It was an honour to be given a full 2 hour session at Leamington Photography Society. It was also a relief to see the room was full with 60 interested faces, who asked plenty of interesting (and occasionally challenging!) questions throughout the talk.
The talk, tailored to Leamington Photography Society’s specific interests, combined aspects from lots of other talks that I have given in the past at places such as Destinations Travel Show and at immersive evenings for travel companies.
Giving the travel photography talk at Leamington Photographic Society
I talked a bit about the transition I made, taking the plunge from being an accountant to being a full time travel photographer, and then gave lots of stories behind some of my favourite photos. The talk incorporated photos from all over the world, but I particularly focussed on images from one exhibition titled ‘Tales from Latin America’. Into all this, I wove tips on landscape, portrait, street and general destination photography, while also emphasising the importance of being proactive in telling stories, rather than focussing on single images.
Example slides, where I was talking about the importance of photographing around a subject and not just focusing on their face when doing travel portraiture. Photos taken in Myanmar.
I used photos from a trip to canoe across Scotland to talk about story-telling.
I showed how having techniques such as slow shutter speeds at your fingertips can add some energy to scenes, such as in these photos from Myanmar below where you can see the wheel spinning.
We had some really interesting chats during the interval and at the end too. With a lot of the audience in their senior years, I was really pleased they got the message that you don’t need to go on a 100km hike into the wilderness to capture interesting photos. My favourite challenge to set people during photography talks like this, or on my photography workshops and holidays is to take an article I wrote about 30 tips and tricks for creative compositions and to try them all out during an everyday activity such as shopping, watch a family member play sport or just walking the dog in the park. Having lots of techniques at your fingertips will mean that when you are presented with that once in a lifetime opportunity, you are able to capture it in a unique way.
We talked about landscape photography tips, and how having a personal project (such as my 6 minute exposure study) can help guide your eye to take more unique images. Photo taken at Whangapoua Beach in New Zealand.
Talking about photography is something that I could do 24:7, 365 days a year, so while they can require a lot of preparation, jobs like this one are always a pleasure!
I have given talks for schools, travel shows, travel companies and photography societies, so if you have any kind of travel or photography event coming and fancy going on an adventure through my photography, then do get in touch!