LIP Central February 2024 Meeting – LIP Satellite Groups

Featured image Ⓒ Chris Burrows

The theme for the Central London Group’s February meeting was “Seasons”. The meeting was held on 14 February 2024 in the Old Diorama Arts Centre, 201 Drummond Street, NW1 3FE.

Mark’s series of meditative images documented the slow change of seasons in and around the village of Walberswick on the Suffolk coast.

Edey’s series used a variety of techniques, ICM, double exposures and closeups, to evocatively abstract seasonal colours.

In her series, Pauline reflected on the mostly unnoticed nature of paths through Millfields Park Hackney, temporary, seasonal, permanent, meandering and purposeful. The series was introduced with a short text to aid viewers’ interpretation.

Austin showed a serial study of an old orchard in St Albans through the seasons. He applied a cross processing filter to bring out the colours of the blossom; the maturing fruit in the final images lay where it fell on the grass for the fauna to feast on until snow covered the ground.

Astrid’s project was a study of photographic aspects of windows. To identify them as thresholds between inside and outside she reflections and condensation on the glass. She brought out their frames by using them as frames within the frame of a photo. She contrasted their changing nature over time as vintage/dilapidated and contemporary/new. One image created an engaging diptych effect by looking into the interior of an old cottage through two window panels.

Nusse’s project showed her artistic fascination with the forms of fish, their eyes, scales, patterns and colours, especially when laid out as groups or shoals. Her final image was a fascinating experiment using a colour negative of fish laid out vertically which rendered them as an other worldly wallpaper and brought out an almost reptilian look of their jaws.

Janet’s project drew inspiration from building facades, notably those of Fortnum and Mason with its famous clock and Lynn Chadwick’s geometric “King and Queen” statue, and those shown in the Royal Academy “Entangled Pasts, 1768- Now” where images of grand colonial buildings were projected onto models of indigenous dwellings on stilts to question of whether colonialism was a facade.

Heather continued her exploration shooting with a square format twin lens reflect camera using 120 BW film. She pictured tourists at Trafalgar Square notably an action shot of a girl hanging inverted on the bar of barrier while performing a gymnastic kip.

Chris showed his “Wet” series, photos taken through windscreens during torrential rain using an old Canon G10. Taken mostly in the West End, they produce painterly distortions with vivid colours and reflections of street lights. One in this style was shown at the Royal Academy summer show.

Prodeetpta showed two photobooks showcasing his documentary work over 12 years. The book titled “Serendipity” shows his strong curation of 80 images with delightfully juxtaposes pairs of images on opposing pages. He also brought in a book from The Photography Workshop Series which had inspired his work, “Street Photography and the Poetic Image” by Alex and Rebecca Norris Webb.

The next Central London meeting will be on Wednesday 13th March at 6.45 pm at the Old Diorama Arts Centre, London NW1, and the thmeme will be “Simple/Complex”. In the meantime the group is planning a visit to the Saul Leiter exhibition at Milton Keynes Gallery.