Water with Derek Gale

Water is everywhere, which is exactly why most of us stop noticing it! Derek Gale has spent years training his eye the other way: looking at a puddle, a canal or the sea and seeing something worth stopping for.

In this session Derek takes us through the many faces of water as a subject: still water and moving water, and how one change to your shutter speed decides which one you get. The sea in its different moods. What happens when other things interact with water. And, for anyone feeling adventurous, how a bit of camera movement and some carefully chosen bokeh can turn ripples and reflections into something close to psychedelic.

This isn't a talk about chasing waterfalls on holiday. It's about the water you already walk past.

Who would enjoy this?

Anyone with water nearby, which is nearly everyone, and who wants to turn it into something more than a pretty snap. No special kit required. Derek's approach works with whatever you already carry.

Things you can take away

How shutter speed changes everything. The same stretch of water can look perfectly still or full of motion, and the choice between them is entirely yours once you know where to look.

Where to find water worth photographing. Beyond the obvious sea and lake shots: puddles, rain, reflections, and what happens when something else interacts with the water.

Derek's own techniques for pushing further. Camera movement, subject movement and bokeh, the tools he uses to take an ordinary ripple into something closer to abstract art.

About Derek

"I love looking for the less obvious," Derek says, "using techniques such as camera movement, subject movement, and bokeh to produce abstract images. Oh, and I'm a bit of a Macro fan too..."

That's the whole talk in one line, really. Derek's a familiar face at Camversation, his sessions on close-up and macro photography and on movement in photography were both fan favourites and this one grew out of a conversation we had at the Photography Show.

From Mark

I got talking to Derek about this exact talk at the Photography Show, and I've been looking forward to it ever since. He has a knack for taking a subject everyone thinks they already understand and showing you the part you weren't looking at. I always enjoy listening to him, and I think you will too.

PLEASE NOTE:

We have moved the start time to 7:30pm due to the solar eclipse!