Tuesday Talks
The Lecture Programme
Programme Secretary Stella Chandler has put together another rich programme with lectures from a dozen external speakers and three evenings of presentations by our own members during our eight-month season.
As last year, Stella has invited all speakers to share their photographic thought process and tell us how they planned and created two or three of their photographs.
Stella said
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.
Lectures
Paul Alistair Collins discovered photography at 14 as a way of responding to the beauty of the natural world. An early win in the WWT Photo Awards, with an image of his favourite bird, the grey heron, encouraged him to continue exploring wildlife through the camera.
Influenced by his time as a theatre photographer in Edinburgh, Paul’s images focus on light, atmosphere and the fleeting character of encounters with wild animals. He particularly enjoys working at dawn and dusk, when the landscape becomes more dreamlike. His photography has taken him from Alaska and Florida to Slovenia and the Indian Ocean, though Normandy remains a favourite source of inspiration.
Paul’s evening will include a one-hour talk on Svalbard, with a further 30–40 minute presentation on European Wildlife Hotspots.
Zoe Wilson, of Rock Legends Live, is an award-winning rock photographer whose extensive 35mm archive captures some of the biggest names in 1980s and early 1990s music. Shooting internationally between 1987 and 1992, she was one of the few female photographers regularly working from the pit, photographing artists including Tina Turner, Mick Jagger, Prince, Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston and Bruce Springsteen.
After nearly 40 years, Zoe has brought her previously unseen analogue catalogue back to life as fine-art portraits, limited editions and her coffee-table book, THAT SHOT.
Her talk explores a life shaped by photography, film, music-industry access, the energy of touring and the challenge of preserving a remarkable rock archive.
Paul Wilkinson is one of the UK’s most highly regarded portrait photographers, known for beautifully lit, characterful portraits and a relaxed, good-humoured approach to working with people. Based at a boutique studio between Oxford and London, he has built an international reputation as a photographer, speaker, judge and trainer.
A Fellow of both the SWPP and BIPP, Paul is also the co-author of Mastering Portrait Photography, a widely used resource for portrait photographers around the world. His work combines technical craft with warmth, storytelling and personality, and he continues to share his experience through workshops, writing and his popular photography podcast.
Barry Webb is a specialist macro photographer whose work reveals the extraordinary hidden world of fungi and slime moulds.
Many of the subjects he photographs are only 1–4mm tall, requiring patience, precision and advanced focus-stacking techniques. Barry often combines 20 to more than 120 individual images to achieve the depth of field needed at such high magnification.
His distinctive images have earned major recognition, including the Fungi and Slime Mould category of Close-Up Photographer of the Year for four consecutive years. He has also received awards from International Garden Photographer of the Year, the RHS and the Royal Photographic Society, where he was awarded Fellowship in 2023.
Lucy Kayne is a photographer and tutor based in Diss, Norfolk, working across East Anglia and beyond.
Her photography is shaped by light, shadow, texture and structure, with a particular interest in finding beauty in ordinary places. Monochrome plays an important role in her work, where strong contrast and deep shadows can transform everyday scenes into striking, atmospheric images.
Lucy developed her passion for photography while studying Fine Art in the early 2000s and discovering the darkroom. She now runs workshops, photo walks and one-to-one tuition, helping photographers build confidence, move beyond auto mode and take a more thoughtful, intentional approach to their image-making.
James Deavin is a commercial and documentary photographer with more than two decades of professional experience.
His work has taken him across the UK and overseas, collaborating with major clients including BP, Tate and Google. In 2023, he was recognised with the Sony World Photography Award for Best Portfolio for his work in Saudi Arabia.
James brings a strong documentary eye to commissioned work, combining careful observation with a clear sense of place and story. Alongside his photography, he enjoys sharing his knowledge through workshops in the UK and abroad, supporting photographers at different stages as they develop their own visual practice.
Susan Brown is a highly accomplished fine-art photographer with two RPS Fellowships, known for conceptual and contemporary work.
She exhibits widely, mentors photographers, and works across multiple arts organisations, including MAKE Southwest and the Wessex Guild of Crafts.
