… as I’m sure you’ll agree!! And for those of you not fluent in Welsh – Better Late than Never – ‘cos it’s taken me 3 months to post these images for goodness sake!!
Back in June, 5 of us from the Sidmouth Photo Club trekked off to Cardiff (about a 2 hour drive each way) to help Andy do a recce for his upcoming SPC Summer Trip. And what a fascinating city it is to photograph. We started in the park next to the castle, then took a boat down to Mermaid Quay, which is a great way to view the assortment of interesting buildings.
Harri and I were a little starstruck to think that Captain Jack from Torchwood had walked on the very same paving slabs as us and we did our best to find the secret entrance to their Operation Centre – apologies to non Doctor Who fans who have no idea what I’m banging on about!
Considering there were so many different styles of buildings at the Quay, there was surprisingly little to photograph, so after lunch we wandered up to the city centre, where we all found a lot more of interest. And being a Friday afternoon, there was an eclectic mix of shoppers, workers and groups of friends already getting into the weekend spirit! It’s definitely a party city and I’m sure there would have been some “interesting” shots later on in the evening (and possibly a handbag in the camera lens for your trouble)!
Ironically, Andy’s Trip didn’t actually take place, so we were very glad to have taken the opportunity to visit when we did. Would be interested in going back, as it was such a diverse, colourful city…and who knows if I might just bump into John Barrowman dashing about in his trench coat….
The last time I was in London was 6 months ago, when Sidmouth Photographic Club ran a 2 day trip around Greenwich, O2 and Canary Wharf. And thankfully Mike (our club Secretary, who arranged that event), was keen to run another one during the summer – this time, a day trip to Battersea, with a walk along the river back to Waterloo. It felt a bit like a school outing, as 10 of us boarded the train and competed to see who could eat their packed food the quickest…which was probably me, as I’d finished my breakfast before we even set off from Honiton station! These trips are always popular, as they are superbly organised, with loads of photo opportunities and lots of fun to boot.
Once we arrived at Waterloo, we boarded the Northern Line to Battersea Power station. I sat next to a fabulously photogenic guy with calf-high red Doc Martens and colourful tattoos. Looking round the carriage, you could see group members desperately trying to take his photo on their phones, without looking like they were. I managed half a boot and half an arm – not even remotely artistic, so had to concede defeat!
At Battersea we had plenty of time to wander round on our own and what an amazing place it is – the Power Station is now a destination venue, containing high end shops, eateries and outdoor spaces. It had a great vibe, with plenty to keep both street and architectural photographers happy. The harsh sunlight worked in my favour, providing fabulous shadows and silhouettes, which is one of my (many) current fascinations. In preparation for the trip, I had been watching YouTube videos by Siegfried Hansen, a German Street photography, who is attracted to graphical scenes with strong lines, colours and shapes, so my eye was looking for more unusual compositions. And almost from the start I became fixated with legs and feet (yes, yet another of my “obsessions”!), as they took centre stage in my images. At one point, after spotting a lady with wonderful red Adidas trainers, I followed her into a shop and asked if I could take a photo of her feet in the amazing shadows – and even though she clearly thought I was bonkers, she agreed…so it never hurts to ask if you really want that shot!
After lunch we wandered down river to the American Embassy, which is an oasis in the city, with beautiful prairie-like planting and a massive water feature. The building itself is highly photogenic and as usual, we were all trying to find our unique viewpoint…and that’s what I love about photography; even when we are all looking at the same building, every one of our photos will show a different angle / point of view / mood / story. And next door was The Sky Pool; a glass bottomed swimming pool suspended many stories up between 2 buildings. We were in luck as there were 2 people swimming in it, which made for a more interesting shot.
We continued along the river to the Tate Britain for a brief tea and cake stop (admiring some tattooed feet and more Doc Marten boots – sadly, too busy scoffing to photograph), before carrying on up to Trafalgar Square. I have to admit that by this time I was seriously flagging due to the heat, so spent all of my time in the Square trying to get one decent photo of a pigeon next to the Do Not Feed Pigeons sign…and in the end, I have to admit that I blended 2 images together to make it work (never let reality get in the way of a good image)!!
