Anglers Rest informal evening 16 April 2019


It was the first Pizza night of the year but we did manage to discuss some photography topics too.  A select crowd made up of Alison, Bob, Susan and Ian S. managed to fill the evening out talking about portrait photography and while we originally intended to do some actual photography we instead looked at a selection of Ian’s images to offer both critique and learn the different qualities we might expect from portraits.  It was agreed that we would like to put on a session for taking portraits and we will endeavour to set up an evening or weekend date to that end.

It was interesting to explore the use of lighting, whether natural light or additional light sources.  We all agreed that natural light has a really lovely quality compared with electronic sources but that additional second and even third light sources can help balance a picture where the single light often gives the Rembrandt look.  We even started projecting images onto a reflector which gave some very interesting results; perhaps a theme for a future evening?

The next informal evening is Monday 17th June.  So make sure its in your diary and we will look forward to seeing you there.

Synopsis of April 11th meeting

The evening was led by Ian Stanyon reading out the usual notices, not least of which was a reminder to members to get their competition photographs ready for hand in at the next meeting on May 9th. Here’s a diary of upcoming events:

Prizes were handed out to members who won the peoples vote for their images at the Angler’s Rest exhibition.  Congratulations to Nick Chalkley and to Ian Ord. 

Ian introduced Jill Stewardson from Stewardson’s Bespoke Picture Framing, a picture framing company based locally in Thornhill.  Jill expertly took us through the benefits of adding a frame to our images both protecting the original and also enhancing it with the correct choice of frame.  She introduced us to the different types of glass used which led to a lively debate about glass versus acrylic.  Discussion also evolved around the different backing materials available which gives us food for thought about how we as a society may wish to hang future competition prints and exhibitions.  Finally, Jill demonstrated how to correctly add a card mount to our images and the correct materials to use.  Of course, Stewardson’s are always available just along the Hope Valley to offer the service for a very reasonable price along with the expert knowledge that they bring as part of their service.


The second half of the evening was handed over to members who volunteered their own images for the purposes of discussion.  We were treated to photography by Keith Brown, Joan Clough, Paul Hatt, Wayne Hallam and Sue Hughes.  There were images from the original Stevenson Rocket, Sunsets, Cricket, from the top of Swiss mountains and also from the north east of England.  Lively debate and offers of techniques and solutions were well received.  Thanks should be given to the above for volunteering at short notice to give their presentations and also to Jason Dietsch, Bob Stone and Beryl Brown for also volunteering.  We ran out of time to see everybody’s contributions but look forward to inviting the members who missed out to present at a meeting later in the year.