Anne Sutcliffe Discussing Her Prints

Something spectacular happened this morning. The sun came out, after what has seemed like weeks of cold, grey weather which in all probability has been just a few days. There’s something about that type of weather that seems to freeze you in time.

After a late turn-in because I had been editing photos, Basil woke us up in the middle of the night, barking at…something, then he rushed into the bedroom and jumped on me in bed. I pushed him off. I’ve never done that before but really, I was just so tired. He retired with an ill grace.

I still woke at 7 am, made the tea, and put the oven on to cook my gluten free Scotch eggs. On days like this, I just can’t get moving which was a bit of a nuisance as I had to wend my way to a regional meeting of the RPS. I arrived half an hour late for the AGM but before the speakers had commenced.

Today, we had two Ann(e)s. Anne Sutcliffe who had tried to give me some guidance at an ARPS advisory meeting a year ago, and we know where that got me, and Ann Miles.

Both Ann(e)s had brought prints which gave us an idea of the quality of the photo and the differences in printing on different paper types. Generally, there was a preference for lustre. The only matte paper I saw was a lower weight smooth matte.

Anne Sutcliffe described her works as ‘pale and interesting,’ rather like Charlotte Bronte. And she likes pink. Her style is characteristically pastel. She has travelled extensively and is particularly fond of Yellowstone in the USA. She also journeys to and from Cuba and has been to Indonesia and the Pacific ‘Ring of Fire.’ She admitted to moving objects to places where they were not to satisfy her feel for the photo. Seems to me all pro photographers use the Ansel Adams terminology these days, of ‘making a photograph.’

Ann Miles presented her lecture, ‘Monochrome My Way,’ with some very useful hints and tips on monochrome conversion in ACR/Lightroom and Silver Efex Pro. She also showed us photos in colour that would NOT work in monochrome. Her website offers several very useful advice sheets including how to produce lith-effect prints in Photoshop.  Her work is highly inclusive. She tackles people and animals as well as travel and landscape. She finds that travelling on holidays dedicated to bird watching affords her plenty of time to do her own photography. She gets to see the locations and then the peace and quiet to make best use of them. She concluded with an absolutely superb photo taken at a Pony Club meet. It couldn’t have been timed better. Look at it and have a good chuckle. 

Both ladies were highly inspiring and made me realise just how much further I have to travel on a photographic journey. 

By the time I left in the afternoon, cloud had covered the sun once more. I don’t know when we shall see sunshine again.