RPS Northern News July 2018

NORTHERN NEWS Issue 8 July 2018

NORTHERN NEWS Issue 7

May 2018

Northern Diary Sunday 9 September 2018, 10:00 to 15:00

Northumberland Coastal Walk Guided walk around Craster and Dunstanburgh See website for full details

Sunday 28 October 2018, 10:00 to 16:00 Newton Community Hall, Newton, Stocksfield NE43 7UL

Distinctions Advisory Day Advisory day for LRPS and ARPS (All categories - see website) Hazel Mason FRPS, James Frost FRPS, Leo Palmer FRPS Full details and booking on the RPS Website

Sunday 18 November 2018,

10:00 to 16:00

Newton Community Hall, Newton, Stocksfield NE43 7UL

Fellowship Advisory Day Before booking, please read the criteria on the RPS website

Sunday 25 November 2018, 10:30 to 16:00 Newton Community Hall, Newton, Stocksfield NE43 7UL

Landscape: How to Cope with Challenging Conditions Tony Worobiec FRPS Full details and booking on the website

Tuesday 27 November 2018,

19:30 to 21:30

Morpeth Camera Club, Morpeth Methodist Church, Howard Tce., Morpeth NE61 1HU

The Water's Edge Lecture by fine art photographer Tony Worobiec FRPS There will be a charge of ÂŁ2 collected at the event, booking not required All bookings should be made via the Northern Region Events page on the RPS website 2

Message from

NORTHERN NEWS

Carol Palmer ARPS

Issue 8 July 2018

Regional Organiser Northern Region

THE NORTHERN TEAM Regional Organiser Carol Palmer ARPS northern@rps.org Deputy Regional Organiser Geoff Chrisp LRPS Treasurer Bob Turner ARPS Secretary Bob Gates ARPS northernweb@rps.org Cover Image Brown Eyed Girl © Leo Palmer FRPS NORTHERN NEWS INFORMATION © 2017 All rights reserved on behalf of the authors. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the written permission of the copyright holder. Requests for such permission must be addressed to the Editor.

The Royal Photographic Society, Northern Region and the Editor accept no liability for any misuse or breach of copyright by a contributor.

The views expressed in this magazine are not necessarily those of the RPS or the Northern Region.

Editor: Bob Gates ARPS northernweb@rps.org

We have another superb selection of articles and some stunning images in this newsletter. From surrealism, street life, landscape, natural history to an excellent piece about the RPS/OU On-line course and our recent successful RPS distinctions.Will McAllister, who was recently awarded a LRPS tells us about the process he went through. He has written a splendid article about his efforts to achieve the distinction and what he has learned along the way. It makes for enjoyable reading and shows the benefit of seeking advice at Advisory Days.Geoffrey Bradford was awarded ARPS through the exemption route which is no less valid, and a very interesting set of images illustrate Geoffrey’s article.My congratulations to: Graeme Clarke from Teesside who has achieved ARPS in Natural History.

Linda Duncalf ARPS from Cumbria with a Fine Art portfolio Kevin Morgan from Consett gaining a LRPS We will be seeing their portfolios in the newsletters in the months ahead.

Although our region has many members with RPS distinctions and more working towards them, there are so many talented photographers who show us their work either on the Northern website portfolios or Facebook who do not.Why?, I ask myself. Is it because they do not have any interest? Possibly they may think that their work is not of the required standard. Or maybe they are nervous about showing their images in a peer group.

For those of you who are interested but have not dipped your toes in the water why not attend an Advisory Day as a spectator to see what it is all about. We hold 2 every year and you get to see successful portfolios as well those bringing work for feedback for possible submissions.

Feedback is always given in a friendly positive way with constructive help to improve any images and these events are such a good learning experience.

Our next Advisory Day is Sunday, 28th October 2018 and I hope to see you there.

Carol 3

MANNEQUINS Leo Palmer FRPS Mannequins are fascinating creatures; traditionally they “live” in shop windows behind glass and are employed to show off clothes.

My first encounter with one came in the 1970s when I was on holiday in Athens, Greece and saw this forlorn incarnation in a shop window. It was in the very early days of my serious photography and I didn’t know if you were allowed to photograph them, and if I did what could I do with it.

