Category Archives: Nature & Landscape

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20 April 2023 (Justin Minns: Interesting Stuff)

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This week, in our last club meeting of the 2022/23 season, we joined Beeslack Penicuik Camera Club for a fascinating Zoom talk by landscape photographer Justin Minns. His talk “Interesting Stuff” was inspired by a 1947 quote by photographer Jim Richardson:

“If you want to be a better photographer, stand in front of more interesting stuff.”

Justin began by showing us some landscape images he had captured around his local environment in Norfolk and Suffolk; mostly beach and woodland. He tended to capture his images around sunrise, but would sometimes stay longer and walk around to see what other opportunities were available in the area. His advice was to go with the flow and work with what you have. Look at the shapes and textures in the landscape. Even ugly subjects can become interesting if you apply the right technique, as demonstrated by a long exposure shot of Felixstowe docks taken during the blue hour after sunrise. The blue hour provided just enough residual daylight to balance the artificial lights of the docks. Justin advised us to compose shots carefully. Try to avoid overlapping objects in the frame. If you have taken a landscape shot which seems to look great on the back of the camera, zoom in and check it carefully for small mistakes before walking away. Justin referred us to his books “Photographing East Anglia” and “Photographing Essex” for more details.

The second part of Justin’s talk was on the theme of “Making it Interesting”. He demonstrated the following techniques you can use to enhance landscape shots:

  • Using motion: Photographing a moving subject with a long exposure, or moving the camera when photographing a stationary subject, can add drama and movement to a shot. Keeping the camera still for a while and then moving it before the exposure ends can create a striking double exposure effect. Justin recommended a shutter speed of 0.3-3 seconds for creating a “swoosh” effect which emphasises the motion of water or a long exposure of 30-120 seconds to render moving water into a minimalist mist. When only part of the scene is moving, a long exposure can make stationary subjects stand out.
  • Using focus: Most landscape photographers will try to make everything sharp, but you can make a shot more atmospheric by deliberately blurring part of the scene. Justin showed a woodland image where some heather in the foreground had been turned into a blurred mist by throwing it out of focus with a narrow depth of field. There was also an atmospheric shot of some blurry, back-lit seed heads.
  • Using infrared: If you have an infrared-converted camera, or use a conversion filter, infrared shots can make dramatic black and white images of woodland or old buildings.
  • Framing: Using a wide angle lens and including small figures in a scene can give a sense of space. Conversely, a telephone lens can pick out important details from a scene and cut out distractions. For example, woodland images look more dramatic if you cut out areas of distracting bright sky. A scene can also be improved by viewing it from an unusual angle, for example by looking down using a drone.

The third part of Justin’s talk was about “Interesting Places”, where he showed us fabulous shots of his favourite places for photography, which are:

Justin’s final section was about “Interesting timing”; how your approach to landscape photography might change with the season or time of day. The golden hour and blue hour are good times of the day, but if you can’t visit a place at those times you can make the best of what you have. Frosty conditions during the winter can transform a landscape into something unusual, especially when the combination is unexpected, such as a frozen beach. Another example of “going with the flow” was a snowy scene where all the sky detail had been lost. Justin used the opportunity to create a minimalist image. The same thing can be done in foggy or misty conditions. In calm conditions look for interesting reflections. Some of the most dramatic scenes happen at the transition point where good weather ends and bad weather begins. Justin finished the section with a collection of images of the aurora borealis. If you are lucky enough to capture an aurora, don’t forget to include some foreground interest to make a more balanced composition.

Justin concluded that he disagrees with Jim Richardson’s quote. You can visit and photograph lots of interesting places, but the really good photographs arise from your own ideas, inspiration and creativity. He felt this quote by Henri Cartier-Bresson was closer to the mark.

“To photograph: it is to put on the same line of sight the head, the eye and the heart.”

Thank you to Justin for a fascinating and inspiring presentation, and to Beeslack for hosting it. Next week we will be holding the club’s AGM at 7pm in our usual room, G3, at the Fisherrow Centre. Please come along with ideas for set subjects we can use next year.

See you there.

