Events Archives - Page 3 of 3 - Richard Spurdens Photography

A day out in Ribblesdale in the Yorkshire dales

I finally managed to get out to do some landscape photography last Monday when I had a day out in Ribblesdale and surrounding areas with my good friend and professional photographer Ade Mcfade. It was a bright but cloudy day with a strong wind blowing which brought frequent snow showers to locations and turned the mundane into interesting landscapes in a matter of a few minutes.

When we got into the hills and up to the snow line, the snow was around 6-8 inches deep, so it was a challenge to keep our feet on some of the slippery limestone pavements. With this sort of weather the scenery changed dramatically from the normal type of images you might expect to capture up there. We spent most of the day stopping at known locations and some unknown which suddenly became interesting and offered photographic opportunities that on a normal day would not be there as the snow turned them to a winter wonderland.

With the snow showers moving in and out all day, there were some good images to be had. When the cold (a big wind chill factor going on this day from the strong wind) finally got the better of us we moved on to a different location to find what the snow had done to the scenery there.

I started out shooting with my Canon 5DMkIII and either the 70-200mm f2.8 zoom or my wide angle 16-35mm f2.8 zoom lens. These two are my favourite combination for working in the landscape. But I had brought along my 400mm f5.6 which proved very useful for some distance shots of a moody snow covered Pen-y- Ghent. Getting a telephoto view of some landscapes can be beneficial with the telephoto effect of the lens providing a compressing perspective and giving a different view point to the normal.

Shooting with ‘live view’ worked well for most of the images until the camera decided that the batteries had had enough and ‘live view’ stopped working. The camera would take pictures but you didn’t get a display of the image you had taken. So I swapped over to my Fuji mirrorless camera which had my Zeiss 12mm F2.8 on for the day, which allowed the trip to continue. So as the light was starting to fade, we headed off to finish the day at one of the limestone pavements with the famous tree and despite the cold wind, the Fuji performed faultlessly all the time.

While I love working with the Canon DSLR which is solid and weighty (and helped weight down the tripod!) and is usually so reliable, I did have had a 5DmkII stop working in these type of conditions a few year ago, so perhaps its worth having extra batteries on hand for these type of conditions.

It was good to have the Fuji in a bag ready to take over and I enjoyed using it with the Zeiss lens. The final three images are from the Fuji.

Landscape Photograher - Landscape Photography - a day in the dales -13 — Richard Spurdens Photography – A day in the dales -13

Landscape Photograher - Landscape Photography - a day in the dales -12 — Richard Spurdens Photography – A day in the dales -12

Landscape Photograher - Landscape Photography - — Richard Spurdens Photography – A day in the dales -11

Landscape Photograher - Landscape Photography - a day in the dales -9 — Richard Spurdens Photography – A day in the dales -9

Landscape Photograher - Landscape Photography - a day in the dales -7 — Richard Spurdens Photography – A day in the dales -7

Landscape Photograher - Landscape Photography - colour image of a snow dale a white farm house is on the right hand side third and the dry stone wall patterns stand out well against the snow - a day in the dales -8 — Richard Spurdens Photography – A day in the dales -8

Landscape Photograher - Landscape Photography - a day in the dales -5 — Richard Spurdens Photography – A day in the dales -5

Landscape Photograher - Landscape Photography - a day in the dales -4 — Richard Spurdens Photography – A day in the dales -4

Landscape Photograher - Landscape Photography - a day in the dales -3 — Richard Spurdens Photography – A day in the dales -3

Landscape Photograher - Landscape Photography - a day in the dales -1 — Richard Spurdens Photography – A day in the dales -1

Landscape Photograher - Landscape Photography - a day in the dales -2 — Richard Spurdens Photography – A day in the dales -2

So a good day out in Ribblesdale and beyond……

Events

A day’s visit to Munich.

Exhibitions, Marathons and Olympic Stadiums all in a day’s visit to Munich.

As I wrote in my previous post about attending the Trierenberg super circuit gala dinner, getting there needed some planning as the flights didn’t work out well from the north of England. So after a lot of research by my wife, the best option for us involved a trip to London and then a flight from Gatwick to Munich, which gave us an opportunity to spend a day in Munich.

