street photography — PUBLIC BLOG — NDPS | Norwich & District Photographic Society

Last evening's presentation was by the internationally known photographer David Morris. David, who lives in Cromer, began by talking about how his career in photography began. He called the opening part of his presentation 'Made in Hull'. He told of how he studied graphic design at Hull College of Art in the early seventies and how this course taught him something but at the time of his graduation he found that he knew more about photography than graphic design! This because of a good photography tutor.

We saw some pictures taken at the time of his studies in and around Hull, the streets, the bomb damage, demonstrations and pub interiors often featuring Hull fishermen.

Special PresentationMaurice YoungMarch 6, 2024david morris, bar life, hull, street photography, circus

New York Street Photography by Phil Penman

Tuesday 17 January 2023

This was a shared evening with Old Coulsdon with over 70 people present.

Phil led us through his life as a photographer and he began his presentation by talking about his birth in England, in Dorset and his education at Berkshire College of Art and Design before he moved on to his first photographic job with the Wokingham Times.

He wanted to work and live in New York and on a stakeout in England he got an introduction to a celebrity news agency Splash News was offered a job and moved to Los Angeles. As a celebrity photographer he was lucky enough to shoot people like Bill Gates, Jennifer Lopez and Christopher Reeve while he was also covering news stories. His news pictures were published in English papers like the Guardian, Independent, Daily Telegraph and in Paris Match.

Then suddenly on September 11 he was asked to go immediately to the Trade Centre. The aeroplane terrorist attack. His first thought was to find a vantage point, not close to the towers because he was to take photos of the height of the towers. Phil's description of his photography of this outrage was quietly dramatic. The rumble as the towers came down, being grabbed by a policeman and told to sprint, the black sky and utter weirdness of the scene. Should he take pictures of distressed people without asking? Yes, that's why he was there. He ran for shelter into a music shop while outside was a parallel universe with paper 'raining' from the sky with people walking towards him out of a cloud of dust.

In 2015 he donated all his work from the event to the 9/11 museum.

Phil went on to give us a view of his work that followed, more celebrity photography plus full length street pictures making sure that you are not looking down onto the subject. Then a show of his work during the Covid pandemic showing what life was really like on the streets of NY and telling some of the stories of the people who are homeless.

In fact, he said, that Covid lockdown period was his busiest ever!

He summed up by running through his life from Dorset through celebrity photography, selling prints and publishing his first book, doing what he wanted to do!

An entertaining and instructive evening. Lots of excellent information from the question time.

Special PresentationMaurice YoungJanuary 24, 2023shared event, zoom, street photography, mononchrome, new york

Photo-talk by NDPS member Des King

The People of Rajasthan
Tuesday 1st february

This evening the booked speaker had to call off and his presentation has been rearranged for March.

NDPS member Des King offered his services as a reserve speaker and gave us an excellent presentation on his trip to Rajasthan three years ago. He began with a map of India showing the geographical areas covered, starting from Delhi.

The first part was based on 'people' and accompanied by a brief commentary from Des and backed by Indian music which proved to be very evocative. India is a colourful country and Des certainly caught the mood with street sellers, the festival of Diwali and tiny hot air balloons. He went to a theatre to watch a special performance by actors who only moved their eyes!

The Opium Festival looked interesting and, for sure, Des bought a pipe!

The sacred cows of the country which, of course, cannot be shooed away or pushed off, were ever present in his photos, in the street, in the markets and even on the railway lines! Des had also been to a Hari Krishna temple and listened to the Hare Krishna mantra being chanted by the congregation.

After 'people', Des concentrated on buildings - temples and palaces, the Jaipur Observatory and the Taj Mahal from afar. What a breath taking, whirlwind, tour of a colourful and fascinating country.

Thanks Des for standing in and giving us a great evenings entertainment.

