OPS Weekly Newsletter 5 April 2026
- Please start selecting your prints for our annual exhibition at the Westgate Library from Thursday 30 April to Saturday 30 May. This is taking place during Art Weeks. Dave B. sent an email to you all earlier this week with instructions.
- Congratulations to Linda whose image ‘Maze’ features in Amateur Photographer which is ‘A superb abstract image that plays with our sense of perception. Although we can’t be sure what we’re looking at, the spirals and composition make strong visual sense.’ https://amateurphotographer.com/latest/photo-news/take-a-look-at-the-best-photographs-youll-see-this-month/
- Last meeting held on Tues 31 March: The Cameraman’s Cut with Colin Clarke ARPS
Colin has spent decades working in the documentary ‘moving image’ industry and has worked on approximately 180 documentaries during his career. His book came about during Covid when he was doing a zoom presentation to a RPs event. He was asked if he would ever be writing a book about his experience, his immediate and emphatic answer was NO! He ended up writing his work story in The Cameraman’s Cut.
It all started in 1966 when he was 17 years old and he got a job at a ‘go-for’ working in London’s West End studios. He had an eye for photography and showed a stunning photo he took of his friend playing guitar next to a mirror. It was shot in black and white on Kodak Tri-X.
It wasn’t long before he became an assistant to the famous photographer of the day, Norman
Parkinson. He also went on an overland bus journey with students travelling to India and back. Then worked for 15 months as a photographer on a cruise ship, taking photos, developing and printing them and turning it all around overnight.
In 1973 he then won a place at the National Film School. He had decided he wanted to be a cinematographer and on graduation immediately got on job on the film A Bridge Too Far. Then a six-month job in Port Harcourt in Nigeria. He said the 1980s was a crazy time for him. He work on Nationwide, That’s Life, Jim’ll Fix It, Panorama, Newsnight and an Arena documentary film on the legendary British photographer Tim Page.
In 1981 MTV blazed into the world of music via the moving image and the ‘pop promo’ was born. He showed the joyously mad video he shot of Our House by Madness, continuing the theme of pop songs Sandra D introduced last week with the Kinks’ Sunny Afternoon.
Colin showed some of the more than 200 TV documentaries filming in over 90 countries, often in extreme conditions, as well as many dramas, music videos and commercials.
The cover of his book has Colin precariously shooting a waterfall while balancing on a rock. The waterfall was Angel Falls, the world’s highest uninterrupted waterfall, which plunges 979 metres (3,212ft) from the Auyán-tepui mountain in Canaima National Park in Venezuela.
In 1996 he directed an award-winning film for Discovery (US) in Papua New Guinea titled “Warrior Island – Korowai,” and has self-directed shoots for a variety of productions, as well as his own documentaries.
Since 2010, Colin has returned to his roots in stills, photographing portraits and his personal projects, such has his Associate RPS distinction, which he showed in the second half, along with many other superb portraits.
Included in his 15 images for his ARPS panel was the very first one he took of his friend playing a guitar in 1966. The portraits were a mix of black and white and colour, which was a bold move. He blended them very well in the panel. The RPS judges spent some time discussing his panel, the mix black and white/colour was not contentious, it was that old favourite of judges – ‘blown out highlights’. The judges didn’t revert to type and agree that such a photographic sin could be forgiven as it was the photographer’s ‘stylistic’ choice.
You can see Colin’s portraits here and also his book here.
A very engaging talk full of interesting anecdotes, magnificent images and at the end a delightful portrait of a young girl in Dachigam, Kashmir taken back in 1974 which he has enlarged and hanging on this wall at home.
- Next meeting Tues 7 April: Digital Image Competition no 3
Our judge will be Mark Buckley-Sharp
- Upcoming meetings/events
- 14 April: Imagine with Rob Ferrands
- 28 April: Long Lens Landscapes with Murray Livingston finalist in the 2024 Scottish Landscape Photographer of the Year
You can see the programme here and download it:
https://oxfordphotosociety.co.uk/programme-download/
- Photographic events in and around Oxford
FOTO FOLIO : A Studio Portrait Photography Workshop imagex
A Studio Portraiture workshop for advanced enthusiast – professional photographers.
1-5PM/£50 + booking fee/Sat 11th Apr 26
imagex, Unit C2, Bure Place, Pioneer Sq, Bicester, OX26 6FA
Spring Wonder: mindful photography walk & gentle writing reflections
The Lamb and Flag with the Writing Well
Mindful image gathering and guided writing response. All levels welcome. Free coffee and pastries.
10am–12.30pm/£30/Sat 18th Apr 26
The Lamb & Flag12 St Giles Oxford
Art Weeks Oxfordshire
The 2026 festival runs from 2nd -25th 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.
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
- Astronomy Photographer of the Year, National Maritime Museum
- Bird Photographer of the Year, touring
- RPS Landscape Group Members’ Outdoor Exhibition, touring
- Wildlife Photographer of the Year 61, Natural History Museum
- Boris Mikhailov: Ukrainian Diary, The Photographers’ Gallery
- Lee Miller, Tate Britain
- Taylor Wessing Photo Portrait Prize 2025, National Portrait Gallery
- Richard Avedon: Facing West, Gagosian Grosvenor Hill
- The Last Resort, Martin Parr Foundation
- Catherine Opie: To Be Seen, National Portrait Gallery
- Sony World Photography Awards 2026, Somerset House
- Marilyn Monroe: A Portrait, National Portrait Gallery
- Tim Walker’s Fairyland: Love and Legends, National Portrait Gallery
- Taylor Wessing Photo Portrait Prize 2026, National Portrait Gallery
More detail here:
https://amateurphotographer.com/latest/articles/best-photography-exhibitions-to-see/
- General photographic interest
Don McCullin – This cultural Life
Award-winning photographer Sir Don McCullin talks to John Wilson about his cultural influences and formative experiences. He started out in the late 1950s documenting the working-class lives in the north London neighbourhood in which he had grown up.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002tbzn
Navajo Nation: the fight for cultural survival – photo essay
Rick Findler, photographer and Joan Wakelin bursary recipient, speaks to Navajo communities attempting to save a language and traditions that are being diluted by modern life
Fifteen years of the Passion of Jesus: a curtain call at Trafalgar Square – in pictures
Wintershall returned to Trafalgar Square on Good Friday for its annual – and final – performance of the Passion of Jesus
Spheres of influence: the Bauhaus’s radical female photographers – in pictures
The images are famous, but the women who took them are often forgotten. An inspiring exhibition focuses on the pioneering ‘new vision’ of Marianne Brandt, Lucia Moholy and more