However, while in London we used the time to visit the Victoria and Albert Museum and the exhibition of the work of the German photographer Horst. The exhibition is entitled ‘Horst: Photographer of Style’. The German theme of the whole trip started here.

(Image from the V&A website)

This exhibition is well worth a visit as his images are excellent – many in black and white. His mastery of how light falls, composition and his ability to create atmosphere and sensual illusion using light is seen throughout the exhibition. It’s not all his fashion work either – there is a good selection of his other work which is also very strong too. Well worth the visit (the exhibition runs until 4^th January 2015).

Then on to the delights of Gatwick airport. I have to say we cleared the security checks very quickly and the Easyjet flight was good too. We had booked a hotel near the airport as it seemed the most sensible option as we were arriving at around 21:00 and if we were delayed getting into Munich, then finding the hotel might be very stressful, after a long day traveling.

The day spent in Munich turned out to be interesting both photographically and culturally. It transpired that the Munich marathon was taking place. We had not really researched what was on in the city apart from a read of an article listing the 10 best things to do in Munich, so we got the chance to watch the early stages of the marathon and it’s runners and then the later stages too.

travel photography - travel photographer - in the 5000 — In the 5000

early leaders munich marathon — Marathon

sport photography - sport photographer - image of the three runners feet in sync — Richard Spurdens Photography – sports photography series

One of the recommendations was to visit the Brandhorst Museum which is a modern art gallery. Again, no research as to what exhibition might have been on, but to my delight they were running a exhibition of Richard Avedon images. The exhibition is entitled: ‘Murals and Portraits’, covering a range of his work starting with three of his large photographic murals made from 1969 – 1971. These were complimented with his portrait work of some of the most famous people of the 50s onwards including Frances Bacon, Samuel Beckett and Buster Keaton. Another set was entitled: ‘The American West’; again a set of strong portraits of ordinary working Americans.

This was another well curated exhibition and showed a very good range of his other work (some for the first time).

travel photography - travel photographer - — Jorge

The other location that we had planned to visit was the Olympic Stadium built for the 1972 summer Olympics. Travelling on the Underground to the stadium and BMW museum was very busy and it was only when we got out of the station that we realised that the Stadium was being used for the finish of the marathon. This it turned out was a good thing as there was no admission charge to get in and look round, and it gave you a feel of the atmosphere of the place as the runners were completing their final lap of the stadium track to the finish line. The architecture was also impressive with it’s 70 design still looking modern and futuristic.

Architecture photography - Architecture photographer -stadium architecture — Stadium architure

architecture photography - architecture photography -munich olympic stadium-interior — Richard Spurdens Photography – travel photography series

So overall a good day in the city of Munich – and I think we will return again for a slightly longer visit.

Events, FIAP, News

The Trierenberg Super Circuit gala dinner and awards evening

Part of the introduction on the Trierenberg Super Circuit website states that:

“It is the aim of this competition to find out the very best photography from different styles, techniques and genres. The Trierenberg Super Circuit has established as an international benchmark of perfect photography. Not only amateur photographers, but also internationally well-known artists and professionals have been participating.”

And on Monday of this week (13/10/2014) I was among those photographers at the gala dinner and awards evening held at the Design Centre in Linz, Austria. One of my 8 accepted images had been awarded a gold medal for best colourprint image in the Feldkirch salon. (Expression on red Pointe).

Dance Photography - Dance Photographer - red pointe expression — Richard Spurdens Photography – Red pointe expression

As medal winner you get an invite to attend the Gala Dinner and awards evening, and as I have known other UK and Irish photographers, (Ron and Maggie Tear and Ciaran Whyte) to name but two, who have attended in the past and talked about the event being impressive, so when the invitation came I didn’t want to miss the opportunity to attend.

I was not disappointed as it was certainly an impressive event, well organised and with a well curated exhibition of a large number of the accepted prints. To have one of your images on display with all the other impressive work and to stand on the stage in front of all those other photographers and creative artists was a good and humbling feeling.

There were a few other UK photographers attending too – Tim Pile and Brian Hooper were two whose work I know.

