Last month we shared and discussed books that have influenced us – mostly photography books but also some novels which motivated us in the making of particular photographs – eg. George Orwell’s 1984 inspired a series of photographs on the theme of surveillance. There was a wide selection of material on show which reflected the very personal choices and interests of our members, ranging from catalogues, magazines and a very moving funeral order of service to a variety of photography books in different formats.

There were several examples of vintage photography on show including Czech photographer Karel Plicka’s Vltava published in 1959 featuring monochrome photographs of the river Vltava; David Granick’s The East End in Colour documented some of the now long vanished streets and waterways of London’s East End from 1960 – 1980, all in the warm hues of Kodachrome film; a little known book of German autochromes from the early part of the 20th century – Die Welt in Farbe by Käthe Buchler – brought to life in vivid colour landscapes and people usually associated with black and white at that time; an original copy of Lilliput magazine from August 1942 featured Bill Brandt’s iconic images of wartime London by moonlight accompanied by an interesting essay; also of great interest to history of photography enthusiasts was an original catalogue from the famous 1955 MOMA exhibition The Family of Man; Thomas Sauvin’s Quanshen featured a selection of full-length portraits, some black & white and others hand-coloured, made in Chinese studios between the 1930s and the 1980s – artfully displayed in the form of a fan in a PVC box; Hong Kong Yesterday by Fan Ho, a look at life in the streets of Hong Kong in the 1950s and 1960s, beautifully photographed in black and white.

More contemporary books included Matthew Connor’s Fire in Cairo charting the revolutionary struggle in Egypt and featuring portraits, reportage and experimental fiction; Aesthetica Symposium – a beautiful book exploring the theme of the digital handmade, featuring many exquisite and innovative examples of the art. Altogether, it was a very interesting evening which inspired much discussion.
Ingrid Newton

Ingrid Newton

Janet Nabney

Peter Luck

Peter Luck

Jim Paterson

Alec Wylie

Teresa Levitt

Our next meeting will take place on Wednesday 12th December at 18.45 at the usual venue – The Art Workers Guild, 6 Queens Square, Bloomsbury, London WC1N 3AT. The subject will be ‘Baroque’
Please bring along any work you wish to share on a memory stick or in print or book form.