Virtual Meeting, 'I Shoot People' - Tuesday 15th December 2020.

   

On Tuesday 15th December, Morpeth Camera Club held a virtual meeting to welcome guest speaker Dave Mason
with a presentation entitled ‘I Shoot People’. An avid Street Photographer, Dave spent many years living in South
London before moving to the Canterbury area. He opened the evening by saying that he takes great pleasure in
finding the extraordinary in the ordinary, documenting surreal happenings on the city streets. Street photography,
should be honest, he said, adding that his images are as seen, captured in camera with little or no post-processing.

He ‘borrows’ art by finding interesting backdrops; bus stop advertising, shop window displays, wall art and murals
and then he waits for strangers to appear, but there has to be a link, he said. The colour or detail of the backdrop
should have a relevant link to the subject with some form of narrative to tell a story, preferably a humourous one,
and a situation which makes him laugh.

Dave is often asked, What is the best camera to use for street photography, and his reply is anything that you have
with you, including smart phones. By using a small camera on silent mode, the closer you get the less obvious you
become, adding that it is interesting to find a different viewpoint such as from the top deck of a bus, no one notices
they are being photographed and one can capture the moment un-posed.

He loves to visit art galleries where he matches features in paintings with the viewer; a lady with plaits looking at
a painting of ladies with plaited hair, a girl in a straw hat viewing a rustic scene, a man in a multi-coloured shirt
looking at a Hockney creation. He chooses paintings with colours which mirror the colours of the viewers’ attire
and follows people hoping that they will stop at a painting with matching colour harmonies. Candid shots taken at
the seaside, photographs of dogs, looking at people through café windows, humorous road signs, and ambiguous
news headlines were all among Dave’s brilliant images.

He heads for events, the weirder and wackier the better; Zombie events, Pride parades, heavy horse and dog shows,
a Boxing Day pram race, even a visit to the British Goat Society Show and also to his favourite event, an Elvis Presley
Festival in Porthcawl, where he becomes a people watcher.

He reads up about events before he visits, so that he can discuss the event with people who may stop and ask what
he is doing. We also saw stark monochrome images taken at the seaside in winter and witnessed the dereliction of
old mining, asbestos and steel plants. These contrasted with colourful street scenes taken in major cities in the UK,
Egypt, Morocco and Istanbul.

He talked about extraneous objects in his photographs, such as litter, or a half seen figure in shot, explaining that
the world is not a perfect rectangle, the scene is what it is. He paid homage to Paris, which he considers to be the
home of street photography. Inspired by some of his favourite French street photographers, we enjoyed random
shots of workmen, dogs, scenes at railway stations and galleries, saying that his pictures are as much about the
environment as the people.

Dave concluded by saying that his images are meant to be entertaining, the more peculiar the better and he keeps
a calendar of events happening all over the UK to ensure that he doesn’t miss them. Club Chairman thanked Dave
for showing us his excellent images along with a highly entertaining narrative, which was followed by a virtual
round of applause.

Steph.