OPS Weekly Newsletter 30 March 2025
- Please start pulling together your two entries for our Digital Projected Image Competition No. 3 on 8 April.
- Please also start pulling together your prints for our annual exhibition. You should have received an explanatory email from Dave B about the annual exhibition.
- Last week’s meeting Tues 25 March: Images of Zimanga with Daves A and B plus ‘show and tell’
The Dave A and B introduced the talk with a history of Zimanga which is set in KwaZula Natal in north-east South Africa near the border of Eswatini (formerly Swaziland).
This private nature reserve is the brainchild of South African sugar farmer, Charl Senekal, who has turned a former hunting reserve into a 6,000 hectare wildlife haven where photographers can take stunning shots of the park’s wildlife from ‘state of the art’ hides and trips around the reserve.
Charl hired Bence Máté, an award-winning wildlife photographer, to design the hides, some of which have illuminated water holes with all ‘mod-cons’ for the nocturnal photographer.
There are currently nine photographic hides on Zimanga, including two Bird Bath Hides or Reflection Hides. The larger Lagoon hide focuses on waterbirds and crocodiles in the summer season. Umgodi and Tamboti Overnight Hides are currently the only hides custom designed for large mammal photography. The bee-eater hide is a mobile unit that can be placed in close proximity to where white-fronted bee-eaters nest and produces stunning results for these colourful birds.
Scavengers Hill has been likened to being in a wildlife documentary, whilst Forest and Tower Hides were built to experiment in photography of the Fever Tree forest’s feathered inhabitants.
The Daves showed stunning images of wildlife that visit the water holes in the evening. From the smallest insects that are caught in the light, (which one camera club judge thought were stars in the sky – judges eh?) to the world’s largest land mammal, the African elephant. All caught very close up, well-lit with the spotlights, and at eye level. There were rhinos and at one point a large herd of more than 100 buffaloes which decided to get into the water hole and extremely close to the viewing glass.
During the day giraffes came to the water hole, so did an elephant. Access to another hide – Lagoon Hide – was through a tunnel. From the hide crocodiles can be photographed.
But it was not all hides. The Daves went on a walk about following cheetahs and getting low down on the earth taking shots of them while they laid down on the ground. They were astonishingly close to the cheetahs.
There are lions in the reserve and managing the number of males can be difficult. Dave A showed photos of a cub called Prince that he had taken in 2019 when the cub was only months old. Today Prince is an alpha male and Dave’s images of him shows how majestic he is. As an alpha male Prince needs to dominate any potential rival, and Prince has killed the only two other male lions in the reserve to stop any threat to his reign.
We then moved on to the bird of the reserve. Stunning shots of many types of birds: a hornbill in the early morning sunrise light, a Bee-eater backlit in flight, a bizarrely colourful Crested Barbet (the ‘fruit-salad’ bird) which has a monotonous ‘trill’ call, quite an impressively large stork, splashing in the water was a Laughing Dove whose ‘chuckling call is a low rolling croo-doo-doo-doo-doo with a rising and falling amplitude’, a Night Jar and a Eagle amongst many more birds.
Then we were off to the Scavenger Hill, where early in the morning a frozen carcass of an animal was put in a pit. Queue a ‘flock’ of vultures – though knowing what their collective noun is can be tricky as when they are flying in formation they are ‘a kettle’, when resting they are ‘a committee’ and when feeding they are ‘a wake’. There was a wide ‘a wake’ of them fighting over the spoils of the carcass and some great action shots were shown of their exuberant ‘table manners’.
An excellent set of wildlife images throughout. Many thanks to the Daves for such a informative and enjoyable presentation.
In the second half ‘show and tell’ Anna M showed images of hot and dry Zimbabwe and cold and snowy Canada, John B showed streets shots of Weston Super Mare and other locations, Phil J showed images of Crufts and streets shots, so did Pete W, Les G, Alan L and Adrian C showed images from a recent trip to photograph Lynx in Spain and Ian B showed images from a calendar he had printed. Apologies if I have missed someone out.
