Ashford Photographic Society News

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Lee Miller & Picasso by Anthony Penrose

Report by Marjorie Burge

A fascinating talk on Friday 10th January given by Antony Penrose under the title ‘Lee Miller & Picasso’. This was the story of his mother – Lee Miller – Vogue cover girl, model, friend of Man Ray and Picasso, and of his father – Roland Penrose – English surrealist painter, photographer, poet and biographer of Pablo Picasso. Lee Miller moved from being in front of the camera as a model to establishing herself as a fashion and portrait photographer and then becoming a photo-journalist in war torn Europe – from images of beauty to the horrors of war. I must admit that some of the images from the liberation of Paris were just a little too horrific for me, and I closed my eyes, but Lee Miller kept her’s open and recorded events as they were Working in Paris put her amongst the Surrealist movement, and she mixed with many of the great photographers and artists of the day. Pablo Picasso became a firm family friend, even visiting her later in life when she marrie…

2nd Print results

Report by Marjorie Burge.

Good to be back among so many friends at APS on Friday 3rd January after the Christmas break when our 2nd round Print Competition was under the experienced eye of Ray Bridges LRPS CPAGB ADPS BPE3* of Maidstone and Tenterden Camera Clubs. Ray is a regular visitor to APS, we know what to expect from his judging and we were not disappointed. Ray felt he had to be quite strict with his comments as all entries were of a very high standard. He needed something that filled him with excitement, wanted action in the wildlife images, felt that in some cases processing had been overdone, looked for sympathetic lighting, looked for a mood, for a story. He praised the quality of printing, noticed even small details within an image, and was always aware of the difficulty involved in photographing particular images. He was enthusiastic about all the images but it was clear that he enjoyed some more than others, being particularly drawn towards the portraits and the sense o…

Natural history competition

Report by Marjorie Burge

Wonderful Natural History Trophy Competition on Friday 6th December with June Sharpe ARPS of Deal & District Camera Club judging. Amazing images entered by our photographers – we really do have some of the best natural history photographers in Kent at APS. It is always difficult when images come from such a varied mix but June was an ideal judge. There was no hint of preference or favouritism between images taken in the extreme wild devouring their kill and those taken in the English countryside eating elderberries, nor between plantlife and wildlife. June’s knowledge of the subject goes well beyond judging, and many of the images triggered memories of her own wildlife encounters and she shared a lot of deep background information collected along the way. Having prints and pdi’s enables more images to be chosen but even so June had great difficulty in deciding which ones had to be left behind and which taken forward. She was however quite clear in her choi…

Talk by Ken Scott and 3rd PDI results

Report by Marjorie Burge

Finding your ground by Ken Scott ARPS

On Friday 22nd November our speaker for the evening was Ken Scott ARPS, with ‘Finding your Ground’, a talk put together from a mixture of videos and pdi’s. Ken is a professional photographer involved in leading workshops and holidays in Spain and France. His involvement with photography spans over 35 years, starting, as we all did in those days, with slides and moving on to digital. His approach to photography is ‘responsiveness’, no preconceived ideas but observing and taking opportunities presented along the way – in his words ‘not looking but seeing’. The first half of the evening was taken up with his ‘Personal Odyssey in La Alpujarra’ on the south slopes of the Sierra Nevada and the adjacent valley – very much ‘his ground’ – and he talked us through his difficult journey in the mountains, while showing some beautiful images of snow on the mountains, deserted buildings, and amazing lenticular cloud formations. Most o…

Members' talks and 2nd PDI

Report by Marjorie Burge

On Friday 8th November we were treated to presentations by Peter Skynner, Mick Gilburt and Kyle Tallett, our own photographers. It isn’t easy standing up front and talking, even to a roomful of friends, and they are all to be congratulated on their presentations. Peter took us through some of the coastal and canal walks he has undertaken over the past twenty years – ridge-walking looked quite scary – and the many beautiful photos he has of these memories – the Poldark film location, Ullswater, Madeira, Ireland – and a wonderful wildlife section. Mick let us into some of his secrets with cropping and cloning – sharing with us his wonderful nature photography and knowledge of habitats – cricket images, sculptures and stained glass windows - and his winning collage in the Spirit of Wye Competition. Kyle had prepared a beautiful documentary of then and now – London in the early 80’s and all the derelict wharfs, compared with London now and the ‘progress’ of impro…

We won the Ross Cup!

The Ross Cup is the Kent County Photographic Association's annual print competition. Each club in the county may enter eight prints - with no more than two from any one photographer. Each print is assessed by the judge and awarded a score out of 20.

Of the thirty-five clubs that entered, Ashford Photographic Society scored 139 points, two ahead of second placed Sevenoaks. This year's judge was Caroline Colegate APAGB, ARPS.

Our individual scores were:

Dorset Coast by Anthony Wright - 19
Henry by Zuzana Valla - 17
Polar Sunset Over a Frozen Forest by Phil Drury - 16
Sailing in the Sunset by Sue Chapman - 19
Sculptural Nude by Anthony Baines - 17
The Rising of Emily Rose by Nicholas Hill - 16
The Tate Modern Question Mark by Anthony Baines - 17
You Don't Always Have to Make Eye Contact by Kyle Tallett - 18

Further congratulations go to Anthony Wright who received a Merit award for Dorset Coast, pictured below jointly holding the cup with Club President, Katrina Devenport.

Th…