On the way home from Bath, I took a minor detour to the outskirts of Bristol to visit the new HQ of the Royal Photographic Society (RPS). It is housed in a modern building in a new development, Paintworks. Formerly the site of a paint and varnish manufacturer, the factories fell into disuse and deterioration, until the site was bought in 2003 by a company called Verve Properties. They are steadily creating a mixed-use community, with housing, office space, creative businesses and public spaces co-existing. It's bright and vibrant and all rather interesting, though would perhaps appeal rather more to younger generations as a place to live. I found it all a bit 'cold' and hard, somehow.
It's all very sculptural, including the garden furniture and the lighting!
The RPS have their offices, exhibition space, and a small shop and café in the purple-clad building. I saw an exhibition called 'Squaring the Circles of Confusion: Neo-Pictorialism in the 21st Century'. There were exhibits by eight different photographers. I liked most of their work, though it's about as far from UK camera club photography as you could get! It always frustrates me that what 'does well' in club competitions is often far removed from the creative work that one sees in galleries and magazines, the RPS's own included.
I enjoyed the work of Susan Derges, whose 'tide pools' were beautiful and colourful. I couldn't work out how they were made, but I think she works directly with light-sensitive papers as well as a camera, and many of her images are composites.
I also loved the soft focus portraits and nudes shown by Céline Bodin, who takes her inspiration from Renaissance, Neo-Classical and Realist painters. If you put one of these in a camera club comp, I'm pretty sure the judge would say: 'It's blurred'!
In fact, here's one of mine that I took many years ago...and the judge said: 'It's blurred'! Well, yes... It's meant to be!