Onwards over Hungerford Bridge to dinner at the Cote Brasserie – and suitably refreshed, we strolled to Waterloo station to catch the last train back home. I have to confess that an abundance of sugar and over tiredness led to my table companions being treated/subjected (delete as applicable) to 3 hours of silliness from myself…in my defence, I was trying to make the journey go quicker for all of us, but it must have felt like being stuck next to an additive fuelled 8 year old!! Hehehe….happy times 😀
A cracking day out – it’s always a real joy to spend time in London, capturing the quirkiness of the city. Already looking forward to the next trip (if I’m allowed back!!)…
Jangly bells – check. Ribbons – check. Coloured hankies – check. Accordion – check. Yes, it’s that time of year again, when Sidmouth comes alive with the sights and sounds of the Folk Festival, now in its 68th year. It’s a week filled with traditional morris dancing, music performances, artisan stalls and workshops all over the town. And at night, as well as the Festival performances, you can catch impromptu jamming sessions in the local pubs or for non-folkies, live bands in the larger pub gardens. Some residents resent the yearly “invasion”, but I love the injection of colour and life that these events bring. This year I’ve really thrown myself into the festivities and have to confess I was out every night enjoying the live music, which I will miss terribly now that the Festival has just finished.
I also went out photographing with my friend Rosemary during the weekend, to try and capture the spirit of the Festival. We learnt a lot from our sessions last year – which lenses worked best, which days had the most people, which locations showcased the dancers best etc…This year I decided to focus on the characters and inherent quirkiness that presents itself during the week, rather than standard shots of the dancers and musicians.
Roll on next year!
(Click on an image to see a larger version)
And in case you wanted an idea of what the morris teams actually look like, here are a few images from last year’s Festival.
well, in my case, put on about 3kg of weight!! I was lucky enough to have to travel to Naples in April (2023) for work and decided to take an extra couple of days to explore the city and indulge in some street photography. The day I arrived was the Naples versus AC Milan Champions League game at home and the city was full of people making their way to the stadium…and to the hotel next to ours, where the AC Milan team were staying!! There was much taunting (hence the coffin adorned in AC Milan colours) and a considerable Police presence. But unlike the UK, there was no trouble; just genuine fans supporting their club. Sadly, Naples drew the match and lost on aggregate…but they had bigger fish to fry, with the (almost) guaranteed win of “Serie A”, the Italian Premier League. I have never seen so many banners, flags, bunting etc. in my life – all in the blue and white colours of the Naples team, adorning every street and apartment in the city. Never mind the posters of Maradona, revered as the second patron saint of the city. The atmosphere was electric – you could already sense what a party there was going to be at the end of the football season! It was wonderful to wander around just soaking up the atmosphere.
I spent most of my time in the Spanish Quarter, bimbling up and down the narrow streets, dodging mopeds and trying to not look like a tourist! So many great shots to be had. And people were so friendly – I had lots of chats with random strangers…with an impressive level of English…and never once felt concerned about being on my own. I also took the metro to Garibaldi station, which is a photographer’s dream, with the striking architecture and orange panelling, casting amazing shadows onto the concourse below. You can see some of my shots here. I must admit though I gave up trying to negotiate my way around the Old Town, as the streets were so full of tourists….and scurried back to the relative calm of the Spanish Quarter. It’s probably embarrassing to admit that I didn’t step foot in a single museum, art gallery or theatre (nothing cultural basically!), but I still feel that I got a sense of the city and its people. I did, however, step into several cake shops and attempted to sample every chocolate cake/dessert the city had to offer – hence the extra “baggage” I brought home with me!!
