghu Rai’s masterful images of Indian life – in pictures
Recruited to Magnum Photos by Henri Cartier-Bresson in 1977, the veteran photographer, who has died aged 83, made defining images of grand and intimate Indian life for five decades
Births, deaths and a first kiss: life near the frontline in Ukraine – in pictures
Aria Shahrokhshahi went to teenage discos and hospital wards rattled by rockets in order to capture how it feels when your country is dragged into a war
Take a trip on Route 66: still delivering kicks after 100 years
The US’s most famous road celebrates its centenary. The 2,400-mile highway crosses eight states and three time zones from Chicago to LA
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2026/apr/27/route-66-kicks-100-years-centenary