They were also there to collect medals for their work so it was good to meet up with them and also spend time with photographers from around the world, the furthest being one from Australia and the other from Brazil.

Thanks to Brian Hooper for the the next two images, which are me collecting my medal; and the other guests on our table (myself and Ro, Lotta van Droom and partner, Brian Hooper, Jalal Sazeli and Jack).

Then we have Tim Pile been interviewed on stage.

bph6874 — Some of the other award winners

Travel Photography - travel Photograher - Linz photo awards — Richard Spurdens photography Tim on camera

Three photographers who I met at the event and whose work is worth looking at are :

Lotta van Droom (Ireland),

Jalal Sazeli from Singapore, and

Mohammadreza Rezinia from Iran is also an impressive creative and it was good to meet and talk with him about the challenges he faces in creating his work.

Have a look at their websites if you have the time.

To sum up the Gala evening – it is just amazing. The presentation of the images, awards, and company made it a special event, and if you ever get the invite, then GO.

Events

The Hepworth Wakefield

I paid a visit to the Hepworth gallery in Wakefield to view the exhibition by the American photographer Philip-Lorca diCorcia, last week and took along my Fuji XE-1.

It is well worth a visit both to see the images in the exhibition but also to get a feel of the space. The Hepworth allows photography in most rooms so here are a few of the images I shot on the day. I started outside with a few images of the building which is quite angular and one either likes or you hate.

These are followed by images from the various areas and rooms within the building. All the images below were shot hand held and processed in Lightroom using the latest Fuji profiles released for Lightroom.

These work well and I have tried a couple of different variant to see what the overall effects to the images are.

Well worth a visit as the exhibition space is good and the café does some good food too. The Hepworth will certainly be on my list of venues to visit in the future.

Events, News

Yorkshire Photographic Union (YPU) Annual Exhibition 2014

A little later than I wanted to blog about this but I have had a busy few weeks since the assemble and opening of this exhibition.

If you are in the Yorkshire area and a club photographer, then the Yorkshire Photographic Union’s (YPU) annual exhibition is the show case for the work from Yorkshire photographers. The Annual Exhibition is the place to be on the opening morning as you get a chance to see the work that has made it to the exhibition wall. This year it is being run by Halifax photographic society and is held in the Bankfield Museum in Halifax.
So how did I fare in this year’s Annual Exhibition? I knew I must have got a few acceptances as when I arrived a number of different people offered their congratulation, but that didn’t really prepare me for the results.
You are allowed to enter 6 prints and 6 digital images. I was certainly very successful with my print entry, as all 6 of my prints made it into the exhibition, certainly a very rare occurrence. I was also successful with 3 of my projected images being accepted into the digital presentation too. So that was another good result.
Having got six print images accepted, I was also delighted to find that three of them picked up Individual awards. Two monochrome prints were awarded trophies: Synchronised Bathing Practice –The Challenge Cup for best pictorial Print Monochrome; and Spotting a Square Landing – the Portrait Trophy for best Portrait or People study Print. In Colour prints general, my image entitled: ‘99 on the edge’ was awarded the Rotherham Trophy for the best sport, action or photojournalism Print.
The Challenge Cup winning image:

dance photographer - dance photography - in the mono synchronized bathing practice — Richard Spurdens Photography – Synchronized bathing practice

The Portrait Trophy winning image:

spotting a square landing — Spotting a square landing

The Rotherham Trophy winning image:

Sport photography - sport photographer - skiing action — Richard Spurdens Photography – 99 on the edge

I also received a number of certificates for the following images: Rainy day thoughts, In Contemplation, and Pillow Talk.

Fine Art Nude Photography - Fine Art Nude Photographer - figure shape through the rainy windows of a door — Richard Spurdens Photography – Artistic Nude series

fashion photography - fashion photographer - colour image of model seated on a wooden chair wearing an white top and pants looking off into the distance — Richard Spurdens Photography – In contemplation

fashion photographer - fashion photography - pillow talk — Richard Spurdens Photography – Pillow talk

Ilkley Camera Club also picked up two Society awards – The JE Barker trophy for colour prints and the Keighley Challenge trophy for monochrome prints, so we may well be going to represent the YPU in the PAGB Interclub Championship for 2014.
The exhibition runs until the 31st May 2014.