Steven

30 March 2023 (Joint Evening With Musselburgh Art Club)

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This week we were delighted to welcome back Musselburgh Art Club for our annual joint meeting. One of the art club members had brought along a photographic print of an Alpine mountain landscape, which Joe Fowler was happy to critique. Joe went on to show a selection of prints created by club members. There were some beautiful landscape images taken from around the world and some portraits of interesting people. Joe explained how he would often make a picture from several components placed on top of each other using layers in Photoshop. Sometimes you would capture a great portrait of someone against the wrong background, and he would replace this background to improve the composition. Joe also showed a few of the club’s abstract prints, which showed how photographers can be creative and turn almost anything (even spoons and wrapping paper) into an interesting image.

The art club showed us a selection of their paintings. There were some lovely portraits, still life and landscape paintings. Some of the landscapes in those paintings were familiar to camera club members, having been painted from photographs taken from popular viewing points. Light, colour and composition are just as important in a painting as in a photograph. There were some paintings that made a bold statement by using a restricted pallet of colours. At one point, what looked from a distance like a painting of a mountain scene turned out to have been created from hundreds of shreds of torn paper. There was a discussion about how paintings are mounted. Oil paintings tend to be displayed unmounted unless they need to be displayed behind glass, in which case a mount helps to separate the painting from the glass. Other paintings can be displayed with a complementary mount board.

During the break we had time to chat over tea and cakes and look more closely at the works presented. Thank you to the art club for entertaining us once again, and to our caretaker for helping us at the end.

  • Doug Bernt tells me that the 159th Edinburgh International Exhibition of Photography is open for entry and will be accepting prints until 5th June 2023. He says: “Fees are reduced this year – 10% discount for coordinated entries of 10 people or more. Entrants are admitted free (normally £5) to the exhibition and can pick up a copy of the printed catalogue. As you are close, entries could also be dropped off with me or at EPS to save sending them in. The RPS Visual Art Group Members Exhibition and the RPS Scotland Members Exhibition will also be on display with the International.“
    See the exhibition web site for more details: https://www.edinburghphotosalon.com/
  • Member Derek Muller will be riding on 21st of May 2023 to raise funds and awareness for prostate cancer in the Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride. Click the following link if you would like to sponsor him: https://www.gentlemansride.com/rider/DerekMuller448548
  • Next week we have our digital knock out competition on the theme of “Black & White”. Please bring along 3 JPEG images on that theme. We will show the images and vote for our favourites on the night.

See you on Thursday.

02 February 2023 (Set Subject Competition C – Landscape)

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Our set subject competition concluded on Thursday with the third and final part, on the theme of “Landscape”. George Todd had won last year’s competition and judged our entries. George mentioned that he liked landscape images to contain three balanced parts: something interesting in the foreground to lead in your eye; something in the middle distance; and something in the far distance to give depth to the image. He also mentioned that landscape images containing bodies of water work better when there is a landscape in the distance (with the water ending in a distance island or distant mountains, for example).

14 members had entered 42 images altogether. Most of the images showed scenes from Scotland, although there were a few from as far afield as England, Ireland, Iceland and Arizona. George found that some scenes were spoiled by the inclusion of people and houses in the far distance which didn’t add anything or act as focal points. George also pointed out how one image was spoiled by a large number of footprints in the foreground sand. He recommended photographing sandy scenes early in the day before other tourists have arrived to spoil the pristine surface. He also explained how landscape images could be made more punchy and colourful using a “levels” adjustment in Photoshop. Images that were a little too hazy and flat in the distance and could be improved with the Photoshop “de-haze” filter. Overall, George was impressed with the quality of the entries, especially from new members Ross Robertson, Jim Innes and Derek Muller, and there were a lot of high marks. The top scorers were (in reverse order):

  • 5th place (50 points)
    • Malcolm Roberts
  • 4th place (51 points)
    • Steven Beard
    • Steve Williams
    • Elaine Gilroy
    • Jim Innes
  • 3rd place (52 points)
    • Mike Clark
    • Derek Muller
  • 2nd place (53 points)
    • Joe Fowler
    • Ross Robertson
  • 1st place (54 points)
    • Gordon Davidson

The top images were:

  • Sunset in Arisaig looking towards Eigg and Rhum (Gordon Davidson) – 20 points
  • Wild Ponies (Joe Fowler) – 19 points
  • On the Trail (Steven Beard) – 19 points
  • Glen Coe Water (Mike Clark) – 19 points
  • Sky High (Ross Robertson) – 19 points
  • Icy Fjord (Steve Williams) – 18 points
  • Autumn Reflections (Elaine Gilroy) – 18 points
  • Natural Light Show over Urquhart Castle (Derek Muller) – 18 points
  • The Desert Guardians ensure the sun is extinguished after another burning day (Derek Muller) – 18 points

