Recent Travel Group Events

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Recent Travel Group Events

1000Jamie In Action — **CREDIT:** Mike Longhurst FRPS

Exploitation vs Empathy: an open minded approach to photographing different cultures

Sunday January 21st 14.30(GMT) on Zoom

Jamie Furlong has spent the past 17 years living aboard his boat. He says:'Travelling by boat offers some unique advantages and I've learned some crucial lessons from travelling that, applied to my photography, have helped break down the barrier been photographer and subject. A result of my up-close approach has resulted not only in some privileged experiences, but an exchange between cultures too. My approach is just curiosity, not seeing new cultures as something to photograph for the scrapbook, but as people I want to understand better and get to know personally.'

Mike Longhurst FRPS who has travelled with Jamie writes: 'Having shot with you in Kerala, I know you get really close - right into the culture, make friends, share the life, relate and empathise. You are not exploitative or voyeuristic, but positive about what you see and how you present it. I think there are lessons for all of us in that.'

You can read about some of Jamie's experiences and see some of his photographs in the current edition of Travel Log.

The recording of this event is now online

View the presentation

The Namib Desert - A Photographic Journey

A presentation by Malcolm MacGregor FRPS FRGS

Sunday, 19th November 14.30 (UK time)

This presentation is about landscape photography in the Namib Desert and the Skeleton Coast, the main desert region of Namibia, which resulted in Malcolm’s latest book ‘The Namib’.

He aims to show what he tries to look for in the landscape, when embarking on a specific photographic project. It is not so much the image itself, but a feeling for space, light, connectedness, and intensity. Bringing the known and the unknown features of the Namib Desert and Skeleton Coast to life through photography.

Malcolm is an international landscape photographer, based in Scotland, who has worked in many parts of the world. His first book Wilderness Oman was published in 2002. This was followed by The Outer Hebrides and Mull, Iona and Staffa. He then worked on other projects in Oman and for the HALO Trust, a mine-clearance charity travelling to many war-torn countries. In calmer times he has photographed many heritage sites in Scotland such as castles and gardens. The Namib is his fifth book.

The recording of this event is now available

The Namib - a Photographic Journey

Journey to Romania - and how it led to more

Judy Ford LRPS who was awarded the Joan Wakelin Bursary in 2020 and her husband, Daryl (also LRPS) explain their 'connection' with Romania and the opportunities presented as a result.

Journey to Romania...

Spring Meeting and Travel Group AGM

Saturday 9th April 2022 9.45 BST

A morning of inspiration and involvement featuring:

An address by Evan Dawson, CEO of the Royal Photographic Society

Keynote speaker: Chris Coe, Founder and CEO of Travel Photographer of the Year

Annual Image of the Year winner announced by Dr. Hazel Frost FRPS, Chair of the Travel Distinctions Panel

If you were unable to join the meeting live, you can now hear both Evan Dawson's talk and Chris Coe's online

Spring Meeting 2022

600Chernobyl1 DSC2929 Copy — **CREDIT:** David Short ARPS

Chernobyl - Destruction and Recovery

Chernobyl - Destruction and Recovery recording

Preparing your images for publication or to enter competitions

This is a two-part presentation looking at the very different processes for preparing your work for publication and for entering (and winning!) prestigious competitions.

Kav Dadfar is a professional writer and travel and landscape photographer based in Surrey.

His travel images are represented by a range of high-end stock agencies and have been used widely.

During lockdown in 2020 he was the instigator of JRNY Travel Photography magazine which a number of Group members supported.

He is also a judge on one of the UK’s biggest travel photography contests, the Wanderlust Travel Magazine Photography of the Year competition.. Over the years he has written over 500 articles on travel or photography and has made presentations to a wide variety of audiences.

Preparing your images for publication or to enter competitions

Oncocua 800 — **CREDIT:** Hazel Frost FRPS

Travel Photography - an RPS Panel Perspective

This presentation by Hazel Frost FRPS and James Frost FRPS highlights the skill and techniques of the successful travel photographer, gives insight into tips for travelling as a photographer and shows how RPS Distinctions are part of the journey.

The presentation can be accessed here

Kingdom of the Ice Bear

Bob Johnson ARPS tells the story of his four week trip photographing polar bears from the Havsel - an old seal hunting boat. We hear about the famous old boat and her equally famous captain Bjorn Kvernmo and of course see the many bears they found on the polar ice cap.

A recording of the presentation and the question time can be found here

Red20190413 Dsc08689adjlr — **CREDIT:** Matt Parry

Shooting Cities

Making the (photographic) Most of your City Breaks with Matt Parry

Saturday 28 November 2020

Matt is an award-winning travel photographer who has written articles for some of the UK's leading photography magazines and blogs. He has presented videos on travel photography, given talks on both travel and film photography and led photo walks and workshops in the UK, USA and India. His most recent success was winning the 2018/19 travel category of the prestigious Outdoor Photographer of the Year (OPOTY).

Visit his website: www.mattparryphoto.com or Instagram: www.instagram.com/mattparryphotography to find out more.

The presentation

From bustling capital cities to quaint historic old towns, all over the world you can find numerous photographic opportunities in urban environments.

In this talk Matt covers his approach, planning, tips and techniques for making the most of your town and city breaks, whether in Europe or further afield.

