Virtual Meeting, My Restless Lens - Tuesday 10th November 2020.

    

On Tuesday 10th November 2020, Morpeth Camera Club held a virtual meeting with guest speaker Dr Keith Snell
PhD EFIAP EPSA LRPS, who gave a presentation entitled ‘ My Restless Lens ’. Keith is a past chairman of Keswick
Photographic Society where he has been a member for ten years and is a listed judge and lecturer in the Northern
Counties Photographic Federation.

Keith opened the evening giving three reasons for the title of his talk; he was restless as a teenager with his first
SLR camera, he has had a lifelong love of travel, and finally the enthusiasm he has for his new love, Intentional
Camera Movement.

This presentation covered a broad range of his photography; Abstract, Portraits and Figurative Art, Wildlife and
Impressionist landscapes. His abstract images included symmetrical cathedral ceilings and light portals, Canary
Wharf’s tube station’s semi-circular gallery in monochrome, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art’s atrium
roof with its wonderful curves, and a mall in San Diego full of light, shadow and colour. He went on to illustrate
patterns in nature; the blue and white strata of slate, multi exposed trees with intertwined branches, the vibrant
blues of icebergs in Iceland’s Jokulsarlon Glacier Lagoon, and then in total contrast, rock formations in Death Valley,
in golds, ochre’s, pink and turquoise. All of his images exuded texture, shape and pattern. He pointed out triangular
shapes within his images, a shape which he is always looking for, or creating, a shape, he said, which adds to the
compositional stability.

He went on to show Portraits and Figurative Art, depicting the human form. With portraits, whether they are back
lit, in low or high key, Keith concentrates on placing the eyes on the thirds which, he says, catches the attention of
the viewer. His love of figurative art started in 2013 when looking through an issue in the Royal Photographic Society
Journal on Art Nude. Attending workshops to gain experience, we saw resulting images ranging from soft, high key,
almost classical figures, to dramatic rim lit models in half shadow.

He likes to underexpose his images to remove the detail but maintains the emphasis on the shape. He uses the
human form to replicate the shape of elements of the landscape, arms and legs are positioned to mirror the shape
of a tree or he positions his models over moss covered rocks and craggy outcrops to follow the flow of the landscape.
His work, he said, pays homage to Henri Matisse and Bill Brandt who both used the human form to denote shape.

Keith not only photographs British wildlife but also travels far and wide. He originally visited Antarctica to photograph
its landscapes, but once there he was soon entranced by its wildlife. We enjoyed wonderful images of penguins sliding
into vibrant blue sea and guarding their chicks from the Antarctic Skewer, shots of the graceful Snow Petrel in flight
and the amazing spectacle of Hump Back Whales breaching. Images followed of Polar Bears roaming on ice flows in
the Canadian Arctic, and an Arctic Fox in the Norwegian Arctic, all of which were interspersed with anecdotes of his
experiences when on his travels.

In the second half of his presentation, Keith took us on safari to Southern Africa and Botswana showing us beautiful
images of rim lit cheetahs at sunrise, lion cubs playing, a silhouetted elephant against an orange sunset, rhino at a
watering hole, followed by Giant River Otters, Cayman and Jaguars in the Brazilian Pantanal, and the unbelievably
colourful African Malachite Kingfisher and Lilac Breasted Roller.

The final section was on landscapes nearer to home and we saw images of low winter light reflected on limestone
pavements and a striking Bassenthwaite sunrise with reflected cloud formations. He then went on to describe and
illustrate his love of Intentional Camera Movement. It depends on the subject, he said, reeds for instance call for a
vertical movement whereas in Lakeland scenes, a more subtle horizontal movement will retain the detail. A camera
movement from left to right with a circular motion will produce an impressionist effect, and with the addition of say,
a field of bluebells, one can achieve images resembling a Monet painting. Panning along a beck or following in the
direction of a cascade can produce wonderful dreamy effects, he added. He showed many examples of this method
including impressionistic views of wonderful Hebridean beaches.

    

This was an evening of excellent photography made all the more interesting by Keith’s detailed explanations of his
techniques together with useful information throughout. Vice Chair Roseanne Robinson, thanked Keith on behalf of
the club for a wonderful evening of photography.

Steph.