Prism Photographic Club

Despite the usual “summertime means fewer members syndrome” those present had a jovial time with a wide range of topics and skills to discuss and work on. Our president Carol Paes had organised a teach-in to learn about having more control over exposures using aperture adjustments. Any group work always is beneficial in so many ways. Members learn many things about their cameras, the qualities of light and how to improve their photography…just by talking with fellow members who have a similar camera, indeed pooling knowledge is so much quicker than wading through often poorly translated instruction manuals. Hearing “Ah! So that’s what that button is for!” means the session has worked, and a member goes home with another skill learnt.
This month’s topic was “Macro” or images taken at close quarters. In general, anything that is 1:4 magnification or greater ie 1/4th life-size or larger is considered a "macro." Magnifications between 1:8 (1/8th life-size) and 1:4 are usually called a "close-up" and not a macro.
Usually, there is an abundance of creepy crawlies and the naughty bits of flowers. However, members used their imagination and amongst the entries there were evil looking Lego characters, flaming matches, raindrops and fish heads. These guys have imaginations that defy understanding!
In first place, yet again (really must find out what she has for her breakfasts these days!) was Sarah Finch with a ghoulish record of a spider devouring a large fly on an otherwise fabulous plant. In my experience, I would rather attempt to take images of a wriggling toddler than try to capture the intimate life of an insect. This incredibly difficult subject matter was beautifully done by Sarah in every way. Perfect exposure, depth of field and composition and certainly an eye catching subject.
In second place Terry Guerin’s “Light as…” was stunning in its simplicity and beautifully sharp. The composition was perfect in my eyes and I voted it as my favourite. However, Olivier Dorey who also has that special way of looking at potential images suggested that if the shot had been cropped it suddenly appeared as a landscape of gently rolling hills. Magic!
Derek Tostevin placed third with his mysterious abstract “Glass Bubbles” It is pleasing to see members discussing a macro shot or indeed any abstract work trying to work out what it is and thus solving the questions the image poses. Voters were possibly drawn to this beautifully crafted image for its uniqueness and air of mystery.
New member Charlie Ogier and Wendy Meade drew for fourth place. Charlie described how he had used a whole box of matches up trying to perfect that special moment when an ignited match looks “good”. His patience was rewarded with this excellent shot which has an abstract feel about it, in fact some thought it was a type of lily! I guess it was someone with a macro mindset! I hope Charlie has replaced the batteries in his smoke alarm in the workshop!
Even I couldn’t escape the flower power of macro and I can only say at least I went for a fern! Tiny petals aligned on branches all uniform and symmetrical gave this image a strong feeling of pattern. Offsetting the vertical branch prevented the image from being bisected and I felt the letterbox cropping helped to make this shot pleasing on the eye.