Well done to Gordon Davidson, who had the top image, achieved the highest mark, and has won the right to judge next year’s competition if he so wishes. Also well done to Derek Muller for submitting the most imaginative and amusing titles! The scoring was very close and, now that George has consulted his final spreadsheet, I can reveal that the final result from all three competitions is:

  • 1st place
    • Joe Fowler (54 + 53 = 107)
    • Malcolm Roberts (57 + 50 = 107)
  • 2nd place
    • Mike Clark (52 + 52 = 104)
  • 3rd place
    • Steven Beard (52 + 51 = 103)
    • George Todd (55 + 48 = 103)
    • Derek Muller (51 + 52 = 103)
    • Gordon Davidson (49 + 54 = 103)
  • 4th place
    • Steve Williams (51 + 51 = 102)
  • 5th place
    • Carol Edmund (50 + 49 = 99)
  • 6th place
    • John West (49 + 49= 98)

Well done to Joe and Malcolm for jointly winning the trophy! The scoring was so close this year that there are a lot of medal winners. Well done to you all.

  • Since we are coming up to the last few competitions of the season, it is time to start returning your trophies from last year to George so he can engrave them ready for the AGM.
  • This coming Thursday, 9th March 2023, we will be hosting our annual meeting with Mölnlycke Fotoklubb from Gothenburg. The meeting will be held by Zoom, but we will also show the meeting at Fisherrow. Come along a comment on Mölnlycke’s images and vote for your favourites.

16 February 2023 (Alan Walker: Discovering Nature Photography – Japan and Beyond)

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This week we joined Beeslack Penicuik Camera Club for a fascinating talk by Alan Walker of Keswick Photographic Society, who described his experience discovering nature photography around the world. This particular talk, Japan and Beyond, is part 4 of Alan and Julie Walker’s “Discovering Nature Photography” series. You can find Keswick’s summary of this talk at the following link:

Julie and Alan Walker “Discovering Nature Photography Part 4 – Japan and Beyond” October 30th

Alan began by showing us the photographs he had taken from a visit to Japan in February 2018. The trip began in the Japanese Alps, where macaque monkeys gather to warm themselves in the hot pools. The two main problems in photographing these monkeys are the large numbers of people who gather round them and the steam from the pools. Alan avoids these problems by getting in close and waiting for moments when the steam subsides. He uses a Canon 200-400mm zoom lens with a built-in 1.4x converter, which can take the lens to 560mm. Photos were typically taken at ISO 1600, f/5.6 and 1/1000th second. Next he showed us photographs of the iconic red-crowned cranes at the Akan-Mashu National Park. These cranes are black and white birds photographed against a white snow background, so are difficult to capture. Alan recommended an exposure compensation of about +2 stops to get the whites looking right. The birds can be darkened in post-production. The best images are taken by getting down low to capture the birds against an out of focus distant background. Alan also described his experience photographing Steller’s sea eagles in the Sea of Okhotsk, birds which make great silhouettes when captured in profile.

Next, we were treated to a collection of nature photographs captured at the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge in New Mexico, USA. Here Alan photographed snow geese and sandhill cranes in dim lighting. He experimented with photographing the flocks of birds at slow shutter speeds (e.g. 15th-60th second) while panning, which created images with movement. He also captured individual birds when taking off or landing. The birds look better when taking off, because they are looking up, but it is much harder to catch a bird doing this.

Alan moved on to show us photographs of mountain hares and red squirrels captured in the Cairngorms National Park in Scotland, and photographs of tawny owls and other birds captured from a hide in Otterbourne in Hampshire. Alan also showed us photographs of big cats captured in the Kalahari Desert in South Africa. He explained that the Kalahari is not a good place to visit for a safari if you want to see lots of animals, but if you are a photographer you go for the yellow grass and the lovely light. Alan finished by showing us images of polar bears captured in the arctic tundra around Churchill in Canada. This is a very bleak and cold place, and the polar bears are out to get you! Alan showed how polar bears are photographed safely from large viewing vehicles. In the question and answer session Alan gave some tips on keeping your camera operating in the extreme cold:

  • Keep your batteries warm at all times. Keep charged batteries in your pocket, not in your camera bag. Be aware that even the discharged batteries need to be kept warm, or they won’t charge properly.
  • Be aware of condensation when you return to a warm room after being out in the cold. If you need to take your batteries out do it before you come in. Opening the camera in a warm room when it is still cold could let condensation form inside.

