Edinburgh Photographic Society - International Exhibition of Photography 2010

The last of the three exhibitions that I visited in Edinburgh last month was the 148th International Exhibition of Photography organized by Edinburgh Photographic Society. The exhibition showed about 200 photographs from forty countries. The nature and range of the images was typical of club photography these days.

I made notes of several of the entries where the composition seemed interesting.

Winters day - Robert Fulton

This is a stunning winter landscape in which the dark waters of a river in the foreground contrast with a snowy scene. The horizontal perspective lines of the river are bounded by triangular snowy banks, with a single tree in the left middle distance. There is an implied triangle of snow covered water reeds set in the dark waters of the river. The sky has horizontal bands of blue-grey cloud which are reflected in the mid-distance water. The visual impact is stunning. Whilst the scene looks unreal and rather "photographic", it was one of my favorites in the exhibition.

Days of despair - John Powell

A total contrast to the previous picture, this photograph appears to show a tense situation in someones private life, in a gritty realistic way. The scene is an interior decorated in a post-war style. In the right foreground is an older woman wearing a floral pinafore staring fixedly to the right of the lens as if she is angry about something. We see her from the waist up, as if we were standing right by her side. In the soft focus background is a man with his hands in his pockets with a rather resigned air. It is not clear whether this is a real scene or a staged scene. The narrative is as clear however as if we were seeing actors on a stage or in a film. Indeed the use of black and white is rather reminiscent of a 60's art-house film.

We can make it - John Powell

Another photograph of gritty realism by the same photographer. This time the subject is a military-style assault course. Again there is a figure in the right foreground clambering out of a water filled trench who has muddy rivulets running over his head and face. In the soft focus background we can see the tops of the heads of four others struggling through the trench under a low barbed wire barrier. Again the use of black and white is rather reminiscent of an old war film. The layout of the frame is remarkably similar to the previous photograph but it is the expression of determination and effort on the face of the man in the foreground which makes the picture in my view.

Serving Tsampa by Petr Vydra

A black and white photograph of a boy serving liquid out of a bucket to three older men in a third world country. On the right hand side, we see the profile of a man sitting on the floor holding his mug to receive a ladleful. The back of his head and shoulders are lit from a doorway on the right hand side and a little reflected light is catching the features of his face. The boy is standing, bent over the bucket near the center of the frame. His face and side are catching the light from the door. In the background on the left hand side two men are sitting already drinking the liquid. The room is totally bare, and this could be a room in a buddhist monastery or simply a village scene.

Unlike John Powells photographs above, the men's faces express no emotion. If anything they have a stoical quality. The viewers eye is drawn through the picture in an s-shape following the faces and bodies of the men from front right across and back into the frame. The lighting of the figures create a succession of vertical dark and light bands across the frame, so that there is strong contrast between each of the individual figures.

Silver Fields by Irene Froy

Unfortunately, I could find no copy of this specific photograph that I could link to. Irene Froy's gallery on her website has similar photographs of fields and beaches with etherial lighting. This one is a black and white picture of a landscape taken from a high viewpoint. We are looking down from a distance over an undulating field of grass or crops which is back lit. The sunlight is catching the tops of the crops. There is a solitary tree and its shadow just left of centre as a resting spot for the eye. In contrast to the Winter's Day photograph above, there seems to be greater realism in this photograph. It is possible to imagine finding a place that looks like this. This was the only photograph that I picked out which had been selected as Highly Commended by the EPS judges.

Conclusion

The standard of photography in the exhibition was generally excellent. There were many more photographs that I thought were worthy of note.

However, I was less impressed by some of the prize-winning photographs. In particular a photograph of the corner of a side-table with cup on it against a plain wall seemed uninteresting visually and emotionally.