M.E., Myself and Eye

The talk follows on from his “The Little Print Show” talk which he brought us in October 2023.  It was about Multiple Exposure, Myself (ie, himself!), and the world as seen through his photographic Eye.

Jonathan is a member and past President of the Cambridge Camera Club.  He is a photographic judge, the judges Secretary for the East Anglian Federation of Photographic Societies, an Educator for the Royal Photographic Society, and an online photography tutor.  He is also a member of the London Salon of Photography.

In addition, he is a Permajet Envoy and also an Affiliate for Wex Photo Video, DxO Labs (known for the NIK Collection), Cartridge Monkey, and Jessops.  And he is a member of the Beyond Group (which aims to “encourage the furtherance of photographic talent”).

So what did we learn from this talk about Jonathan, his eye, and his photography?

Well, he aims to produce “visual art”, often abstracts or a twist on real life.  And he always wants to present his subjects in a different way.

He takes a structured, project-based approach to photography.  He pre-visualises his images – often as groups, sets, or panels – and plans his shooting.  As he put it, “I press for a purpose”.

And he doesn’t want a picture that looks like “reality”.  He uses his camera to create, paint and manipulate images with various in-camera techniques such as multiple exposures and intention camera movement.  All this before he starts his post-processing.

His method, basically, is “Plan, Press, Process, Print/Project”.

Much of this we already knew from “The Little Print Show”.

But we also learned that Jonathan

• Produces abstracts straight out of camera (he explained how he goes about his multiple exposures);
• Contrasts simple colours within complex images and complex colours within simple images;
• Photographs all sorts of surfaces to use as backgrounds (eg, his garage floor, old planks, paving slabs, Henry Moore sculptures);
• Uses projects to help him deal with “stressful stuff” (he spoke movingly about his “9/11” and Ukraine projects);
• Likes trees (he even “builds” his own “lone trees” and creates “ghost trees”), doors and windows (for the way they contrast with the walls), glass (in its many forms), architecture (but with multiple exposures, distortions, changed colours, and the like), and all sorts of other subjects as he believes you can photograph anything;
• Enjoys focus stacking (but doesn’t have a sophisticated modern camera or a focus rail for doing it and is now working on “blur stacking”); and
• Is fond of noise (he even uses ISO H1 and he puts noise in rather than taking it out).

Wrapping up, Jonathan offered some advice.

• Take your time.
• Photograph things in a different way.
• Plan your shots and set objectives.
• Work with sets/groups of images.
• Know what your camera will record.

This was another most enjoyable presentation from Jonathan, richly illustrated with many of his images.  He is always interesting and his enthusiasm is infectious.  And, as with “The Little Print Show”, his take on visual art will inspire many to try a more imaginative approach to their photography.

Jonathan believes an image exists only when it is printed.  And so, as well as the images projected on the screen, he also displayed plenty of his beautifully evocative prints (which he is happy to sell to help fund his projects) to further illustrate this entertaining and stimulating presentation.

More of Jonathan’s work, and some discount codes, can be found at https://blueroomphoto.site123.me/