The Contemporary Photography Group met on Thursday 8th January and once again we explored the numerous prints and PDIs contributed.

The subjects ranged from the suggested theme of ‘Well Placed – Misplaced’, which included many amusing examples, to concepts and projects our colleagues presented as ‘work in progress’ or individual observational studies. As usual we had plenty of time to talk about the subtleties of the images, how they’re structured and how they interact with an audience. We always have plenty of fun and this meeting was no exception.

Here are two examples from the meeting:

A poster reflection from Tessa who tells us, “This poster behind glass, outside the Van Gogh museum, gave me an opportunity to place his 'Yellow House' amongst present-day Amsterdam by using the naturally occurring reflection”.

John Hoath offered an intriguing piece of quick-reaction street photography when the ‘Big Issue’ seller moved to cover his face with the publication. John, quickly seizing the moment, opportunistically took the shot.

We also had time to view two sets of contemporary photography from a wider base:

‘Tokyo Compression’ by Michael Wolf: “Every day thousands and thousands of people enter this subsurface hell for two or more hours, constrained between glass, steel and other people who roll to their place of work and back home beneath the city. In Michael Wolf’s pictures we look into countless human faces, all trying to sustain this evident madness in their own way”.
Link: https://www.lensculture.com/articles/michael-wolf-tokyo-compression#slide-1

‘Books and Photographs Found After the Flood’ by Stan Strembicki movingly illustrates the fragmentation of lives following Hurricane Katrina through a series of photos showing the remains of family photo albums and associated memorabilia.
Link: https://www.lensculture.com/articles/stan-strembicki-post-katrina-books-and-photographs-found-after-the-flood#slide-1

The next meeting of the Contemporary Group is on Thursday, 5th February.