BARBADOS PHOTOGRAPHIC SOCIETY

The Barbados Photographic Society theme for December was ‘Celebration of Life’. The Barbados Photographic Society (BPS) is founded on an appreciation for and interest in photography.

Website https://barphotosoc.wixsite.com/home Email. thebarbadosphotographicsociety@gmail.com

Our Facebook Group is open to everyone with an interest in photography! You are welcome to join, share your thoughts on photography, post your work, follow the work of our members and participate in our discussions https://www.facebook.com/groups/Barbadosphoto/

To see all images submitted please use hashtag bpstellastory

Neil Gibbs

Residence and Shop - Rural Barbados.

Another example of a residence upstairs and a shop downstairs. Some things to note are: the 3 door shop entrance, the woodwork of the top gallery, the chimney for the kitchen in the back, and more intriguingly, the octagonal design on the second gable. Also, the fact that this structure has 4 gables,not a very common sight.”

-Mohammed Patel

“Around 1990, I visited a lovely woman, Carmen, in Treviso, Italy. She planned a lovely weekend staying in Sirmione on Lago di Garda. Sometimes the weather was very misty given that it was at the foot of the Alps...the north end of the lake was Switzerland!

We walked, went to parks, museums, and ruins, and had wonderful meals. I was enchanted by this scene and the mist at the top of the Cyprus trees so I shot a few frames with my 1950s Leica M3 and 50 mm collapsible F2 Summicron on Tri-X film. My only mistake was to have it processed before flying home...the negs were rather grainy. But I loved the photo.

Fast forward about 15 years to my early work with platinum-palladium printing. Sure, I could make contact prints from my camera original 8X10 and 5X7 negs but 35 mm is too small. The trick was to make enlarged negs because all these 19th century processes are mostly sensitive only to INTENSE UV radiation, not visible light. Hence they are "contact printing only" processes, requiring a negative as large as your intended print. In those says I wasn't too up on digital techniques and one either had to make an inter-positive THEN an enlarged negative (slow and tedious) OR use a "direct positive" working film. There were many available up to about 2000 but, with the advent of digital techniques both in graphic arts printing and photography, those films quickly disappeared from manufacturers' rosters. What DID remain was Xray duplicating film...a direct positive way to make duplicate Xray images for medical, legal, insurance, or travel purposes. So, if I enlarged a negative onto it, it gave me an enlarged negative! BUT, the exposure times were veeeeeeeeeery long so dodging and burning were quite tedious.

A friend gave me some Xray dupe film which they couldn't (legally) use because it was slightly outdated but still worked fine! I enlarged my 35 mm neg onto a sheet of this and, with both bleaching of shadows and intensifying of highlights (in the neg) I finally got an enlarged neg with enough density range to make a decent platinum-palladium print. IIRC, that is Cranes Platinotype paper coated with about a 3/4 to 1/4 Pd to Pt ratio, exposed with a newly (then) acquired NuArc plate burner and developed in warm Pot Ox.

I think this may be the last time I used photo film to make an enlarged neg because, soon after, I got a good scanner and printer and have been making digitally enlarged negs ever since, with all the amazing image control available that way. I guess this image has a certain nostalgia for me because of the time, place, and process.”

-Bob Kiss

My first five years in Venezuela, of a total of 38, were spent on a small farm, in the beautiful Venezuelan Andes. Every morning at 5am, I would bring the cows from the field for milking. In the predawn darkness, I saw lightning far down on the lowlands, nearly every day, and in the exact same direction. Little did I know that one day I would pioneer trips to take tourists to see the mysterious lightning. I went there more than 800 times. I'm proud to say that a Barbadian is probably the one who has photographed most lightning on our planet. Like six million other Venezuelans, I had to leave. Here I present to you my favourite image of one of the great loves of my life; the Catatumbo Lightning.

- Alan Highton

Bridgetown photo walk- Swan street. This artist drummed and chanted while we were there. I'm not sure of his connection to the store.

Gerry Gibbons

He owns the store and he is an Artiste for years. He is Rihanna uncle His name is Leroy and he goes by De Warrior his music on YouTube and he has social media pages.

“A thousand thoughts"

#bpsTellaStory

This was shot during lockdown. During a time when simply being outside was a luxury. A time that strained people's mental health. So to be able to sit outside in the sunshine, even just to calm a thousand thoughts, was bliss.