After a short time of reflection I decided to go ahead and capture this figure shooting through the glass. My first mannequin was “in the bag”.

Since then I have photographed mannequins all over the world….I consider it a quest of mine to capture these wonderful creatures and restore them to their natural habitat. It cannot be any fun being stuck in a shop window all day and night!The first known mannequin was discovered when Tutankhamen’s tomb was opened and a head and shoulders torso, life sized, effigy of the boy emperor was found in all its glory. Made of wood covered in plaster and painted it was a very lifelike representation of the young king.

Although not totally clear it is thought that it was being used to display clothes and jewellery that Tutankhamen would wear.

Royalty through the ages had roughly made headless mannequins, made to their body measurements and stuffed with straw, to model their costumes so they could see how they looked.

Morgana

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Jungle Queen - The Dalles, Thrift Store

It was not until Plate Glass shop windows and electric lighting started to appear in the 1880s that mannequins were used to display fashionable clothes. To a certain extent a greater realism in terms of glass eyes and facial feathers started to develop the mannequin into a “living person”.

The first truly realistic, from head to toe, mannequins were the brainchild of an American sculptor, writer and retail display designer Lester Gaba. In 1932 he created a lifelike and life size mannequin he christened Cynthia. Cynthia, dressed to the nines, travelled everywhere with him quickly becoming an instantly recognisable celebrity. Cartier and Tiffany sent her jewellery, Lilly Dache designed hats for her. Apart from being Lester’s constant companion she appeared on radio shows and had small parts in films.

She was quickly followed by a series of mannequins who became known as Gaba’s Girls.

Nevertheless she remained Lester’s favourite until she met her untimely death when she slipped off a chair in a beauty salon and shattered into a thousand pieces.

Fortunately Lester still had the mould so he was able to reincarnate the lovely Cynthia.

Following Gaba’s Girls mannequins took on a more realistic if ladylike appearance.

Their appearance following trends and austerity during and just after WW2 then gave way to a more relaxed look by the 1950s. Fiberglass and plastic further enhanced their design and appearance.

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In the mid 1960s Adel Rootstein a theatre prop and shop window display designer decided to change the appearance of mannequins and make them more animated and fluid in keeping with the new wave of the swinging sixties.

He hired an unknown 15 year old who posed in such positions. By the time the mannequins hit the shops the young model Twiggy was an international megastar.

Many famous people have modelled for mannequins, Joan Collins, Sandie Shaw, Jean Shrimpton, Marie Helvin and Joanna Lumley to name just a few.

Currently we are in the dark ages where the majority of mannequins are concerned. There is a disturbing trend to create them headless or with featureless blobs, that resemble rugby balls, as heads. That said it is still possible to capture them on film and restore them to their natural environment‌.be it a surreal one.

One of my best most recent finds was in Venice, Las Vegas. Elegant glamorous creatures from yesteryear lived in a dress shop window. Perfect in every detail they were a delight to photograph.

Sadly when a mannequins life in a shop window is over and it may counted in days rather than weeks many are no longer wanted and are broken up. There are no mannequin museums and examples of these wonderful creatures through the ages.

I have rescued them from back streets in Istanbul to ghost towns in the USA and from New Zealand towns to cities of Poland. It is getting a little difficult although not impossible to find classic examples of the species‌..I suppose that is part of the challenge.

Ice maiden - Las Vegas

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Photographing mannequins is very much like photographing humans. The exception being that mannequins don’t move but you do and must to get the best angle to maximise the potential of the subject.

Shop windows are usually fairly well lit but the lighting is aimed at primarily showing off the garments not necessarily the model.

When shooting through glass reflections are the main problem. I would recommend waiting for overcast lighting and using a medium telephoto lens fitted with a large rubber lens hood. The lens hood can be pressed against the glass window: that way reflections will be reduced considerably. Using, say a hat to shield the camera and lens is also a good technique.

Some may think this is taking things a little too far, but on occasions I’ve used folding plastic steps to gain extra height when “shooting” particularly tall or mannequins on elevated displays. No one has ever questioned what I’m doing…..possibly because they think I must be barking mad!

