Alnwick, Camera Club

Birds, ducks and swans were seen by Gazette photographer Jane Coltman on a pond between Seahouses and Bamburgh in the evening, just as the mist was rising.

Alnwick and District Camera Club.

Leo and Carol are renowned for the quality of their presentations, and this was no exception.

In his opening remarks, Leo explained how setting themselves projects gives a structure to their work and inspires them to explore subjects in new ways.

He also explained the importance of making high quality prints in order to realise the maximum potential of their work.

Both Leo and Carol normally produce their work in panels of prints, but for the purposes of this talk, they displayed them individually so that they could comment on each of them in detail.

They each showed examples of their own work, alternating throughout the evening so that the audience was able to enjoy a wide variety of pictures of the highest quality.

Visits to Yellowstone National Park had provided them both with the opportunity to capture some superb landscapes.

These were often taken in challenging weather conditions, but made the most of dramatic lighting and steam generated in this highly volcanic region.

Wildlife projects resulted in beautiful images of animals, including bison and black bears, as well as some fine portraits of the abundant bird life of the area.

Staying in America, projects about Route 66 and ghost towns resulted in memorable images of classic cars, abandoned buildings and colourful local characters.

Other subjects that they have chosen for projects include food, bric-a-brac, characters from Northern Pride and the Edinburgh Festival, architecture and visual art.

Perhaps their most challenging project was entitled Hand of Man. Carol interpreted this with architectural images from America based around the tragedy of 9/11 and the subsequent recovery, while Leo’s pictures were of man-made representations of icons of mythology, religion and fashion.

One thing that all of these pictures shared was superb print quality.

Many had been digitally enhanced, using a technique developed and perfected by Leo to simulate the old and complex darkroom process of bromoil printing.

The resulting images, both by Leo and Carol, were quite outstanding, and this technique will surely have an important future for digital photographers.

Enlivened by friendly banter between the pair, this was a most enjoyable and instructive evening by masters of their art.