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Camera craft editor for a few years, after Jean Nelson gave it up. Was also a “judge/selector” for competitions including Festival at times.
Honours
FPSNZ
Current camera
Nikon D800e
Which do you prefer: Film or Digital?
Digital
And why?
With digital you get another chance if people shut their eyes and also scanning negatives was a boring task.
Which do you prefer: Print or Projected?
Projected
And why?
I’m fairly active on Flickr and don’t need prints on there and I could never get my mounts right.
How did you get into photography?
My grandfather was a member of a Liverpool photography society and had some salon success about 1910. My Grandma on the other side worked as a photographer’s assistant in Dunedin about the same time and both my parents were photographers. I started with family portraits on a plastic Diana camera about age 10. As a teenager I went with Dad to the Waimate Photography Club and learned lighting for portraits and darkroom work from the town’s Professional photographer, a Mr Jim Hore. At first when I came to Dunedin I was busy with University study and getting to know a young lady who later agreed to be my wife, but when I started work I found time every second Monday to go along to the Otago Museum for DPS meetings. One of my first prints of a rose was said to look like a “cabbage” and I have tried to progress from that.
What is your most memorable moment from your time at DPS so far?
There are many memories but sometime in the 80’s (near the time of Halley’s Comet) DPS hosted the national PSNZ meeting and I was lucky to show an AV program on the University set to music from Chariots of Fire. In those days every fade was manual with two projectors and one had to get the timing right while hoping no slide would jam! Fortunately all went well. My wife and 6 week old daughter were there to see the show and Rebecca is possibly still the youngest to attend a PSNZ convention. She had her photo taken with a senior member age about 86.
What keeps you inspired with your photography?
I see a lot of pictures every day in selecting for groups on Flickr which helps with ideas. Also just driving around Otago especially when the weather is “bad”
Do you have a particular theme that would summarise your photographs?
Just looking for beauty in landscapes or people
Where is the best place that you have been to take photos?
Probably in Prague when the mists were rising off the Vlatava River just after sunrise. It was a cold autumn morning but I was so entranced by the light and recession behind statues on the Charles Bridge that I didn’t realise how cold I was until it was time to go.
What piece of equipment could you not do without in your camera bag?
I need two, both a camera and a lens 🙂
Do you have any advice for your fellow photographers?
Just that you need to find the light and that won’t happen if you are sleeping in 🙂
Do you have any favourite photography related websites or web resources that you’d like to share with other members?
Another member exhibition is coming up this week. Paul Sorrell is having an exhibition of “Winged Wonders” at Orokonui Ecosanctuary as part of the Wild Dunedin Festival of Nature. This is bound to be a beautiful exhibition of stunning bird life and will be well worth the short trip out to the Orokonui Visitors Centre. Don’t forget your camera, as you are bound to be inspired to try and capture your own images of the winged wonders out there.
One of our newer members, Carlos Biggemann, currently has an exhibition on at the Dunedin Art Station. This is a wonderful, colourful display of images from the famous Carnaval de Oruro, in Bolivia.
Our next field trip will be held on Sunday 10th April. We will be heading to Oamaru and Clarks Mill. There is a $10 entry charge for Clarks Mill.
We will meet at 8.30am at the Railway Station carpark and sort out carpooling from there. We will head to Oamaru first for a wander around the old part of town and then after lunch visit Clarks Mill.
Please indicate to the Field Trip Coordinator (via email: fieldtrips.DPSNZ@gmail.com) if you intend to come along.
The Dunedin Photographic Society runs three kinds of competition throughout the year.
Print & Projected Image of the Month (Monthly Competitions)– These are an opportunity to submit work for critique. The critique is intended to be constructive and give you suggestions on how to improve and grow as a photographer. It’s amazing how often someone may point out something such as a distracting patch of light that you hadn’t noticed…. now it’s obvious and all you can see!
The varying themes encourage members to try something different and are open to interpretation, ‘open’ means you can submit anything you like. Any degree of processing will be considered. The only subjects which tend to be stricter are Natural History and Photojournalism. These should accurately represent the subject/event.
This is a good place to start showing your work. All images will be commented on. Points are awarded to everyone who submits an image and extra points are awarded for the top three images on the night. Points standings can be found here: Standings.
Successful images from this competition should be considered for the seasonal exhibitions.
Seasonal Exhibitions (Seasonal Exhibitions)– The club runs four seasonal exhibitions Spring and Autumn Print, and Winter and Summer Projected Image. You can enter up to 6 images in each of the the Open and Natural History sections (note: the seasons are just to indicate the time of the year the exhibition is held – it is not a restriction on the type of image you can enter). The images entered are submitted to accredited judges or ‘experts’ for appraisal. The purpose of these is to produce an exhibition of quality work, and therefore not all images will be accepted. The judges are directed to accept a percentage of the images submitted and will provide comment on only those that have been accepted.
While it can be disappointing not to have images accepted, it is important to realise that judging can be subjective; an image accepted by one judge may have been rejected by another.
Successful images from the seasonal exhibitions should be considered for the Festival.
Dunedin Festival of Photography (Festival)– The Festival is run once a year by the Society and is open to any NZ resident or society member to enter. This competition attracts a large number of entrants including those with photographic honours and professional photographers, and as such the standard is high. Acceptance into the festival should be seen as an impressive achievement and a stepping stone to the PSNZ Regional or National exhibitions. These images are not critiqued but are displayed in a local gallery for a week where they can be viewed by the public.
For new members, entering your images for the first time is always the hardest. You do need to have a bit of a thick skin, but positive feedback feels good and shows you a way forward. So don’t be shy, start entering now.
Inspired by Paul Sorrell’s talk and his wonderful pictures at our last meeting, we are going to have a field trip to the Orokonui Ecosanctuary. http://orokonui.nz/
When:Sun 13th March, 10.30am
Meeting Point: Carpark at Orokonui – please let us know if you need transport
Cost: $16 for entry (10% discount for seniors, and if we have a big enough group I think they give 10% discount)
There should be plenty to see and at 11am will be the Takahe feeding. We will spend a couple of hours wandering around and then can meet back at the visitors centre for a coffee/bite to eat.
Tui on flax – Paul Sorrell
At last! This years programme is (pretty much) finished and is available now.
The last few meetings and workshops that are still TBC (to be confirmed) will be updated as soon as possible.
We have also loaded all the meeting dates and info into our DPS Google calendar. Feel free to add this to your own Google calendar – click the link in bottom right of the calendar.
We have had a few queries as to when the 2016 programme will be ready, and I am happy to say we will have something out to members in the next few days 🙂 Thanks for your patience.
At last! This years programme is (pretty much) finished and is available now.
We have had a few queries as to when the 2016 programme will be ready, and I am happy to say we will have something out to members in the next few days 🙂 Thanks for your patience.
Dunedin Photographic Society 