Members of the Dawlish & Teignmouth Camera Club were treated to an evening of breath-taking photography by renowned photographer, Guy Edwardes. Guy, who lives in Dorset, delivered his stunning presentation Seeing the Light through Zoom.
With over 25 years as a landscape, nature and travel photographer, Guy is much in demand as a speaker, but even more popular are his photographic workshops to some of the world’s most spectacular landscapes and wildlife locations.
The first half of the evening was dedicated to landscape photography and members were transported to the mist-covered valleys of Dorset showing Colmer’s Hill, Corfe Castle and Cranborne Chase, then to the coastal delights of Kimmeridge Bay at sunset, aerial views of Old Harry Rocks and the iron age hill forts at Badbury Rings, before being engulfed by waves at Sennen Cove courtesy of the powerful Storm Ciara.
It is Guy’s particular method of photographing landscapes that make his pictures so sought after by worldwide publications and image agencies. He particularly favours misty conditions to give his images an atmospheric look and studies MET Office forecasts to check about dew points, humidity and wind strength before setting off. Using a Canon 5D Mark IV camera, he brackets his exposures to protect the highlights and shadows. He also changes the focal distance to ensure the foreground through to the horizon is sharp and uses focus stacking in Photoshop to get a final image. His preference for blurring water to show movement and allow details of the rocks to be seen is achieved using various strength neutral density filters and a longer shutter speed.
One exquisite image after another of the British Isles were shown before moving on to one of Guy’s favourite landscape locations – Iceland. Members were able to enjoy armchair travelling to many other locations, such as the beautiful rolling hills of Tuscany, the lavenders fields in Provence and the hilltop churches in the Julian Alps of Slovenia.
The second half of Guy’s talk was all about wildlife photography. Starting with Costa Rica, Guy explained that this is his favourite location for sheer biodiversity in a small country. A short walk from the accommodation through the rain forest produced fascinating images, including the Ghost-Glass frog and the Magenta-throated hummingbird, with Guy advising on the use of flash photography for nocturnal creatures and fast shutter speeds to freeze the movement of the bird’s wings.
Other wildlife destinations and those for his popular workshops included the Japanese island of Hokkaido for the Red Cranes; Lake Kerkini in Greece for the winter pilgrimage of the Dalmatian Pelicans; and Canada for the snowy owls.
However, since lockdown Guy’s travel commitments have been on hold, so he has had to search closer to home for his photographic subjects and so it was he ended his presentation with fascinating macro images of slime moulds and woodland fungi.
Dawlish & Teignmouth Camera Club has a packed programme of guest speakers, competitions and club nights and new members are always welcome.
Find out more here: www.dawlishteignmouthcameraclub.co.uk