WCC Contemporary Photography Group 'Viewpoint' April 2020

Contents

Dr. Charles Ashton - ‘Corvid London’

Maddy Pennock - ‘A Sense of the Organic’

Tessa Mills - ‘Empty’

Richard Sarginson - ‘Into the Abstract’

Nigel Reader - ‘Human’

Martin Addison - ‘Images from the Guggenheim Museum of Fine Art, Bilbao’

Peter Young - ‘Worcester in Lockdown’

Lucy Allum - ‘A World in Close-Up’

Clive Haynes - ‘The Familar is Unfamiliar’

Angie Hill - ‘Barriers’

Judy Knights - ‘My First Week of Lockdown’

Alex Isaacs - ‘Covid-19’

James Boardman-Woodend - ‘Fiddling & Diddling’

Kaz Diller - ‘Isolation’

Eric Williams - ‘Portals of Colour’

Dr. Charles Ashton

Covid London

The day before the lock-down I visited London with the aim of capturing the haunting relative emptiness of the City. Monochrome has been used to enhance the edgy feeling.

Covid - London

Covid - London

Covid - London

Covid - London

Covid - London

Covid - London

Covid - London

Covid - London

Covid - London

Covid - London

Covid - London

Covid - London

Covid - London

Maddy Pennock

Sense of the organic

This group of images started off as straight forward simple rural landscapes scenes, taken on two different occasions, both recently.

Whilst the individual images were quite beautiful on their own, I had an idea to merge them with two watercolour paintings that I had done recently, where I had used a stencilling technique combining organic fibres and leaves with watercolours and inks. The watercolours images on their own are quite vivid and exciting!

Merging the images using different blending modes and layers with varying parts of the watercolour created different effects, but the overall impression is a sense of the organic and the beauty of raw nature.

Spring Around the Corner

Mother Nature

Apocalypse

Filigree Trees

Mystical Landscape

Woodland

Hedgerow Gowth

Cottage in the Distance

Parallel

Hellfire

Bleeding Heart

Tessa Mills

Empty

Taken in Worcester city, these single-shot images are all reflections combined with empty shops.

I'm exploring in front and behind coming together to create an image of this strange new reality of abandoned emptiness.

Empty Cafe, Empty Worcester

Room for Improvement

The Last Toursist

Abandoned Premises

Awaiting New Owner

Not Much of Interest to See

Going Home Early

Keeping a Safe Space

Echoes of Times Past

Richard Sarginson

Into The Abstract

I have continued to pursue an interest in creating abstracts from more normal images. I have included the original image and then some examples of what was then derived from that image.

It won't be to everyone's taste, but I enjoy the manipulation process; I hope some may also appreciate them.

Clive Haynes 34 TV Remote - Abstracts Source Image: TV Remote

TV Remote - Abstracts

TV Remote - Abstracts

TV Remote - Abstracts

TV Remote - Abstracts

Vortex

Vortex

Source Image: Tree

Abstracted Tree

Abstracted Tree

Abstracted Tree

Nigel Reader

Human

This is a series of images based around representation of the human form. They were taken on an ad hoc basis over a period of about a year as part of an ongoing ‘project’.

They come from a wide variety of sources, from top-flight galleries to city pavement; from art installations to simple signs. Only two are direct images of a single person, heavily manipulated in each case.

The others are artists’ representations of the human form.

For some this may raise the vexed or interesting question of whose images are these in the first place? Are they simply my record of another artists’? Or are they a combination of the work of both artist and photographer?

Human

Human

Human

Human

Human

Human

Human

Human

Human

Human

Human

Martin Addison

Images from the Guggenheim Museum of Fine Art in Bilbao

I spent a day in the Guggenheim and started exploring minimal style images, of which I found plenty. I then tried different ways of interpreting the building using camera movement, defocusing and multiple exposure.

When I came to process the images I again experimented, trying both dark and light styles and found that in some cases both interpretations worked.

I am showing them in panels of four as I think abstracts can often work very well in this format.

All the images were created in camera and processing done in Lightroom

Guggenheim Patterns & Abstracts

Guggenheim Patterns & Abstracts

Guggenheim Patterns & Abstracts

Guggenheim Patterns & Abstracts

Guggenheim Patterns & Abstracts

Guggenheim Patterns & Abstracts

Guggenheim Patterns & Abstracts

Guggenheim Patterns & Abstracts

Guggenheim Patterns & Abstracts

Peter Young

Worcester in Lockdown

The city is in lockdown, the playgrounds closed, and people are keeping their distance from each other (and their dogs). Their cars are now to be found huddling together on the sides of the roads. But they are leaving room for shopping to be delivered to those who got their orders in early. No longer are there excuses for not getting on with the DIY.

And now that the streets are empty of traffic the opportunity has arisen for contractors, who are specially exempted, to get on with those jobs that would otherwise be a cause of complaint by frustrated motorists.

Philosophically, there is nothing to be done, so best we look on the bright side.

Lansdown Park

Bishops Avenue Play Area

Social Distancing

Sainsbury’s

Bishops Avenue

Waitrose Delivery Van

Painting the Fence

The Tything Roadworks

New Street Roadworks

Bridge Inn

Rainbow 20-04-01

Lucy Allum

A World in Close-Up

Close-up photography has started to hold a particular fascination for me and the following pictures illustrate my fresh way of seeing the world. I enjoy this genre because it allows us into another world and one that we could easily take for granted or miss all together. There’s an element of escapism too, which is particularly attractive at the moment.

