Guest Speaker: Darren Lewey (8pm Start)

Please note – 8pm start. Join us for an evening with guest speaker Darren Lewey. Darren will take us through some of the technical aspects of photographing both landscapes and portraits. 

Darren began taking photographs in the early 1980’s and printing in a makeshift darkroom at home. He went onto study photography, firstly on an art and design foundation course, before graduating with a degree in Photographic Studies in 1992 and an MSc in Film Production in 1994.

Photographing both landscape and portraiture using digital and large format film, his images are characterised by a high level of compositional and technical accomplishment. Based in Morocco, Darren explores the region for project related work, some of which you can view below. Darren first visited Morocco in 1991 to make a student film and take photographs in the Anti-Atlas Mountains. He returned in 1993 again for a student project, this time to Essaouira. During the 1990’s he made several visits to the town, making a documentary on an Englishwoman’s adventure with Gnawa music.

Darren is also qualified lecturer with a Postgraduate Diploma in Education and has several years experience planning and delivering courses in the UK. He is a passionate photographic educator running regular workshops and tours in Morocco and Spain since 2010.

Tonight, Darren will cover the following topics:

SHOOTING A LANDSCAPE LOCATION FOR THE FIRST TIME
Deciding on locations and researching. Reviewing on location and light processing. Working out a strategy based on first image failures. Planning out your week and setting a total image target. Lighting considerations. Compositional approaches. Making a book.

MAKING PORTRAITS OF STRANGERS
The background story to photographing the High Atlas nomads. Strategies for getting what I wanted. Shooting before and after ‘the moment’. Choosing subjects and basing an approach on limitations. Perseverance, patience and instant reviewing. The importance of your footprint. Reflections on the final series.