The new season’s programme for the Dawlish & Teignmouth Camera Club got underway with a Masterclass in Street Photography by guest speaker, Kim Aldis, who now lives near Torquay.
Over 30 Camera Club members joined Kim on Zoom to hear how he started in photography, but that his career also saw him direct music videos for Madness and Ian Dury, before he moved into the world of digital special effects and 3D animation.
Kim’s style of street photography has been internationally recognised and he said how he had been inspired by the likes of Henri Cartier-Bresson, Martin Parr and Elliot Erwitt, although he admitted it wasn’t called street photography then, it was known as reportage photography.
The fear of taking photographs of people is a common problem with street photography, but Kim suggested ways of overcoming this issue such as selecting a good backdrop and then let people walk into your scene – using his own photo of a scene in Oxford Circus to illustrate his point.
Other tips for what make good street photography is the interplay between people and shop window displays, sometimes in an ironic way, or how good lighting and the movement of people through it can create compelling composition and interesting shadows.
To round off his presentation, Kim showed some examples of different types of street photography by well-known photographers, William Egglestone, Saul Leiter, Fan Ho and Harry Gryaert.
Club Chairman, Barry Holmes, thanked Kim for an interesting and enjoyable evening.
Although the club is not able to meet in person at Holcombe Village Hall for the foreseeable future, new members are encouraged to join for the weekly Zoom sessions with guest speakers, competitions and themed club nights.
See the website for more details see the 2020 - 2021 programme.