All in all this was a fascinating talk from beginning to end. Thank you Alan for entertaining us with the talk and thank you to Beeslack Penicuik Camera Club for organising it.

Steven

02 February 2023 (Audio Visual Evening at Beeslack CC)

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The week Musselburgh Camera Club members travelled to Beeslack High School in Penicuik to join members of Beeslack Penicuik Camera Club for an Audio Visual evening.

The evening began with a MCC presentation by Allan Cameron on the “Battle of Prestonpans“, describing how forces lead by Charles Edward Stuart had achieved victory over Johnnie Cope’s government forces at Prestonpans, and showing photographs captured at the battle re-enactment.

Beeslack then presented a historical narrative on the creation and expansion of Edinburgh’s New Town, using a combination of old and new maps and some fascinating archive photographs showing the construction of Edinburgh’s most iconic buildings and the construction of bridges (such as North Bridge and Regent Bridge) spanning difficult chasms that we don’t even notice today.

Musselburgh’s Mike Clark then presented a unique record into the sites and sounds of underwater photography, showing the incredible variety of wildlife living in Scotland’s coastal waters.

Beeslack’s second audio-visual was on the construction and demise of the Edinburgh to Peebles railway, using a clever combination of “before and after” photographs to show how the railway used to look and what is left now. Drone footage showed us how the railway route is still visible in the landscape.

The evening finished with a recording of the Edinburgh Hogmanay Fireworks made by Steven Beard from a vantage point on Blackford Hill to test out his new camera microphone.

  • This week George Todd is accepting entries for the third and final part of our set subject competition. Please send your 2 JPEGs on the theme of “Landscape” to George by Thursday.
  • Next week (9th February) we have our Digital Photo Feedback session. In this session we will include some demonstrations on how to make digital enhancements in Photoshop. So please bring along images that you think could be improved with a bit of tweaking. Joe Fowler will also use this evening to demonstrate how to use the mount cutter.

I have finally written up the presentation that John Glynn gave us a couple of weeks ago. Click the link below if you are interested. See you on Thursday.

19 January 2023 (John Glynn: How to See Creatively)

26 January 2023 (Set Subject Competition B – Wildlife)

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The second part of our set subject competition took place this week, on the theme of “Wildlife”. Steven Beard had won last year’s competition and earned the right to be the judge this year. Steven began by warning members of the strict rules that usually go with wildife photography competitions. The usual definition of wildlife photography is “Photographs documenting various forms of wildlife in their natural habitat“. The creatures portrayed in the photographs should be wild (not domesticated or kept in a zoo) and the habitat should be shown as-is (no cloning, composites or physical alterations). Organisations running competitions, such as Wildlife Photographer of the Year, will usually have strict rules, and will ask you to submit copies of the RAW files that came straight out of your camera to prove you didn’t change anything. Despite the strict rules, there are techniques you can use to improve your images. Cropping and brightness and contrast adjustments are also usually allowed. Having said this, the audience were relieved to hear that Steven would not be taking the rules so strictly. The images would be judged on their impact, on the story they tell, on the connection they make with the viewer, and on their overall quality.

14 members had entered 42 images altogether. There was a wide range of subjects, ranging from birds and insects photographed in the garden to wild animals photographed overseas on safari. Good images were the ones taken roughly at eye level, so there was a connection with the viewer, and which showed a story, such as Elaine Gilroy’s image of a swan carrying her cygnets on her back. Good images were also focussed on the subject and had a sufficiently narrow depth of field to blur the background. Avoiding distractions is difficult if you can’t clone them away. Choosing your camera position can help (if that is possible). Some images had bright objects or bright stripes in the background which could be darkened by burning. There were some images with cloning artefacts, which would have disqualified them from most wildlife photography competitions (but would have been ok for nature photography, where the rules are less strict). It is worth looking over your images carefully at 100% to locate and remove artefacts before submitting them. Also check the corners for distractions. The very best images were the ones with impact when seen amongst the rest. The top scorers were (in reverse order):