- Next meeting Tues 1 April 19.30: Still – Mindful Photography with Paul Sanders
Former Picture Editor of The Times Paul Sanders left the toxic pressure of Fleet Street and stumbled upon a secret path: landscape photography. In the silent embrace of nature, he learned to breathe again, to find solace in the sunrise symphony and strength in the stoic gaze of mountains.
As he slowly learnt the value in solitude, and the magic that unfolds when he uses my camera as a tool for self-expression, he traded noise and materialism for something far more precious: peace.
“Still” is a bridge, built from my own journey of discovery, to guide you on yours. Here, you’ll find more than just photographs. You’ll find a portal to self-expression, a lens through which to rediscover the wonder of simply being. Let go of the clamour. Step into stillness, and paint your own story with light and wonder.
- Upcoming meetings
8 April: Digital Projected Image Competition No. 3 – Judged by Peter Cox
15 April: A Passage To India with Sandra Devaney and Linda Wride
Sandra and Linda will show images of their recent visits to India.
- Programme Secretary vacancy
We have a full and varied programme for you this season thanks to the hard work and excellent choices by Les. Unfortunately, due to unexpected changes in Les’s work commitments he cannot continue in the role and we need someone to step forward to start the planning and booking of speakers for next season’s programme. Please do contact me or any other committee member if you are interested in taking on the role.
- Events photographic in and around Oxford
Travel Photographer of The Year Exhibition
Banbury Museum and Gallery
Spiceball Park Road
Banbury
Oxfordshire
OX16 2PQ
29th March 2025 – 6th July 2025
Price: Adult: £5.00
Child: £2.50 (Ages 5-18. Under 5’s are free)
Concession: £3.00 (Over 65’s, students, Mill Member and unwaged)
Art Fund Member: £2.50
Photo Oxford Workshops
Join us for an exciting series of alternative photography workshops in March and April to explore the art of cyanotypes, anthotypes, phytograms, botanicograms, chemigrams, caffenol film development, pinhole cameras, photography as performance, and psychogeography.
https://www.photooxford.org/workshops
Bettina von Zwehl: The Flood
This exhibition will feature photographs by London-based artist, Bettina von Zwehl (b. 1971). Von Zwehl’s aim is to rekindle wonder and curiosity as critical tools for exploring new ideas and practices.
18 Oct 2024 – 11 May 2025
https://www.ashmolean.org/exhibition/ashmolean-now-bettina-von-zwehl
Don McCullin talks to Richard Ovenden
The Bodley Lecture and Award of the Bodley Medal: Life and Work
Thursday, 3 April 2025
6:00pm-7.00pm Sheldonian Theatre
£8 – £20
- General photographic interest
Thirty Days of Lightroom
Free Tutorial Series
https://phlearn.com/playlist/30-days-of-lightroom/
After the End of History: British Working Class Photography 1989-2024; Peter Mitchell: Nothing Lasts Forever – review
From loneliness in Norfolk to vibrant Indian culture in Leicester, a touring show captures a riot of contradictions. Elsewhere, Leeds is lent an otherworldly air by a colour photography pioneer
‘People have walked through here for centuries’: the rhythms of the Welsh valleys in pictures
The beautiful and hardy herds of the Welsh valleys act as a counterpoint to three decades of change in photographer Ken Grant’s images
World Press Photo 2025 – winning regional images
World Press Photo has announced the winners of the 2025 photo contest, showcasing some of the world’s best photojournalism and documentary photography. We take a look at a selection of the winning images from this year’s contest – which now awards a total of 42 winners including honourable mentions, with updated categories, prizes and contest regions.
The London Exhibition will be held from 23 May to 25 August at the MPB Gallery, Here East, London
https://www.theguardian.com/media/gallery/2025/mar/27/world-press-photo-2025-winning-regional-images
RPS WORKSHOP NEWSLETTER
Here you will find a listing of our upcoming workshops, delivered online, in-person and on demand. We like to keep the participant numbers low to ensure you can get individual attention.