Club Meeting, ‘It’s not Photography, is It‘ - Tuesday 6th January 2026.

              

At the first meeting of the New Year Morpeth Camera Club welcomed the clubs’ Programme Secretary, and former
Chairman Peter Downs LRPS who gave a presentation entitled ‘Happy Anecdotes? But It’s not Photography, is it?
Although trained in the arts, Peter’s career took him into Physiotherapy and it wasn’t until 15 years ago that he
took a serious interest in photography. He considers himself to be a photographer with an art background which
taught him to not look for the obvious.

He opened his presentation by describing his photographic kit, settings, plugins, and the applications that he chooses.
He gave the audience many examples of his work and described the process by which he creates something completely
different from the original photograph. He enjoys creating composite images using his imagination and experimentation,
to produce something unique. He strives to push images further and further until he is satisfied with the result. Abstract
work does not need a title, he says, it is all down to individual interpretation.

He quoted Ansel Adams; ‘You don’t take a photograph just with a camera, you make it.’ and from William Albert Allard;
‘What's really important is to simplify. The work of most photographers would be improved immensely if they could do
one thing: get rid of the extraneous. If you strive for simplicity, you are more likely to reach the viewer. He went on to
show examples of his use of selections, cloning, inversion, flipping, painterly effects, vignetting, and his use of textured
paper and digital frames.

Some of Peter’s work is high key, minimalist creations which make use of negative space which is reminiscent of and
inspired by Japanese art. He also appreciates the views of landscape painter David Mankin who, in his work, says that
one can ‘stumble upon the finished piece unexpectedly’. His advice was to photograph what you like and don’t follow
rules which stifle creativity. Some may say that having one’s own style is advantageous but this can be constraining,
one should play and experiment to create something new.

Peter said that he takes a picture with an idea of what he can do with it and although he is always looking for new
programs to download, there are innumerable combinations that one can use with well-known applications generally
available. Club Chairman, Jeremy Cooper thanked Peter for his informative and exciting presentation which was about
simplicity, use of space and presentation. Club members were able to view some of Peters prints during refreshments
which concluded another great evening at the club.

Steph.