Flapper - Venice, Las Vegas

To see more of Leo's images, visit his website www.leopalmerphotography.co.uk

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Spanish Eyes

Old Time Portrait

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Faceless - Granada, Spain

© Leo Palmer FRPS

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Associateship by Exemption Geoffrey Bradford ARPS

© Bernard Mitchell

My early art education was vocational and practical People never appear in my photographs but covering in depth those aspects of art such as basic their presence is always inferred. design, drawing, painting and modelling from life, as well as learning the disciplines of colour theory, perspective, composition and the theory and practice of art and design history. This invaluable early grounding in the visual and applied language of art and design has stayed with me throughout my art career.

Another area of instruction was the ‘craft’ of photography for the purposes of documenting work. Four categories were covered: to record work made from temporary materials, to record transient time based events, to record the stages in the development and making of a piece of work and to provide portfolio evidence of completed Polytunnel Object pieces for assessment.

Two locations/spaces in particular have proven I now use a camera to gather information to to be rewarding in exploring and developing explore and generate ideas in much the same way extended projects - a dilapidated polytunnel in that I use a pencil and a sketchbook or any other Cumbria and Belsay Hall an English Heritage medium and process to develop and make property in Northumberland. Each of them show artworks. Individual disciplines are no longer exclusive to a particular form of making and we clear evidence of human connection and trace should feel free to experiment with and exploit all but differently. The polytunnel, because of the methods and mediums to extend our own fragility of its structure and the way light filters in creativity. As part of my practice the objects I the natural outside world, is more organic assemble/construct from my photographs are whereas the Hall’s architectural space and its’ used to generate further work by re-presenting empty rooms is solid. My work reflects that them and placing them in an alternative context. difference. The ‘Belsay’ series are built like stage I am interested in working with the traces of human flats with photographs cut and reassembled to intervention and interaction that can be seen upon show rooms beyond rooms, surface against spaces and places. The marks left around a light surface. The ‘Polytunnel’ work is more switch that has been continually switched on and lightweight and rounded in appearance and its off, the chair with a threadbare cushion or the way abstract nature makes it less topographical. The thresholds and entrances witness the footfall of works made from both are small scale and handleable. human passage.

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The places themselves give up their secrets slowly and quietly; starting with the wider view, using the light and seeing beyond the surface, homing in and examining closely the detail, finally, getting down on hands and knees to excavate the accumulations of time gathered in corners and crevices: fragments of the fabric of the structure - torn plastic, wire, string, tape, wallpaper, paint flakes and other things brought into the space by visitors and staff such as discarded sweet wrappers, lollypop sticks and sandwich bags, or seed heads and feathers and even the wing of a moth blown in through an open door or window. Once collected, this material is brought back to the studio – sorted, scanned, printed and placed into my sketchbooks alongside drawings and rubbings to become part of a growing archive to feed further ideas.

In practical terms the idea of physically constructing objects comes from my background as a sculptor together with the opportunity of undertaking an MA photography course. The course encouraged enquiry, the time to experiment and provided the intellectual rigour, space and facilities to push ideas beyond the established perception of using photography as a means of record.

Printing onto tracing paper, cartridge paper, sugar paper, acetate and newsprint adds to the possibility that they might slowly deteriorate in the same way as the subjects from which they were made. Any image made of them can only therefore serve as an illustration.

Joining the RPS and applying for my associateship will, I hope, put me in touch with others that consider photography to be something that can be used to explore the creative process, alternative ways of making, to exchange ideas and research and perhaps, develop a new group/area of interest and study.

Polytunnel Objects

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Belsay Interior

Belsay Hall, Traces, Box Room

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Polytunnel Object 2

Sketchbook pages

Belsay Hall

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Lofoten Islands Norway Tony Robinson LRPS Having bought my first DSLR camera in 2011 I was immediately drawn to landscape photography and gained my LRPS in 2013. As winter is one of my favourite seasons I decided to look at the potential of putting together a set of images depicting the harshness and beauty of winter towards an ARPS panel.

