Portrait Special Interest Group

The Portrait SIG aims to foster an interest in taking photos of people through a collaborative and supportive group.

Many of us like to take photos of people but may not feel comfortable asking someone if we can take their photo or be confident in directing people to pose for us. Using natural or artificial light effectively can be equally challenging. When done well, however, there is nothing that draws our attention and fascinates us more than photos of people.

At its inaugural meeting on Saturday 28th May, twelve photographers agreed that themes and objectives were to

• share knowledge & experience, and learn from each other.
• provide feedback and constructive critique.
• develop technical skills and explore compositional styles.
• set a monthly theme to provide challenge and encourage variety of interpretation.

We meet monthly and show and share both digital images and prints. We are finding that while it is convenient to bring digital images on a USB memory stick it is really nice to be able to handle prints. Printing adds another dimension to the appreciation of the images and provokes further discussion around technique and choice of material.

The themes we have explored so far have included self-portraits, photos of immediate family, close friends, and photos of other group member’s. We also had a workshop with Mike Heydon, a very experienced and award winning commercial photographer, at his studio.

The group has grown to 18 members and at this stage is not able to accept any more members. Space may become available when current members leave. If you have any questions please contact Philip Dyer, Co-coordinator, WPS Portrait SIG.