Zoo and Nature Photography - Steve Williams

Steve Williams would say he is not a 'nature expert', but he does manage to capture excellent animal portraits as well as a huge range of birdlife along with butterflies, dragonflies and damsel flies.   Whilst many images are taken in the wild, the more exotic creatures in his collection were actually captured in zoo enclosures.  But with skill and careful planning, he was able to keep elements of the zoos well hidden.  As he presented his images, he also took us on an extensive tour ofthe zoos, wildlife parks and nature reserves of the UK along with many tips on how to plan to get the best of what you find there.  The image above however, was actually taken in his back garden, proving that you don't always have to travel far to capture nature in action.  This is Steve's second visit to the club.  Steve's website gives more information on his work and his other talks.

Light, Cameras, Action! - Roger Evans MPAGB, FBPE, EFIAP/p

'Light, Cameras, Action'  (Not Lights, Camera, Action) Roger gave an entertaining talk to the club on the highlights of his sports photography 2018 to 2022 and included his transition from DSLR to Mirrorless along with shooting prior, during and post Covid.  Most impressive were his photos of the gymnastics and he admitted that this is a favourite subject.  But we have seen Roger before and know that he excels in all sports photography. Each event is carefully researched and he knows where to get the best shots, but he likes to experiment too in the hope he can present the agency with a different 'take' of an athlete/event. He was generous with advice to budding sports photographers with an eye to the commercial aspects: what the agencies and the public like to see, as well as the usual detail on equipment, F-stop, shutter speed and ISO.  Roger can be found on Instagram and Flickr.

The Romance of Landscape Photography, Mark Littlejohn

Mark Littlejohn gave a spellbinding talk to a well-attended club meeting.  His presentation style transported everyone to the wonderful landscapes which he managed to capture with such artistry.  One member described t=his images as 'achingly beautiful' and everyone really enjoyed the evening.  His work has has been featured in a variety of national magazines and he has also written several articles in relation to landscape photography and his particular approach to it.

He prefers the less popular view and concentrates his efforts in the earlier part of the day. In the main he stayed close to his previous home in Penrith situated midway between Ullswater and the Eden Valley, Mark now lives in the north west Highlands of Scotland, Wester Ross.  He sees little point in constantly travelling in search of exotic locations, when quite often a beautiful image can be just around the corner from your front door.  Visit Mark's website for wonderful inspiration

My Creative journey - Lynda Haney FBPE MPAGB EFIAP

Mother's Love

Lynda was introduced to photography by her father at a very young age - 6 or 7 years old, when he described it as 'magic'.  She was hooked. She learned by trial and error, finding her way into new techniques, new styles, whilst she taught physics full time.  She acquired her first digital camera in 1994 along with a copy of Photoshop 4.0 and has never looked back.  She tentatively went into Club competitions and realised the feedback was very useful.  Growing in confidence, she started to do well and was encouraged to enter BPEs.  She finally achieved her Fellowship (500+ Salon acceptances).  She retired from teaching, and started to explore her local area and particularly the zoo, and then just 'started playing' back home.  This way her love of creating composite images began.  Her main photographic interest has always been wildlife and wildlife features strongly in many of her images,  She  enjoys the time spent in post processing as much as time spent with a camera in hand.  Very self-efacing and modest, Lynda is an example of pure passion combined with curiousity and imagination - she'll try anything and never stops learning.  The second half she gave us great tips on how to create some wonderful composite images.  Did you know that if you talk for long enough to sheep - they will turn and look at you!?!

My Journey into Theatre Photography - Cat Humphries

Cat's talk took us all the way from her days as an enthusiastic camera club member to a professional theatrical photographer.  From little acorns .... she attended a camera club outing to a theatre group's rehearsal, but was the only member to turn up.  There was a spark - she shared her best images and when the theatre group were rehearsing for their next performance, they invited her back.  Though quite shy, she kept going for every opportunity, taking risks and learning by mistakes.  She got a break when she met a  professional photographer who was impressed enough to ask her to step in for him, when he was double booked.  She has never looked back.  From documenting young performers at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in the 1990s to shooting vintage Hollywood portraits for Sunset Boulevard in 2019, she took us on her amazing trip through her adventures in theatre photography. She was generous with her hints and tips and lessons she learned along the way.  