In February this year I had the opportunity to go on a winter photography workshop. After seeing a number of images on social media and in the RPS magazine I decided that Norway and in particular the Lofoten Islands were my chosen destination. Having never been before I also decided that a photography workshop would be my best option. Although I am confident in the use of my camera I felt a workshop would ensure I didn’t miss out on any locations that I would have otherwise spent days planning and might still have missed without having that local knowledge. So after scouring what was available ‘Inspiring Photography’ was offering what I was looking for.

As usual, the weather is never guaranteed and this trip was no exception. There was a mix of snow, rain, grey dull days with the odd bit of blue sky and moody clouds. I found the moody skies worked great as a backdrop to snow covered scenes rather than having full harsh sun. We were out most days from dawn until dusk but unfortunately the fantastic sunrises and sunsets I hoped for didn’t really happen. Every location had been planned out meticulously by our guide Dimitri Vasileiou who was always on hand to offer advice for anyone who needed it. However because of the high winds, snow and ice some of the plans and locations had to change accordingly. As I often find with landscapes, I had to work within the limits of the weather, light and time available to achieve the best composition I could.

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Lofoten has the most spectacular scenery I have ever seen. Every corner you turn there is a new set of snow-capped mountains surrounding the edges of lakes, estuaries and beaches. At this time of year the sun doesn’t get very high making for great all day round shooting conditions.

So although a lot of images eluded me with only one reasonable sunrise and sunset, grey skies, rain, high winds and snow fall, no clear skies at night, no aurora, I still managed to come away with more images from this trip than any other I’ve done so far. It’s a landscape photographer’s paradise and I just hope I get the chance to return one day to finish what I’ve started.

These are some of the images I captured that may form the beginnings of a panel. Most images were taken on a Canon 5d mk4 with a 16-35 f2.8L mkii lens, with the exception of the barn that was taken with a 70-200 f2.8L lens.

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Cumbrian Photographer Ade Gidney reports on the RPS/Open University Course Digital Photography: creating and sharing better images Since I took up digital photography around three years ago I have looked to improve my knowledge by taking some kind of adult education course in photography each Autumn.

This started with a beginners ten-week course at a local adult education centre a few years ago. At that time, I had a digital compact camera. I have been using a DSLR for a few years and last year I enrolled on the RPS/Open university online 10week digital photography course.

I was looking for an intermediate course on photography and this seemed to have the content that I was looking for. The course cost was ÂŁ200. Having enrolled you are entitled to join the RPS as a student which is a considerable saving.

Successful completion of the course leads to the award of The Royal Photographic Society Certificate in Photography. RPS Members are also be entitled to attend a free Distinctions Advisory Day. The course is made up of 10 modules which they advise should take around 10 hours of study per week. This includes reading material, practical activities, you are encouraged to upload and share your images with the course’s online community of photographers. You steadily develop your ability to reflect upon your own and others' work, and to write about your increasing visual awareness. The course introduces a range of aspects of digital photography including: . . . . . . .

'ways of seeing' and the elements of composition the basic principles of capturing light information digitally (e.g. sensors, memory, file types) the digital workflow (capture, organise, edit and share) how to control exposure, focus and depth of field an introduction to digital colour management how to print and project your images an introduction to photographic genres and digital aesthetics.

Whilst the course may seem fairly basic at the outset, I found it good to revisit the basic principles to ensure my photography was developing on secure foundations. Later modules took me into areas of photography that I had not previously considered or explored.

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The course is entirely carried out online and you do not have an individual tutor or mentor. You have access to online forums that you are strongly encouraged to participate in, they are an excellent source of support and information. These forums combine self-help from fellow students with input from expert moderators. Students are encouraged to comment and feedback on each other’s uploaded images, this allows you to both improve your own images see what and how other people take images. One of the most powerful lessons I learnt was that other people’s style of image taking and processing can be equally valid even if I don’t particularly like that style.

On completion of the course you submit 10 images and some written work for assessment. These are marked, and you are provided with written feedback on both your written work and 10 submitted images. These 10 images could form the basis of an LRPS distinction panel. My next step having completed the course is to attempt to gain an LRPS distinction and I have already attended an advisory day. The 10 images I submitted for my course assessment formed the basis of my initial LRPS panel with my assessment booked for later in the year.