Events

Anna Rose

I had not planned to shoot with Anna Rose (a London based model) and it was only because I had been working the studio the day before and unfortunately or fortunately as it turned out I managed to leave one of my lens at the studio. (True Definition Studio). The owner had phoned me to say he had found my lens and as I need it for the next day I decided to drive back over to Stockport to pick it up.

On arrival I found that there was a studio day on and one of the models was Anna rose and whilst talking with the owner and picking up my lens, it turned that that there was a 1 hour slot available with Anna.

So seeing her I made the decision to do some images with her in that one hour slot. Here are a few of images I shot with her all using the natural light windows of this studio.

The levitation image was a bit of an experiment and is really just some work in progress.

portarit photographer - Portrait Photography- natural light colour image of the model anna rose — Richard Spurdens Photography – Anna Rose

Fine Art Nude Photographer - Fine Art Nude Photography - — Richard Spurdens Photography – Anna Rose

Here is a selection of images we produced in that that short time frame.

Events, FIAP, News

Exposed Salon 2013

In 2012 as part of my project to obtain my EFIAP award I entered the Exposed salon in Slovenia.

When the results came out I was delighted to find that I won the FIAP Blue badge for best author in the Salon.

The Salon is organised by Foto klub Kamnik, and has run for 5 years.

During which time it has built up a good reputation as a Digital photo salon.

It also provides entrants with a good printed catalogue too.

However what I had not realised was that they have a policy of inviting the blue badge winner from the previous years salon to be one of the judges at the folowing years salon. So in early June I received an email from Klemen Brumec, one of the salon organizers inviting me to come and be one of the judges the next salon.

Which of course I was delighted to accept.

Now I have entered over 74 FIAP Salons around the world and pick up over 35 awards, but I had never been involved on the other side i.e. judging.

I was honoured to be invited to judge, especially in a foreign country, but I was also very interested to see and experience the whole process.

So in mid-December I drove to Stansted and flew direct to Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia. On arrival I was met by Klemen who then drove us to Kamnik a small town about 20 miles outside the capital and home to the Kamnik Foto club.

The judging weekend

Now as I mentioned above Exposed is a digital salon, which means all entries are submitted digitally and to judge them they are displayed/projected.

So two days in a darkened room was ahead. On the day of judging I was joined by two other judges, both from Slovenia, Domen Dolenc, (F1 FZS), and Matej Peljhan, (KMF FZS, EFIAP) – so it was prestigious company to say the least.

Richard Spurdens Photography - Judging 2 — chard Spurdens Photography – Judges at work

In terms of entrants, whilst I don’t know the exact figures there were around 9200 images. These were from around 800 different authors from all over the world.

It was going to be a busy two days of judging with that amount of images.

Judging wise, we were asked to score each image out of 9, using the full range from 1 to 9.

After the first round it is the highest scoring images that went forward to the awards selctions.

These images were then reviewed again with the judges discussing and sometimes debating the merits of a particular image.

I think for me a good point to keep in mind when entering FIAP salons you need to make sure that the images you submit have a high impact. They need to get the judges attention immediately.

As a judge you have a few seconds at best to determine if an image will be accepted or not. More subtle images are less likely to make it through.

Travel Photography - travel Photograher - the judging — Richard Spurdens Photography – Judging 2

Thoughts

As a photographer, I have to say that I felt privileged to see the work of so many different photographers from around the world.

However it was noticeable in a number of the sections that the almost identical image appeared.

It would seem that these were all shot at the same time by multiple authours.

Either at a workshop or staged shoot with each person standing next to each other.

I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t hard work, getting through that volume of images in two days was quite tiring.

Especially when I wanted to make sure that every image I viewed had the same amount of attention.

Irrespective of whether it was shown at the start or at the end of the judging process.

Travel Photography - travel Photograher - the judges — Richard Spurdens Photography – One of the album

The Exposed salon certainly now has good memories for me. In 2012 I won my first Blue badge and now I had the pleasure to meet the organisers and judge the 2013 salon entry.

The hospitality of Kamnik Foto club was excellent and I was made to feel very welcome.

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