West Haddon Photo Club

Most Recently...

Feel The Land - A Talk By Astrid McGechan

We were delighted to welcome Astrid McGechan, a tour leader for Light and Land, the UK's premier photographic tour company, to talk to us about landscape photography (both rural and urban). Through her presentation she explained how she tries to capture her emotions of the moment in a photograph and in doing so took us on a light-hearted journey through her creative process.

Astrid showed us a selection of her images that illustrated the various techniques that she has found useful. Whilst conceding the importance of composition, she explained that it shouldn't get in the way of conveying what you feel in the final image. Interestingly Astrid was dismissive of developing a style, saying she photographed anything she found appealing.

For a taster of Astrid's work have a look at the beautiful photos on her website. One of our lucky attendees won a print of one of them in our raffle.

So you don't miss out on future events have a look at our 2023 programme.

Textures & Patterns - May's Theme

It's said that human brains are particularly sensitive to perceiving patterns. There are patterns in all types of environments and by no means are all made by humans, the natural world is full of them. Whilst textures are often associated with the sense of touch they can also be conveyed in images. This theme also lends itself to abstract images, so we expected a wide range of subjects.

Sure enough, our members and guests submitted a wide and imaginative selection of images that encompassed all of the above. Buildings and the details on them provided a rich seam as did the natural world and it was one from each of those categories that were voted as favourites by those attending.

Spiral staircases can be very photogenic and this wasn't lost on Alastair Bell whose Downward Spiral was a vertiginous stairway lit by a characterful window. The image voted the favourite was from the natural world - beautifully textured, moss-covered bark enhanced by a Tree Creeper by Jim Shaw.

Our criteria for photos submitted for the Image of the Month round is that they must have been taken since our last Show and Tell meeting.

Because image of the month photos can be of anything there's usually a wide range of unrelated subjects, but occasionally a theme emerges by accident, and this month it was spring. Photos of wildflowers in woodland were popular, interspersed with a couple taken in London.

Firmly in the cute category was Chris Shun's image On Reflection a photo of two curious lambs reflected in a puddle. The favourite image was one of the aforementioned wildflower photos - Alastair Bell's Bambi and the Bluebells - a deer emerging from a bank of bluebells and staring directly at us.

The Members' Images page includes all the images submitted this month. Let us know which ones you would have voted for.

Our Next Theme - In The Air

Is it a bird, is it a plane? If, like Phil Collins, you can see it coming in the air then, whatever it is, it's a valid subject for inclusion in this month's Show and Tell theme. It can float, fly, waft, hang, flutter, scud, soar, fall and drift, so there should be something that will appeal to all our members.

This is also one of our meetings when prints may also be submitted.

Don't be left up in the air - to include your images in this Show and Tell meeting you need to submit them before 9pm on Wednesday 21st June. If submitting prints, bring them along to the meeting, but email beforehand to tell us what you're bringing along.

To see what other themes and events are coming up throughout the year have a look on our 2023 Programme page.

If you're not a member and there's anything on there you'd like to participate in then get in touch or come along to one of our meetings - the first two Show and Tell meetings are free.