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Last week’s meeting Confessions of a Landscape Photographer with Paul Mitchell FRPS MCSD Paul worked as a graphic designer for many years before he eventually became a professional photographer and given more freedom to expressive himself. His talk was a mix of planned and found photographs and be began by sharing tips on how to plan your landscape photography whether inland or coastal. Planning: Books, such as the FotoVue Guides, and magazines, he finds Outdoor Photography very useful for discovering good ideas. He warned against tick box exercises and not to put your tripod legs in the same indents on the ground of past photographers. These guides helps you find an area and the opportunities close by. He also uses google images and Flikr to research locations. Then it is looking at google maps, checking the weather – he thinks BBC Weather is pretty useless and uses the Met Office tool, also Clear Outside. Photo Ephemeris is very good to understand where sun and moon will be.  An analogue sun compass is very useful. For places to park his car Google Earth is very good. Time is important too. Allow time to walk to your location, give yourself a good half an hour arrival at the spot before sunrise/sunset and avoid peak times. If possible scout the location before the day of shooting.

Next week’s meeting Tuesday 2 April: Confessions of a Landscape Photographer Note: the meeting will be held at Old School House, Hertford Street, East Oxford, OX4 3AJ. Paul Mitchell FRPS MCSD : Born in East Yorkshire, Paul’s interest for photography began at school. He then studied graphic design at art college and soon after began his design career in London working for many well known FMCG companies and brands. He now lives in East Dorset as a professional landscape photographer and specialist book designer. Paul has had numerous exhibitions in London and the South East and has had articles and images published in many photographic magazines. He is a Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society and is the current Chair of the Landscape Distinctions panel. He also serves on the Visual Art and PhotoBook panels. A member of the prestigious Arena group of photographers and a founder member of The Landscape Collective UK (LCUK). Paul is also a well respected photographic judge and lecturer.

Last meeting – Best Use of Light with Phil Joyce judging Phil started the evening explaining the history of the Best Use of Light competition. It was set up to commemorate Peter Upton who, back in the day, was a leading member of the club and had a very distinctive style, powerful use of colour and light.Phil then went on to explain what he will be looking for: Is it a good photograph? Does it use light appropriate to the subject? Has the light been exploited to make the image standout? Phil then ran through all the images, which were of a very high standard, commenting on each one, and holding back quite a number. His aim was to whittle the list the images down to five and make the order in which they stand. Which were, in reverse order: 5th: Sandra Devaney – Mosque Eyes 4th: Linda Wride – White Light 3rd: Ian Bray Daisies in Vase 2nd: Dave MacKay – Rakher Upobash Festival 1st : Keith Worthington – Kingfisher with Catch (back curtain flash)

1. Last meeting – ZOOM Presentation – Phil Savoie with his talk “The Principles of Photography talk” Zooming into the hall is always a technical challenge and many thanks to Jill, Keith and Dave B for all their skills, patience and perseverance they displayed as they sorted out all the technical issues we faced. Phil was zooming in from close to the Irish Sea in west Wales, and it was great to see Ron, all the way from Swanage on the zoom. Phil has not lost his American accent even though he has been working on BBC Bristol wildlife films for many decades. As a young 20-year-old he worked in a New York photo agency, commuting two and a half hours to and from his home. Though he enjoyed the work it was untenable, and he went on to university to study tropical biology. Eventually he ended up in Belize for 11 years being a wildlife tour guide and encountered David Attenborough and the BBC Wildlife team. He ended up working on the groundbreaking Life on Earth TV series. To survive in that environment, you not only had to be technically competent but also be highly creative. He showed short extracts of some of his films from that era: a macro film travelling through amber that ended up with a close up of an ant, a film of Mandrills marching across the countryside of Gabon, also a film about the partnership between the Heliconia plant and hummingbirds. A selection of his films can be seen here.

1. Last meeting – Print Competition No. 2 judged by Kevin Day The results of the evening were: Monochrome First place Pete Warrington Under Boscombe Pier Second place Keith Worthington After Prey Third place Pete Warrington Slurry Tank, Berkshire Downs H Commended Les Gordon The Cube, London H Commended John Boteler Winter Wonderland, Savernake Forest H Commended Dave Atkinson Black Backed Jackel Commended Dave Belcher Peaky Blinders Commended Helen Webb Black Rhino and Oxpecker Commended Helen Webb Tribal Woman Commended Dave Atkinson Vintage Owl in Motion

Last meeting – Rosebowl Competition Round 3 between Oxford, Harrow, Croxley and Wantage Oxford came first with 267 points, followed by Harrow with 258, Croxley with 256 and Wantage with 248. Congratulations to Helen Webb whose image scored 20 star and all members who took part. This score means Oxford will qualify for the final on 21 April.

Last meeting – “Street Photography My Way” with Peter Crane Peter retired in 2009 and joined a camera club. In 2010 he heard about and joined the RPS London Street Walk and later joined a similar one in Bath and became a ‘street photographer’ – photographing people on the street. He also became a camera club judge and started giving talks to camera clubs and this one was his hundredth talk. His other ‘hobby’ is angling and he likens street photography to angling: you catch a moment, which will be a chance event, you need to be alert and switched on, and you need a bit of confidence and patience.

The Oxford Photographic Society launched a new exhibition called “My Oxford” at the Westgate Library this week. The exhibition, which lasts for three weeks, shows the people, streets, meadows, buildings and bicycles of the city through the lens of the Society’s members. “We are very grateful to the library for generously giving us the space to show our members’ photographic interpretation of Oxford. We hope the people of Oxford will enjoy the photographs on show and inspire them to take photos of this city of contrasts,” said Ian Bray, Chair of the Oxford Photographic Society.

Last meeting – A passage to India and Brazil. Sandra Devaney’s visit to India and Linda Wride’s trip to Brazil   Sandra began her talk with the recollection of her first OPS competition experience back in 2018. She had recently returned from a visit to Vietnam and was keen to get feedback on her competition entries. The judge was less than enthusiastic about her images which left Sandra initially disappointed but spurred her on to do better. After visiting a Steve McCurry exhibition – he of the green-eyed Afghan girl, Sharbat Gula – Sandra knew what she wanted to do, take amazing simple portraits of people and concentrate on what she likes not what judges like. In late 2023 she booked  a trip with Charlie Waite’s Light and Land to Rajasthan in India, arriving in Delhi and then onto Udaipur, Jodhpur and Agra, and stops along the way. Delhi was in the grip of a thick smog but Sandra got some great portraits street workers, some taking a rest break, others toiling and others unselfconsciously posing for the camera. She took shots of workers carrying loads on their heads at the Old Spice Market and in Photoshop magically got rid of distracting elements by using ‘generative fill’. Charlie Waite was very helpful and very generous with his advice. One little tip, but an effective one was: if you have blue and yellow in your shots you are guaranteed that people will look at them.

Our second exhibition at the Central Library in the Westgate shopping centre will run from 19 February for three weeks. The theme is My Oxford. If you haven’t already handed in your entries please bring them, bagged to avoid scratches, to the club meetings on 13 Feb. Don’t forget to label your prints as instructed in Les’s email repeated below. Last meeting – “The Art of Paper Selection” with Colin Hurley from Permajet Colin, who works for the Imaging Warehouse, gave us some expert advice and tips on selecting the right paper for our images. He caveated this by saying there really is no ‘right’ paper, all does depend on what you are wanting to convey with your printed image, the look and the feel you want.