W E S T H A D D O N
PHOTO CLUB
Featured Events
These are the full details for the events we have planned that are coming up in the next few weeks.
If you want to see all the events we have planned this year then take a look at our Programme Page.
We have been fortunate to have hosted many excellent speakers this year, and this trend continued when we invited Colin Trow-Poole to present his talk 'People and Places'.
Specialising in strong story telling and, by sensitively using lighting and carefully controlling tonal gradations, Colin produces evocative and thought provoking printed images that may be regarded as 'Fine Art'. Examples of his atmospheric and inspiring work are on his website.
For places, Colin illustrated his talk with powerful and atmospheric images of and inside buildings, showing how light, layers and thoughtful placing of figures create impact. His series of prints of photos taken in Oradour-sur-Glane, the scene of a terrible massacre, were both poignant and sensitive - the image of the front of a building, its two blank windows and open doorway like a scream, was particularly affecting.
A thoughtful set of prints that Colin had used for his FRPS submission formed the bulk of the people section of his talk. Street portraiture, especially of those less fortunate, can be seen to be exploitative. However, Colin handled this sensitively, showing the humanity of his subjects.
Colin illustrated his talk with prints, rather than projected images, a first for WHPC. This stripped away any vagaries of our projector and the ambient lighting, especially due to the light summer evening. We hope this will encourage our members to print their own work more often - Colin's offer of 20% off PermaJet paper may also help...
We are indebted to Badby & District Photo Club for their loan of print stands and lightbox enabling us to host this talk.
Details of this and our future events have a look at our 2025 Programme page.
Our first talk this year from an invited speaker was from Derbyshire-based Ashley Franklin, who examined the work of the photographic greats. Ashley explored the story of Portrait, Fashion, Industrial, Travel, War, News, Street & Social Documentary Photography.
The talk was lavishly illustrated by the work of many of the greats of photography, including Avedon, Bailey, Beaton, McCullin, Karsh, Liebovitz and Salgado. Ashley promised 'an evening of informative, inspiring, powerful and world-changing imagery', and he certainly delivered.
Ashley's in-depth knowledge about, and deep respect for, the trailblazers of photography shone through as he took us on a journey from the earliest images in each genre, to the modern masters. It was clear the photos he showed were carefully chosen to illustrate the key shifts in approaches to each of the subjects.
Many of the photos we saw were quite well known, but when examined within the context of photographic development took on extra significance. Some photos were a delight to look at, others were instrumental in bringing about social change. All were inspiring, and at the end of the talk those attending agreed they had learnt a great deal in a very engaging way.
Thanks again to Ashley for his talk and we will look forward to inviting him along for Part Two of his talk.
Details of this and our future events have a look at our 2025 Programme page.
The management at the Pytchley Inn have invited West Haddon Photo Club members to take part in a photo competition. They have generously offered a prize of a voucher worth £100 for food and/or accommodationto the person taking the photo they judge to be their favourite.
Photos should be taken to show The Pytchley to best advantage and may be interior or exterior views, however, as a courtesy, permission must be sought first from The Pytchley staff, who are aware they may be approached. Anyone who is recognisable in a photo who take must sign a model release form (it's complex, so you may wish to ensure that no-one can be recognised!).
There's no limit to the number of photos members may submit, but the The Pytchley reserve the right to use any or all submitted images on their website or promotional material. Photographers retain their copyright.
You may find it useful to have a look at The Pytchley's website to see what type of images they'll be looking for.
More details are contained in the Pytchley Photo Competition Information & Guidance sheet. If you need any more information please ask one of the committee members.
For our last talk this year we welcomed Nigel Spencer to present 'An Evening of Wildlife Photography' to our members and guests.
Wildlife photography is quite rightly very popular, not just because of the enchanting images, but also because of the desire of many photographers to take one themselves. Those of us who have tried know how hard this is, but Nigel's superb images made it look easy.
In an extensive presentation Nigel talked about how he had drifted from landscape photography to taking predominately wildlife images, at the cost of having to lug huge, heavy lenses up mountains in freezing weather. The results were worth it; we were treated to intimate and spectacular photos of birds and animals.
Whilst there is a element of luck (13 days in a hide waiting for a bear to show up) Nigel was at pains to explain that preparation, not least understanding your subject and their habits, was crucial to getting the shot. It was also interesting to hear him speak about the commerciality of photos - crucial if you're a professional photographer - and how subjects, composition and colour effect this.
The popularity of wildlife photography, and of Nigel as a speaker, was demonstrated by one of our biggest audiences for a talk this year. Thank you to Nigel and all who came along to the talk.
For details of the talks we have next year have a look at out 2025 Programme.
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