8 years ago today this was my view from my balcony. And my story. #bpstellastory Sat 18th 2015. Our whole house closed down on seaside. Mad waves. Salt thick in the air. Sand and sea on balcony! Moved furniture. Claire, houseguest, in downstairs apt even closer to the sea is now closed in except for one window open to photograph from as waves, salt, spray and sand even worse down there. Going to be a mess to clear up. But great for photographs.

- Corrie Scott

Sea egg fisherman, a dying breed. Tried to follow this fisherman as he was making his way to scramble into the sea by Ragged Point Lighthouse but there were just too many 'cobblers' to negotiate. These exceptional fishermen would enter the water by Ragged Point and collect sea eggs by diving without mask or flippers, only a maypole and net, and finally drag their haul of sea eggs onto the beach by Culpepper island. Here they would collect the leaves from the sea grape trees and form a cone to put the sea egg roe in before making their way to sell them at Skeete's Bay. This photo was taken years ago before the introduction of scuba gear that in my opinion had a significant impact on the sea egg population.

- Raymond Maughan

VEXX RED - by Ras Daniel, artist extraordinaire. VEXX

Red

At the opening of “The Retired Slave Apartheid 1937” exhibition of the highly acclaimed artist Ras Daniel on March 2nd, I had the privilege of interacting with the artist. The exhibition which runs until March 2nd at the Queens Park Gallery, features many multimedia works, utilizing elements of galvanize, barbed wire and wood to express the harsh reality of the lived experiences of the formerly enslaved up to the early 20 century. Among the other paintings still on display is VEXX RED, which is his interpretation and expression of the economic, societal and cultural influences that shaped the African descendants in Barbados and the region. Ras Daniel explained that the stainedglass windows depicted the historical influence of the Church. The outline of the windmill and the red, overlayered cutlass represented the ties of the people to sugar production. The deep and long-lasting scars of that experience are still visible in his depiction and while many families were able to own land and chattel houses, there was a bar across popular freedom of expression.

What a way to tellastory! Ras Daniel has done it well.

It’s 6 am and they want me to bathe in this cold water…...I did not eat breakfast as yet..…..and why all these people here…I not racing!!!! And worst yet, the photographer getting my bad side… Steups!!!!

Rasheda Anna – Rose Daniel

August 2022

Magnificent menacing raincloud that evening that came through the bay with gusty winds, thunder and lightning lasting for twenty minutes then went speeding away towards our neighbouring islands to the West

From my balcony iPhone photography

Corrie Scott

Early morning in the bay as we wait for the sun to come over our way being as we are still in the shadow of the land.

Am so lucky to have this angle from my balcony which allows me to take photographs that show all of the paraphenalia a fisherman has in his boat. Casting net. Buoys. Oars. Sou’wester. Wood. Extra petrol. Pig tail bucket. Rope. Container with cover. Extender pole for his engine so he can stand on the wooden seats and see better for shoals of fish. Anchor. And that bleach container now made into a piece of equipment. I know not what he has in the small hold at the fore.

Island life. Batts Rock. Barbados

From my balcony iPhone photography

Corrie Scott

Audrey Bryan

The Barbados Photographic Society already preparing for an exhibition at Queens Park Gallery in 2024.

There will also be an online virtual exhibition in 2023 celebrating the BPS’ 20th year.

‘20 YEARS OF LIGHT’ a Barbados Photographic Society exhibition

At Queen's Park Gallery

Show Dates: January 10th 2024 - February 3rd 2024

The Barbados Photographic Society is celebrating its 20th year with the physical exhibition 20 YEARS OF LIGHT' at the Queen's Park Gallery in association with the National Cultural Foundation.

20 YEARS OF LIGHT' will be an exhibition of curated photography from the talented members of the Barbados Photographic Society community. More information on the specifics of how to submit for consideration will be released in the coming months.

In anticipation for this exhibition, several workshops will be held to ensure that all those interested in submitting are prepared and understand the standard of work expected to be delivered to the gallery.

Email thebarbadosphotographysociety@gmail.com or gwalker.curate@gmail.com or Whatsapp 846-8115/ 232-1322 for any questions.

Barbados Photographic Society