In early October this year, along with roughly three hundred other keen photographers, I went to Bright to take part in the second BFOP (Bright Festival of Photography).
It was a thrilling weekend for many reasons – I met a lot of new people (in particular the Fuji Aus members who attended this year) and many others who were in the workshops I chose. The range of workshops on offer was extraordinary – starting each morning with sunrise shoots and ending each day with sunset and astro workshops.There were several workshops focused on portraiture, including wedding and food photography and environmental portraits. And of course there was plenty of landscape photography.
I decided to explore a few different workshops and one that I enjoyed greatly was Photo Books with MGA. I’ve made photo books for some years, mainly documenting family gatherings and special occasions, and I was keen to take this a little further. We had been asked to bring along a selection of photos and during the workshop we made our own individual books, having spent some time looking at examples of prize-winning photo books which sell for hundreds of dollars. Early that morning I had taken a few photos before sunrise around the airbnb where we were staying and these ended up being the focus of my book – my early morning walk. I learnt a great deal, in particular that less is more – you don’t need a photo on every page, and nor do the pages need to look the same. Since then I have completed a book of birds along these principles, and I’m delighted with it.
One of the best things about the festival was the extraordinary quality of the presenters – all very successful photographers who gave generously of their time and knowledge and appeared to be enjoying themselves, however exhausted they must have been. All day there were interesting presentations in the marquee. The organisers, Matt Krumins and Nick Fletcher, did an amazing job organising the event.
I hadn’t been to Bright in over twenty years – I loved it and it was a perfect spot for the festival, particularly as we could all meet for meals and coffees in Bright Brewery.
Below is a photo of a lone tree shrouded in early morning mist – taken at about 5.30 am!