Member Profile: Matheson Beaumont

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Year joined DPS 1948
Signification positions held in DPS
  • President on three occasions, the last for our 100th Anniversary year.
  • Chairman of the Organising Committee of the 50th PSNZ Convention in Queenstown
  • Current Patron
Honours ONZM, FRPS, FPSA, Hon FPSNZ, Hon FNPSNZ
Current camera Canon D5
Favourite camera you have ever used/had Although I love my D5,  I had a love affair with Olympus for a number of years owning OM1, OM2, OM3 and OM4’s
Which do you prefer: Film or Digital? Digital
And why? I enjoy the ability one has to manipulate the image, to make it into the picture you envisaged at the time of taking.
Which do you prefer: Print or Projected? Print
And why? I am a print maker, and prefer this medium to the projected image. I had a long involvement with Slides from the early 1950’s and even pioneered Multi Screen Audio Visuals in NZ , in the early 1970’s. My AV’s being shown around NZ, in Australia as well as in London.
How did you get into photography? I was given my first camera about 1942 whilst at High School. Living next to my parents in St Clair were the Erwin’s; energetic members of DPS. Occasionally Mrs Erwin would bring members of DPS in to our garden to photograph the Gold Fish in our Lily Pond, which fascinated me. And as I grew up I was impressed by the pictures of scantily clad girls on the covers of the Photographic Magazines in the Book Shop at the St Clair Beach, so these two influences were significant.
What is your most memorable moment from your time at DPS so far? Presenting my Multi Screen,  6 Projector AV. ‘Something Special’ To the 21st.  PSNZ Convention in Queenstown. – To a standing ovation.
What keeps you inspired with your photography? The Challenge of image making and the involvement with the special people who share the same interest.
Do you have a particular theme that would summarise your photographs? I love the Landscape and the challenge that it presents. I have pursued many branches of photography, from Marine to Portraiture and Genre, but it continues to be the Landscape which presents for me the greatest challenge.
Where is the best place that you have been to take photos? I have photographed in many places from Mexico to Tibet, in The UK the USA and Europe, but the place that really brings me on is the Mackenzie Country and the ‘Lindis’ Pass. When I am there and the light is “right” I think that I ‘vibrate’.
What piece of equipment could you not do without in your camera bag? My Canon 28mm to 135mm zoom.
Do you have any advice for your fellow photographers? Learn to Look.  And having looked – See!
Any other comments? Some thoughts on photographing the Landscape.
The very nature of the photographic process is perhaps the reason for the landscape being so seldom done well. Photographs are made in a 125th of a second, usually less, and are often made by casual photographers who are out “Taking Pictures”. If the painter could rip off a canvas in so short a time, the world would be without many of its great works. The photographer who understands the landscape takes time to contemplate and actually feel what is going on in front of the lens. The skill is in ‘making’, rather than the predatory ‘taking‘  which leads to success.The great landscape relies on fine union of trained eye and imaginative mind. To make it you must be not only intellectually involved, but sensitive to what is going on in the subject, if you are you, you will have a better chance of communicating your feelings to your viewers. The photograph should open up our minds to the mystery of the scene and allow our imagination to to escape”.