Club Committee & Officials

Russ Williams

Peter Castleton

I joined the club more than twelve years ago just as I was switching to digital. I’ve been a lifelong photographer starting as a kid with an Instamatic – I loved those square blurry prints! I went on to shoot on better film cameras and did a City and Guilds course at night school which got me into developing printing. Joining the club boosted my photographic skills considerably, there are so many knowledgeable people about and you also learn by osmosis as we have so many great photographers as speakers. I gained my LRPS some years ago with the support of the club.

Nowadays I’m still interested in all photographic genres but I guess I have a leaning towards, abstraction, reportage and landscape. I think I’d describe myself as an enthusiastic amateur.

I’ve been actively involved in running the club for a couple of years, finding myself as temporary president against my will last year! The club has given me so much so it’s good to be able give something back.

Colleen Slater

http://www.colleenslaterphotography.co.uk/

https://www.facebook.com/Colleen-Slater-Photography-151787608165039/

https://www.instagram.com/colleen.slater/

Brian Stewart

How many clubs arrange to have one of your favourite photographers of all time as a guest speaker? I have no idea but when I attended my BHCC trial evening Eamonn McCabe was the speaker… Eamonn McCabe for goodness sake! This convinced me to join and once I completed my move back from abroad I signed up in October 2018. I was elected as Club Secretary in May 2019 and became a convenor in the New Members Group team from the start of the 2019/2020 season.

I have an artistic background: drawing, visualising, calligraphy, photography and went to art college in Manchester and Brighton graduating in graphic design. As an art director I worked with many photographers but it is only since 2009 that I have devoted more time to developing my own photography in terms of technique and style. This is an ongoing process but my most enjoyable photography is done with a fast 55mm lens, pretty much wide open, when light and alignments coincide.

Photographers whose work I have admired over the years include: André Kertész, David Bailey, Eamonn McCabe, Jill Furmanovsky, James Murphy, Andy Goldsworthy, Sebastio Salgado, Dirk Hoffmann, Yanidel.

Mike Lidbetter

Steve Boyle ARPS

Ali Benjamin

Al Punja

Stella Michaels

Rod Orrell LRPS

I joined BHCC over 14 years ago now and I haven’t enjoyed my photography more since doing so. The club has helped me improve my photography, I am a LRPS with the Royal Photographic Society and am in the process of putting together my A Panel to progress onto the Associateship of said society. This has been aided by the wonderful support of the members at BHCC, such people as the late Bill Wisden Hon FRPS MBE and David Miles ARPS, and the amazing speakers we have attend our Tuesday night meetings, such as Martin Parr and Peter Dench, to name but two.

My interest in photography was awakened as a young lad, when I used to sit in my Father’s ‘Dark Room’, the basement of our house at the time, and watch him produce wonderful prints from the negatives, that he had developed earlier, on the enlarger. It was totally fascinating to me at the time watching an image appear out of nowhere, whilst immersed in some liquid concoction.

He bought me my first camera for my 13th birthday, a Richo, and occasionally I would be allowed to use his ‘big’ Canon. I suppose I followed his example and started using Canon myself, when I started buying my own equipment, but recently I have switched over to using a micro 4/3rds outfit in Olympus. I do still retain possession of most of the ‘old’ cameras that I have ever used, as well as the lenses.

I don’t have any particular ‘genre’ that I am associated with, I just love going out with my camera and shooting whatever takes my fancy, but recently I have joined the “Documentary Group” of the RPS and am starting to think along these lines.

Tracy Wadey

Carl Newman

Audrey Marshall

I first joined Brighton & Hove Camera Club in 1978 soon after I moved to Brighton from Scotland. After a few very enjoyable and productive years in the club, during which my own photography improved dramatically, I had to leave – a mix of moving abroad and then commuting to London. I re-joined in the late 1990s and have been a member since, serving on the committee in various roles. I was Secretary and Membership Secretary for about 5 years and President from 2003-2006. In 2011 I began my involvement with the Entry Group or New Members Group – working first with Jean Gerrard and then with Jo Teasdale and Russ Williams. More recently Brian Stewart has joined the team. I have seen the New Members Group go from strength to strength over the years and it is a real joy to be involved with it, witnessing how people’s skills and confidence grow over time.

As for my own photography, I was a dedicated darkroom worker for over 20 years, working exclusively in black and white. I enjoyed producing gritty black and white prints, which were often of dark, moody and sometimes bleak landscapes, many taken on overseas trips and often using black and white infrared film. I was a reluctant convert to working digitally, but I took the plunge in 2007. I still enjoy working in black and white, but my horizons have widened with being able to produce colour images. I’m still drawn to stark and bleak scenes – whether landscapes or street – and my aim remains to convey atmosphere and mood.

Jo Teasdale

Jo comes from a Fine Art background and has been a member of BHCC for 8 years. She is an eclectic photographer who enjoys the immediacy of Street Photography and a slower more conceptual approach to her fine art projects. Her work is an artistic form of self-expression, often poignant and edgy, often unveiling elements of our human nature.

Bill Brandt

David Wilsdon

Chantal Lonsdale

David Gerrard

Tony Knight LRPS

Geoff Pike

Nick Eastham

Penny Marler