May 2023 No. 17
WELCOME TO OUR SPRING NEWSLETTER Wow what a wonderful weekend many of us have just enjoyed in Newcastle. A huge thank you to Mike and Sally Kitchingman for organising such a fabulous collection of inspirational speakers and workshop leaders. It is evident that even the workshop leaders enjoyed themselves based on the note received from Bill Ward (for those of you who enjoy Coronation Street you may remember the name as the actor who payed Charlie Stubbs who was murdered by Tracy Barlow). Bill is a self confessed ‘posh jordie’ and his note read: ‘Thanks so much for inviting me to be a part of it - I absolutely loved it... so well organised there was such a positive atmosphere throughout! I thoroughly enjoyed my talk, and also the workshops - such bright, energetic and creative participants... I thoroughly enjoyed working with them, and their company too... great fun... and for me as you know, it's always lovely to be back home on my own patch... Thank you also at a personal level for making it all happen - I'm hugely grateful for your calmness, flexibility and patience in helping me iron out the last-minute timing glitches... hugely appreciated... lovely too to meet Sally and all the other workshop leaders... great diverse bunch, and I had a fab time nattering to them all... Do let me know if I can help with any weekends/talks/workshops in the future... I really enjoyed it, and would love to be part of it again if there's anything you think that would suit, so do let me know as and when... Wishing you and Sally all the best, thanks again for a brilliant weekend, and catch up soon! All best Bill Shows what a wonderful weekend was had by all. Hope to see you at the next residential. In the meantime happy snapping! Carol Paes ARPS
DISTINCTION SUCCESSES We congratulate the following Visual Art Group members on their recently gained RPS Distinctions Associate, Visual Art Samantha Ruth, Derby Malcolm Cross, Melksham Richard Drinkall, Eastbourne Alan Gristwood, Warlingham Associate exemption Mark Grey, London
Mark Deutch LRPS
JAN RAMSCAR I am a gardener and a conservationist, so when it came to photography it was natural for me to be attracted to plants as my subject. But plant photography is a crowded field, and I quickly realised that something different was needed if my images were to stand out. I turned to alternative processes and all the images shown here are examples of colour photograms, although I also use many other types of cameraless techniques such as cyanotypes and scanography. You can see many more of my images on www.janramscar.co.uk .
Photograms date back to the beginnings of photography when Fox Talbot first experimented with coated papers at his home in Lacock Abbey. Today, most Photography A level students will learn to make black and white photograms in the dark room, but very few people will have ever tried doing photograms in colour as it is necessary to have