On 19th January we had a visit from John Glynn, who is known to some club members for his photography training courses in Edinburgh. John described how he began in photography in 1979, with a career in “below the line advertising”, where he used to make clinical photographs of household products. He found the exacting specifications of advertising a bit stifling, so he took up portrait photography in the 1990s, where he provided portraits for Scottish Power Publications. His work was often a compromise between the needs of the people he was photographing and the needs of the publisher, and he found creative ways to satisfy both. He liked to make a distinct style of portrait, which mixed flash and motion blur. After his portrait work, he completed a 3 year degree at Napier University. John showed us examples of the prints, booklets and magazines he has created over the years. You can find examples of his current work on his web site.

https://www.johnlewisglynn.com/https://www.johnlewisglynn.com/

John’s main message to the club was to recognise that when we photograph something we are actually photographing light. A portrait isn’t a picture of a person, it is a picture of the light falling on them and reflecting into the camera. Bear this in mind whenever you are setting up a shot. John’s other advice was:

• Be aware of what you want before you pick up your camera and get lost in its settings. What inspired you to pick up your camera in the first place? Capture that image before it is lost. Try zooming in and out and only include what is needed to tell the story.
• John minimises the time he spends fiddling with camera settings by defining a fixed starting point before he begins. He also starts with a particular focal length in mind: such as 200mm for landscapes, 150mm for portraits. He also takes the occasional portrait at 28mm to change the dynamic and create an uncomfortable effect.
• Before taking pictures of your own, get some inspiration from other photographers and artists. Look at photographs, paintings and works of art. The Dusseldorf School of Photography has produced some of the most successful photographers of the past 40 years.

Most of John’s photography is hand-held. He likes the freedom this gives, and it allows him to experiment with Intentional Camera Movement (ICM). He likes simplicity, looks for graphical shapes and patterns, and will often zoom in on subjects missed by other photographers, such as a rust nail on the wall of a gallery (as shown in his “Spaces and Places” booklet). He prefers to use images as captured by his camera and uses Photoshop as a digital darkroom only. He encouraged us to take a look through his galleries and think of some inspiring projects of our own: for example turning a route taken through a map into a photograph; or creating “poeticals”, which are poems told entirely through the medium of photography. We finished by looking through the many booklets John had brought over tea and biscuits. Thank you John for a fascinating and inspiring talk.