Thursday Night Lecture
Campbell Skinner DPAGB BPE2 is President at Greenock C.C. and a friend of Falkirk C.C., his lecture last Thursday on Sports and Event Photography underlined his versatility and skill.
Campbell’s advice to anyone photographing a Sport, or any type of Event, is to do their homework. Learn about the sport, the participants and their style of play, and be familiar with the venue. His photographs taken at football, rugby, and tennis matches are tightly composed with players at the height of their athletic performance. Crucially for photographs of these sports the ball is always prominent in the frame and inclusion of the crowd is never intrusive, but is strong enough to communicate the atmosphere of the stadium.
Campbell also photographs musicians, from folk to rock, and travels to concert venues around the country. He visits everything from small and medium sized concert venues, to the largest concert halls around, and also the most distinctive like the Royal Albert Hall. His R.A.H. images were particularly interesting as he used rooms in the venue not generally seen, and he also photographed performers in the surrounding area.
His use of light, in either sports ground, sports hall or concert hall is highly creative. Utilising directional lighting where the subject is moving at speed is a highly specialised art yet Campbell utilises it with ease. Stage lighting in a concert hall varies enormously throughout a performance yet this photographers understanding of his craft enable him to react quickly to capture the decisive moment.
His Natural History photography too combines tight compositions while conveying the lifestyle of the subject.
Club Vice President Michael Cox delivered a fulsome vote of thanks at the end of the evening and we look forward to Campbell’s next visit.
The London Salon
A few club members were fortunate enough to visit exhibitions at Edinburgh P.S. this month. The London Salon has its roots in 1893, changing to that moniker in 1910 with the aim of being a London based society who would meet regularly and who, once a year, would invite selected photographers from all over the world to submit images for consideration to be included in an exhibition. The invitation to enter states that:- “ The aim of the London Salon is to exhibit only that class of work in Pictorial Photography in which there is distinct evidence of personal artistic feeling and execution. “ This is still the aim of the London Salon today and the 2024 exhibition has been at Edinburgh P.S. While not the same as standing in front of the actual photographic prints, the images can be found on the group’s website, www.thelondonsalon.org.
Dublin C.C.
Edinburgh P.S. and Dublin C.C. have held an annual exchange of Prints for many, many years. These Prints were also exhibited at Edinburgh P.S. and were a joy to see. Falkirk C.C. have club members exhibiting in International Salons of Photography and our club is a member of the the International Federation of Photographic Art ( www.fiap.net ) so we are familiar with the many different styles of photography from clubs around the world. The Prints from Dublin C.C. were of the highest quality and we look forward to seeing next years Print Exchange.
Royal Photographic Society
Also at Edinburgh P.S. was a Audio Visual sequence of the Royal Photographic Society’s latest Digital exhibition. Among the photographers included was Agnes Clark LRPS, of Falkirk C.C.
Next Week
On Thursday 23rd January we welcome Neil MacGregor to judge our annual Donald Poulson wildlife competition. It’s also the final hand in date for Monthly Competition No.4.
Take care, and thanks for looking in.