On Tuesday evening we welcomed Meika 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.

Meike 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.

Meike 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.

Yesterday evening we were treated to the Wonderful World of Rory O'connor's Photography, an ever changing world on the Southeast coast of Ireland - East Cork.

Rory introduced himself with his smooth Southern Ireland accent saying that he was for the most part self-taught and he played a short three minute slide show to give a flavour of what was to come.

A very practical photographer, he talked about planning for a seascape photographic expedition with the use of a range of data from Google Maps, TPE, Light Trace and Flicker. Plus as much information as possible about tides and the weather. Then there was protective equipment! Spare batteries, filters and travelling light. On arrival at the shoot check out the area first, look at the tide and wave patterns and appreciate what will be happening one hour from now.

We began on the Copper Coast with a series of outstanding seascapes and Rory's mantra 'There's always a shot if you work at it!'

Rory's favourite lens is an f2.8, 20mm prime, he always shoots in RAW, ISO 100, single spot focus and back button focus at f16.

We went to Ballycroneen and Ballycotton for another series of fantastic seascapes.

After the break we saw some portraits, mostly shot in natural light and often unplanned. Then on to Nature, which in Rory's case in birds; puffin, gannet, bluetit, sparrow and heron.

The evening came to a close with other mantras - 'Keep going back, that's the key' and 'There's always a shot!'

At Rory's request NDPS has made a donation of fifty Euros to his preferred charity; The Cork University Hospital, in lieu of a normal fee. Thank you Rory for an inspirational evening full of excellent advice and outstanding pictures.

This presentation, a brand new format and content, from Ruth Grindrod one of the most enthusiastic and self-effacing photographers we have had the pleasure to host, was outstanding…!

Ruth explained at the opening of her piece that we were the first photographic club to be given this highly illustrated photo-talk and it was clear as the evening drew to a close that the online audience of nearly 60 members of the Society and guests had enjoyed themselves immensely. The content was more technical than usual, but this proved to be one of the most alluring parts of Ruth's presentation and many of us listening intently to the second part extended our knowledge of colour, tones and textures and found this a most enjoyable experience.

Ruth began with an outline of her kit, three cameras and sturdy tripods. Her Nikon 850 was the toughest camera of them all, a real heavyweight, which she always used in wet and windy weather but found the other two a Fuji xt3 and Fuji xt30 were excellent pieces of lighter weight kit.

Throughout her talk Ruth stressed the importance of taking photos we enjoy, not photos that are fashionable. Be your own person, don't copy others.

The whole presentation was divided into four parts; How colour tone & texture all influence and interrelate in any landscape photo; How to use colour tone & texture out in the field; How to process a RAW photo considering colour, tone & texture; Responding to CTT and considering if this is an emotional response.

We considered the questions; What is colour?; What is Texture? and What is Tone? All these backed-up with colour wheels and explanatory diagrams - all easily understood. This led to a discussion on the emotion of colour based on a quote from Ansel Adams 'A great photograph is one that fully expresses what one feels, in the deepest sense, about what is being photographed'. Understanding how colour, texture and tone all work together, are interrelated and influenced by the light we are working with.

A short piece on postproduction brought this presentation to a conclusion. An excellent evening covering a large area of photography but enthusiastically delivered with a deep understanding of the subject.

Thank you Ruth for such another outstanding talk and we look forwarrd to seeing you soon either on another visit to Norwich or out somewhere in the Norfolk landscape.