Photos from Southsea Seafront Photo Walkshop, First of 2023!

A huge thank you to everyone who came along to the first photo walkshop of 2023, a walk along some of the historical highlights of Southsea seafront!

We had some incredible weather and light, plus some frost on the ground too. Starting at The Rose Gardens we experimented with focusing with both smartphones and our cameras, looking to confidently control sharpness in our images. We then used the famous arch to experiment with leading the eye and natural framing, with people passing through the archway and the sun glinting on the flat blue Solent beyond. The grasses growing here also allowed us to develop an understanding on how the direction of light can change an image with differences in both contrast and colour.

From here we moved to the bright and colourful rows of beach huts and used a three shot rule or triptych approach to document a place and dig deeper in to the photo opportunities a place can hold. One great observation was how the light reflecting off the colourful doors gave the white panels next to the doors a colourful glow. Another was appreciating how the scene would change with shadows when the direction of sunlight would change at different times of the day.

Moving past the busy promenade and on the the beach we used an old 35mm film camera to see how aperture and shutter speed physically work and how we can use them creatively in our images. The blue sea also provided a beautiful subject when trying out different ways of using Rule of Thirds too.

Before we knew it the two hours had wizzed past and it was time for the now traditional group photo before we all headed off in different directions to continue our sunny Saturday. If you are interested in coming along yourself you can join in on one of the upcoming walkshops including: exploring The Camber, off to Emsworth, then a new route at Hilsea Lines, the shore wrecks at Portchester, meadows at Fishbourne and an evening of light painting and long exposure photography in Old Portsmouth. As always, these workshops are for all abilities and everyone is welcome. – Paul.