Virtual Meeting, 'Never Underestimate...' - Tuesday 26th January 2021.
On Tuesday 26th January Morpeth Camera Club held a virtual meeting to welcome speaker, Sally Sallett ARPS
AFIAP CPAGB BPE3* with her presentation entitled ‘Never Underestimate an Old Woman with a Camera.’ Sally,
a member of Wakefield Camera Club, is a very accomplished award winning photographer and is also a judge
for the Yorkshire Photographic Union.
Opening the evening Sally began by discussing her photographic beginnings; from the age of seven with a box
brownie camera to the award winner she is today. In 2010 while visiting a camera club exhibition she was then
persuaded to join their club, and while attending evening' classes on photography, she was inspired to ‘up her
game’ with various genres which led to her using more complex cameras. Photographs followed, illustrating all
the cameras she had used, cars bought over the years, together with images of her pets. Having won her first
competition in 2011, this brought out her competitive nature and she found herself photographing anything and
everything which caught her eye. She was introduced to HDR (High Dynamic Range) photography and we enjoyed
viewing images ranging from Whitby beach huts to country houses. With regard to Studio work, which is not her
favourite genre, she says that she feels compelled to add interesting backgrounds to suit her style of photography.
She is drawn to statues and art installations; of Gormley figures on Crosby beach, the Singing Ringing Tree near
Burnley, installations on roundabouts, bronze statues in St Pancras station, reflective spheres on Leeds canal basin
and installation artwork on Newcastle’s quayside. Images of vibrant graffiti, cycling events, action shots of horse
and dog racing followed. Attending a workshop on the techniques of photographing small creatures, Sally showed
colourful examples of mice, geckos, frogs, macro shots of beetles, flies, hoverflies and demoiselles.
In the past, when travelling further afield on her canal boat, she always took the opportunity to photograph items
of local interest; of famous landmarks in Liverpool, Newcastle, Leeds, Bristol and Bath. A separate night time river
boat trip on the Thames gave us sharp colourful images of Canary Wharf and Tower Bridge. In part two of her talk
Sally showed her street photography; of people with dogs, on benches eating and sleeping rough then following on
with night time views of the River Aire in flood near her home and light trails from traffic on the A1 at Ferry Bridge
with a backdrop of cooling towers. In her section entitled Surreal or just Weird she explained that she likes to make
a picture rather than take a picture, with examples of spheres of poppies, twirl images of stained glass windows and
composite pictures of posters and graffiti. For surreal, blended images she uses the Pep Ventosa technique which
results in scenes with an almost sketch-like appearance.
Sally enjoys designing still life images, arranging engineering equipment, positioning old photographs next to old
medals and jewellery and uses random finds such as acorns, shells, tree bark and keys to create montages. Sally
is well known for her strikingly artistic flower images. Flowers in tea cups, coloured medicine bottles and small milk
bottles and, together with a layer background of faded manuscripts, she produces images with a soft watercolour
effect. With the acquisition of a Lens Baby she creates images with a blurred mysterious atmosphere. She enjoys
producing panels of three, six or nine square images. She says it makes her think about shape and connection,
providing examples of the life cycle of a leaf and a collection of wild flowers.
When talking about her distinctions and awards she said that she applies for them to encourage her to work harder
at her craft. She then went on to show the audience the images she had submitted to gain each of her awards and
distinctions, together with anecdotes from her advisory days and judges comments. During the 2020 lockdown she
visited Facebook for challenges and onto YouTube for ideas which she took on board. We saw beautiful examples of
her use of watercolour, dispersion and fragmentation brushes with innovative images of droplets on seed heads, on
copper wire, and bubbles balanced on flower heads. Concluding her inspirational presentation by describing herself
as a rag-bag who will photograph anything; she advised that one should always have a means of taking a photograph
with you, including an iPhone, and above all, to be brave, have fun and always do what you want to do.
Club Chairman John Barnes then thanked Sally for an excellent and varied evening of her photography.
Steph.
AFIAP CPAGB BPE3* with her presentation entitled ‘Never Underestimate an Old Woman with a Camera.’ Sally,
a member of Wakefield Camera Club, is a very accomplished award winning photographer and is also a judge
for the Yorkshire Photographic Union.
Opening the evening Sally began by discussing her photographic beginnings; from the age of seven with a box
brownie camera to the award winner she is today. In 2010 while visiting a camera club exhibition she was then
persuaded to join their club, and while attending evening' classes on photography, she was inspired to ‘up her
game’ with various genres which led to her using more complex cameras. Photographs followed, illustrating all
the cameras she had used, cars bought over the years, together with images of her pets. Having won her first
competition in 2011, this brought out her competitive nature and she found herself photographing anything and
everything which caught her eye. She was introduced to HDR (High Dynamic Range) photography and we enjoyed
viewing images ranging from Whitby beach huts to country houses. With regard to Studio work, which is not her
favourite genre, she says that she feels compelled to add interesting backgrounds to suit her style of photography.
She is drawn to statues and art installations; of Gormley figures on Crosby beach, the Singing Ringing Tree near
Burnley, installations on roundabouts, bronze statues in St Pancras station, reflective spheres on Leeds canal basin
and installation artwork on Newcastle’s quayside. Images of vibrant graffiti, cycling events, action shots of horse
and dog racing followed. Attending a workshop on the techniques of photographing small creatures, Sally showed
colourful examples of mice, geckos, frogs, macro shots of beetles, flies, hoverflies and demoiselles.
In the past, when travelling further afield on her canal boat, she always took the opportunity to photograph items
of local interest; of famous landmarks in Liverpool, Newcastle, Leeds, Bristol and Bath. A separate night time river
boat trip on the Thames gave us sharp colourful images of Canary Wharf and Tower Bridge. In part two of her talk
Sally showed her street photography; of people with dogs, on benches eating and sleeping rough then following on
with night time views of the River Aire in flood near her home and light trails from traffic on the A1 at Ferry Bridge
with a backdrop of cooling towers. In her section entitled Surreal or just Weird she explained that she likes to make
a picture rather than take a picture, with examples of spheres of poppies, twirl images of stained glass windows and
composite pictures of posters and graffiti. For surreal, blended images she uses the Pep Ventosa technique which
results in scenes with an almost sketch-like appearance.
Sally enjoys designing still life images, arranging engineering equipment, positioning old photographs next to old
medals and jewellery and uses random finds such as acorns, shells, tree bark and keys to create montages. Sally
is well known for her strikingly artistic flower images. Flowers in tea cups, coloured medicine bottles and small milk
bottles and, together with a layer background of faded manuscripts, she produces images with a soft watercolour
effect. With the acquisition of a Lens Baby she creates images with a blurred mysterious atmosphere. She enjoys
producing panels of three, six or nine square images. She says it makes her think about shape and connection,
providing examples of the life cycle of a leaf and a collection of wild flowers.
When talking about her distinctions and awards she said that she applies for them to encourage her to work harder
at her craft. She then went on to show the audience the images she had submitted to gain each of her awards and
distinctions, together with anecdotes from her advisory days and judges comments. During the 2020 lockdown she
visited Facebook for challenges and onto YouTube for ideas which she took on board. We saw beautiful examples of
her use of watercolour, dispersion and fragmentation brushes with innovative images of droplets on seed heads, on
copper wire, and bubbles balanced on flower heads. Concluding her inspirational presentation by describing herself
as a rag-bag who will photograph anything; she advised that one should always have a means of taking a photograph
with you, including an iPhone, and above all, to be brave, have fun and always do what you want to do.
Club Chairman John Barnes then thanked Sally for an excellent and varied evening of her photography.
Steph.