I hope that I managed to capture something of the vibrant, chaotic, colourful, animated and truly beguiling city of Napoli…
To celebrate the Coronation of King Charles, Sidmouth held a street party in the centre of town on the afternoon of Sunday 7th May. Tables went on sale weeks ago and people were encouraged to bring along decorations, food, drink – oh, and most importantly chairs! Even on the day, we weren’t sure what the weather would do, but by half three the skies cleared and the sun came out…right on cue! Within an hour you couldn’t move for all things red, white and blue – it was fabulous to see everyone making such an effort. And the cakes…to die for! I did consider pretending to judge a street party cake competition, just so I could sample them all, but without a clipboard, felt that I wouldn’t have been taken seriously!
Rosemary and I had planned to photograph the street party as soon as we knew one was being held and for our “homework”, we studied the work of Martin Parr at a recent exhibition of his, to understand how he managed to conjure up the essence of “Britishness” without taking just record shots. It’s far, far harder to do than you would imagine.
Martin Parr, Chew Stoke, 1992
An image that particularly stood out to us, was one he’d taken during a year long project at the village of Chew Stoke. He managed to evoke the mood of a tea party, just by capturing the act of pouring tea. The jam on the scones perfectly matches the dresses…and not a head in shot! Which absolutely doesn’t matter, as all the information you need to know about the ladies can be gleaned from what they are wearing and doing. He is a master at focusing in on the action, with his subjects framing the photo. Another signature trait is his use of bright, saturated colours – which would make a coronation street party the perfect environment for the Union Jack colours to be the stars of the show.
With just over an hour in which to capture the mood of the party, Rosemary and I set to, trying to hone in on small details and mannerisms that could tell the story of the celebrations and the quirkiness of the British public. My photos from the Platinum Jubilee street party last year were a total non-starter, as I think I just got overwhelmed by all of the colour and activity in front of me. Having a clear goal this time, really enabled me to use the short timeframe to the fullest and led to images that even a few months ago I probably wouldn’t have seen. Anyone who dabbles in street photography knows that trying to pre-empt a shot about to happen, ensure there’s nothing distracting in the background and frame your image correctly within a few milliseconds is no mean feat…and practice definitely makes, well maybe not perfect, let’s just say better!
We left the party in full swing and I was so pleased to have been part of such a special celebration – great memories and a few photos to boot! My particular favourites being the Union Jack waistcoat & cup and the balloon hiding the guy’s face (couldn’t believe my luck when the balloon finally drifted across, after standing there willing it for ages!!).
Image by Tony Veltrop: Receiving the DPI Competition Cup for the 2022/23 season from Harri (2022/3 Chairperson) and Brian (2023/4 Chairman)
I used to think that because I wasn’t very sporty, I couldn’t be competitive – ha…how wrong can you be?! I certainly showed my true colours in this season’s Digital Image competitions at the Sidmouth Photographic Club, once it looked like I may have a chance of winning the league!
In the 2022/23 season, running from September 2022 to May 2023, we had the opportunity to enter 8 digital images over the course of the season. And with so many talented photographers in the club, every entry would need to do well in order to make it into the top 5. I decided this year that I would only enter images that I really liked – even if they were a bit “different” – no looking up judges to guess their pet likes/dislikes or picking safe images!
I started the year off well with my first 2 entries, both taken on a club trip to Lyme Regis. I knew the “Homeward Bound” image could be risky, due to so much negative space on the left and the figures walking to the left rather than the right (which is what you are “supposed” to do, as in the west we read left to right). But the judge like the simplicity of the image and felt that the direction was valid, as the title implied they were coming back from somewhere, awarding it a Commended. I spotted people walking along the top of the Cobb in silhouette almost as soon as we arrived and couldn’t believe my luck when I saw someone with a bike.
My “Fun at the Beach” was a composite of 3 images – no one could be that lucky to get all 3 of the kids in exactly the right places simultaneously! It’s always a relief when the judge can’t tell that the image has been so heavily worked on – he awarded it a Bronze. I knew that I wanted to capture people walking in front of the beach huts when we were at Lyme, so I spent a good forty plus minutes with my tripod taking hundreds of shots, being rewarded with the 2 kids on bikes near the end of my stint.