For those interested in the course details can be found online at. http://www.open.ac.uk/courses/short-courses/tg089 http://www.rps.org/learning/online-courses

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© Ade Gidney

© Ade Gidney

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© Ade Gidney

© Ade Gidney

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A Day in London with

Peter Dixon ARPS It all started in 2015 when someone suggested a trip to London, so off we set on the first of five trips between April 2015 to April 2018.

Most of us purchased senior railcards on a 3 year deal for £70.00, normally £30.00 per annum. Our first port of call was at Kings Cross tube station to buy an Oyster card for tube travel, a debit card can now be used instead. Tube travel is definitely not my preferred mode of transport; however it does get you from A to B very quickly and efficiently.

Armed with a list of places to visit we quickly realised how naïve we were in thinking how many we could tick off in one day, 4 more visits on and we still are no nearer completing our list of places to visit. Leadenhall Market, Camden Lock, Brick Lane, Borough Market, The Shard, London Bridge and many, many more varied and interesting sites to see.

Busking. Must be an easier way of earning a living

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Really. Too good to be true someone stopping at the decisive moment

Fallen on hard times. Much better to make a donation to one of the many organisations that help folks that are in need as give to them personally

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Cracked and Crazed. Too much background distraction, I was forced into the tight crop

Doggy doo dah day. Oops, just stood in something unpleasant...soles of his shoes

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Our party of friends has grown considerably over the years we started off with 6 on the first trip; April this year we had 11 travelling down, First Class of course for just over ÂŁ80.00, booking almost 6 months in advance to take advantage of any deals that are available.

I do enjoy looking for and taking anything that is slightly abstract, bizarre, off beat or serendipitous.

The weather plays an important part to the success of the day; the more varied the better as different photographs can be taken, light rain offers an opportunity for including interesting reflections in roads and footpaths etc.

Paul Smith's disapproval. Couldn't believe my luck when the smoker stood below the poster

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Canary Wharf. Wonderful buildings all around the city

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Window or Mirror Jeff Teasdale

As a landscape photographer I constantly question my reasons for making images. I suppose the we all want our work to be apprenticed. People might appreciate landscape images because they know the location and it has some special meaning, memory, or may want to go there. So the image is acting as a window on the world, and the viewer simply looks through the photograph and sees the location, this especially true of the non-photographer who has no interest in the technicalities.

If I thought that this was the only reason for me making landscape images I would have given up years ago. There must be some other driving force for making images other than a record.

In 1978 John Szarkowski curated an exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art, New York. In which he arranged the photographs as either “mirrors” or “windows”. Mirrors tell us about the photographer, windows tell us about the world. No image can be just on or the other. I prefer the think of the photograph as a half silvered mirror so the viewer can see both what is photographed and the photographer. Think of it as a continuous scale with subjective at one end and objective at the other.

Mirror

Window

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 )-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------( Subjective

Objective

Try with some of your favoured images on the scale of 1 to 10 to see what kind of photographer you are.

This idea of producing subjective images is not new. It was the original driving force of the 19c Pictorialists, who were less concerned with the subject than what it could yield in terms of aesthetic, emotional and intellectual images. Japanese painters call them mind landscapes and photographer David Ward calls them inner landscapes. This is why I continue to make landscape images, that hopefully say something about my view of the world.

Bibliography John Szarkowski. Mirrors and Windows. Museum of Modern Art. New York 1978 David Ward. Landscape Within. Insight and inspiration for photographers. Argentum 2004.

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Image 1.

This is easily recognised as Saltburn Pier. Not purely objective, as it was made with fading light giving it some mood, I would give it a 7 on the scale.

Image 2.

Also Saltburn Pier, but as it is small in the image with large sky and foreground showing something of my sense of design. I would give this a 3.

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Image 3.

I often ask people what emotion is evoked by this image? Blue, restful or calming, in reality this was made just before sunrise in February with hailstones in a gale. Perhaps we can alter the meaning by the use of a photographic technique. I would put this as a 2, a 1 is impossible because we always have to photograph the real world.

