Category Archives: U3AC Photography Courses

U3AC Photo Forum 2023-24 – Week 7

Posted on November 21, 2023 by Brian

Graham Wickens gave a presentation on Architectural Photography and Cityscapes, a genre going back to Nicephore Niepce and the birth of photography and running through the work of Berenice Abbott to the conceptual work of Hiroshi Sugimoto. The range of … Continue reading →

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U3AC Photo Forum 2023-24 – Week 6

Posted on November 14, 2023 by Brian

The aim of today was to build on the landscape session in week 3.  Members submitted around 40 of their photographs for viewing and discussion.  Locations ranged from the local (the Beechwoods, Coleridge Recreation Ground, Lammas Land, Jesus Green, the … Continue reading →

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U3AC Photo Forum 2023-24 – Week 5

Posted on November 7, 2023 by Brian

Members of the Forum were asked to submit two or three pictures by established photographers that they admire for this week.  Thirty seven pictures by 17 photographers were presented and discussed.  The photographers included Erin Babnik, Jane Bown, Ian Cameron, … Continue reading →

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U3AC Photo Forum 2023-24 – Week 4

Posted on October 31, 2023 by Brian

I did a presentation on reading/looking at photographs today.  I set the context with a quote from John Berger: ‘A photograph is a meeting place where the interests of the photographer, the photographed, the viewer, and those who are using … Continue reading →

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U3AC Photo Forum 2023-24 – Week 3

Posted on October 24, 2023 by Brian

Eleni Paliginis on landscape photography covering composition, timing (golden hour and blue light), previsualising and the technology.  Landscape photographs should have great depth of field with everything in focus. Success requires: low ISO settings, small apertures, a tripod and perhaps … Continue reading →

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U3AC Photo Forum 2023-24 – Week 2 Personal Choices

Posted on October 16, 2023 by Brian

For this week Tim asked us to present and talk about: a photograph by someone else we would be proud to have taken; and a picture of our own that we are pleased with. I chose Robert Frank’s Bar Gallop … Continue reading →

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U3AC Photo Forum 2023-24 – Week 1 Introduction

Posted on October 10, 2023 by Brian

I’ve signed up for the Photo Forum again this year.  It’s described in the U3AC’s course brochure as follows: ‘This course is a rejuvenation of the pre-pandemic Photo forum, in format and style. The aim is to provide an interactive, … Continue reading →

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U3AC Photography – Reading Photographs

Posted on April 29, 2023 by Brian

The five-week course I ran in February/March seems to have been well received.  Of the 64% of attendees who gave formal feedback 74% thought it was excellent and 26% good against a range of criteria, giving an overall approval rating … Continue reading →

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Photography and Painting

Posted on March 16, 2023 by Brian

In my recent U3A Cambridge courses on photography I’ve shown how photography and painting depict similar relationships in work created centuries apart.  Examples are: Dorothea Lange, Migrant Mother, 1936 and Raphael, Madonna of the Pinks, 1507; and W Eugene Smith, … Continue reading →

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U3A Cambridge 2022-23: Reading Photographs 5 – Open Discussion

Posted on March 14, 2023 by Brian

Yesterday saw the fifth and final session in my five week course on Reading Photographs. It was devoted to an open discussion of 13 photographs chosen by class members from a selection of thirty-one suggested by me.  The material fell … Continue reading →

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U3A Cambridge 2022-23: Reading Photographs 4 – Four Approaches to Reading Photographs

Posted on March 7, 2023 by Brian

I presented the fourth session in my five week course on Reading Photographs yesterday. We considered how five respected commentators approached the reading of photographs.  A quotation from John Berger was a starting point: A photograph is a meeting place … Continue reading →

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U3A Cambridge 2022-23: Reading Photographs 3 – Formal Qualities of Photographs

Posted on February 27, 2023 by Brian

I presented the third session in my five week course on Reading Photographs today. We considered how the formal qualities of photographs and how they are made affect our reactions and reading.  The aim was to draw out the ways … Continue reading →

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U3A Cambridge 2022-23: Reading Photographs 2 – Shaping our Reading

Posted on February 20, 2023 by Brian

I presented the second session in my five week course on Reading Photographs today.  This week we looked at what shapes our reading of photographs.  I suggested it depends on ourselves, the subject and the context; and our response may … Continue reading →

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U3A Cambridge 2022-23: Reading Photographs 1

Posted on February 15, 2023 by Brian

I presented the first session in my five week course on Reading Photographs on Monday.  The aim of the course is to improve the critical appreciation and understanding of the photographs around us in exhibitions, books, magazines, newspapers and online … Continue reading →

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U3AC Photography – Five Facets of Photography

Posted on April 29, 2022 by Brian

The five-week course I ran in March/April seems to have been well received.  Of the 62% of attendees who gave formal feedback 92% thought it was excellent and 8% good against a range of criteria, giving an overall approval rating … Continue reading →

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