We got on a roll in February's meeting and planned the next few months activities which are...

Feb - Dan organising a nighttime City of London photography walk with some history thrown in for good measure. 

March meeting - theme of night photography so do bring along any photos on that theme. And we will share photos from the city walk in Feb . There may even be a quiz to interject. 

April meeting - Creating personal projects that re-ignite the creative spark - Ray to present/lead. And we will be sharing phots from the Trickster wheel of ruses challenge (see below)! Also in April an offer of a woodland visit

May - photobook sharing like with the Book of Veles - Kyun has one to share. Anyone else is welcome to offer!

Following Jonny's presentation in January on Trickster he had revisited the book and pulled out 45 ruses of trickster - ideas, sentences describing how trickster acts in the stories. These were put into a wheel and everyone present got a random spin and has been a ruse to take photos in response to. Some were pretty tricky! If you want to try it out the wheel of ruses is here. Simply click and watch the wheel spin. But if you do, let us know what you come up with. You must go with the first ruse that comes up!

Then as ever group members shared photos. Here's a selection of the delights...

["Early Morning at St Paul's" by Dan Dodman showing phots to the group for the first time. The view from the Golden Gallery of St Paul's cathedral (85 metres high) to the Tate Modern on a crisp October morning.]

[Inspired by the trickster theme Jonny Baker showed a few of thresholds and doorways]

[Miner Ian Turner, at the end of his shift. Aberpergwm Mine is the only remaining operational coal mine in the UK the only source of high-grade anthracite in Western Europe. Aberpergwm Mine, Glynneath, Neath, Wales, UK. July 30, 2021. Copyright Photo: Edmond Terakopian/2021]

[A protestor dances on the roof of the fake wedding bus used to block the road. Extinction Rebellion protestors block off the southern end of London Bridge. London, UK. August 31, 2021. Copyright Photo: Edmond Terakopian/2021]

[Ray Higginbottom shared some images that are part of a presentation around personal projects and ideas to get you motivated to pick your camera up and go out and shoot something different. These were from litter discarded in some Country lanes in Bucks. We will be revisiting this in the group.]

Loved this quote from new group member Rui reacting to what he has found in the Ealing LIP meetings so far. He is on instagram at embracethemundane

It's hard to believe that as a group we are still meeting online but due to COVID we are, but having said that the online meetings in the group have been really wonderful. They seem to work well though we'd still love to meet face to face again but no doubt that will come in due course. One of the things about meeting online is that we have probably all put more effort in to prepare some input/presentation and to share photos. Time whizzes by. We started January 2022 with a good turnout of 14 members. It was lovely to welcome someone new who had been inspired to join by seeing Unlocked. 

As ever we shared photos. Here are three from sets that were shared

[Brighton pier on a bleak day by Frankie Mcallister]

[Winter Wonderland by Kyun Ngui]

[Caussois observatory in France by Dorota Boisot]

We then had a discussion on the Book of Veles and Trickster Makes This World and felt inspired to make some mischief. Rather than elaborate here I hope that will be a blog post or two in its own right...

We had planned to plot the rest of the year but didn't get that far  but no doubt plenty will emerge.

November's group meeting was exploring macro photography. Barry Webb was invited by group member Ray to present his work. He shared an astonishing set of images and as he went through explained some of the techniques he uses. It was intriguing to find that 5mm he considers large for a subject. We were introduced to slime mould and Barry is getting quite a following on instagram for his photos of slime mould. The photo above is a metatrichia floriformis line.

A few group members then shared some macro photos

[Frankie McAllister macro image]

[The Translucent Pelikan Souverän M805 Blue Dunes Special Edition. Photo: ©Edmond Terakopian/2021 Instagram: @fountainpenscribbles  ]

[Dorota Boisot macro image]

And Sean presented his third book in the Living Lockdown series - see the previous blog post .

Another Ealing LIP meeting, another wonderful evening! When we meet, whatever else we do you hope people will come and share photos and talk about them. This month did not disappoint. Here's a selection below of photos people shared. We also heard how some of the Unlocked workshops with community groups had gone so far which was very moving. 

[Reflection by Dorota Boisot]

[Arrested Bride by Edmond Terakopian]

The penultimate protestor to be taken off the open top 'wedding bus' was dressed as a bride and had her hand glued to the glass on the bus’s front door. She was arrested and put in the back of a Police van’s secure prisoner cell. Extinction Rebellion protestors block off the southern end of London Bridge. London, UK. August 31, 2021. 

[Pee Wee Ellis at the Barbican by Ray Malcolm]

[Hanwell Hootie by Robin Segulem]

[Sussex Downs by Frankie McAllister]

[Shoofly colour burn by Ray Higginbottom]

[shooting blind by Jonny Baker - June challenge]

Sorry for the lack of updates on the web site. I suddenly noticed 6 months has gone by without an update - ooops. The group has continued to meet on zoom and we've had some really good and stimulating evenings. 

