Stuck in a genre
Our guest speaker on 21st November was Dave Fieldhouse with his talk “Stuck in a Genre”. This was the first outing for this particular talk which Dave had put together at the request of our program secretary when making the booking. The talk was a mixture of Landscapes, Street and Urbanscapes, with Dave holding a packed audience’s attention throughout.
Dave started by showing some of his fabulous Landscape images including his recent Wild Woods Category Winner “Welcome to Narnia” in the British Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition 2019. He explained that until recently all he had concentrated on was his Landscapes, hence the title of the talk, with most of this being through the colder months when the light was better all day for this genre, but he wanted something that he could concentrate on more during the longer summer days.
This led nicely into his new passion of Street photography. Dave discussed some of the major influences in his quest to venture into street and it was clear to see how these influences had helped him produce some fascinating images. He was asked if there was one tip he could provide to anyone wishing to take up Street for the first time and he said just be natural, be yourself and if anyone questions you taking a picture of them explain what you are doing and if they really don’t want to be in the image delete it.
As street is set in the city, this naturally led Dave into taking Urbanscapes and we were treated so some amazing city shots, some taken through hotel windows although you wouldn’t know if he hadn’t said.
This was a very captivating evening and as well as showing us some stunning images, Dave covered off the legalities and ethics of the types of photography he dabbles in and some of his own personal views, whilst reminding us that he isn’t a lawyer and not to say “Dave Said!” if questioned
Thank-you Dave for providing us with such an entertaining and thought-provoking evening that was greatly enjoyed by all.