Club Meeting, ' A Photographic Journey ' - Tuesday 18th September 2018.
On Tuesday 18th September, Morpeth Camera Club welcomed Malcolm Kus ARPS, DPAGB, EFIAP/p, a member of Alnwick
& District Camera Club who gave us a talk entitled ‘A Photographic Journey’ ( The Last Picture Show ). Malcolm has been
a photographic judge and on the lecture circuit for over thirty years and his presentation took the form of a history show,
illustrating his journey from when he received his licenseship to the present day. Opening with the panels of photographs
he submitted to the licenceship judges, which included street photography and images of many varieties of fungi, proved
that he had been successful in meeting the criteria having applied appropriate depths of field, shutter speeds and making
use of good light.
Moving on to 1988 when he first holidayed in Bamburgh, the audience enjoyed photographs taken on the Farne Islands of
shags and puffins: falling in love with the area he returned every two years to experience the islands unique atmosphere.
In 2008 he finally managed to realise a long time wish and escape the rat race of the Midlands to live a much quieter life
in Northumberland where he gained inspiration to photograph giant jellyfish, rock and sand patterns, stormy and misty
seascapes from Embleton and High Newton beaches when out on his favourite walks with his dog.
The furthest he had travelled, Malcolm continued, was on a self organised trip to the Falklands, displaying images of the
vicious Striated Caracara and aggressive open mouthed elephant seals. With a weakness for photographing push bikes
he illustrated the fact with a variety of prints in soft focus in Italy and France against the backdrop of interesting textures.
Having also a passion for trees, we were treated to trios of graphic shots of glowing autumnal foliage and vertical stands
of tree trunks taken in soft focus, which supported his belief that a softer focus knocks the edge off reality and adds to
the atmosphere to the composition. The show continued with a variety of photographs; flowers texturised through glass
& mesh, old doors and shutters, dramatic white water rafting, athletics, rally car, bike, and grass track racing, the latter of
which, he added, has been spoiled over the years due to health and safety aspects which now prevents the photographer
from getting in close. In contrast Malcolm then showed images of old tractors and combine harvesters illustrating his love
of rust and deterioration. His main interest though are panels of three images on a theme which, when placed together
have a connection; sections of an old lorry in blue and orange hues, stained glass shadows falling on stone floors in glowing
golds and purples, street photography of people taking selfies, a trio of faded posters advertising ice dancers, all of which
were connected by the use of complimentary colours or a common element to bring the three together.
Malcolm’s presentation was interspersed with anecdotes of how he came across interesting things to photograph on holidays;
simple but dramatic shots of vibrant blue tiles in a swimming pool forming geometric patterns, photographs captured in an
Italian graveyard of beautiful and serene figures of grief stricken statuary, dilapidated houses with old brickwork and peeling
paint and colourful waterside dwellings in Burano.
At the opening of the evening Malcolm had asked the audience what they had deduced from the title of his talk, ‘A Photographic
Journey’(The Last Picture Show) and a club member said the word ‘Swansong’. Well Malcolm certainly gave us a very impressive swansong, having been a welcome and fair judge and an entertaining, humourous presenter over the years, it was a poignant
end to the evening but, on a positive note Malcolm concluded that although he was giving up his presentations, he would
definitely not be giving up photography. Club Chairman Mark Harrison thanked Malcolm for the story of his photographic life
which portrayed his versatility and imagination after which coffee was enjoyed.
Steph.