Chairman Mike is forever keen to stimulate our imagination and creativity and his second Chairman’s Challenge of the season took place on Zoom on Wednesday 18 November 2020.

The subject of the Challenge was “Art and Artists” and we were required to photographically replicate the style of an art movement and/or artist.  As explained in the Programme,

“This challenge is to pick any artist: Hockney, Lautrec, Rothko, da Vinci, Renoir, et al. or art movement eg. Impressionism, Surrealism, Abstract, Cubism, Pop Art, Minimalism or any other one and to recreate photographically their style.

There are many artists and styles that lend themselves to photography both in-camera and with photoshop; for example Monet and ICM, Jackson Pollock and dots and splashes, Van Gogh and stylised sunflowers.

There are literally hundreds to come up with, so get googling, pick a style or three and see what you can come up with.”

Members responded with images representing a wide variety of art movements and numerous artists.

There were depictions of surrealism, impressionism, post-impressionism, pointillism, cubism, chiaroscuro, etchings, abstract, pop art, and more.

And there were impersonations and re-imaginings of Rene Magritte, Salvador Dali, Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Vincent Van Gogh, Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, Wassily Kandinsky, Georgia O’Keeffe, Bridget Riley, George Stubbs, Edvard Munch, Hokusai, Andy Warhol, Auguste Rodin, Elizabeth Blackadder, Cecil Tatton-Winter, Paul Klee, Beatrix Potter, and David Shepherd – as well as photographers Pep Ventosa (using his “in the round” photographic technique), Harold Edgerton (using his stroboscopic technique), and Edward Weston.

The images also involved all sorts of approaches and techniques.  Some involved effects achieved in-camera – multiple exposures and intentional camera movement.  But mainly effects were achieved in post-processes using Lightroom, Photoshop, Luminar, plug-ins, and even smartphone apps.

All the authors were invited to explain their inspiration and their creative processes.  And the images were critiqued by Mike.

This was an exciting challenge, encouraging both creativity and technical experimentation, and bringing forth plenty of intriguing images to enjoy.  And, as it was non-competitive, there were no losers.

We all enjoyed it so much that there were many calls to do this challenge again at some future meeting!

NB: Members can watch the competition in full on the ‘Members Only’ section of the website.

A Selection of Images That Impressed

  • IN THE HALF ROUND by carol Curd

  • AUTUMN PAINTBOX by Tricia Meers

  • WARHOLISH PANSIES by Pam Cruise

  • WATER LILLIES AFTER MONET by Sally Kitchingman

  • CUBISM by Paul Dimitriou

  • MONET WATERLILIES by David Saunders

  • MONET IN MK by Carol Curd

  • FAMILY GROUP (STUBBS) by Wendy Taylor

  • VAN GOGH SUNSET by David Manning

All Entries (click image for full size)

Help Promote the Club!! Like and Share the images and post on Facebook & Flickr

For details of the competition rules  CLICK HERE.

If you didn’t know, you can also post your comments at the bottom of the page. Engage with other Members and share your thoughts on the entries and judging.