THURSDAY 6th JANUARY
THE DRAGON IN MONOCHROME
MARGARET SALISBURY FRPS MFIAP FIPF FSITTP FSINWP APAGB AWPF
Our first meeting of 2022 was something different, Margaret Salisbury’s talk was accompanied for the most part by monochrome images. She began the evening by telling everyone attending the zoom meeting how she started her photography journey and stated she ‘got hooked’ after printing her first darkroom image of Welsh ponies.
Margaret spoke quite openly about the choices she made when taking a photograph and explained the techniques she had used in post processing to make her final image. Her preference is to print all her images and she explained that choosing the correct paper plays a huge part in the presentation of the subject.
Margaret likes texture to show in her images and feels that this really comes to the fore in monochrome. Images of the Welsh slate valleys and their long gone industries in a single colour really showed the rawness of this harsh landscape. She also demonstrated the difference just a single colour makes by displaying three different final images (colour, sepia and monochrome) of the same photograph of the Taj Mahal. Although ninety nine percent of Margaret’s presentation was monochrome she explained that she always shoots in colour and converts to monochrome, occasionally leaving just one colour in the image to give real impact.
Light plays a huge part in Margaret’s landscape photography and she is prepared, and has the patience, to wait for the right moment in order to grab her shot. She will also just pick up her camera and ‘shoot’ when the opportunity arises, even if it means stopping the car at the side of the road or getting the driver to slow down on the motorway.
Over the past twenty or so years Margaret and her husband have travelled far and wide and her portraits of the people, especially children, of Ethiopia were stunning as were the charming landscapes of New Zealand.
For Margaret it’s not just composing, taking and printing her picture it’s more about the story behind each image and in her own words ‘ your photography should always remind you or your experience and bring back wonderful memories’.