Christmas has come and gone. A new year has begun, and the members of the Cambridge Photo Group met on another chilly afternoon in the back of the Video 99 to share some photos and conversations.
After sharing some of our photos from the challenge, and from the excursion out around the lights in town, we spent some time viewing Ruby’s Flickr collection. Some great images Ruby. Thanks for sharing!
Monthly Challenge
Each month, we present our members with a challenge to inspire their photography and prompt them to get out there with their cameras and sometimes stretch their photography to include a subject they would not normally include.
The Last Challenge: Blind PhotographyOur challenge this month helped us to “see” in a different way. “Blind Photography” is about making the things we hear help us relate to the subject of our photography. The challenge was based on the theory of an Israeli group of actually blind photographers. Don’t believe me? Check out their website for details, and galleries of some examples of their work.
Here are some images from our group: It was interesting to see the odd angles that came from these images – not composed for the lighting or the viewpoint, they were composed for the purposes of capturing the source of the sound.Jen was listening to her husband play guitar, heard the music and pointed her camera towards him picking a tune. The angle is natural and almost inviting.
Gary heard the ticking of an antique clock in the relative quiet and snapped this image of the pendulum of a clock sitting on a mantle.
Tammy heard the crunching of teeth on bone and turned to snap this photo of her dog. Notice how the subject is centered in the frame? If you were more interested in taking this picture visually you might be more interested in capturing the dog, but the angle of the photo tends to point more to the bone – and the noise that is being made as it is chewed. 
Rachel, remembering the sound of her alarm clock radio going off every morning took this image.The photography might not have been some of our most technically excellent and creatively stunning work, but we did learn some interesting things from these images. Realizing that the “rules” that apply to good images don’t always have to apply, and in some cases, finding another “center” to our subjects was an eye opener.
This Month’s Challenge: Black & WhitePerhaps it was because there were no colour images in the early days of film, but Black and White photography became an art form in itself. Photography’s grass roots were built on Black and White. The contrast of light and dark and the fundamental idea that photography is about capturing light (White) and shadow (Black).
Along those lines of thought, capturing a Black and White image is not always about the situation of the photograph as it can be about the contrast of light and dark within the image. The dark and the light can be a metaphor that produces an emotional response to the image.
Our challenge this time is simple enough – take a Black and White photograph – either in camera, or in post processing. But how “moody” can you make it? How much can you use the contrast of darkness and light to highlight the mood of your subject?
Next Regular Meeting: March 20th, 2011SPECIAL NOTE: There will be no meeting in February. Due to circumstances, the dates we had planned for the February meeting are unavailable and we are cancelling the February meeting. Be sure to book the date on your calendar though for the March meeting, and bring your Black and White photos with you.
We meet at the back of the Video 99 store in Hespeler (see the map on the blog). And for those of you who have already been by, don’t forget to post your images to the Flickr group!
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