Portraits, People and Photojournalism - Roger Hance FRPS AFIAP DPAGB BPE5*

Roger is a highly experienced photographer, perhaps best known for his nature photography.  However, in this talk, he gave us some great hints and tips about tracking something else - people!  He was not only generous in sharing his methods to get a great portrait, or candid image, but he also took us to the places and situations that he finds are a a very good source of images.  In his words:

"In this talk I show a range of 'People Pictures'. The images will cover candid's, photojournalism, as well as studio and available light portraits. I explain, as well as giving examples, why some subjects can work in colour, while others can be considerably improved by converting to monochrome.  I show some of the best places in the UK to go for 'people pictures': Speakers Corner, Brick Lane, Tate Modern, Blist Hill Victorian Village, The Black Country Museum, The Beamish Museum, 1940's weekends, Tough Guy event, and the Victory Show. I also cover working in a studio with flash and show how to take pictures at Live Rock events and explain how to take candid pictures without people noticing you."

Thanks Roger for another very inspiring evening.  See Roger's website for much more.
 

15-30 Minutes of Fame

Another very popular evening at the club when four members give around 30 minutes on a topic of their choice.  This year, we were delighted to welcome these members Philip Miles (top left) : Finding art in Refuse; Nick Bowman (top right) "Water Sports"; Jim Bennett (bottom left) "My Creative Process"; Jane Moore (bottom right) "African Wildlife".   Each put a fantastic talk together, with funny anecdotes, useful processing insights and some serious safety tips!!  Thank you one and all.  

Rediscovering our Forgotten Heritage - Matt Emmett

Matt treated us to a spellbinding talk and took us to and through so many buildings, long forgotten and left to rot.  Yet still showing some beautiful features despite their state of dereliction.  In his words:

There is a thrill in exploring an environment that allows you to step into a previously unknown world and discover something first-hand, taking your time and noting the details as you go. Having a camera with me allows me to prolong that thrill long after the building is gone. Capturing their character and stillness comes across well in the photos and is something people tell me they love about the images.
It has been put to me that photographing ruins and abandonment is beautifying something actually quite negative that impacts real people and society in general. Photographers didn’t cause the site to fail and fall into a derelict state and with my own work I don’t feel there’s a parallel with photographers who shoot among the ruins of a town like Detroit and the human tragedy unfolding there. I am interested purely in capturing the aesthetics, character and history of the building, showing the passage of time and the effects of nature on a structure that is no longer being maintained.

Thank you to Matt for a really fascinating talk.  See Matt's website for much more.

Cambridge Inter-Club Digital Competition 2025 results

The annual Inter-Club Digital Competition was held at Whittlesford with 29 clubs from the EAF taking part.  Cherry Larcombe EFIAP ARPS DPAGB BPE5* was the judge. There was a tie between Bishop’s Stortford Camera Club and Photo Imaging Cooperative, both on 98 points (out of a possible 100) and the winning club was decided by their reserve, tie-breaker image.  First place was awarded to Bishop's Stortford.  

The Roy Pitman Trophy for the best image was won by Les Cornwell from Loughton Camera Club for his image 'The Thrill of Skateboarding'.

The competition was attended by around a hundred spectators from the participating clubs.  This year the lead sponsor was Wex Photo Video, represented by Matthew de Salles, which gave vouchers for the winning club and best image.

Results can be seen here.

Close-up Photography - Dr Peter Warne

Monday, 19th November, Peter Warn delighted the members with his detailed talk on close-up photography.  Peter is a biologist by training and from an early age had an interest in wildlife and its appearance under the microscope.  His macro photography therefore, is mainly concerned with capturing pictures of things to be found in the garden, forest and his second home, the restoration project of Copped Hall just below Epping.  The start of his talk described the challenges of close-up/macro photography and the tools to help overcome them.  He generously gave us the benefit of all his experience and research, and provided extensive notes on the tools he described.  All this was interleaved with some cracking macro photography with all the details of his approach and settings, plus equipment used on the day.   The second half addressed  specific techniques and compositional ideas by which the subjects may be converted from a record into a photograph.  Thoroughly enjoyable.