4 minute read
A PHYSIOTHERAPIST BECAME PHOTOGRAPHER
The RPS Benelux Chapter MEMBER
Felicity Handford
The RPS Benelux Chapter wishes to welcome
new members to introduce themselves and their work. This time Felicity Hardford was confronted with our curiosity and was also willing to answer some of the more soul searching questions.
Could you tell us something about who you are, where you are from and where you are
living and working now? My name is Felicity Handford and I live in Brussels. I was born and educated in London. I qualified as a physiotherapist and worked in the NHS until we moved to Belgium in 1991. In Belgium, I became an independent physiotherapist until my retirement in 2013.
How did you become a photographer and why is it important to you? What genre would you put yourself in or what genre
would you like to work in? I’ve always enjoyed taking photographs, I enjoy being creative. Photography interests me not only because it is very creative, but it makes me think. I wanted to visit Iceland but realised that if I was going to take photographs there, I needed to buy a DSLR camera and learn how to use it, so I enrolled in a six-week course with Michael Chia in Brussels and in the summer went to Maine, USA on an outdoor photography course. I finally went to Iceland in 2014. I’m beginning to understand that taking good photographs isn’t only a matter of luck but instead involves a vision of what I want to say and a good deal of planning in order to say it. I’m not sure I would put myself in any particular genre as I’m just beginning to work out what I enjoy photographing. I like telling stories through my images. Sometimes that may be through landscapes and travel but I’m becoming interested in documentary photography.
Apart from being a chapter member are there any other photographic communities that you are a member of or participating
in? I have been a member of the Viewfinders of Brussels photographic club for a number of years and have enjoyed taking part in the various challenges the club sets every year. I’ve also joined the Documentary, History and Archaeology special interest groups of the RPS. In 2015 I became the finds photographer for Waterloo Uncovered, a charity that combines first class archaeology on the battle site, with care and rehabilitation of veterans. As the finds photographer, I have to supervise a small number of veterans who help me with the photographing of almost all of the objects that are dug up during the dig. Most of the time this is the fairly routine photography of farm objects and musket balls but sometimes I have photographed buttons and coins, often this means macro photography to help with the identification of the object. As a result, I have had to learn basic macro photography.
© Felicity Handford - page 53 | Brussels - Sarah missing her grandchildren. Page 54 | Waterloo Uncovered - Thimble
© Felicity Handford - Bera - India
Do you have any other passions or interests that drive your photography? What is the
main driver in your photography? I have travelled to a number of different countries with several different specialist companies in order to learn and improve my photography. Sometimes this has been landscape photography but mostly it has been some aspect of people photography. I enjoy finding both differences and the similarities between people of different cultures. The stories that interest me are ones that leave me with questions and taking photographs of people and scenes that are unexpected.
What do you expect from the Chapter? What
are you looking for? I hope that by joining the chapter I might have more opportunities to learn from other more experienced photographers. I also hope that it will give me the opportunity to visit and photograph places that I might otherwise not know about.
What workshops and courses did you follow?
I have taken advantage of a number online courses run by the RPS in the last year including a documentary course, macro and illusion all day workshops and I’m looking forward to doing more this year.
What is the main advice you would give to
any starting photographer? I think that it would be a piece of advice that I was given on the first course that I took part in. It was a weeklong outdoor course in Maine USA. The advice was to take photographs of a subject from as many different angles as possible. It has helped me to really look at what I’m trying to photograph and find more interesting ways of illustrating a subject. It does have to be said that my knees no longer allow me to get down low or climb up high though!
© Felicity Handford - Iceland
© Felicity Handford - Ukrainian - Pripyat - Chernobyl bumper cars
© Felicity Handford - Bhutan - Gantey workers
© Felicity Handford - Bhutan - Panaka festival shoeman
