Our club’s Syllabus lists a wide variety of events, some highly technical, some not. Irrespective of the specialism of any club, the opportunity to seek advice over a tea or coffee at break time is usually much appreciated. Earlier this season Chris Leslie delivered a deeply affecting presentation on the plight of people in a country ravaged by war. At other times we have had a relaxed look at the everyday images our members are taking indeed, David du Chemin expanded on this philosophy by devoting an evening, devoid of technical information, and concentrating on how photographs make us think and feel. Among others, Graeme Barclay’s presentation on photographing the night sky and its relationship with the landscape, Andy Stark’s Still Life workshop and George Robertson’s visit to Africa illustrate the variety of our presentations. Added to this is the varying content of our Member’s Nights ranging from camera controls to post-processing.
As with any type of community organisation, prospective new members should look at the Syllabus and attend for a few months to get a real impression of the group in question. Even then, community organisations are voluntary groups dependent on the dedication of a small group of people so the emphasis can change from season to season. Our club is part of a worldwide photographic structure which gives us scope and, volunteers are welcome. As a matter of interest, we are looking for an experienced Sports photographer to add to next season’s Syllabus. Ideally someone with experience of a wide range of sports, please use the Syllabus Secretary option on the Contact Us facility if you can help.
The topics at Member’s Nights in our Syllabus are an opportunity to respond to requests from our members, so, if there is a topic club members would like covered please use the Contact Us facility, as described above. Similarly, we would like to hear from club member’s who would like to volunteer to talk on a subject.
There were two requested topics at last Thursday’s Member’s Night and Tethering was the first. This is the practice of linking a camera to a computer so that the image displayed on the camera’s LCD screen is simultaneously displayed on the computer screen. Sometimes additional software is required, it depends on the set-up. Our thanks are due to our club’s Vice President, Dave Ferguson LRPS, who volunteered to demonstrate the process. There are a number of scenarios where Tethering can help. Still Life photography, which became extremely popular during lockdown, is one. Studio portraiture is another. In both cases the larger computer screen allows the photographer an enlarged view of the scene which allows improved observation of lighting. That said, some of us will remember a television documentary on New York based Scottish photographer Albert Watson who was filmed using Tethering in the landscape.
The other topic was Layers. Layers allow the photographer to make non-destructive adjustments to an image, or masks to be applied allowing the photographer to work on part of an image, without permanently changing the original. Among other adjustments they also allow images to be combined to construct a composite. Our thanks again to Dave for volunteering to demonstrate this request.
Finally this week, three of us had a great Saturday evening assisting Vincent Hartman, a commercial photographer at StudioVHF in The Netherlands. A friend of our club, Vincent works globally and had an assignment with the Ralph Lauren retail store in Glasgow city centre. For a variety of reasons, the photographs had to be taken during the early evening, on a Saturday ! It was a great experience for us so our thanks to Vincent, and to the typically good humoured citizens of Glasgow who were amused at our commandeering a patch of city centre pavement.
