Virtual Meeting, Faces and Places - Tuesday 27th October 2020.
At a virtual meeting on Tuesday 27th October, Morpeth Camera Club welcomed Gary Langley, the first in a series of
guest speakers, who gave a live presentation entitled ‘Faces and Places’. Gary is a passionate photographer who has
been a member of several camera clubs in the Nottingham area, including a stint as the Vice-Chairman of the
prestigious Rolls Royce Photographic Society of Derby. He loves most kinds of photography including photographing
people, landscapes, seascapes and the natural world and plans his trips away around photo opportunities rather than
relaxing on a beach.
He began the evening by explaining ‘blown out proportions’ in his portraits; using a 12-24mm lens, he gets in very
tight to the subject, resulting in accentuated features, especially the eyes. Together with his wife, they travel to many
Tattoo events, Rebellion (Punk) and Goth festivals. He sets up in an area with a good backgrounds, natural light and
then asks characters who are passing by if they would like to be photographed. We saw a selection of his amazing
portraits of characters with spiky hair, tattoos, chains and piercings, all with the eyes accentuated to the point of
being ethereal. Gary also photographs old brick walls and graffiti to use as a backdrop for his characters, with the
use of Photoshop, a sympathetic background colour palette can be used to match the eyes of the subject.
From Faces to Places, Gary explained that he likes to arrive at a location very early to take advantage of the light
and we enjoyed images of Southwold and Brighton’s Old Piers in the pink predawn light, the boathouse at Ullswater
through the mist, Scottish lochs and Hebridean panoramas and further afield, Perth’s city skyline and Singapore’s
Marina Bay.
His discovery of infrared photography was illustrated by images of Swaledales twisted skeletal birch trees, dry stone
walls, shimmering foliage, old barn detail, moorland grasses and the snow-clad Cuillin Mountains. Action shots taken
at the National Tennis Centre contrasted with detailed interior shots of Nottingham Cathedral, Gary describing to the
audience how he achieves detail in dark and light situations to produce a better tonal range.
Wildlife and Nature have become a passion for Gary and in the second half of this presentation, we saw examples of
his exquisite images of native birds. Setting up a moss-covered twig, a food source and a hide, he manages to capture
highly detailed images; in this environment, he likes to make his backgrounds as none distractive as possible. But on
his travels to Wildlife and Wetland Trust areas, he likes to photograph birds in their natural environment. We enjoyed
seeing a wide variety of water birds, gulls, carrion crows, and heron in flight, nightingales, green woodpeckers and
raptors. On his travels further afield to Lesbos, we saw great images of Corn Bunting, Redshank, Avocet, Black
Winged Stilt, Crested Lark and Cirl Bunting, also White-tailed Eagles on Mull and Australian Osprey.
Gary has a love of butterflies and his ambition is to be able to photograph all of the British varieties, many of which
were displayed, together with African Twig insect, dragonflies and long-horned beetles. During lockdown and living
in a flat with no garden, Gary has taken to photographing flowers with the use of a light pad to produce a white
background; he produces striking images resembling botanical prints and scientific drawings. In conclusion, he said
that he has started a project where he fades his images to as light as possible and by printing on a variety of papers
he can produce images resembling watercolours, in muted pastels with a dreamlike quality. We saw some excellent
examples of this with lone walkers on Hebridean beaches and Luskentyre horses grazing on the dunes. This treatment
perfectly captures the wonderful light for which the Hebrides is so well known.
A short Q & A session followed where Gary explained his method of enhancing eyes in portraits and his use of duplicate
images to improve tonal value. Club Chairman, John Barnes thanked Gary for an excellent evening of photography.
Steph.
guest speakers, who gave a live presentation entitled ‘Faces and Places’. Gary is a passionate photographer who has
been a member of several camera clubs in the Nottingham area, including a stint as the Vice-Chairman of the
prestigious Rolls Royce Photographic Society of Derby. He loves most kinds of photography including photographing
people, landscapes, seascapes and the natural world and plans his trips away around photo opportunities rather than
relaxing on a beach.
He began the evening by explaining ‘blown out proportions’ in his portraits; using a 12-24mm lens, he gets in very
tight to the subject, resulting in accentuated features, especially the eyes. Together with his wife, they travel to many
Tattoo events, Rebellion (Punk) and Goth festivals. He sets up in an area with a good backgrounds, natural light and
then asks characters who are passing by if they would like to be photographed. We saw a selection of his amazing
portraits of characters with spiky hair, tattoos, chains and piercings, all with the eyes accentuated to the point of
being ethereal. Gary also photographs old brick walls and graffiti to use as a backdrop for his characters, with the
use of Photoshop, a sympathetic background colour palette can be used to match the eyes of the subject.
From Faces to Places, Gary explained that he likes to arrive at a location very early to take advantage of the light
and we enjoyed images of Southwold and Brighton’s Old Piers in the pink predawn light, the boathouse at Ullswater
through the mist, Scottish lochs and Hebridean panoramas and further afield, Perth’s city skyline and Singapore’s
Marina Bay.
His discovery of infrared photography was illustrated by images of Swaledales twisted skeletal birch trees, dry stone
walls, shimmering foliage, old barn detail, moorland grasses and the snow-clad Cuillin Mountains. Action shots taken
at the National Tennis Centre contrasted with detailed interior shots of Nottingham Cathedral, Gary describing to the
audience how he achieves detail in dark and light situations to produce a better tonal range.
Wildlife and Nature have become a passion for Gary and in the second half of this presentation, we saw examples of
his exquisite images of native birds. Setting up a moss-covered twig, a food source and a hide, he manages to capture
highly detailed images; in this environment, he likes to make his backgrounds as none distractive as possible. But on
his travels to Wildlife and Wetland Trust areas, he likes to photograph birds in their natural environment. We enjoyed
seeing a wide variety of water birds, gulls, carrion crows, and heron in flight, nightingales, green woodpeckers and
raptors. On his travels further afield to Lesbos, we saw great images of Corn Bunting, Redshank, Avocet, Black
Winged Stilt, Crested Lark and Cirl Bunting, also White-tailed Eagles on Mull and Australian Osprey.
Gary has a love of butterflies and his ambition is to be able to photograph all of the British varieties, many of which
were displayed, together with African Twig insect, dragonflies and long-horned beetles. During lockdown and living
in a flat with no garden, Gary has taken to photographing flowers with the use of a light pad to produce a white
background; he produces striking images resembling botanical prints and scientific drawings. In conclusion, he said
that he has started a project where he fades his images to as light as possible and by printing on a variety of papers
he can produce images resembling watercolours, in muted pastels with a dreamlike quality. We saw some excellent
examples of this with lone walkers on Hebridean beaches and Luskentyre horses grazing on the dunes. This treatment
perfectly captures the wonderful light for which the Hebrides is so well known.
A short Q & A session followed where Gary explained his method of enhancing eyes in portraits and his use of duplicate
images to improve tonal value. Club Chairman, John Barnes thanked Gary for an excellent evening of photography.
Steph.