January was a look back on photos from the previous year and we planned the year ahead.

February combined words and images inspired by Flip magazine

March was a presentation on workflow from Edmond and photos in response to the challenge Upside Down or One Colour

April was a presentation from Angelika on portraits and self portraits  and...

May invited people to bring back their responses to that with some really great photos shown

And June we were 'shooting blind' with a range of responses to that theme from randomising how to take photos, to not looking where to take photos or finding ways to lose clarity. All these were ways of losing control. Sean also shared volume two of his book series Living Lockdown (see separate post)

And every month we have been discussing plans for the exhibition Unlicked as part of BEAT 2021 (see separate post)

So that brings us up to date!

December's meeting was a gentle end to what has been a strange year. Normally we would have been having a Christmas meal! We discussed exhibition plans and various group members shared photos. A few are below...

Frankie McAllister shared images of diptychs, triptychs and other combinations of mutiple images.

Jonny Baker shared photos taken in Lockdown part 2 

Tessa took the plunge and shared some photos with the group for the first time - always a nerve wracking experience!

Ray, Edmond also shared photos.

The new FLip magazine is out and has features and photos from several group members which is great to see. 

The concept of negative space was the photography challenge for November’s meeting, set by Melissa Meigh. The brief that the group had to respond to was

Negative Space: the space within, between, and around objects. It defines the links between objects or defines their limits. A ghost of the silhouette.

Melissa kicked off the session by showing images mostly of light and shadow, with very little depiction of a tangible object, and how the light can become the focus with shadow surrounding.

Dorota Biosot’s images were architecturally focused. They showed how reflection can play with the subject of negative space, and how shadow, rather than object, can become the main topic.

Chris Bellinger shared photos of how important image cropping can determine what is negative space; sharing photographs of how a focused subject off-centre surrounded by background can make the subject pop!

Frankie McAllister displayed images that were shadow-heavy, directing your focus to the boldness of the remaining lit subject. Some of her photographs were reminiscent of Chiaroscuro paintings.

Jonny Baker presented a spectrum of themes on negative space; ghosts of silhouettes, the prominence of textures, tiny subjects, minimalist images, in an assortment of colour and black and white.

Post Production was the theme of October's session, interpreted by Sean McDonnell and Ray Higginbottom in two distinctive ways. 

Sean took Chris Dorley-Brown's work The Corners as a starting point to look at photo manipulation, its motivations and consequences, Taking examples from the origins of photography to the present, Sean raised questions about the use of post production in documentary photography and photojournalism.

Ray took us on a personal journey, showing the group the evolution of his work from darkroom montages to triptychs and intricate digital post production techniques. He discussed the early influences of Gilbert Garcin and Robert Tuschman and also referenced the work of Maggie Taylor. To round off a fascinating talk Ray gave a live Photoshop tutorial showing how he combined a landscape at Dungeness with other photographs and textures drawn from his archive to create a unique final image.

Frankie McAllister then shared some of her atmospheric images created during lockdown.

Further information:

Hopper Meditations and Once Upon a Time in Kazimierz by Richard Tuschman

Contemporary Trends in Photography by Eileen Rafferty Photography  

We'd set the theme at the start of the year for our July meeting as Travel. Like most things the context of that decision had now radically changed and, like a lot of things nowadays, it gave an opportunity to reconsider some fundamental assumptions.

Presentations and discussion

Frankie McAllister and Angelika Berndt led the session with two presentations on, respectively, the variations in the genre of travel photography as a consequence of the different perspective of the traveller/photographer and the ethics of representation with particular reference to photo tourism. Both accounts were full of personal insight, referring to their own practice and reflecting on the motivations for making work in environments and cultures outside the UK. 

Frankie drew upon her experiences in the former Soviet republics to explore the subtle distinction of documenting staged events for tourists and of uncovering everyday situations. She skillfully highlighted the challenges of looking for meaning in these, what kind of authenticity they represent and the influence of cultural perspective

The exchange that happens between photographer and photographed, who is in control of the situation and the outcomes for both parties, was a great introduction to Angelika's presentation. She highlighted the impact of photo tourism on the local culture and people using her own experience of a road trip across Northern Ethiopia. She discussed the dilemma often arising when photographing people in countries whose economy depends on tourism. Experienced in working with NGOs and indigenous peoples Angelika spoke of acknowledging an individual's circumstances, accepting photography has a price and engaging with people to represent their lives with integrity.

She then invited the group to reflect on these themes which developed into an interesting, informed discussion considering the practice of ethics within as well as outside the UK.

Individual work

Three members of the group Robin Segulem, Arun Misra and Ray Higginbottom then showed their own photographs. 

Robin ingeniously presented his images as a travel quiz. One for future reference!

Arun showed new work about the Gateway of India in Mumbai which echoed Jonny's recent work on monuments.

We were also pleased to see a fascinating project from Ray using the tintype process.

Sean McDonnell