Image 4.

Is Blencathra in the Lakes. Early morning (good for subjectivity) with deep shadows, top covered in low cloud, and only partly lit by the rising sun. 4 or 5 on the scale, as I think it unlikely to be seen in a guide book.

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Image 5.

A path through the wood (any wood) is not objective enough to be instantly recognisable. The use of monochrome is the first step to subjectivity. The use of infra-red has removed it from reality and giving a much more subjective feel.

Image 6.

I think of iconic views as being like Beethoven symphonies, just because they have been performed and recorded many times. It is no reason for not putting our own interpretation on it. Working with the limitation of a pinhole camera produces a different image of an iconic view. 2 on the scale.

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British Wildlife Photography Awards The BWPA (British Wildlife Photography Awards - www.bwpawards.org are run every year and consider themselves the leading competition for British wildlife photography. There are 15 separate categories that you can enter, examples including animal behaviour, urban wildlife, animal portraits and marine life.

Julia Richardson LRPS entered this year’s competition and achieved two of her images being shortlisted for the category of animal behaviour.

With each image entrants are asked by the BWPA to include a brief synopsis of the shot including how they went about getting the image, the conditions they were working in and the behaviour of the subject.

Red Squirrel in Snowstorm Š Julia Richardson LRPS

The snow made capturing this shot extremely challenging. Visibility was poor, activity was low, and it was freezing. However, this red squirrel appeared and revelled in the deep snow, jumping from great heights off branches and snowploughing down tree trunks. He ran along this branch and paused for a few seconds. I took a few shots of him in profile and then he turned and looked straight at me. I had a split second to capture this shot before he disappeared.

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Red Squirrel in Snow Š Julia Richardson LRPS

During the heavy snow last winter, I went up to the woods with the aim of capturing a red squirrel in the snow. After a short wait this red squirrel appeared and started foraging for food. He found a hazelnut and scooted up a tree to enjoy his breakfast. For me, he framed himself beautifully against the trunk of the tree, the background was uncluttered, and the snow was falling which created the shot I was after. I had been, captured and gone in less than 30 minutes.

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Licentiate success for Carlisle Photographer Will McAllister LRPS Since first picking up a camera as a teenager, I have had a passion for photography as a way of capturing the world around me in all its forms and have tried my hand in many genres, from astrophotography to studio portraiture but my main passion has always been for travel photography, and photography ‘of place’. I like to travel around Europe by car and train, giving me the opportunity to take my time to observe and get a sense for places before I even pick up my camera and I look to carry this attitude from unfamiliar locations to familiar ones closer to home.

I chose to go for the licentiate distinction because I wanted to have that sense of achievement that comes with putting your work to a wider and more discerning audience than just yourself and your friends. It was certainly challenging though and I went through two unsuccessful assessments before finally passing with a resubmission.

Of the ten photographs that made up my final successful portfolio, only three of them had been taken since I first attended an advisory day back in 2015. These include the boat in the fog on Windermere and the man wearing make-up taken at Carlisle Pride Festival. The rest were older photographs which I either had missed the potential of before getting involved with the RPS, or which I was able to return to as my editing skills improved and bring up to the standard.

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When you get feedback, sometimes the positive aspect to that drives you to work harder and pay closer attention to the detail of a photograph because it has been commended for its overall seeing and composition and therefore you want to get that photo to reach that standard. This was certainly the case with the photograph of the cheese and wine, which had been right through every advisory day and assessment with me. A lot of work has been done to bring it up to standard. The original had unsightly reflections, the stalk of the grapes obscured the stem of the glass and the panel members suggested it needed improving. I did a lot of work with layers, masks and content aware tools in Photoshop to create the image I knew should meet the standard.

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Based on that I would say that for me, going for the ‘L’ was more about all the things that happen after you take the shot. Identifying your best ones, editing them to bring out their potential and printing and arranging a panel; and though I tried at several points to take photographs specifically for my panel, the photos I eventually used were all taken with no thought at the time towards the ‘L’. It will be different for everyone but by going to the advisory days you find out maybe what aspects of photography you haven’t been paying enough attention to.

