Framedlight

I, along with a group of great enthusiasts, participated in a weekend photo workshop, Fast and Furious, in the historic market town of Ludlow. Our tutors were the talented and passionate Paul Hill and Maria Falconer. We were set various challenges of topics to photograph, given usually only half an hour to take the pictures and little time to process them, hence 'Fast and Furious'. We normally had to present one image from each topic for projection and critique from Paul, Maria and the group. There was also a group challenge where 5 of us had to think and take a picture to illustrate the premise 'Fast and Furious'. I will not be showing this picture in this blog. Although we were usually allowed only one photo to present, I am a lousy editor of my own work, and on reflection would probably chosen a different image to show. So I am giving my alternatives as well here. On the Sunday morning we went to see Paul's exhibition of his early Ludlow photographs and ...

At the end of July I attended a photo workshop based at the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists in the St Paul's area of the city. I had not been to St Paul's for years and I was struck by how trendy it has become, it must be one of the most interesting areas of the city. The workshop was run by Paul Hill and Maria Falconer who are excellent teachers and had obviously put a lot of thought and planning into the day. There were around 10 of us and we did some classroom sessions and some practical sessions. We took our computers and shared a few of the pictures we had taken at then end of the day. The three sessions were based around 'light', 'frame', and 'vantage point'. Paul and Maria in the classroom got us to think about each of these topics, illustrating them with photographs of their own and others, thinking about things like 'what type of light we were looking at, was it direct sunlight, reflections, shadows etc. and looking to photograph ...

I went to Lathkill Dale with two cameras, intending to use the infrared one on the way down and the 'normal' one on the way back. As it came on to rain heavily the infrared camera got more use. In the stormy weather the clouds were very dramatic, an effect exaggerated by infrared. The glen is very pretty and widens and narrows again on the way down. Piles of stones were left on the valley side where quarrying took place and these made for some interesting pictures when contrasted with the foliage which goes to white in infrared. The Ricklow Quarry which lies at the top of the dale extracted stone known as 'Derbyshire marble' which was used in decorative work. Hominus Photographicus and Hominus Ramblus were in evidence.