Possible topics for my “Member Talk” on 13/10/20
1 Introduction
Debbie and Sharon asked me if I would be interested in doing a “Members Talk” in October 2020 at a Camera club evening for 30 minutes on favourite photographs and/or most difficult photograph taken. This arose from a suggestion I had made recently at a Jim Smith zoom meeting. Debbie and Sharon are responsible for programme planning at the Camera Club. Subsequent to this request they sent me a list of other possible topics to consider. Based on this list I have compiled my own list of possible subjects which is contained in this document describing at summary level my current thinking on the possible objectives and contents of such talks. I need to select one topic by 7/8/20 so that it can be included in the club programme for the remainder of the year.
2 A good photograph is knowing where to stand said Ansel Adams
Where to stand to take a photograph is a decision I struggle with at every sporting event I attend. There are usually a number of possible options each with advantages and disadvantages. Unfortunately in sport there is no second chance so where to stand takes on significant importance in the success or otherwise of the resulting photograph. In this talk I will discuss and present the options on the various viewpoints available for a number of photograph shoots I have done of different sporting events and venues I have attended.
3 40 years of sports photographs
I started taking photographs at sporting events in the late 70s and have photographed a number of sports since including cross country running, motocross, motor bike racing, rugby, football, golf, cyclo cross, hockey, tennis, fell running, sailing, point to point racing, horse racing. I have favourite photographs in each of these sports and have had photographs published in local , national and international newspapers and national sports magazines. I have approximately 95,000 photographs on my site with over 40,000 visitor views.
In this presentation I cover:
4 Olympic Medallists and World Champions
Over the years I have been at sporting events where Olympic and World Champions have either been taking part or in attendance for other reasons. In this talk I will show photographs of these encounters and talk about the subjects and circumstances in which the photographs were taken.
5 My favourite photographs from my portfolio
I have taken many sports photographs over the years - I have 95,000 on my website- covering a variety of sports. In this talk I will present and discuss why I list the particular photographs as my favourites including the context, subject and challenges in capturing them.
6 My most successful photograph(s)
One of my early photographic ambitions was to take sports photographs that matched those of professional photographers such that I could get them published in newspapers and magazines . It was also an ambition to own and use professional equipment. I took sports photographs in the late 70s in black and white which I developed and printed. Some of these I had published in local newspapers. Over the years I have used professional equipment and also have had pictures published in local, national newspapers and UK based sports magazines. I have also built a website with 95,000 of my photographs loaded. Each one of these photographs has been edited in some way and most but not all annotated with subject details. I monitor the most popular galleries and photographs viewed by visitors. I have had a photograph included in a book about the golfer Rory McIlroy. In this talk I will I present a few of what I consider to be “successful” photograph(s) and discuss the history of the photographs, the subjects, the context in which the photographs were taken and why I consider them to be “successful” according to my definition of successful. I had been asked by Debbie and Sharon to talk to my most successful and/or most difficult photograph.
7 Photographs from an event
I have attended and photographed many sports events over the past years.
Events that stand out for me are:
I could present any one of these events covering: Pre-event day planning and prep The Event Post Event activities I would show some of my favourite pictures from the event selected
8 A tour of my Zenfolio website?
I have been using my current website since 2010. I started with websites in 2005 and between then and 2010 used a number of sites eg Flickr, Clikpic, Beanpix,Fotopic My initial requirements for a website were: Easy to set up Able to cope with 1000s of photographs Ability to take orders and payments Ability to print photographs and send them to customers I have 95,000 photographs loaded and 40,000+ Visitors on my Zenfolio site ( a visitor is counted when the viewer selects a full picture- viewing thumbnails in a gallery is not counted) In this talk I will discuss my use of Websites and demonstrate how I have set up my current Zenfolio site .
9 Iconic sports photographs/photographers
I used to buy the Sunday Times and the Observer to see the sports pictures taken and published by Chris Smith and Eamon McCabe their respective sports photographers. In this talk I will present some of my favourites from their collections. I will also include photographs from other photographers that I follow such as Tony Duffy, Bob Martin and Michael Steele, Edward Whitaker and Mark Shearman.
10 My thoughts on photographing sport
Since the 70s I have been trying to produce photographs of sporting events that would be “good enough” to publish in newspapers and be purchased by the subject or someone close to the subject. This has meant trying to get sharp, well exposed and composed and interesting photographs. I have probably failed more that I have succeeded in these aims. In this talk I will discuss what I have learned over the years about the many aspects of sports photography including: the equipment to use, the planning needed for events, getting accredition, photographing the subjects and the event, post processing the photographs and the software I have used and my use of social media.
Harry Marcus 3/8/20