Not achieving the distinction first time was disappointing, but in retrospect I learned more than I would have had the first ten photos I selected sailed straight through, and besides that initial feeling of disappointment, it was an enjoyable process. With two advisory days and three assessments I have received feedback on almost 40 separate photographs. Now that I have succeeded I’m open to the possibility of going for the ‘A’ but I won't be putting any pressure on myself and will instead think about attending an advisory day with an open mind about the next step after that.

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© Will McAllister LRPS

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Slow Water Movement Workshop held on 22 April 2018, led by Malcolm Blenkey ARPS Thanks to the enthusiasm of the ten participants the Water Movement Workshop held in April at Sandsend and Whitby on the North Yorkshire coast proved to be a great success. The main objective of the workshop was to introduce the techniques involved in capturing images of moving water, including the use of varying degrees of filtration to create different effects.

The day was chosen to provide tidal conditions to suit the location and also the safety of the participants. Fortunately, the weather conditions were favourable however the sea conditions were a little less dramatic than was hoped for. Given the Baltic blast with freezing winds and raging seas that were in evidence just a couple of weeks earlier the day might not have produced the dramatic shots that those conditions would have provided but at least the warm Spring day allowed a full day of photography.

The morning session was held at Sandsend where the old wooden groynes on the beach provided interesting compositions for up to a couple of hours after high-tide. Participants were encouraged to try various degrees of filtration to create different effects using long exposures as the waves lapped around the groynes.

Following the lunch break which was perfectly timed to avoid a heavy shower the group moved to the well-known landscape photography location of Saltwick Bay just south of Whitby. Here the low tide gave access to the much-photographed wreck of the Admiral Von Tromp where the participants were given compositional advice on how to make the most of the location.

Saltwick Bay also has some interesting rocks on the beach, in particular the colourful and patterned sandstone rocks provided an opportunity for a different kind of mini-landscape and macro photography to round-off the day.

“We spent a very enjoyable and instructive day producing images in Sandsend and Saltwick. Malcolm was an excellent teacher and we had good weather apart from rain while ate our lunch.” - Just one of the comments after the Workshop.

© Malcolm Blenkey ARPS

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© Carol Hudson LRPS

© Malcolm Blenkey ARPS

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From the RPS Collection at the Victoria & Albert Museum

These two images from the RPS Collection are by Harold Edgerton (1903-1990).

He was born in Nebraska, USA and gained his degree in electrical engineering from the University of Nebraska followed by a Masters and Doctorate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He then taught at MIT and became a professor there in 1934.

As a student he began to experiment with flash tubes and developed a tube using Xenon gas that could produce highintensity bursts of light as short as 1/1,000,000 second. Edgerton's flash tube remains the basic flash device still used.

The Xenon flash could also emit repeated bursts of light at regular and very brief intervals and was an ideal stroboscope. With this flash Edgerton was able to photograph the action of such things as drops of milk falling into a saucer and bullets travelling at speeds of up to 853 metres per second.

Some of these images are quite artistic in addition to their value to industry and science. During the Second World War he constructed stroboscopic units to photograph the night operations of enemy troops.

In the early days of his career, Edgerton's subjects were motors, running water and drops splashing, bats and hummingbirds in flight, golfers and footballers in motion, his children at play. By the time of his death at the age of 86, Edgerton had developed dozens of practical applications for stroboscopy, some that would influence the course of history. For his contribution to the war effort he was awarded the Medal of Freedom. Later in life Edgerton concentrated on sonar and underwater photography, illuminating the depths of the ocean for undersea explorers such as Jacques Cousteau, who dubbed his friend "Papa Flash."

In 1964 Harold Edgerton was awarded the RPS Progress Medal and Honorary Fellowship of the Society. The medal, instituted in 1878, is awarded in recognition of any invention, research, publication or other contribution which has resulted in an important advance in the scientific or technological development of photography and imaging.

Bob Gates ARPS 39

Back Lonnen in Winter © Carol Palmer ARPS

Abstract © Peter Dixon ARPS