Homeward Bound – CommendedFun at the Beach – Bronze
In the next competition, we only had 1 entry to submit and I chose my shot of Andy (SPC’s very own Programme Secretary!) taken in one of the sea front shelters on a club “Shoot Sidmouth” evening. We were just walking back to the pub at the end of the evening, when I spotted the wonderful light through the shelter windows. So I bullied poor Andy into modelling for me – unfortunately for him he had to balance above the seat as he realised (too late!!) that it was wet…we have to suffer for our art luvvie…well Andy did anyway! The judge enjoyed the fact that the image asked more questions than it answered and liked the soft lighting, awarding it a Gold.
Waiting – Gold
The next competition was more restrictive and we had set subjects for our entries. I chose “Man Made” as my topic and submitted 2 from London. “A Different Perspective” was taken at Canary Wharf and was awarded a Gold – it always pays to look at different angles when you’re out and about…I was struck by how neatly the streetlight fitted into the gap between the buildings. “In plane sight” was taken at the top of the Walkie Talkie building and received a Silver – and no, for once I didn’t photoshop in the plane!
A Different Perspective – Gold (set subject: Man Made)In plane sight – Silver (set subject: Man Made)
We had 2 entries for the next competition and this is the one time where I do feel I tried to play it safe with one of my images. The train drivers image was taken on the Paignton – Kingswear line and I liked the striking yellow border. But the judge pulled me up on the lack of clarity in the drivers’ faces and over processing, so didn’t award anything for it. And I agree with him – I was kicking myself, as an unplaced image really brought my score down. But thankfully I was rescued by the Gold I received for “Time to Let Go”. I had the idea to take this image when I was working on another project – but ended up having to do a reshoot as the sun was too bright the first time. As the top of the actual window was quite high, I ended up having to reduce the height in photoshop to make a more balanced image. The judge felt that this was a powerful image that could be interpreted in different ways – and liked that the focus was on the hand and not the face. These scores put me into first place, but only with a 2 point margin – could I maintain this lead to the end?!
Time to Let Go – GoldHomeward Bound – unplaced
And so the pressure was on for the last competition. Because I had the chance to win, I really wanted to – but had I peaked too soon?!! I was wondering what to enter – but luck stepped in. On a photoshoot in Teignmouth, a guy on the beach stopped to chat to us about cameras (as blokes seem to do!!) when he saw us taking photos. We got chatting and I really wanted to take his photo as I could just tell that he would look great as a black and white image! When I asked, he was a little surprised but let me. He went on to tell me about how his partner had died from cancer and I felt that you could still see that sadness in his eyes. I called the image “I still miss her” and knew that I had to use this image as my last entry. I can’t tell you how much work I did in photoshop and received really useful critique advice from friends. I knew the empty space would be a risk, but I felt it was an integral part of the image, to show where she would once have been by his side. Thankfully the judge understood this and I was awarded a Bronze.
I wasn’t 100% sure if this would be enough for me to win, as it depended on the scores of the 4 photographers below me – but this time the odds were in my favour and I squeaked a one point win…phew – it really was a close competition this year and I am so delighted to have managed it. Now I don’t care if I never win again – at least I’ve done it once (although knowing me, my competitive streak will kick in again next year!!).
On 5th October 2022, I tuned in to the Zoom showing of the Royal Photographic Society’s Licentiate Assessment day to nervously watch my submission be discussed by a panel of RPS Assessors, to discover if I would be successful in gaining my “L” qualification. It was a moment that took nearly 2 years to prepare for!
My 10 selected Images
Why try for a Distinction?
