We began last Thursday by looking at the Medal winning images from the recent Scottish Photographic Federation Interim Digital Championships. It was interesting to see the Best Nature image, and SPF Silver Medal winner, from F.C.C.’s Jackie Walker in the company of the other category Medal winners. Natural History photography is one of the most demanding categories. Photographers require a detailed knowledge of the habits and behaviour of their subject and have to contend with prevailing weather conditions. There is often a long walk into the hills to find the required conditions and the photographer must also consider their own safety and not interfere with the behaviour of their subject. Hours are often then spent in waiting for just a few minutes in sight of the subject. Medal winning entries were photographed all over the country from photographers from Moray in the north to Dumfries in the south.
Last Thursday’s event was 3 From 6, an event devised a few years ago to encourage us all to photograph something outside of our individual comfort zones. Among the many different subjects which photographers cover, there will be favourites and often these are highly specialised so the object here is to try something different. Last autumn Club members were presented with 6 topics and asked to provide photographs of, up to, 3 of them. It could be 3 photographs of the same topic, 3 photographs of different topics, or any combination.
This season’s topics were: 10 Second ( or longer ) Exposure; Humour; Textures; Shadows; City Life; and Shallow Depth of Field.
Among the contributions, Graham McPhee cleverly combined Humour and City Life while also telling a story in 3 photographs. Catherine Anderson and May Cruikshank each used a Club colleague as a well positioned figure as part of their contributions taken on different Club photo-walks. In another contribution Derek Forrest demonstrated how the skill of the photographer can equal and exceed what technology can be used to accomplish.
Thanks for looking in.