Dead Leaves

Glowing Daffodil

Helleborus Seed-head

Pepper

Rhubarb

Succulent

Sun on Back of Daffodil

Clive Haynes

The Familiar is Unfamiliar

From our home we’re fortunate to have wide views across the rooftops of Worcester to the distant rim of hills. However, having to spend a lot more time indoors and in the garden, the familiar has become unfamiliar and beyond immediate reach.

Whilst it’s possible to explore the immediate vicinity with different lenses, the impact of ‘life on hold’ at this present time becomes all the more apparent when venturing into familiar open spaces and streets.

Children’s playgrounds and the model steam railway are closed. Here and there, people have placed encouraging messages upon pathways and paid tribute to the rôle of key workers and those striving in the NHS. There is a way forward but the direction is something we have yet to grasp.

The Familiar is Unfamilar

The Familiar is Unfamilar

The Familiar is Unfamilar

The Familiar is Unfamilar - Detail

The Familiar is Unfamilar - Through the Window - Detail

The Familiar is Unfamilar - Through the Window - Detail

Closed Until Further Notice

Easter April Event Cancelled

Rainbow Windows

Signs of Encourgement Upon the Pathway

A Sign in Search of Direction

Angie Hill

Barriers

From the Iron Age to the present day, barriers have existed as methods of defence & protection. The 19thC Enclosure Act created one of the biggest changes to our landscape & way of life. Between 1604 & 1914, over 5,200 individual enclosure acts were passed, affecting 6.8 million acres. In the 19thC barbed wire was taken up by landowners as a cheap method of stock fencing. Trees engulf the wire as they grow. I find the tormented shapes both fascinating & disturbing. Since the Coronavirus Lockdown, the subject has felt even more poignant. Our freedom to roam has become more restricted with newly imposed social barriers. My images aim to reveal the darker side that is about loss of freedom and also how we view our relationship with the land. Is it control or protection?

Barriers

Barriers

Barriers

Barriers

Barriers

Barriers

Barriers

Judy Knights My First week of Lockdown

The sun was shining almost every day - it was hard to believe what was happening outside ‘my world’.

I went for walks going further afield than usual – I didn’t mind walking on my own as others were doing the same.

I only took my phone – in case I fell! I did record whatever took my eye – Phone mast, an electricity pole. I was amazed at how such ordinary items could make quite interesting images - then there were the lambs so shy that soon shied away. Finally the tranquility of Pershore’s Avon meadows which thank heavens are on my doorstep.

Then this week – back to reality – bitterly cold, grey, shopping and queues – but the parking is free!

The Path

Rutted Field Reflections & Shadows

Stream After the Rains

Mobile Mast

Power-line

Avon Meadows

Sheep Grazing

Social Distancing

Easy Parking

Alex Isaacs

COVID-19

This deadly virus has changed the world and the way society has had to act. This series of images about the Corona virus situation touches on measures that have needed to be taken and behaviours that have had to be followed to limit the spread of the infection. A couple of the images relate to the consequences of the virus.

As we all hope and pray for a positive way through and outcome from this tragic pandemic , however long it may take to achieve , we also salute the fearless NHS workers at this difficult time .

Amongst & Apart

Do Not Question

Interacting with Care

Social Distancing

Spacing, Contact and Networking

Isolation & Safety

Frozen Assets

Impression of Corvid-19

Suffocation

Tragic Outcome

Encouragement

James Boardman-Woodend

Fiddling and Diddling

Almost 10 days into quarantine and I need to stop myself from going stir crazy. I think it’s time to do something a bit whacky.

I have been experimenting for some time with multiple exposures either ‘in camera’, on my iPhone or blending different pictures shot at a different time and from different places in Photoshop.

As a teenager I enjoyed the work of the Art Informel movement. I’m hoping that you may see some very faint hints of influence by the likes of Jean Fautrier and George’s Mathieu in some (but not all) of my images

Flowers

Flowers

Flowers

V for Virus

Ocean Abstract

Lightning Rain Abstract

Stairs Multi-Exposure

Plastic & Steel Multi-Exposure

Floor Tile Multi-Exposure

Guggenheim Abstract #2

Plant Multi-Exposure Abstract

Kaz Diller

Isolation

This series of photographs, taken in different countries, over a number of years, show people in isolation going about their daily business; all are solitary, void of human contact or interaction.

In this time of pandemic, uncertainty, and worry, we are all forced to isolate. We have time to reflect on our loss of freedom and social interaction to avoid possible serious illness and death.

The final image shows a beautiful memorial to honour people lost at war. A place for quiet reflection and solitude.

Before Nine Eleven

Isolation

Isolation

Isolation

Isolation

Isolation

Isolation

Isolation

Isolation

Apocalypse

Remembrance

Eric Williams

Portals of Colour

Trinidad is a town situated on the south coast of Cuba and has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site for its Spanish Colonial Architecture. Indeed, Trinidad was established some 400 years ago by the Spanish as a strategic port for the defence of the Caribbean Sea. Over the centuries, Trinidad was the centre of sugar industry and more recently, tobacco.

My set of images focuses on the old houses of Trinidad, and more specifically, the colourful doors and windows that represent the Portals of Colour into these dwellings.

Welcome to Trinidad

Green & Sunshine

Smiley Door

Colourful Window

Keeping Them Out or In

Red Steps

Next Year’s Project

Green Portal

Lamplight

Worcestershire Camera Club Contemporary Photography Group ‘Viewpoint’ © April 2020