There were a few different reasons for wanting to obtain a Licentiate Distinction from the Royal Photographic Society (LRPS). Back in 2020, Debbie and I were invited to judge the Saville Cup at York Photographic Society and then again in 2021, and I did wonder that if I were to pursue club competition judging, participants would feel more reassured if their judge had some photographic qualifications. But what sort of qualification, as there are many to be gained in photography – through the PAGB, FIAP, RPS etc.? I felt that the RPS was the right organisation for me, as they seemed to embrace creativity without being too prescriptive (which I found the PAGB to be – if you like Gothic composites however, then they are the organisation for you!!). The final push was watching a presentation by a speaker who showed us his accepted panel…which made me think, well if he can do it, then surely I can! Famous last words…
Choosing my Images
Once I’d decided to try for an LRPS Distinction, I read up on the criteria that needed to be met, which aim to demonstrate a “competent” level of camera technical abilities. Ten images are to be shown together in one panel, and this panel is viewed as the 11th image and how the images work together in the panel is of utmost importance. So not only do you have to select ten images that each show a different technical/creative ability, but they must also work together cohesively. A lot easier said than done! I also made the choice very early on to show the images digitally, as I don’t usually print my work and felt this would add an extra layer of complexity (and expense!).
My first choices were all images that I really liked and several had done well in club competitions. I kept the colour palette fairly contained to monotone, greens and oranges, and chose a 5 on top, 5 below format. However, feedback on the quality of the images themselves suggested significant post-processing to bring them up to L standard – and the idea of showing more detail in the shadows on images 1,2 and 5 seemed to be completely at odds with the style I had intended.
First Panel Idea
It was around this time that I moved down to Sidmouth and was starting to wonder if I had actually bitten off more than I could chew. Maybe I wasn’t yet good enough to get my L Distinction? Perhaps I just needed to start from scratch and go out and take photos specifically for the submission. So during the summer of 2021 I went out and about with my camera to try and capture the essence of the British seaside, all the while remembering that I had to show my understanding of aperture, shutter speed, lighting, composition etc. By the end of the season I came up with the following panel idea – this time using a 2,3, 5 format, which seemed to suit the flow of the images.
Second Panel Idea
By this time I had also joined the Sidmouth Photographic Club and luckily for me, they run a Distinctions Special Interest Group (SIG) to support members who are considering applying for a Distinction. I brought both panels along for review and it was felt that neither were really strong enough in their present format. I was really in a quandary now – what could I do to progress? I didn’t really have the extra images to re-arrange my first panel and if I needed new images for the seaside panel, I would have to wait until summer 22 before I could take them. How could I retain my photographic style, but at the same time demonstrate the different skillset required?
I went back through my archives to look for inspiration and started to notice how many images I had with blue or brown hues. Maybe this could be the basis of my panel. It then occurred to me that actually, the images for the panel don’t have to be your favourite or even your best images, but just have to be well shot and composed. I kept to the 2, 3, 5 format and looked for images that would work well together – complementing each other tonally and compositionally. I felt this time I was finally on to something and put together a third panel, which was much better received in the Distinctions SIG. They also provided invaluable help in “pixel peeping” the images, pointing out some processing improvements.
Third Panel Idea
The Final Stages
I was now at a point when I could book a one-to-one session with someone from the RPS Assessment panel. who would give me advice on my submission. The discussion took place on Zoom so that we could review and discuss each image – as well as 5 additional images that could be used as replacements if necessary. My assessor was so helpful and patient, giving feedback on every image and the panel as a whole. She suggested swapping images 6 and 10, so that the main subjects were facing into the panel to “contain” the other images – and also to end with a positive image of freedom. We discussed image 8 in detail as not only was there a lamppost sticking out of the couple’s head (rookie error!!), there was some haloing around the lampposts. So we decided that image should be replaced and I inserted one that actually worked better in the overall composition. With that change made, it was then time to book my Assessment Day and wait for a decision.
On the day itself, prints were reviewed first, and then DPIs and my panel came up around lunchtime. It was a very nerve wracking 10 minutes or so as every one of the assessors commented on the panel – and not all were positive – so I was worried that it wasn’t going to go my way. But thankfully I heard the words “you’ve been successful”, which made all those hours poring over images, tweaking and re-tweaking my panel worthwhile.
Now all I have to do is start work on my A panel!!!
Karen Brindley Photography 