Rod Wheelans & Anne Greiner, Holiday Snaps & Other Stuff - Tues 3rd March 2020.
On Tuesday 3rd March 2020, Morpeth Camera Club was pleased to host a special Open Evening with guest speakers
Rod Wheelans MPAGB.FRPS.MFIAP and Anne Greiner MPAGB entitled ‘ Holiday Snaps & Other Stuff ’. However on the
evening Anne could not be with us due to illness, but left us in husband Rod’s capable hands. Rod spent 20 years as
a professional wedding photographer where he was twice awarded the MPA Scottish Portrait Photographer of the Year.
He joined Dumfries Camera Club in 1983 and has twice served as their President. Anne is also a member of Dumfries
Camera Club, and her work has contributed significantly to the club’s wide-ranging success in National and Inter-Club
competitions.
They both love to travel whenever they can. Their destinations are mainly chosen with photography in mind, for the
delight in meeting new people, seeing how they live and sharing that experience through the photographs. Both Anne
and Rod are members of the London Salon of Photography, together with some of the best photographers in the country.
They have never lost their amateur roots, competing and exhibiting widely. Between them they have many thousands
of acceptances and several hundred Awards in National and International exhibitions.
Rod opened the evening by saying that he was sponsored by a well known photographic paper manufacturer and asked
the audience to view various examples of his work to see how paper can directly influence the outcome of a print. Their
love of travel led them to organising photographic trips to Turkey and Georgia and we saw wonderful photographs taken
in high villages with their defensive towers, portraits of local characters who, he said, are cheerful and dignified, people
who use the latest technology but whose lifestyle is still in the 13th century. Their interaction with the locals, who live
their lives in the open and are very keen to be photographed, enabled them to take wonderful portraits of people at
home and at places of work. Their weathered wooden dwellings also make for an ideal backdrop for portraits, he said.
Sometimes they are recognised from previous visits and are welcomed into homes, where they take the opportunity to
photograph the owners within their environment.
Without the use of tripods they succeed in taking interior shots in great detail, of card players, a lady with a rabbit, or
with a piglet or duck, Rod adding that a ‘prop’ seems to be considered compulsory in order to have one’s photograph
taken. We saw lovely images of Georgian children in soft muted pastels and detailed portraits of older folk in traditional
attire. Living in the high villages for part of the year, on a specific date they haul their possessions back to the coast.
This process was illustrated with colourful painted trucks laden with everything, including cows & sheep. In a Kurdish
town we saw images of cock fighters with their prize cocks, house interiors and portraits taken in Turkish tea rooms.
There is no covert, long lens photography in their work, as they always interact with their subjects. These included
shepherds, backgammon players, a Berber with an incredibly long moustache, housewives baking, and craft workers.
After a short break when the audience could view their prints displayed, we saw another side of their photography;
the ‘Other Stuff’; scenes at Appleby Horse Fair, grumpy old men and Irish characters with wrecked cars and chickens.
Rod then illustrated this section of his talk with images of Georgian children at Kindergarten, free piano lessons in Gori,
and also of his own family. Having Swedish and Italian grandchildren gives them an opportunity to take family images,
with them running through fields of long grass contrasting with moody monochrome portraits.
Nude model photography followed with svelte figures in dark old rooms, creating shadows and form, among rock
formations on the coast, and in gymnastic poses. His presentation concluded with shots of animals, posing goats
and pet cats and dogs. He said that there was an art to photographing people and animals; you get a sense when
they have had enough, likewise with audiences, his humourous closing shot was that of a cat yawning.
With the title ‘Holiday Snaps and other Stuff’, their photographs were clearly more than snaps. The quality of their
prints was superb, together with seamless, humourous anecdotes, it made for a very interesting and informative
presentation. Club Chairman, John Barnes then thanked Rod for a truly entertaining evening.
Steph.
Rod Wheelans MPAGB.FRPS.MFIAP and Anne Greiner MPAGB entitled ‘ Holiday Snaps & Other Stuff ’. However on the
evening Anne could not be with us due to illness, but left us in husband Rod’s capable hands. Rod spent 20 years as
a professional wedding photographer where he was twice awarded the MPA Scottish Portrait Photographer of the Year.
He joined Dumfries Camera Club in 1983 and has twice served as their President. Anne is also a member of Dumfries
Camera Club, and her work has contributed significantly to the club’s wide-ranging success in National and Inter-Club
competitions.
They both love to travel whenever they can. Their destinations are mainly chosen with photography in mind, for the
delight in meeting new people, seeing how they live and sharing that experience through the photographs. Both Anne
and Rod are members of the London Salon of Photography, together with some of the best photographers in the country.
They have never lost their amateur roots, competing and exhibiting widely. Between them they have many thousands
of acceptances and several hundred Awards in National and International exhibitions.
Rod opened the evening by saying that he was sponsored by a well known photographic paper manufacturer and asked
the audience to view various examples of his work to see how paper can directly influence the outcome of a print. Their
love of travel led them to organising photographic trips to Turkey and Georgia and we saw wonderful photographs taken
in high villages with their defensive towers, portraits of local characters who, he said, are cheerful and dignified, people
who use the latest technology but whose lifestyle is still in the 13th century. Their interaction with the locals, who live
their lives in the open and are very keen to be photographed, enabled them to take wonderful portraits of people at
home and at places of work. Their weathered wooden dwellings also make for an ideal backdrop for portraits, he said.
Sometimes they are recognised from previous visits and are welcomed into homes, where they take the opportunity to
photograph the owners within their environment.
Without the use of tripods they succeed in taking interior shots in great detail, of card players, a lady with a rabbit, or
with a piglet or duck, Rod adding that a ‘prop’ seems to be considered compulsory in order to have one’s photograph
taken. We saw lovely images of Georgian children in soft muted pastels and detailed portraits of older folk in traditional
attire. Living in the high villages for part of the year, on a specific date they haul their possessions back to the coast.
This process was illustrated with colourful painted trucks laden with everything, including cows & sheep. In a Kurdish
town we saw images of cock fighters with their prize cocks, house interiors and portraits taken in Turkish tea rooms.
There is no covert, long lens photography in their work, as they always interact with their subjects. These included
shepherds, backgammon players, a Berber with an incredibly long moustache, housewives baking, and craft workers.
After a short break when the audience could view their prints displayed, we saw another side of their photography;
the ‘Other Stuff’; scenes at Appleby Horse Fair, grumpy old men and Irish characters with wrecked cars and chickens.
Rod then illustrated this section of his talk with images of Georgian children at Kindergarten, free piano lessons in Gori,
and also of his own family. Having Swedish and Italian grandchildren gives them an opportunity to take family images,
with them running through fields of long grass contrasting with moody monochrome portraits.
Nude model photography followed with svelte figures in dark old rooms, creating shadows and form, among rock
formations on the coast, and in gymnastic poses. His presentation concluded with shots of animals, posing goats
and pet cats and dogs. He said that there was an art to photographing people and animals; you get a sense when
they have had enough, likewise with audiences, his humourous closing shot was that of a cat yawning.
With the title ‘Holiday Snaps and other Stuff’, their photographs were clearly more than snaps. The quality of their
prints was superb, together with seamless, humourous anecdotes, it made for a very interesting and informative
presentation. Club Chairman, John Barnes then thanked Rod for a truly entertaining evening.
Steph.