EXCHANGE VISIT TO HEXHAM

Tuesday 5^th April

To a packed audience of members of Hexham & District Photographic Society, one of the most thriving and successful in the NCPF, DPS President David Trout introduced four new(ish) members of Durham PS, two of which were fairly new to photography.

With all four showing prints, Angy Ellis started proceedings with portraits of friends, family and neighbours she so persuasively ropes in to dress up and pose for her, followed by her renowned Remembrance montages. Then, moving to the darker side, came dramatic images around themes of death and suicide followed by (somewhat!) lighter pictures from the Newcastle Zombie walks. It is fair to say, the discerning Hexham audience had never seen anything quite like this and it was a great start to the show.

Christine Oliphant followed with a stunning and evocative series of gorgeous landscapes, notably of her beloved Northumberland coast, and Newcastle/Gateshead quayside, interspersed with the intensely saturated colours (all natural) of her Portuguese village scenes. And to prove her versatility, some highly imaginative Sterling Award pictures. The Hexham members, many of whom are superb landscape photographers in their own right, fully appreciated the skill and dedication involved.

Les Travis’ passion for wild life shone through as he showed some of his hugely successful and dramatic wild life photography and told the stories behind the pictures. Many other superb pictures were shown including a wonderful image of the Infinity Bridge at night and a truly breathtaking shot of two biplanes with wing-walkers at just the right moment, in just the right light. Persistence. anticipation and enthusiasm, plus the occasional tiny bit of luck, seemed to be the formula.

Finally, Ian Stafford wowed us with his marvellous pictures of musicians and bands taken at gigs across the North East, clearly driven by his own love of music and expert deployment of fast prime lenses. Followed by an eclectic mix of pictures ranging from puffins to portraits. Ian considers himself firstly a people photographer and undoubtedly has a talent for connecting with them and putting them at ease.

It was a superb show with a great range of photography. All four spoke very well, with infectious enthusiasm. Having seen individual images in various competitions over time it was impressive to see them assembled as four distinctive and imaginative portfolios.

Hexham President Keith Robinson said, “It’s been tremendous. Powerfully done”.