Our first ‘Zoom’ meeting was a presentation by Anne Sutcliffe, FRPS, about having fun learning to assess your own images to find the ‘Wow’ factor. We gathered in various settings; some members even had sunny backdrops including The Maldives. Much hard work had gone into preparations for the event and a special thanks was extended to Neil and Maureen R for making it such a success.
The evening was split into two sections, just like a normal club night, with a slideshow presentation of the main points to consider when assessing your images and then a look at Anne’s photographs that she felt had the ‘Wow’ factor. Anne thought that judging the images of others was easier than assessing your own and that reviewing your images after a year was always a help to be objective. Revisiting was a way to look at what you saw in the scene rather than imagining, with emotion, what you thought you were photographing at the time. Anne often judges competition entries at a variety of clubs and tries to be sympathetic and encouraging according to the skills of the photographers but is honest to comment on weaknesses and always suggests improvements. She promoted the idea of competition, something that does not happen at ADD, but did encourage members to enter British open and international competitions.
Moving onto her images Anne explained the story behind each photograph and how older images were often ‘fashion’ leaders i.e. the techniques had not been seen before in competition. There was a great variety of genre including wildlife, in a wintery North America, the Venice Carnival and a barber shop in Istanbul. The superb image of a grand but grungy toilet in Cuba came with a story about the discovery of the bathroom after a couple of Cuba Libre cocktails. In Anne words ‘images should tell a story’ and this one certainly did.
The next meeting, by ‘Zoom’, will take place on Wednesday 20th May at 7.30pm and will be a slideshow of entries with a ‘Wow Factor’. Photographs should be submitted by the 18th May.
The next presentation will be given by Stuart Wall on Wednesday, 3rd June at 7.30pm and is on ‘Urban/Street’ photography. If you would like to become a member then have a look at the society’s website. It is a non-competitive club, where members have a range of skills and experience, that emphasizes photography as fun hobby.
Anne Hunsley
www.addphoto.co.uk