Guest Speaker Wed 10th Jan 2018 – David Sadler

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‘Now for something completely different’

Having watched Monty Python over the holidays, the topic for this talk conjured up, exploding photographs as tactical weapons, and nudge, nudge, wink, wink, fine art images..know what I mean!! Would it deliver on the comedy front?

David is a Forensic Pathologist and is currently President of Dundee Photographic Society. So, there was bound to be some black humour and off the wall images.

One could have been disappointed when he advised the gathered members, there will be no landscapes, no wildlife and not still life. There would be some travel (around Dundee) and a lot photo in his kitchen. He was obviously going to show us some blending techniques.

David in a very self-deprecating manner took us through his photographic development and early attempts with the camera. He cut through the rights and wrongs of what a good image could be. Slicing up club judges for their lack of empathy, rigid constraints and lack of a Humerus bone in their body. A familiar Judge’s trait. When it comes to submitting an image for assessment there is no absolute certainty of the outcome. By this point his belligerent approach was gaining support and many, many laughs. He likes to make judges feel discomfort, disquiet and unease.

He emphasised, photos sometimes just happen, there is a lot of luck, which comes from being prepared. David is a keen fan of the punk and Ska bands, and there was a certain amount of Madness in David’s work. He is a keen skateboarder, many of his images capturing the moves incorporated. He likes to over process his images, giving gritty, contrasting tones, washed out colours, very much in keeping with the grunge look of skateboarding.

He shared many of his techniques in delivering some very quirky and funny images, all in keeping with his personality. Such was his enthusiasm for his personal style, he missed out an LRPS route and went direct to completing his ARPS. In this way he could describe in his portfolio statement they style he was adopting. Therefor there could be no critical comment on that front. In this way he achieved success.

This was a most enjoyable, thought provoking, funny, and overprocessed talk. The laughs were genuine, his comments heartfelt. It was easy to see why he resonated with so many people, with statements like, ‘Go your own way’ Be true to yourself and your creativity’, Club photography should be led by club photographers.