Amateur Photographer 05/07/2022

TREASURES FROM THE HULTON ARCHIVE Straw Boaters by Fox Photos A big pile of straw boaters being carried by an employee at a hatters. Boaters became popular during the late 19th and early 20th century, and were derived from the hats that were originally worn by the gondoliers in Venice, Italy. Boaters were worn by both men and women – with the designer, Coco Chanel, making them particularly fashionable during the early 1900s. The Getty Images Hulton Archive is one of the world’s great cultural resources. Tracing its origins to the founding of the London Stereoscopic Company in 1854, today it houses over 80 million images spanning the birth of photography to the digital age. Explore it at www.gettyimages.com.…

Macro became very popular during the lockdowns as people became ‘gods of small things’ around their house and garden, and this shows no sign of waning. In our macro special we push beyond the obvious subjects and techniques, sharing alternative approaches, the best budget accessories and lighting, and how to take outstanding shots on your smartphone, while we also have Andy Westlake’s review of the tiny full-frame Laowa 85mm f/5.6 2x Ultra Macro APO. Top portrait photographer Rankin gets in on the act too, revealing his characteristically quirky approach to close-ups during the lockdown. If you’re attracted to macro, never assume it’s expensive, as we also round up the best secondhand macro lenses – essential reading for these straitened times. Enjoy the issue and don’t forget to subscribe. Geoff Harris,…

Where Have All The Flowers Gone Martin Parr Foundation, Paintworks, Bristol Until 10 July This series of naked portraits by artist and photographer Tom Hunter were taken in the summers of 2017 and 2019 during the Glastonbury Festival. Using a makeshift photobooth, Tom asked the festival-goers to reimagine the liberation of the first Summer of Love in the late 1960s and embrace the freedom of nudity. You can view a selection of the portraits at the Martin Parr Foundation; timed to coincide with this year’s Glastonbury Festival. Tom will also be at the festival, shooting a new series which will be incorporated into the exhibition. Also on display are images taken by Tom’s mother Sheelagh Hunter using a Box Brownie at the famous Isle of Wight Festival in 1970 – Tom’s own images are…

LETTER OF THE WEEK Jimmy Forsyth The late Jimmy Forsyth was one of the North East’s best-known documentary photographers. His pictures of the now long-gone Scotswood community and other West End working-class areas in Newcastle just bristle with the cold stark atmosphere of the times in which they were taken. Jimmy was more interested in picture content than in the camera he used to capture them. Many of his shots may be a bit awry technically, but they’re a superb reminder of an era now passed into history. I once chatted to Jimmy in Newcastle’s Grainger Market in 1988 where he was using an old Ilford Sportsman camera as well as a Russian Lubitel TLR. To him, getting the shot was all that counted and he told me he had little interest in…

Photographic artist Jennifer McKinnon spends much of the year searching the streets in and around Atlanta for dumpsters. These unsightly waste containers can be found lurking behind shopping malls, sitting on construction sites and blocking people’s driveways. At first, she was attracted to them due to their unusual (and aesthetically pleasing) markings – a result of natural and unnatural weathering – but over time she came to realise that her images could be used to highlight the impact that waste and consumption has on the natural world. Her early ‘dumpster abstracts’ have instant graphic appeal: bands of colour sweep across the frame giving them the air of contemporary paintings. But in recent months she has been focusing more on digital composites – layering multiple abstracts in one image. ‘Think collage,…

Adopt a beginner’s mind If we adopt a childlike curiosity, even the most commonplace objects and scenes reveal their photographic potential. Marvel at your subject’s colour, shape and texture, look at the way the light emphasises its form, consider the positive and negative space. Embrace uncertainty If we embrace uncertainty, we can find mystery and fascination in the familiar. Think like an explorer: go down a street you’ve never been down, open a drawer and photograph the first thing you see. In other words, welcome the unexpected. Meditate on an object Spend 20 minutes observing your subject – even if it appears static. Observe the way that light and shade reveal its contours and texture. Look with a sense of awe and astonishment. Don’t take any pictures to begin with, just observe. Ask ‘what if?’ Take an…