Life in Prints:
Helen and Stephen Jones

Having met at Aberystwyth university they set off together on a month long trip round Europe on an Interail ticket with the intention of getting behind the Iron Curtain in Romania and visiting parts of ancient Greece.

Having nearly run out of money in expensive Vienna they got on a train to Bucharest and got talking to a Romanian couple who despite the language difficulties made it clear that they should be extremely careful as they will be watched closely the whole time in the country. Cameras were unwelcome and viewed with suspicion but despite the difficulties we were shown some beautiful atmospheric images of street life which Stephen managed to capture with a simple dslr camera and two lenses, usually held inconspicuously!

The prevailing atmosphere there was one of fear which contrasted with the joyful atmosphere in Greece, noisy colourful and friendly! They began in cosmopolitan Athens and ended in Argos, a city in the Peloponnese region where they found wonderful food and happy friendly residents. The images from this part of their journey showed quite a contrast to those from earlier.

In the second half Helen showed her first image that won a club competition but which was then promptly pulled apart by a well respected club member! However notes were taken and things rapidly improved. Each of her images have an emotional pull for her, from ones that have done well such as gaining awards to ones of people who are no longer with us. 

Stephen showed us his journey through straight portraits to environmental portraits, his periods of creativity and surrealism, straying into landscapes for a while, and again images that mean a lot to him.

All the images were of superb quality and award winning and it was such a pleasant change to be able to see the prints at leisure rather than a fleeting screenshot. An excellent evening all round.