The Cambridge Camera Club’s Annual Exhibition has been on show at the Pitt Press building this week. With 208 mounted prints and 257 projected digital images (PDIs) it embraces all that’s good and bad about the camera club world.
On the good side here are a lot of people (including juniors from age 11) enjoying photography; and they are getting out and about to all sorts of places to indulge their passion. The results of their efforts include some fine, revealing images; and the technical standard is very high. While the PDIs outnumber prints, the exhibition fully confirms primacy of a fine print as the ultimate realisation of the photographer’s art.
On the bad side here is the inevitable and predictable parade of mountains, misty woods, moody seascapes, spiral staircases and cheesy portraits. Most wildlife pictures are interesting if you are interested in wildlife, but many do not rise above mere illustration. High technical standards do not rescue dull pictures, whether of moth or mountain. Oh, and please, please spare us the laboured twee titles – a factual caption is all that’s needed.
Somewhere in this curate’s egg is a decent exhibition struggling to get out. My highlight: the work of Caroline Brown, see http://www.cambcc.org.uk/CCC.main/GalleryItem/Gallery?gid=10597&r=g&s=n
Photos: Cambridge Camera Club Annual Exhibition, Pitt Press Building, Cambridge, April 2017