Awesome Abstract and Aerial Photography - Mieke Boynton

On Tuesday evening we welcomed Mieka back again and she gave us her inspirational presentation on the fun and curiosity of abstract image making. A recurring theme of her presentation was the idea of 'fun' in photography, a theme with which she opened and with which she closed.

Mieke told us of her background in art and gave us a list of her most influential artists; Kadinsky, Mondrian, Escher, Op Art, Papurya Tula (Aboriginal dot painting). She mentioned her background in extreme sports and how she had represented Australis on bob sleigh. This is surely a very talented photographer.

After this short introduction she showed us a breath-taking selection of her photographs taken from a helicopter. Make sure you remove the door to prevent reflections in the helicopter’s windows!

Many photos from Western Australia (Broome) of water, lakes and mud shot from directly above, and a lot of pictures from Iceland.

We then moved on to abstracts at home which included abstract smoke, incense, and using a snoot to light it and, above all, take care not to blow the smoke in the wrong direction. Mixing oil and water and milk and food dyes. After using the milk and food dye drink the milk!

There were wonderful selections of intentional camera movement done in the field and done using photoshop with some screen shots of the programme showing exactly how to achieve the best results.

Mieke rounded off her presentation with her mantra 'Just Have Fun!' Another great evening of photography, tips and a gallery of cracking images - thanks again Meike.