  • 5th place (48 points)
    • George Todd
    • John West
  • 4th place (49 points)
    • Gavin Marshall
    • Mike Clark
    • Carol Edmund
  • 3rd place (51 points)
    • Steve Williams
    • Derek Muller
  • 2nd place (54 points)
    • Joe Fowler
  • 1st place (57 points)
    • Malcolm Roberts

The top images were:

  • Goldfinch Deep in Thought (Malcolm Roberts) – 20 points
  • Owl in Flight (Steve Williams) – 20 points
  • Snow Leopards (Joe Fowler) – 19 points
  • Robin (Malcolm Roberts) – 19 points
  • Meal Time (Joe Fowler) – 18 points
  • Blue Tit (Malcolm Roberts) – 18 points
  • Gatekeeper Butterfly (John West) – 18 points
  • Bees Around Honey (Carol Edmund) – 18 points
  • Fly By (Derek Muller) – 18 points

Malcolm Roberts’ score of just 3 points less than full marks earns him the right to judge next year’s competition. Well done Malcolm. The league table after two competitions looks like this:

Joe Fowler (— + 54 = ??)
Malcolm Roberts (49 + 57 = 106)
Steven Beard (52 + — = ??)
George Todd (55 + 48 = 103)
Mike Clark (52 + 49 = 101)
Steve Williams (48 + 51 = 99)
Carol Edmund (50 + 49 = 99)
Derek Muller (46 + 51 = 97)
John West (49 + 48 = 97)
Gavin Marshall (44 + 49 = 93)
Gordon Davidson (49 + 43 = 92)

Malcolm Roberts has jumped up the rankings and leapfrogged George Todd, who is still in a strong position. Joe Fowler and Steven Beard lurk as dark horses. But as this as a “best two out of three” competition there is still everything to play for. Entries for the final part of the competition on “Landscape” are due on 9th February 2023.

A reminder that next week we will be joining Beeslack Pencuik Camera club at Beeslack High School for our annual audio visual evening. Here is a map to help you get there:

https://goo.gl/maps/oEgsHmr3WGDankS58

08 December 2022 (Julian Elliot: Breathless in Nepal)

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Our last meeting before Christmas was another joint Zoom talk hosted by Beeslack Penicuik Camera Club and joined by Earlston Camera Club members. Julian Elliot, an award-winning landscape and travel photographer, connected with us from France and gave us a fascinating talk about his experiences. You can find more about Julian on his web site:

https://www.julianelliottphotography.com/profile/

Julian began his talk by describing his kit and explaining his techniques. He normally travels with a Canon DSLR camera plus 6 lenses (3 zoom lenses and 3 tilt/shift lenses), although 90% of his travel photography is made with the following gear:

  • A 24-70 zoom lens. Julian finds this lens makes great portraits, and is also useful for landscapes and use in cramped spaces. He likes to photograph hands with this lens.
  • A 100-400 zoom lens. Julian uses this lens to make landscape images of distant mountain scenery. Some people are surprised that a telephoto lens can be used for landscapes, but mountains tend to look more impressive when the depth is compressed. The lens can also pick out interesting details from the landscape. Julian also uses this lens to make panoramas, and to take distant portraits with a compressed background.
  • A 24 tilt-shift lens. Julian finds a tilt-shift lens invaluable for photographing architecture. It gives superior results than taking a picture with a normal lens and using a lens correction filter because you can see the result you are going to get in-camera, and there is is no cropping of the image at the edges. Julian showed some examples of what could be done with this lens: a superb shot of the inside of a cathedral, or a photograph of a statue in front of a temple taken from only a few feet away with all the verticals vertical.
  • A 1.4x extender, which Julian uses to extend the capabilities of the above lenses/
  • A carbon fibre tripod (lightweight for travelling).
  • A polarizer filter and a neutral density filter. Polarizer filters can enhance the sky or remove reflections, and the neutral density filter allows longer exposures.
  • A decent camera bag. Julian explained that most bags are designed to be used in an airport, and it is hard to find a bag that is versatile enough to use on a flight and carry outside.