Photo-talkMaurice YoungFebruary 4, 2022street photography, travel photography, india

Benvenuti a Venezia

This evening a well-attended presentation by our own Dave and Joan Jordan kept us all focused on the jewel of the Adriatic sea, Venice, capital of the Veneto region Italy. Built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges, one of the most romantic, most visited and most endangered cities in the world.

They have been fortunate enough to have visited Venice on three occasions and this evening we were taken on a photographic journey through their visits to this beautiful city and its immediate area.

The presentation began with an explanation of the geographical position of Venice and some of the things that prompted their interest in the city. An excellent piece of advice was to take the water taxi, hop on and hop off, to save your feet. Venice can be tiring if you only walk as a means of getting about.

Photo-talkMaurice YoungJanuary 12, 2022venice, travel, railways, long exposure, monochrome, street photography, architecture

Inspirational Special Presentation by Douwe Dijkstra (‘Dex') from Sydney Australia.

My Street Photography

This week NDPS members were very happy to receive a breath-taking presentation from Dex, a professional graphic designer and an 'amateur' photographer living and working in Sydney, Australia. Dex took us through his life and his all-consuming 'hobby'.

The standout features from this presentation were firstly that Dex only used an iphone camera and secondly only produced black and white images - probably a difficult set of parameters for the average photographer but for Dex, not a problem.

Dex's initial photographic inspiration was drawn, when a child, from his grandfather's camera and photos, and these inspirations have lasted the whole of his life. He talked of his journey through film, DSLRs and finally only using iphones. He said that his work as a graphic designer was separate from his photography but stood him in good stead from a compositional point of view.

He catalogued his photo collection using headings such as Beautiful Light, Creative Captures, Layered Composition, Graphic Shapes, Reflections and Decisive Moments. For each of these headings Dex displayed a whole series of his photographs. These pictures included those he selected for publication in his own book, #mysydney and those photographs selected by Photography Magazine for his award Photographer of The Year.

Dex left us with the exhortations to be inspired, be creative, follow our instincts, think outside the box, break the rules and most important of all Do Have Fun..!

A tremendous evening of first rate photography and, judging by the questions asked at the end of the presentation and by those comments left in the comments box, an outstanding evening enjoyed by well over forty members of the Society.

Special PresentationMaurice YoungNovember 24, 2021street photography, sydney, reflections, iphone, instagram, facebook

Making the Ordinary Extraordinary...!

With so many members still away on holiday Chapel Field Road was nevertheless full of exiting members and eight new members who we were delighted to welcome as new members of the Society for the first special presentation of the new season presented by Damien Demolder.

Damien Demolder began his talk at Norwich & District Photographic Society by asking everyone present to define ‘street photography’. What followed was entirely predictable as one by one members gave textbook answers to the question. After a few minutes Damien recalled a workshop where he asked the same question and after having received similar answers, he finally e got to a youngster at the end of the group who was participating in the workshop – Street photography is all about making the ordinary extraordinary the youngster replied...!

Just two weeks to the start of the New Season at NDPS...

With just two weeks to go before the new season opens at Norwich and District Photographic Society all the final preparations are well advanced and we are working hard to ensure everything goes to plan.

Our programme has contained many superb presentations in the past 12 months during which time our membership has continued to grow, and our regular meetings and Special Interest Group meetings have all been well supported. Hopefully this season will be even better with many great highlights throughout the season and a number of important new initiatives being introduced.

Here is a summary of the main activities during the first month:

Message from Keith Garnham - Chairman

The Norwich & District Photographic Society has made huge progress over the past year.

Our membership continues to grow and last season’s programme was excellent and second to none with many superb presentations. This year looks as if it will be even better with many great highlights throughout the season and a number of important new initiatives.

Damien Demolder opens the New Season at NDPS

Norwich & District Photographic Society are pleased to announce that Damien Demolder opens the new season on Tuesday 3rd September 2019.

Non-members of the Society are able to attend Special Presentations upon purchase of a ticket which prior to the event are only available from Eventbrite.co.uk

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