3rd November 2020. Another evening with a lot to offer. Some interesting images from Andy Bennetts - the "guess where" shot proves there really are places in East Lothian we don't know about; and some hair-raising ones from Ian Smith. So that's how they cut the hedges up Morham way- with a propellor! The Cygnus shot was a real cracker, too.
Of the trick images, my favourite was Robert's idea of turning the old car light- trails idea inside out, by putting the camera inside the car. Doing this sort of stuff in a group really is fun. Just don't get pulled over.
Sally Anderson is actually one of the newer photographers in the club, in the sense that she only started using a camera in the last few years. Very few people would dive in at the deep end of press photography as she has done - and even fewer would make a success of it, as she has.
Sally said that many of her published pictures would not meet competition standards. That's true. The quality of reproduction in newspapers does not require pin sharp, high resolution perfection, though it doesn't hurt if it's there anyway. That doesn't mean press shots are not quality photos. It means they are adjudged "good" by different criteria- relevance, topicality, interest; in short, the ability to appeal to a wide audience and to illustrate a story. Magazines, of course, can have far higher print quality standards. That front cover of the door would score highly in a competition and frankly, if I got a picture in "National Geographic" I wouldn't be a fraction so modest about it. It's a great portrait and the sky didn't detract from that.
We all take pictures for a reason. If you acquire a different reason, you take different pictures. Sally has found a different reason. I might photograph potato pickers in a field, but it would never occur to me to get into the mobile tent beside them, because I have no reason to do so. Sally has. Going the extra mile makes the difference between a record shot and a newsworthy one. Sally has pushed herself way out of her comfort zone , both technically and socially, to achieve the results she has. I don't think I could.