Dougie Adams

Dougie kindly allowed me to take pictures of him at home last week.  Whilst I took them we talked about various things including his love of parachuting, taking pictures and manipulating graphic images.  He had a small collection of vintage cameras which he demonstrated to me and showed me the oldest, his favourite and the one worth the most.

Here's the three finalists for him to choose one, me to choose one and the rejected one.

Here Dougie informs me of his life working with the Parachute Regiment and when he took part in competition and sponsored jumps.  He talked with verve and passion and seemed to miss his old life.

 

This roll film camera was one of Dougie's favourites and he showed how you had to release the two parts of the viewfinder to line up with one another to see what you were aiming the lens at.

 

Dougie is very keen to enhance his pictures and sell them to enhance his income now he has left the army.  His next passion is to gain experience with aircraft drones.

Dougie's favourite image was the first one where he is showing off his medals.  

His comments re his chosen image were:

Dougie: Nice fotos, tis the DY Medals picture for me..:>

Jen Hollands: Okay, can you tell me why please?

Dougie:  Because of the interaction with the medals.  I'm talking, explaining something or telling a story which would probably make the viewer curious.  The cheetah emerging from my right ear might be distracting though; ....D.

My favourite image was the second one of him showing his old roll film camera which was completely non-automatic even to the point that you had to fold out the viewfinder.  I think the way he holds it and looks through it to take a shot are fun.  

The third rejected image is one that doesn't quite work.  With most of the pictures with the iMac, when Dougie looked at the screen, you got a poor view of his face.  I asked him to look more to his left so I got a sideways view but this really didn't work as it looked unnatural.

 

Book: Women by Annie Leibovitz & Susan Sontag

This coffee table book by Leibovitz was featured in the manual accompanying the G&M course so I managed to get a copy from my local library to peruse.

The photos are beautiful and portray women from all over the US and with all types of backgrounds. There is also a short section written by Susan Sontag, Leibovitz's late partner, with background information about them.  The book helped me realize that there are lots of opportunities in life as one gets older. Many of the women in the book are old but they still seem very much alive. Most of them have done some astonishing things in their lives!

There are photos of actresses and other famous faces, but I prefer the pictures of "ordinary women" - the ones that we meet every day but don't pay attention to.  Whether famous or unknown each woman is photographed by Leibovitz to bring out their strengths. Image after image of staged and unstaged shots draw you through the book, revealing each woman. Ultimately it is a book which celebrates and empowers womankind.  The book is one I would like to own but its cost is prohibitive.

Pat Chambers' pictures

Pat is a woman who finds it difficult to stand still.  She's always busy rushing round seeing to other people's comfort.  I took some pictures of her at a club meeting and whilst she was making and pouring tea, my main impression of her was that of rushing about getting things organised. 

Pat is one of the main stays of the club where, as social secretary, she ensures that there is sufficient milk, tea bags and coffee for teas.  Pat also takes responsibility for organising trips out for the club members,  She researches modes of transport, interesting places to visit and decides on the cost etc, for members.

She is always ready to help anyone and walks round with drinks during the mid-evening breaks.  She liked this picture as it showed her at her best.  Whilst I had reduced the on camera flash to -1, it was strong enough to highlight her without throwing strong black shadows in the backgrond.

My favourite picture of Pat is when I tried to emulate movement.  I put the shutter on a very slow speed and stood in a corner to catch her rushing about, which she does fairly frequently. 

I don't think the picture above will be her favourite image but to me it epitomises her to a T.

The other picture I chose was when she went to help an older member carry her stick and cup of tea to her seat.  Pat is one of those people who can spot where help is needed before you realise it yourself and gently and tactfully helps out.

Pat is a lovely lady and if she ever decides to retire, the club will miss her willing ways.

Chris Sellers' portrait

I went to visit Chris with the object of taking some pictures of him in his own environment.
He is a Leica camera man through and through even though his choice of camera might not be the best for what he wanted it for.

Chris has been the chairman of the camera club for 12 months and has encouraged club members to do their best.  He's constantly coming up with ideas to boost moral when we don't do as well as we thought we would against other clubs.  He has also suggested speakers and subjects to be included in the programme to enable me, the programme secretary, a wide range of different items to keep the members interested.

When I joined this club about 5 years' ago, the membership ranged from about 60/70% social members and 30% keen photographers.  Through booking a wider range of speakers and workshops, I feel it's more like 60/70% keen photographers and 30% social members.  It's a friendly club where people talk to each other and offer / ask for advice on techniques.  We are growing the membership in the hopes of being able to offer better quality speakers in the coming years.

The picture below is my favourite.  Whilst I was at Chris' house he suddenly sat down at his piano and started playing boogie music.  Then he changed to a different style. After a few minutes he looked at the picture of his baby daughter of 5/6 months and explained about the picture of her on the piano.  Turning back to play again I noticed how alike the two expressions were and took a couple of pictures before we moved on to another part of the house.   If you look carefully, you can see that the baby Emily and Chris have the same expressions on their faces, priceless.  This is definitely my favourite image of the whole assignment. This was one that really caught my imagination.  What do you think?

I hadn't realised that the baby Emily was Chris' only daughter and he was immensely proud of her and his partner Margaret.  He's in his mid 60s and kept explaining how he never imagined that he would be so lucky to have a child.  I thought that as Emily was so important in his life I wanted to include her in this series of pictures, hence the following picture.

Once again, as I was in a home environment, it was difficult to get into the best position to take a well-balanced picture.  I'm not usually afraid to rearrange things for a better picture but with dogs, furniture, baby and piano it was virtually impossible to change things around too much.