Julian went on to explain how he plans his travels. He learns about destinations by reading travel magazines and using travel guides for research. He looks at photographs published by other photographers to get an idea of the possibilities. You can follow particular photographers on social media, but you can also follow specific hashtags, such as “#vietnam”, to see all the posts made about a particular place. But he warned us that landscapes are constantly changing. What you see described in a guide or shown in a past photo might not be there any more, so be prepared for the unexpected. He uses the following tools to plan his shots:

  • Google street view can be used to explore a destination virtually, but not all countries allow it.
  • Once Julian has decided on a destination, he uses Google Mind Maps to plan his travel. It can be linked to maps, and the application can be used on a phone to create an itinerary.
  • The Photographer’s Ephemeris can be used to plan your shots and investigate where the light will come from at different times of the day. The PhotoPills application is also a very useful planning tool.

After taking us through the basics, Julian then took us on a journey to Upper Mustang in Nepal, showing us the spectacular landscape images he had take on the trip, the portraits of the people he had met on the way, and his architectural photographs of the towns and temples. Travelling to Upper Mustang was like travelling back in time, with very different norms and customs. He became friends with a local guide who introduced him to interesting people. Julian would often ask permission to take his shots from unusual vantage points, such as the roof of a temple. On his journey through Nepal, Julian needed to climb to some high altitude view points, and on one of these excursions he suffered from serious altitude sickness. Julian told us the story of his treatment and recovery and warned anyone else travelling to Nepal to be aware of the effects of the altitude and not to push themselves too quickly. Julian finished his presentation with a selection of portraits and images of more spectacular temples. It was a very entertaining and enlightening evening.

That was the last club meeting at Fisherrow until the New Year. Next week we will be meeting at the Ravelston House Hotel in Musselburgh for the club’s Christmas social evening.

Steven

29 September 2022 (Tesni Ward: Wildlife Photography)

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This week, in a joint Zoom talk hosted by Beeslack Penicuik Camera Club, wildlife photographer Tesni Ward told us about her experiences in wildlife photography. Tesni is based in Sheffield. She first took up photography in her childhood as a way of encouraging her father to spend less time setting up photographs in a theme park and more time taking her on the rides! Her interest in wildlife photography began with a photographic holiday to Alaska, where she had the opportunity to see bears in their natural habitat. Her trip was spoiled when her main telephoto lens was damaged in flight. She saw other photographers taking superb clear shots while she ended up deleting hundreds of blurred attempts, and vowed never to be caught out by substandard equipment again. She learned from her experience with a damaged lens not to rely solely on long-distance telephoto shots. Tensi now takes shots at all focal lengths, with her wide angle shots taken after days of patiently getting to know her subjects and winning their trust. Tesni became a professional wildlife photographer when she was made redundant from her job, coincidentally just after buying new equipment and booking an African wildlife safari. A conversation with another photography on the trip convinced her to take the opportunity to change career and make a living from what she loves doing.

Tesni treated us to a breathtaking slide show of her photographs; ranging from her early shots of bears in Alaska, her photographs of big cats on her African safari, her shots of pelicans and coypu on a trip to Greece, and mountain hares, pelicans and seabirds closer to home. Each image came with a story of how Tensi had waited for hours for the light to improve, or how she had crawled over frozen mud to get to the correct spot. Other photographers sometimes laughed at her tenacity, but she eventually achieved the shot she wanted. A selection of these images can be seen in Tesni’s gallery (below).

Image Gallery

During the tea break we had the opportunity to find a bird hiding amongst a photograph of jumbled rocks. Although several members could identify something strange in one part of the frame, it was Mike Clark who managed to home in on the exact spot. Well done Mike.

Tensi encouraged us all to try wildlife photography. You can check her web site to find out more about her workshops. She encouraged us not to be snobbish about the subjects. Shots of geese, ducks and pigeons are just as important as shots of pelicans and swans, as these creatures are just as important to their environment and might one day become rarer. All in all it was a very enjoyable and entertaining talk. Tensi showed us all just what can be achieved with a little determination and tenacity.

Next Thursday, 6th October 2022, Doug Bernt will be judging our Digital Projected Images competition. George Todd will also be collecting prints for the Colour Print competition. Please bring along your 3 mounted prints, if you haven’t already given them to George.

