Page 9 - Cape-Camera-Jan-Feb-2022
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Cape Camera January/February 2022
E & D Report Back
19th January – Ancient & Modern Architecture - David Clapp
David’s talk was very well attended with some 30 viewers. His Start off by thinking and looking for symmetry, also 45 degree
presentation was energetic and animated with detailed expla- angles, make sure to police the edges of the frame all the time,
nation about how he goes about photographing architecture look for repeating patterns like chairs or floor patterns; don’t
and in particular inside churches and cathedrals but also in and be afraid to shoot up vertically or go super-wide, particularly in
around large cities such as New York, Hong Kong, Singapore. congested areas that are full in dynamics in whatever from or
He admitted up front that he has a fixation with achieving per- angles. Don’t forget the fisheye lens it will create amazing im-
fect composition and symmetry to pull the viewers into his im- ages, particularly in tight places where one can get most inter-
ages. He also advised using long lenses (i.e. 100 mm) to capture esting results. Think reflections and light; go out during dawn
details that have an abstract feeling about it. His motto is “any- or dusk (twilight time) to achieve mood that creates emotions.
thing goes”. At the end of his lecture, he explained the work- At night, however, stay away from bright orange lights as these
ings of tilt-shift lenses, but stressed that they are not essential are unattractive and can spoil an otherwise perfect image. Ex-
to get superb architectural photographs because much can be periment with a range of lenses – from long to medium to wide
achieved today using Photoshop and Lightroom. angle to tilt-shift and have lots of fun in every possible way!
His most important advice to photographing architecture was:
16th February 2022 - Discover Magical Macro Photography – Eva Polak
Eva is well known for her enthusiasm and passion about her discovered impressionist photography which was fascinating
artistic approach to macro photography and this particular and fun to her and “the magic returned”. She experimented for
presentation demonstrated just that, particularly in the lively hours and realised quickly that creating art it is not about pro-
discussion that followed her presentation which was attended ducing a product, instead it is all about the process. The aspects
by some 20 members from CTPS and also other clubs. She ad- she enjoyed the most are the happy accidents and unexpected
mitted that after she had studied and achieved proficiency in discoveries. She began to see everything in a whole new way,
her photography - always aiming for perfection while taking studied every image in detail to learn from it and find ways to
traditional shots, it started to get boring for her because it had improve on it.
become ‘work’. Her Eureka moment came when by chance she
Cape Town Photographic Society 8

