Digital display for society

GUEST lecturer, Dave Fieldhouse, an award winning landscape and urban photographer, was welcomed to Sileby Photographic

Society’s meeting held on Monday, February 17.

His presentation comprised digital images under the banner “From Fell to Footpath”.

Having achieved most of his ambitions in the world of landscape photography, particularly being awarded the “Landscape Photographer of the Year”, he decided that the time had come to pursue and take on new challenges, thus resulting in his journey from landscape photography to street photography.

He realised that to do this in an ethical way, he needed to address street photography etiquette, such as, “was it legal?”, “a right to privacy”, “what about GDPR?”, “what about young children?” etc., etc., so before putting camera into action, he needed to acquire the knowledge of what he could or could not do to avoid controversy.

Dave projected superb images captured on camera whilst visiting his favoured haunts, Birmingham and London, where plentiful opportunities, busy streets and fantastic architecture, were available for the keen photographer. With a sharp eye for the obvious and sometimes the quirky, he had become adept at capturing stunning images which came under the umbrella of urban street life, particularly random shots of incidents within public spaces, at the same time playing around with styles, colour matching, shadows and contrasts, shapes, and reflections, all to good effect.

He described his use of camera settings, lens selection, composition and use of light, filters, and time taken to plan a shoot, whilst also taking into consideration which pictures would best suit black and white or colour.

Putting his well rehearsed techniques into practice resulted in superb photography. Rainy days and wet pavements provided great reflections, and a colourful umbrella only enhanced an already good picture. Night-time shots, too, were very impressive with darkness and artificial lighting combining to good effect. He also realised that people needed to be looking the right way and wearing the right gear in his pursuit of a great image.

Stunning images of iconic buildings, old and new, architecturally and geometrically beautiful, always caught his eye, finding the focal point and converging lines before pressing the shutter button. Lighting always played an important role in photography and it was evident that a hint of yellow and blue running through his pictures definitely proved a winning combination.

Dave was duly thanked for giving a very interesting and entertaining evening, which had included some cracking images of all types, with plenty of detailed explanation of the thought processes behind each.

The next meeting will be held on Monday, March 2, when Malcom Coulton, the Society’s President, will entertain his colleagues with his interpretation of “Forgotten Leicestershire Revisited”.

Visitors and prospective new members are always welcome to attend the Society’s meetings which commence at 7.45pm for 8pm and are held at Sileby Community Centre. Further information about the Society’s activities is available from its website, www. silebyps.org.uk