Presentation Events

Janey Devine FRPS: having had a career in IT, Janey was an early convert to digital photography, and bought one of the first digital cameras in 1998. Experimenting with a number of techniques she strived to produce an “impression” of the landscape, and was awarded her Fellowship of the Royal Photographic Society in 2008 with a panel of images taken in East Anglia. Her work though is now more focussed on documentary projects, in particular locally based long term projects. Janey was invited to join the Arena Group of photographers in 2016 and is also a member of the Focus Group.

Presentation: recently Janey has been working on a long term documentary project looking at some of the key issues affecting our city centres today. She will explain how the project developed, and how some decisions led her to rethink where the project was going. She will also talk about some of the challenges of taking environmental portraits, and how her photographic style has developed over the course of the project. Janey will also show some images from recent trips to the USA, and look at various different ways of sharing travel photography. Producing books is an important part of Janey’s work, and she will show a number examples of producing work in book format.

Janey is an exceptional photographer with an unusual style. An opportunity to learn about photography very different from the typical club scene.

Philip Joyce FRPS: Philip has exhibited solely and jointly and been published in books, journals, and magazines. Philip holds a medal from the London Salon (2004) and was a shortlisted photographer in the Sony World Photography Awards (2016 and 2024). As a Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society, he is a member of the Awards Assessment Panel and the Thames Valley Region Co-ordinator for the Documentary Group. Philip is a member of the f8 documentary magazine team and co-founder of the ox1collective, an international group of street and documentary photographers based in Oxford. Philip leads workshops and teaches photography to adult learners at Abingdon & Witney College.website: www.philipjoycephotography.co.uk. Also, he is a member of Arena Photographers Group Members – Arena Photographers

Presentation
Short Stories - Philip looks at subjects including tattoos, street life, Rock & Roll (including Elvis), meeting strangers, being a dog, gipsy communities and Pride events, amongst others. With a documentary sensibility Philip will talk about his story-telling approach, delivered through a street photography style. Covering a wide range of topics, how he engages with his subjects and adds a personal element through composition and viewpoint.

Why Look at Animals? – Philip will talk about a life-long interest in zoos and his photography, including a project that led to his FRPS

Afternoon:
Philip will conclude the short stories and then present
“The things I don’t normally show” – where, especially for Woosehill, he will present work on topics he is not known for. Finally, there will be discussion with Q&A

Philip’s photography is unusual, exciting and often unconventional with a wide range of subjects. He has promised to present work on topics he does not normally show, to add an element of surprise.

Leigh Preston FRPS EFIAP MPAGB: Leigh has been taking pictures for over forty years. His work has been mainly thematic, making images as a series. He has a relatively specific approach to his choice of what to photograph and relies heavily on atmospherics, dramatic lighting and strong storylines to convey an individual style. A lot of his personal work is taken either in isolated places or of buildings and landscapes that are well past their ‘sell-by’ date. A lot of his work is monochrome, using both digital and darkroom processes, depending on the ‘feel’ he wants from the finished print. He has two FRPS awards, is a member of the London Salon Arena Photographers Group Members – Arena Photographers.

Presentation
The morning will be a workshop style presentation which will link into the more lecture style talk in the afternoon. The ‘workshop’ part is mainly about why he has taken certain pictures, including the thoughts, the previsualisation, the RAW file as taken, followed by post processing to reach the desired expression. In addition, there is plenty about Personal Vision, use of picture space, involvement, the intuitive approach or the more considered approach, along with aspects of influence, narrative and design. The afternoon will comprise a thematic approach, so that Leigh can show sequences and variations on a theme. He works with Urban settings, sometimes after dark or industrial in content, sometimes abstract, alongside mountain or wilderness landscapes both the wider and more intimate situations, reportage style portraiture and street pictures that are about character & humour.

Leigh is very experienced and well known photographer with a wide variety of styles, including the very unusual and humorous. This promises to be day of surprises and instruction.