The Lecture Programme
Our new Program Secretary, Stella Chandler, has curated a captivating program featuring 15 lectures throughout our eight-month season.
As a new initiative, Stella invited all speakers to share their photographic thought process. She explained:
I’ve asked each speaker to take us on a journey from ‘There to Here’ by sharing two or three of their photographs.
Over the years, I’ve gained valuable insights from judges’ critiques, such as suggestions to ‘move a few feet to the right’ or ‘crop the foreground.’
While I’m not asking for a post-shot editing tutorial, I’m eager to learn about the thought process behind their scene selection and composition.
All of our speakers have enthusiastically embraced this challenge, and we’re excited to discover the valuable lessons we’ll gain.
Images provided by and used by permission of the speakers, who retain copyright.
Lecture Flyers (click to expand)
10 September 2024 – Chris Hilton
A curator of visual absurdities
Chris’s photography matches his personality – humorous and quirky – which means his images have no noticeable reference to the Rule of Thirds. He has an adventurous bent, and seeks to reflect this in his images, unconcerned with what a judge might say.
Chris is Programme Secretary of Bridport Camera Club.
www.visuallycuriousphotography.com
www.bridportlockdown.org/chris-hilton
24 September 2024 – Tim Jones
Printing Workshop
Tim brings a wealth of experience to Fotospeed as the Academy lead and Technical Manager.
With over 15 years of freelancing as a photographer and working as a digital re-toucher, Tim’s expertise is unmatched.
Beyond his role at Fotospeed, Tim is a practising photographer and artist, boasting international exhibitions that showcase his talent and creativity. His diverse background enriches his approach to photography, allowing him to seamlessly blend technical proficiency with artistic vision.
Tim’s passion for the craft is evident in every aspect of his work, from his meticulous attention to detail to his innovative techniques. Tim is dedicated to inspiring and empowering fellow photographers in printing and guidance on their creative journeys.
15 October 2024 – Henry Szwinto
Landscape, wildlife and people photographer
Surrounded by beautiful countryside in the New Forest National Park, landscape and wildlife are major interests but Henry loves photographing people and events with still life studies adding further fascination. He finds that interacting with other people feeds the imagination so he has built a studio at home to expand his portrait work but always retains an interest in the quirky and amusing or images people don’t even think of.
This talk will cover equine photography and Indonesia.
29 October 2024 – Janine Scola
Journeys in the wild
From a very young age, I had a keen interest in the wildlife around me and like so many of us, sat enthralled watching a young David Attenborough on the TV, wishing I could visit those countries and the exotic wildlife he brought to our screens.
Moving forward, I then became interested in photography and decided to put the two together and as a consequence, I have been very fortunate to realise my young dreams and been able to travel the world to experience the various cultures, environments and in particular, in pursuit of watching and photographing the wildlife that inhabits our planet. I am not a wildlife photographer – but I am a passionate photographer of wildlife – and if I can, undertake a little bit of conservation work along the way too.
My presentation on the 29th October – “Journeys in the Wild” – will take you on two journeys in Africa – very different cultures, environments and wildlife – and as always, a little excitement and adventure just for good measure! I look forward to meeting you all on the evening.
9 November 2024 – Homer Sykes
The Way we Were – and other work
I am a professional magazine and documentary photographer. My principal commissions in Britain during the 1970s – 1980s, were for what used to be called the “weekend colour supplements” such as The Telegraph, The Sunday Times, The Observer, You and the Sunday Express magazines. In the 1970s I started on what has become an on going career project documenting traditional British folklore customs and annual events.
As an award-winning photographer I have never been busier, managing my extensive archive of over twenty thousand content rich images, working on personal projects, and shooting new material.
3 December 2024 – Richard Brayshaw FRPS
Photography as a visual art
Richard Brayshaw is a Surrey based photographer who now concentrates on photography as a visual art.
He gained an MA in photography from Farnham UCA in 2010, was awarded the Royal Photographic Society Fellowship in 2014 and is now Chair of the RPS Contemporary Distinctions Assessment Panel.
His work has been exhibited in London galleries including three times at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition and he won the Hicks Prize in the Discerning Eye at the Mall Galleries. His work is held in the collection of Farnham UCA and in private collections.
14 January 2025 – Tony Cowburn ARPS BPE3*
AstroPhotography
Tony first experimented with Milky Way photography in 2015, and has refined his process for capturing and editing these images in recent years.
His presentation will include examples of Milky Way landscapes taken in Dorset, advice on planning, taking and editing Milky Way images, plus suggestions for suitable locations. (This will be the ‘wide angle view of the stars’!)
