A Show of Quality Prints

The first visit by Alan Robson FRPS. APAGB, to the Scunthorpe camera Club will certainly not be his last. Alan joined the Selby Photographic Society in 1979, where he is the Exhibition Secretary. Alan is also President of the Yorkshire Photographic Union.

Accompanied by his wife Judith, who kindly handed him the prints, Alan went on to say he enjoyed photographing people and being a retired GP he certainly has been in touch with people all his working life.

Sports photography became a main interest and Alan showed some superb monochromprints of Selby Table Tennis players, where he always managed to catch the white ball with the player’s dark top as the background.
A set of white-water canoeing photographs had been taken by Alan standing on a rock in the water and not managing to fall in!

Alan said he takes pictures for himself and if judges like his work when entered in competitions, that makes the effort all worth-while.

Alan said he very rarely uses a tripod as it is just one more thing to bother with when seeking a good viewpont. He uses a digital single lens reflex, hand held, for most of his shots but has a 5 x 4 monorail to use when he wants the ultimate in quality.

He, and his wife, Judith are keen cyclist and have cycled up to the Orkneys in easy stages. They have been to Scandinavia and France [where their son lives] seeking stunning images. When on the Orkneys Alan photographed the inside of the Italian Church built by Italian Prisoners of War and he showed his coloured print of it. He said took him ages to set up his 5 x 4 monorail, took pains to get the lighting right and the exposure etc correct and Judith just came up with her digital compact and snapped the scene. He showed a print of her image alongside his and admitted he could hardly tell the difference!

Harness Racing near York has been a favourite photographic subject for Alan and he showed some wonderful photographs of the horses galloping around the track.

Whilst in Tasmania Alan and Judith were surprised to find a 14^th century stained glass window which apparently came from Battle Abbey in England.

Going to a Colourscape fun area Alan produced some interesting pictures of people wearing bright colours which showed up very well in the different coloured areas of the large balloon type areas.

One of his favourite countries to visit to photograph people is India as Alan said they always seem to look serene and peaceful. Again Alan showed some wonderful monochrome prints of Indian people at their work. No holiday to India would be complete without a visit to the Taj Mahal and he showed a wonderful photograph taken early in the morning before the crowds were there.

To finish the evening Alan put up his FRPS panel of prints on the board for all to see. Alan and Judith’s daughter is a music therapist, working with very young children with learning difficulties, and she asked her dad if he would take some photographs for their records and also for publicity.

The faces and expressions Alan captured of the children whilst listening to the music being played to them on different instruments was wonderful and being a Doctor Alan appreciated how much the children had benefited from this type of therapy. President John thanked Alan and Judith for a very interesting and enlightening evening and hoped to see them both in the not too distant future.