All images copyright Matt Parry Photography

The link to view Matt's talk is here

Little Drummer Boy — **CREDIT:** Paul Sansome

The Art of Travel Photography

Paul Sansome has been a professional photographer for 18 years and one element of his work has been organising and leading photography holidays in many destinations. For Paul, the best thing in travel remains meeting people but in his photography he always looks to portray the world in a more artistic fashion. Earlier this year his style proved perfect for a category in the Travel Photographer of the Year competition, "The Art of Travel", and winning the category was the third year running that Paul featured in the resulting exhibitions. Paul's presentation will encompass the landscapes and people from destinations such as Vietnam, India and Iceland and he will try to express his approach to representing a sense of place in his travel photography..

A recording is available here

Be patient at the beginning: the black screen seems to last for ever!

The Art of Travel Photography

Iceland 2022

Photographic holidays in Iceland led by Paul Sansome.

Two trips exclusively for members of the Travel Group followed Paul's very well received talk to the Group in 2020.

Both visits took place in May 2022.

RPS Iceland Slideshow

Camargue White Horses and Gypsy Festival

May 2022

21 May 2021

Members travelled to France for the world renowned Annual Gypsy Festival and to photograph the famous Camague White Horses splashing through the shallow waters of the marsh, plus their guardians (cowboys) on horseback. A delicious combination of wildlife, street-life and portrait photography, with local experts who have exclusive access during the festival and to provate domain in the Camargue. The Gypsy Festival is full of rituals and traditions as Europe's Gypsies come together to celebrate their faith and culture.

DSC 8345 — **CREDIT:** Robert Akester LRPS

Safely Back from Brazil

A group of seven Travel Group members recently returned from an exhilarating 11 days in Northeastern Brazil. We travelled in planes, minibuses, 4x4s, quad bikes, motor boats, a ferry and canoes. We saw two Unesco World Heritage Site cities with old colonial buildings. We saw two National Parks, with unique landscapes. We saw wildlife, and in particular thousands of Scarlet Ibises coming in to roost for the evening at an island in the world’s third largest delta. We saw street parties and kite surfers. The local food and drink went down well, from fresh lobsters and shrimps to churrascaria and caipirinhas. The local people were charming and the accommodation generally very comfortable. Altogether a very successful trip to a part of the world that deserves to be better known and fully justifies its nickname the ‘Route of Emotion’.

The City and beyond: a photowalk in and around the City of London

The City and beyond

February 15th 2024

Led by Justin Cliffe ARPS we will enjoy the variety of locations available to us, catching the atmosphere of a working day as city workers going about their business mix with sightseers.

Whether the financial district or the ‘foodie’ atmosphere of Borough Market, there’s a lot to be seen in the streets of London on a busy weekday. That’s why Justin, who was awarded an ARPS in 2019 for a panel of images focussed on the Square Mile, has chosen to offer this workshop on a weekday. There will be more to see and to photograph than at the weekend.

The pace will be leisurely and the company good!

There are 8 places available at £10 each. The activity will start at 10.30 (to allow off-peak travel for those who are fairly local). As the days are quite short at that time of the year, those who wish to do so would be able to take some ‘night’ shots in the late afternoon.

This is a real opportunity for a small group of members to have a day out together with their cameras, sharing ideas about effective ways of photographing a busy city.

Think of it as 'Travel Photography meets Street Photography'.

Walking the Regents Canal

The first canal walk for the Travel Group started at Limehouse DLR Station. We met at 11:00 am and made our way to Limehouse Basin. DLR trains travelled on the tracks near a backdrop of London’s financial district and there was a good chance to capture a sense of place. The basin was filled with moored canal boats and there were signs of construction nearby.

As we continued along the canal, the path was rather quiet but this was an invaluable opportunity in getting members to interact and to socialise as we all know that photography can often be a solitary experience.

There were three main parts to this first walk: Tower Hamlets, Hackney and Islington. The original plan was to stop at Hackney but we kept on going until Islington where the path is cut off by a tunnel.

There was a lot of activity at the locks and some interaction with locals jogging, cycling or walking the paths and many great opportunities for location shots and eclectic ones.

We stopped off at a pub – the Lord Tredegar - away from the path and apparently the site of one of the first bombs to be dropped on the East End in WW2 - and later had lunch on Broadway market. Both interesting experiences!

I had opened this canal walk up to the public and there were other people from different cultures and professional backgrounds, which is always welcome on any walk that I organise. This was my first time conducting this part of the canal walk. I have led walks from Islington to Regents Park before, so I learnt a lot about the area and will take on board feedback from this one. 

Elephants and Cha-Cha-Cha

On the 'Book Bus'

A small group of intrepid Travel Group members recently returned from a two week trip to a remote part of Zambia and Malawi, the first week of which was spent volunteering with the ‘Book Bus’ charity. Elephants were a particular feature of the week not only wandering through the Safari Camp we stayed in, causing chaos and mayhem, but also in the books we read to the children.

Each volunteer had two groups of 6-8 children, the first in Grade 4 (aged 10-11), the second in Grade 7 (aged 13-14). With the Grade 4s we read to them a selection of English children’s books and then got them to read out loud the story themselves.

At the end of the week each group read a book in front of the other groups as well as being encouraged to act out some of the story which included doing the ‘cha-cha-cha’.

With the children in Grade 7 we did a photographic project. Not many of them had seen a camera before, let along an I-pad, but they quickly grasped the basic mechanics of taking a photograph and over four days they took photos showing “A Day in My World”.

On the fifth day the images were exhibited in the classroom and they spoke about what they had learnt. This project enabled us to visit a village and speak to some of the people living there, thus giving us an insight into their lives. It was a privilege to be able to do so.