Portrait Night
Last Thursday night we welcomed back Andy Stark LRPS, a highly accomplished and award winning portrait photographer operating out of his commercial studio in Bridge of Weir. Ongoing developments in technology affect all areas of photography and Andy utilises these to work with his skill as a photographer. He also uses them to teach so his camera was tethered to a laptop with each demonstration image then projected on to a screen within seconds.
Andy explained how in a studio environment the photographer is in complete control of lighting. Therefore shadows, well defined or soft, and the intensity of light illuminating the subject is controlled by the photographer. During the first half of the evening and using club members as subjects Andy demonstrated how different reflectors, brollys, soft boxes and barn doors affect the direction and quality of light illuminating the subject.
During the second half of the evening club members had the opportunity to try out different lighting combinations for themselves with Andy dispensing hints and tips when required.
A lively question & answer section followed and we are indebted to Andy for sharing his expertise, and for the considerable amount of time and effort he expended at our club.
Such was the interest created by Andy’s presentation that we hope to run an extended portraiture workshop for club members later this season.
What Price ……………
You may have seen a recent television programme where photographs by iconic photographers were put up for sale through auction. A portrait by Richard Avedon was sold for £77,500. Another, by Peter Lindberg brought £81,000 and the highest amount paid at that auction was for a photograph by Irving Penn which raised £221,000. You might be inspired to know that the current record for the most expensive photograph ever sold rests with an image taken by american visual artist Man Ray in 1924. Spending most of his life in Paris he was prominent in both Dada and Surrealist movements with Le Violon d’Ingres selling for $12.4 million in 2022. There are connections everywhere in photography. You may have seen a recent movie on the life of Lee Miller. This model, turned photographer who became a war photographer started her career behind the camera by leaving the USA for Paris, where she persuaded Man Ray to employ her.
First Monthly Competition
On Thursday 6th November we welcome Brian Cathie DPAGB LRPS EFIAP/b GPUcr2 BPE*3 to deliver his adjudication on our first Monthly Competition of this season. Those latter Distinctions reflect Brian’s considerable successes on the International Salon and Exhibition of Photography circuit. The critique’s delivered at these events are a great learning experience, indeed observation made on photographs by other club members are as useful as critiques on our own. Hope to see you there.
Take care, and thanks for looking in.