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Contemporary Travel Photography, Chris Hilton, 11th September 2023
The first night of our season should be something special, out of the ordinary and set to inspire our photography during the forthcoming year.
Our speaker, Chris Hilton, certainly produced the goods with his talk on Contemporary Travel Photography. Telling us about his journey from aspiring club photographer to finding his own unique and slightly controversial style, breaking all the rules but coming back from his travels with very satisfying images expressing his feelings and impressions of the places visited.
He explained that trying to follow the rules so prevalent in successful images for competitions both for clubs and Salons was frustrating and not satisfying him, he knew there was something missing in his photography. His first really satisfying trip was to Iceland where he took all the kind of photographs that no-one else does, no geysers, no waterfalls, no ice but instead half a car park, a childrens playground and a poster on a wall – all normal life instead of classic scenery. As he said “ it isn’t about sunsets, scenery and selfies”!
He asked us to consider use of colour, framing, the visually curious, anything that makes you look twice, shoot from the hip and be spontaneous. Who can forget the gas filling station and the gas pipe welding in Uzbekistan or the pink houses (and pink hats) of Morocco and even the passing shots from bus or train of quirky moments in his travels?
An excellent evening filled with laughter but giving us cause for thought about our own photography too.
- Val Brierley
He explained that trying to follow the rules so prevalent in successful images for competitions both for clubs and Salons was frustrating and not satisfying him, he knew there was something missing in his photography. His first really satisfying trip was to Iceland where he took all the kind of photographs that no-one else does, no geysers, no waterfalls, no ice but instead half a car park, a childrens playground and a poster on a wall – all normal life instead of classic scenery. As he said “ it isn’t about sunsets, scenery and selfies”!
He asked us to consider use of colour, framing, the visually curious, anything that makes you look twice, shoot from the hip and be spontaneous. Who can forget the gas filling station and the gas pipe welding in Uzbekistan or the pink houses (and pink hats) of Morocco and even the passing shots from bus or train of quirky moments in his travels?
An excellent evening filled with laughter but giving us cause for thought about our own photography too.
- Val Brierley
