Beyond the Comfort Zone

The range of subject matter for club photography has become very narrow with many look-alike images. The Amersham Beyond Group encourages and challenges our members to break out of their comfort zone and explore new themes and techniques. This is our story illustrated by our surprising and creative images. 

Steve writes:

I bought my first SLR for a visit to Hong Kong in the 1970s. After joining Harrow Camera Club my knowledge of composition and camera controls developed into colour print-making. Moving to Amersham in 1983 I joined the Amersham Photographic Society where I have been a member (and past Chairman) ever since. An engineer by training and career, photography is, for me, the perfect combination of technical and aesthetic skills. Working in the USA for four years in the 1990s I learnt Photoshop, often visited Adobe in San Jose and experienced the exciting bow-wave of the digital revolution. Suddenly I had an unlimited toolbox to manipulate images and be creative. On my return to Amersham, I formed a Digital Group which I led for 20 years. My frustration with look-alike club photography slowly grew and I created The Amersham Beyond Group in 2019 to encourage experimentation and photo art. Despite success in competition I have avoided the traditional pursuit of photographic distinctions and gone my own way with visually distinctive images and creative digital techniques which I continue to offer in talks to interested groups.