Last Friday club member Conor Davidson presented a body of work and spoke about his photographic journey.
Conor has two passions dogs and photography which overlap with his dog portrait images.
While Conor explores many aspects of the photographic craft it is in street photography where he finds most inspiration.
To capture the action and life as lived on a city street is the aim. Conor will often remain at a location for considerable time just in the hope that something will happen or someone that draws his attention will appear. This is often the characters that frequent the streets many of which are known to Conor. When he began to do this type of image making Conor used a standard DSLR camera which sometimes resulted in disapproval from some, so now he uses a Fuji camera, with a flip up screen which enables photography from the hip. Much more discrete and most are not aware of his pretence.
People shopping photographed against the background of colourful hoardings or graffiti.
People sitting around in coffee shops, sometimes the lonely who inhabit the city streets just to pass the time. Many have no difficulty in agreeing to be photographed, thus enabling Conor to get close to reveal character in portrait shots of older men, with their life written on weathered faces. Youthful skate boarders and street musicians also feature in Conor's work.
Events, parades and demonstrations are a magnet for Conor, and provide shots with colourful emblems or banners.
Conor remarked that when he looks back at old images that records a moment of time 50 /100 years ago and sees the difference in style, dress and how life was lived and now wonders what people in the future will think on seeing his images .
Conor has also embarked on, and is completing a course of study in SERC Bangor.
Here it is in the film medium that Conor is engaged with, and has a film dark room established in his garage. Experimental photography is yet another aspect of interest for Conor which includes reflectography which is image capture without a lens by shining light through glass elements to reveal abstract patterns directly on a camera sensor. Conor has a wish to document all the lighthouses in Donegal where he often stays.
Club members will well remember Conor's talk, and look forward to seeing this talented photographer's work in the future, and thank Conor for his time and dedication.
Next week Paul Stanley will talk about IPF (Irish Photographic Federation) distinctions.