She joined WPS in 2025.
Eric Blake, a WPS member, will present an evening that combines family history, photographic storytelling and personal discovery.
His talk brings together remarkable genealogy revelations with a selection of favourite images, creating a programme that promises surprise, humour and a strong narrative thread.
By combining research, discovery and photography, Eric will show how an image-led presentation can bring family stories to life and make the past feel vivid and immediate.
The evening is expected to offer an entertaining mix of visual work and unexpected historical connections — including, as Eric hints, the prospect that “someone will get hung”.
Andy Ritchie began photographing landscapes while at university, capturing the Scottish mountains he climbed in changing light, weather and seasons.
Inspired by Scottish photographer Colin Baxter, he has since photographed mountain and wilderness locations including the European Alps, the Dolomites, US National Parks, Patagonia and New Zealand.
Andy also has a long-standing interest in aircraft, but found photographing them in flight truly became possible when he moved to digital Nikon equipment in 2008.
More recently, encounters with naturalists on trips to Iceland, Norway, South America, Patagonia and the Channel Islands have deepened his interest in wildlife and nature photography.
Joining WPS has helped him continue developing his photographic approach.
Peter Crane has specialised in street photography since retiring early from a major engineering consultancy in 2009.
Since 2015, he has lectured widely to camera clubs and other groups, mainly across southern England but also in Wales, the Midlands and Yorkshire. His main talk, Street Photography My Way, takes audiences into his world on the streets, sharing techniques, tips, camera settings and the equipment he uses.
Peter is known for capturing moments that people can recognise and relate to, while reflecting the candid and sometimes challenging nature of the genre. He also runs street photography workshops, judges for several photographic federations, and holds LRPS and ARPS distinctions.
Emily Hancock began her photographic career at just 16 in social photography before expanding into worldwide travel and high-end equestrian commissions.
She has photographed leading figures in the equestrian world and created bespoke artwork and albums for clients around the globe. Her dedication has earned multiple Fellowships with the British Institute of Professional Photography, among the highest honours in the profession.
For more than fifteen years, Emily has also been a respected judge, speaker and mentor, helping photographers and artists move forward in their practice. Based in the New Forest, she runs The Training Barn, a creative hub with studio, teaching facilities and gallery space for her evolving work.
John R Bradshaw FRPS has been involved with photography for many years, beginning with an early interest in images and later building a darkroom in 1992.
He spent 15 years working with film before moving to digital imaging in 2007. From 1997 onwards, John developed a series of major projects, including work on Italy’s Grand Tour, Irish History, The Atlantic Slave Trade, The Greenwich Meridian, industrial and agricultural heritage, and the Isle of Wight.
These projects have been exhibited in several locations and often combine photographs with text, historical context and relevant quotations.
His wider interests include landscape, infrared photography and audio-visual presentations, many now based closer to home in West Sussex.
Philip Joyce is an Oxford-based photographer whose work focuses on authentic moments, striking light and a strong sense of place.
His photography blends documentary and street approaches, drawing inspiration from city life, popular events and the humanity of everyday scenes.
Influenced by photographers including Shirley Baker, Martin Parr, Roger Mayne and Elliott Erwitt, Philip looks for images that feel natural, thoughtful and quietly powerful. His photographs of people, streets and life have been published and exhibited across the UK.
At the heart of his work is a desire to make pictures that invite connection, encouraging viewers to recognise something familiar, human and memorable in ordinary situations.
Stella Chandler interviews some of our best photographers.
Hannah Couzens is a professional portrait photographer, educator and speaker with a deep passion for light.
She qualified with the British Institute of Professional Photography at just 19 and went on to become the first female UK European Ambassador for Sony Imaging.
Her talk, The Power of Three: Creating Striking Portraits with 1–3 Lights, is a live demonstration showing how simple lighting setups can transform portrait photography.
Hannah will begin with one light, then build through two- and three-light arrangements to show how shape, depth, shadow control and separation can be used creatively. The session is designed to give photographers practical confidence and fresh ideas for stronger portraits.
