Written by Our second meeting of the new season saw a slight change to the published programme, but that certainly didn’t stop it being a busy, sociable and very practical evening.
As usual, Chair Mark Ellis opened proceedings with a few words about what we have coming up over the next few weeks, before asking members what they had been up to photographically since our first meeting.
One particularly interesting contribution came from Jamie, who mentioned a scheme being offered by Fujifilm which allows photographers to borrow a camera for a weekend, at Fuji’s expense. It sounds like a particularly good way of getting some proper hands-on experience with a camera before deciding whether it is right for you. After all, there is only so much you can learn from picking one up for a few minutes in a shop.
With the introductions and general chatter completed, the room was divided into two groups for a pair of practical demonstrations, both looking at the important subject of presenting prints.
Cutting Your Own Mounts
Simon took the first group through the process of cutting your own card mounts.
While pre-cut mounts are undoubtedly convenient, Simon prefers to cut his own as it provides far more flexibility. Rather than having to make an image fit a predetermined aperture size, the mount can instead be made to suit the photograph.
He demonstrated how to measure and mark the card before using a bevel mat cutter to produce the finished aperture. As with many things, the process is considerably less daunting once you have actually seen it done.
Naturally, simply watching Simon do it would have been far too easy, so he then began randomly selecting willing — and perhaps not entirely willing — victims from the audience to have a go themselves!
We are also very grateful to Simon, who has donated the mat cutter used during the demonstration to the Society. It will now be available for members to borrow, giving anyone who fancies trying their hand at cutting their own mounts the opportunity to practise without having to buy the equipment first.
Getting the Print Into the Mount
Meanwhile, on the other side of the room, Mark was taking a slightly different approach.
Mark prefers the convenience of buying pre-cut mounts and concentrated his demonstration on how to correctly attach a photograph to the mount once you have one.
He explained the various considerations involved in positioning and securing a print so that it sits correctly behind the aperture and can be removed again if necessary.
Mark also highlighted something that can easily be overlooked: labelling your competition prints properly.
As well as making sure that the required information is on the back, it is particularly important to indicate which way up the image should be viewed. What might seem completely obvious to the photographer isn’t necessarily obvious to the person handling the print on competition night — and nobody wants to discover that their carefully composed masterpiece has spent the evening being judged upside down!
Following a very welcome tea and biscuit break, the two groups swapped over so that everyone had the opportunity to see both demonstrations.
Another Great Evening
It turned out to be a really enjoyable evening, with plenty of conversation around the room and some excellent questions being asked throughout both sessions.
Practical evenings such as this are exactly what a photographic society should be about: sharing knowledge, passing on experience and giving people the opportunity to try something they may not have done before.
It was also brilliant to see so many new faces joining us for only the second meeting of our 50th anniversary season. We hope everyone who came along for the first or second time found the evening friendly, useful and informative — and, most importantly, that you enjoyed yourselves.
There is plenty more to come over the months ahead, and whether you are an experienced photographer or someone who is only just beginning to explore photography, you will always be very welcome at Dunchurch Photographic Society.