Lectures
Tom Peck
Tom gives regular lectures for clubs and societies, and is available for camera club bookings. Below are some of his most popular talks:
The Photographic Sublime - how the traditions of the Sublime in art influence the photography of the past, the present and the future… Tom traces the roots of the English and German traditions of the Sublime: think awesome/fearful vs transcendent/mystical nature, and shows how these have influenced the early photographers of the landscape through to the modern day. With examples stretching from painters like Turner and Caspar David Friedrich and photos from a wide selection including Carleton E Watkins to M Kenna to S Salgado to A Adams to H Sugimoto, plus the author’s own pictures. The presentation is a fascinating insight into a cultural trend which is sure to provoke some debate, especially when we look into the future at how photography and the Sublime might continue to interact in the 21st century…
What is a portrait?
This presentation will look at the history of photographic portraiture from the Victorian beginnings through to our selfie culture of the 21st Century. It traces how portraits have evolved from pictorialism through to post modernism, and will delve into social documentary, fashion, celebrity and even portrait ‘notoriety’. It unravels the question of what is a portrait, and who creates it? The photographer? The sitter? The viewer? A 2 hour tour of portraits from the last 170 years - you’ll never look at a portrait in the same way again.
Imaging reality – a history of documentary and street photography
Images show what has happened, don’t they? They depict reality, they are ‘proof’. Documentary photography gives insight into events and street photography allows us to glimpse other people’s behaviour. This talk will take us through the history of documentary/street photography using well known photographs liberally mixed with the author’s own photography. We will ask the question: is what we see in the photographs actually reality? Can we trust these ‘documentary’ photographs?
How to make the best of Architectural Photography
Images of buildings, particularly black & white, long exposure, ‘fine art’ photographs of modern architecture, have become very popular recently. This talk will take us through image making techniques and processing tips to create spectacular photographs of buildings, with examples from London, Paris, Venice & York, whether using a high end DSLR or just a mobile phone.
The best camera is the one you have with you..., your phone!
A photographic presentation of two halves. First we will look at the types of photography that the mobile phone is ideal for – from portraiture including selfies of course, to landscape, architecture, cityscapes, how to use the phone to ‘sketch’ before getting out the ‘proper camera’. All of these will be illustrated via a mix of the presenter’s own photographs plus some of the leading mobile phone photographers in the world. The second half will have a practical focus linking the presenter’s phone to the screen to show how to get the best out of taking phone photos and then how best to process them. Members are encouraged to take images with their phones before the evening so we can process them together on the night.
A presentation with a difference: Leica: Probably the most influential camera in the world, ever - Tom traces the history of Leica from 1900 to the present day to show how this brand revolutionised the way we take photographs. Even today, in the era of high megapixel digital photography, we all still use the basic camera body shapes and shoot the image formats that have their roots in Leica’s ground breaking developments in the early 20th Century. This presentation is much more than a simple history lesson however. The talk is interspersed with a quiz on famous (Leica) photographs and their authors, and the presenter shares his own personal history with Leica via a series of portfolios taken with a combination of a modern day M9 Leica and a 1936 screw mount Leica II. The presenter brings along a selection of Leica memorabilia so the audience can get a chance to experience what a Leica feels like. A 90 minute fun, informative and personal run through of the most influential camera brand in the world.
Tom also writes a regular article for onlandscape.co.uk.
Colin Westgate
Colin is part of the Fotospeed Photographers lecture team and is available for talks at Camera Clubs and other organisations anywhere in the country. He is widely experienced and has been a regular speaker for some 45 years. No fee is payable, just travel expenses at the Photographic Alliance of Great Britain (PAGB) mileage rate, currently 45p per mile, plus, where needed, the cost of overnight accommodation.
To book a talk, please contact Colin direct by email: questphoto1938@gmail.com or by phone: 01206 384315, Mobile 07887 887101. To hear a talk, please either contact Colin or the relevant Camera Club direct (details and calendar below) - visitors are always welcome. There are currently four talks available, each lasting approx. 90 minutes, excluding refreshment breaks:
Images of Iceland
Iceland is, geologically, a very young island, formed less than 20 million years ago through volcanic action caused by the earth's tectonic plates moving apart. This still takes place today, and coupled with its location in the centre of the north Atlantic Ocean, has resulted in an amazing landscape full of spectacular features. These include lava fields, ice caps and glaciers, snow and ice, hot springs and geysers, waterfalls, black beaches, active volcanoes, the 'Northern Lights' and more. The talk visits many of these features, including the eruption of Eyjafjallajokull in 2010.
Wild Britain
We are very fortunate to live in the UK, as the landscapes in this country are extremely varied and include some of the finest in the world. Also, being a relatively small island, no great distances are involved to reach them. Colin has photographed in most parts of this island and his talk will cover landscapes from the south coast of England to the far north of Scotland including the islands of Skye and the Hebrides. He likes to photograph very early in the morning, particularly in autumn and winter, when the light is often at its best and he is not put off by vagaries of the British weather - some of his best images have been taken in extreme conditions and he will often say "bad weather makes powerful pictures"!
My Special Places
Colin has been fortunate enough to have travelled widely and this talk will cover some of his favourite areas, including Albania, India, Iceland, Ireland, Vietnam/Cambodia and parts of the USA, such as Yellowstone, Yosemite and Death Valley. The talk is not confined to landscape and will show people from other cultures and how they live.
The Expressive Landscape
This talk is with prints, and a digital version is available on request. Colin asks "why are so many of our landscape pictures so disappointing and fail to stir the emotions?” Often it is because they lack atmosphere and light, plus the appropriate post-processing techniques needed to correct and enhance the original digital capture. The talk will include images from Colin's early days in the darkroom and the amazing journey from there to digital production, where the techniques available in software such as Photoshop make it possible to produce 'expressive' fine art images of the highest quality.