Club Meeting, 'Working in Projects & Developing... ' - Tuesday 5th April 2022.

                             

On Tuesday 5th April 2022, Morpeth Camera Club welcomed guest speaker Arjun Nambiar LRPS who gave us a
presentation entitled ‘Working in Projects and Developing a Style.’ Arjun is a member of Gosforth Camera Club
and a photographic judge. Why should one have a personal style, how can one achieve it and what outputs are
made available with one's own style was the theme of Arjuns talk. He stated that at camera club level, the limits
of competition photography can make it difficult to express one's own style. Club photographers often bemoan
the fact that they are unable to find their own 'style', and in his talk, he discussed what it means to have a 'style',
how we could go about developing our own (and why we don't necessarily have to) and the value of working on
projects.

Arjun said that we are used to presenting single images but one could go beyond this by working on a series of
images with a link. When out and about we often photograph randomly but with so much freedom, especially with
digital photography, there tends to be no resulting framework. In his view, creating projects focuses the mind and
eventually improves technical ability. Think ahead to what the output will be; a series of prints, an AV presentation,
a book, one’s website, or a gallery exhibition.

The subject could be anything, a place, animals, occasions, a season, or a time span. The easiest way to start,
he said, is to take one photograph each day for a year, or once a month, to build up a link and memory of that
time. This was illustrated by an audiovisual (AV) presentation of St Mary’s Lighthouse captured at different times
of day, covering the seasons and weather conditions; a series of images held together to create a study of light
and time. He then went on to show his project in progress with intent, which had been delayed due to the recent
pandemic, entitled Between. His intention is to take a series of images from the source of the Tweed to the river
mouth over a year, photographing throughout the seasons, including environmental portraits of people who live
along its banks.

We saw a series of images taken when on a visit to the V & A to observe sculptures. He was drawn to the hands
and by concentrating upon the similarity of composition and by photographing in monochrome this became a series
of intent, which was much more impactful than standalone images of the subject. He is happy to discard an image
that stands out from the others, in order to establish a flow of continuity. Images taken on a workshop trip to Arran
followed, beginning with macro shots of objects on the shoreline, to flora, woodland, and gently progressing on to
wider landscape panoramas.

Regarding photographic style, he said that the square format lends itself to a series of images and he went on to
illustrate the point by showing works by Michael Kenna with his distinct monochrome, square format, minimalistic
style, and consistent elements. He added that finding elements which come together to create a style, to make
them recognisable and sellable, requires constant effort and consideration.

He went on to talk about the components of style; for the subject to reflect our personality; to incorporate some
recurring compositional elements, to develop processing techniques, consider the colour palette and what paper
and printer you use. A good exercise is to look at one's own back catalogue and see how your photography has
evolved. It is good to research others’ work but to be a success one has to create one's own interpretation thats
imbued with your own personality.

He suggested stepping outside of your comfort zone and to start photographing what you like and don’t photograph
what you don’t like. Arjun concluded by describing the Shu-ha-ri model, the Japanese martial art form which focuses
on incrementally mastering a technique or skill. It says that one should understand rules and use them, but then
bend them to create one's own artistic version, providing a framework on which to express ourselves.

Club Co-Chair Roseanne Robinson, thanked Arjun for a fascinating talk, a Q & A session and refreshments then
concluded another interesting evening at the club.

Steph.