28 January 2025 -Bill Ward
Landscape and water photographer
Bill’s primary photographic subject matter is landscapes, whether natural, urban or industrial. He specialises in creative photography, and is particularly drawn to water.
A lifelong traveller, he’s interested not just in the places he goes, but the time that he spends in them. It’s this that forms the basis of his work: specifically how it felt to spend this particular time, with this particular place.
And if you think you recognise him…he’s an actor for over 20 years, he has performed in over 30 Television shows and Films, and over 50 Plays since turning professional in 2000.
18 February 2025 – Alison Webber
The Cloak of Conformity and the Corset of Expectation
Alison is a neurodivergent photographer from Dorchester in Dorset.
“As someone who is on the autism spectrum, I have expended a great deal of time and energy creating different versions of myself in an attempt to fit into society’s expectations of how I should behave. I refer to this disguise as the Cloak of Conformity and the Corset of Expectation. The corset shaped me into an idealised form whilst the cloak displayed a version of me to the world which said, “Look I fit in.”
The “Cloak of Conformity and the Corset of Expectation” tells the story of my relationship with photography and autism and the ways in which my photographic journey has helped me realise that the cloak and the corset have been suffocating my creativity and that by discarding them I can express my true identity.”
4 March 2025 – Tracey Rich
Freelance pro wildlife photographer
Tracey Rich has been a freelance pro wildlife photographer for almost 25 years and a wildlife nut for much, much longer. With a doctorate in zoology and specifically behavioural ecology, her happy place is always watching wildlife and if there is a camera in hand all the better.
Having been charged by rhinos, seen the emergence of polar bear cubs and had a grizzly bear fall asleep next to her, life has been full of interesting wildlife moments, some of which she hopes to have captured the memories of photographically and in her writing.
18 March 2025 – Jeanette “Jet” Lendon
Smartphone Photography. More than just a camera on a phone
During this talk Jet will talk about how she went from running her photography business of 13 years, to running smartphone photography workshops, with 14 people all round the country, Ireland and France working for her business, Jet Black Squares.
She will go through how to set up the cameras to get the best out of them, how to control the camera, and all the tips and tricks to get those creative shots. As Rankin said, ‘forget about it being a phone, and start thinking of it as being a camera’.
The talk is suitable for all makes and models of phones, and you are encouraged to have your phone with you so you can set it up as we go along.
15 April 2025 – Bella Falk
Award-winning travel blogger
Bella Falk’s photography career began when, aged 10, she used black bin bags to convert her parents’ utility room into a darkroom.
Alongside her passion for travel, this led her to an adventurous life as a travel photographer, documentary producer-director, writer, and creator of the multi-award-winning travel blog Passport & Pixels.
She won Best Photography at the Travel Media Awards 2020 and her work has appeared in National Geographic Traveller, BBC Travel and Lonely Planet among many others.
29 April 2025 – Paul Alistair Collins
Award-winning wildlife photographer, film-maker and tour guide
I discovered photography at the age of 14 as a way of responding to nature’s beauty. My first competition win in the 2005 WWT Young Photographer Awards gave me a boost to pick up a camera for good and go off in search of animals big and small.
I’ve been influenced by my time working in Edinburgh as a performance and events photographer, my photos focus on the light and fleeting essence of each moment I spend with a wild animal. I prefer to shoot at dawn and dusk to find the most emotive and dreamlike atmospheres that capture the imagination.
13 May 2025 – Barry Lewis
Chemistry teacher turned multi award-winning documentary photographer and film-maker
Barry Lewis started as a chemistry teacher with photography as a hobby. Barry stopped teaching in 1974 when he won a scholarship to the RCA where he studied under Bill Brandt.
In 1976 he won the Vogue award and worked for a year with the magazine. In 1977 he received an arts council grant to photograph commuting in London, which was exhibited in the Museum of London. Working mainly for magazines, in 1999 he was a co-founder of the photo agency Network which played an important role in British Photojournalism for over 20 years. A regular contributor to Life Magazine, National Geographic, and the Sunday Times.
Barry has worked globally until 2014 and made over 20 books. He has exhibited throughout the world and received several awards including the Oscar Barnac medal for humanitarian photography.
From 2015 for 5 years Barry worked mainly on documentary films but has returned to photography in 2021 when he started his current work “Intersections”: a study of London through portraits and words of the people.
20 May 2025 – Rich Peters
Surrey based wildlife photographer
Richard is a Surrey based wildlife photographer who, first and foremost has always approached photography as an outlet for his creativity. To this day the driving force and love behind picking up a camera, is to satisfy his inner desire to create.
To me, photography is an observation. It’s about finding something interesting in an ordinary place…I’ve found it has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them. Elliot Erwitt