See you there,

Steven

31 March 2022 (Joint Evening With Musselburgh Art Club)

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This week it was a delight to revive our relationship with Musselburgh Art Club and restart our joint meetings after a 3 year hiatus. Our last joint meeting had been on 28th March 2019. We met in the larger room (G6) at the Fisherrow Centre, with some Musselburgh members joining by Zoom.

The evening began with a presentation from Joe Fowler, who showed a selection of our recent prints. Most of the prints were landscapes, showing how photographers use lighting and composition to set the mood. Joe invited art club members to guess where the photographs had been taken. Joe also showed how photographers could use post-processing to change a scene. A mountain landscape image had been created by combining a wide angle image of the mountains with a telephoto image of some buildings. This gave the buildings a more comparable size and helped balance the scene. The art club were surprised by this technique, since they usually painted scenes from life, but were interested in trying it themselves. Joe also showed harbour scenes, some still life images, and John West’s self-portrait of an artist at work.

The art club showed us a selection of their paintings. There was a discussion of the relative merits of different paint media. Most of the paintings had been made using acrylic paint, which could be built up in layers and modified as needed, but there were also some beautiful watercolours. We learned that watercolour is an unforgiving medium which is difficult to modify once painted, so it was a bold choice. There were some very impressive works by beginners. There was an interesting discussion about how cropping is judged differently for photographic works and paintings. Photographic judges tend to be more critical of parts of objects being cropped out (especially if the cropping looks accidental).

It was great to be able to meet and chat with art club members again after such a long wait. We finished the evening with some tea and biscuits and a closer view of the works presented. We were limited by the early closing time at Fisherrow, but a big “thank you” to our janitor for his help and understanding at the end.

17 March 2022 (Charles Everitt: Water of Leith: Nature’s Course)

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This week we were delighted to welcome Charles Everitt to the Fisherrow Centre to give us a face-to-face talk on one of his passions: exploring and photographing nature along the Water of Leith in Edinburgh. Charles is a retired police officer who has been a photographer for 30 years and now sits as a trustee on the Water of Leith Conservation Trust. The talk is based on Charles’ book “Water of Leith: Nature’s Course”, published in 2011. Charles was named Scottish Nature Photographer of the Year in 2020 and has contributed to the Wild Nature Diary & Calendar. You can find more of Charles’ work on his web site:

https://www.charleseveritt.com/

Charles began by introducing us to the Water of Leith, from its source in the Pentland Hills, through Colinton Dell, Longstone, Saughton Park, Murrayfield, Dean Village, Stockbridge, and finally Leith docks. He showed us images of the landmarks, wildlife and wildflowers he photographed along the way. Then he introduced us to some more abstract works: special effects created by the light reflected from the water, patterns created by frost and frozen leaves, jumbles of shapes created by the leaf litter. Street lighting, flowers or foliage reflected in the water can create some strong colours. Next he showed us tranquil photographs of the river, with the movement in the water emphasised by a long exposure. Charles finds a 1/8th second exposure shot is usually the best compromise, but he also uses 0.6s and 1.6s for a more blurry effect. He looks for places where the white water can form a line which helps create a lead-in for the viewer. A popular combination is “leaf, stone and water”, where a coloured leaf is placed on a stone in the middle of a stream of running water.

Charles explained how modern equipment has changed the nature of photography. In the past it took a lot of skill to capture a sharp and focussed image of, say, a bird in flight. But now a good camera will tend to do this for you, and everyone can take sharp photographs of birds in flight. To stand out, your photographs need to provide something extra. The emphasis is now on what the picture shows and what story it tells. When he is in a new situation, or is running out of ideas, Charles challenges himself to tell the story of his situation in 6 pictures. One example is “Winter’s Toll”, his series of 6 pictures showing dying vegetation. Another example is the 6 images he took while sheltering under the bridge at Murrayfield, showing the texture of the brickwork, the reflections in the water and the soot revealing evidence of a past railway.

Charles ended his presentation with his photographs of the Gormley statues. He showed how the statues could be made to look very different using different photographic techniques. Tranquil shots of the statues gazing up the water (with the background foliage cleverly blurred using a long exposure shot on a windy day). Close-up portraits of the statues. Night shots of the statues lit by a coloured torch. Finally, there were some low-key black and white photographs which looked like scenes from a horror or science fiction movie.

Thank you, Charles, for visiting and entertaining us with a fascinating talk.