Started on portraits

Well, I've decided on 3 of my subjects, two women and one man so far.  All are camera club members but Pat is more a social member than a picture taker.  Jane takes pictures, enjoys line dancing and is a volunteer at the local heritage centre.  Chris, a man, is the chairman of the club.  I hadn't realised he'd lived in the Lyme area for over 30 years as he only joined the camera club a couple of years' ago.  He's just learning the job of chairman, the retiring chairman having held the job for over 9 years as no one else would stand. 

So far, we have Chris, Pat and Jane.  Several of the members who have part of the club since its inception over 30 years' ago come along each week but only take an occasional picture.  I know they have lives outside the club but it would be good to link photography in somehow.

Jane is working in the Axminster Heritage Centre organising all the photographic items including posters, post cards and portraits of local dignitaries.  Chris is a straight out and out Leica man having several cameras including one that only takes black and white pictures.  Pat is a social member who organises the tea at break times and is the social secretary for any outings we may plan.

Now, who could be my 4th member to feature.

insight into the character and nature of four individual sitters

Produce a series of 12 portraits that give insight into the character and nature of four individual sitters chosen from a particular group. Choose an organisation or group that has a broad membership in terms of age and appearance, e.g. a pilates or Zumba group, a ramblers’ association, a local political party, charity or pressure group. 

My thought was to approach members of the local Heritage Coast U3A (University of the 3rd Age) but I don't really know many of the main group and again, they tend to be 50+ years old.  Most of the groups of people I know in Lyme are those who are of retirement age or above.  I don't tend to mix with the younger social scene.  There is a dearth of people between the ages of 25-45 as there is little work for this age group and they tend to have to move away to find full time work.

I think an alternative is to approach members of my local photographic society as it has quite a wider age group, that of 40+ so perhaps I can find more of a choice there.  They all have the same hobby of taking pictures but many also enjoy other pursuits around the town.  On reflection I think my chosen subjects will be Chris Sellers club chairman, Pat Chambers social secretary and Dougie Young and Sylvia Adams who are both members who joined the society within the past 12 months but who seem to live interesting and varied lives.

Pat Chambers

Pat has already featured in assignment 2 when she posed as a Red Hat club member in image number 7 sitting at a bus stop using a laptop.  She is a very busy, enthusiastic person and never does anything slowly.  I took some practice pictures of her when she was organising drinks and snacks at the main U3A meeting today.  It was hard to catch her still so firstly I used a fast shutter speed then a slow one to show her speedy movements whilst she was organising everything.

Pat has various interests where she volunteers her time and efforts as well as belonging to the photographic society.  Her main interests are the Red Hats (a female social group) the U3A and linked through them she is also keen on pottery. 

Christopher Sellers (Chris)

Chris took over the chairmanship of the Photographic Society at the last AGM and has brought new life to the club with his enthusiasm.  He lives a little way out of Lyme and looks the gentleman farmer in his corduroy trousers and green wellington boots. He also has a new baby (approximately 3-4 months old) and absolutely dotes on her. She might well provide some images that show his softer side.

Jane Pennington

Jane is in her early 70s and has been a photographer for many years using both film and digital cameras.  She achieved her Licentiateship of the Royal Photographic Society approximately 6/7 years ago and mostly enjoys taking landscapes and still life being very meticulous in her planning.  She has been a member of the local camera club for about 5 years and took over the responsibility for PR 2-3 years ago, sending in reports on the club’s activities to the local press to encourage new members to join.

Over the past two years Jane has spent increasing amounts of time at her local museum which was, after receiving a large lottery grant, moving to a more conducive building, the old museum not having any disabled access or facilities.  She has helped in packing up the many photographic items including photographs, postcards and related items.  Now she has the job along with two or three other volunteers of unpacking it all and putting it all on display or archiving it in the large storage facilities the museum has inherited.

Once everything has been unpacked it will be Jane’s responsibility to photograph and register all the items so there is a comprehensive list of every item.  Jane has done this type of work before when she and some other volunteers did the same thing at the Lyme Regis museum. 

Dougie Young

Dougie has only been a member of the society for approximately 9 months but is keen to join in with competitions and workshops and even organised his own creative art workshop using the Cobb harbour recently. 

Dougie was in the air force for many years and is now a maintenance engineer at a local old people's home.  There could be some good pictures there as he would have to interact with the residents on a daily basis. 

I've approached Pat Chambers and Chris Sellers already and they are keen to help me in my project.  I just need to contact Dougie and Janeto get their permission to go complete this assignment.

Assignment 3 Statement of Intent

Statement of intent

Most of the people I know in Lyme are those who are of retirement age or above, as I don't tend to mix with younger age groups.  There is a dearth of people between the ages of 25-45 here as there is very little work for them and they tend to move to bigger towns and cities find work before returning home in their 40s and 50s. The town is made up of many volunteers who give their time to run events and societies in the town. 

My first idea was to take pictures of my local U3A (University of the 3rd Age) pottery group but that would be difficult to cover the criteria of "Choose an organisation or group that has a broad membership in terms of age and appearance" as the group mainly tends to be ladies over retirement age.” 

My next thought was to approach members of the main Heritage Coast U3A itself but I don't really know many of them and again, they tend to be over 50.

I think an alternative is to approach members of my local photographic society as it has a wider age group, that of 40+ so perhaps I can find more of a choice there.  They all have the same hobby of taking pictures but many also enjoy other, wider pursuits around the town.