Tired of clinically perfect, sterile images?
 
If you want to learn how to break the rules of traditional photography and give yourself permission to play, this recording is exactly what you need.
 
I was absolutely delighted to welcome community favourite Rose Atkinson ARPS back to the Camversation screen for her completely rewritten and expanded presentation. Rose has spent the last year entirely revising this talk, introducing a massive selection of fresh, inspiring imagery alongside deep explanations of her personal processes.
 
This is not a rigid, technical lecture; instead, it is a warm, personal journey showing how Rose injects her own feelings, soul, and unique artistry into the frame. Whether you want to master the painterly sweeps of intentional camera movement or dive into the tactile world of alternative analogue processes, Rose has a wonderfully encouraging style that will leave you buzzing to get out with your camera.
 
Here are some of the comments shared by our community during the session:
Lorna from Canada mentioned that it was a sublime, inspiring, and generous presentation, and that she absolutely loved the intentional camera movement cathedral photos.
Linda confessed that she did not think she liked abstract photography, but she certainly does now after seeing the beauty of Rose's portfolio.
Renee shared that the evening could easily have been split into three separate sessions because there was such an excellent depth of creative content.
Caroline noted that the evening was deeply inspirational and reminded us all that photographers simply need to give themselves permission to play.
Katie explained that she went straight down the projector and pinhole lens rabbit hole, only to find herself falling down another wonderful path as soon as alternative processes were mentioned.
Sue even added that spending the evening learning from Rose was much better than watching the football.
 
What you will discover in this presentation
Rose covers an extraordinary range of creative techniques during this two-hour session, explaining how she moves past literal records of a scene to focus purely on mood, form, line, and emotion. In this session she shares:
Altered Realities: How to find unusual viewpoints using simple, everyday surroundings, including upside-down puddle reflections on the South Bank and creating alternative moons using vintage bokeh techniques.
Intentional Camera Movement (ICM): Vertical wiggles, painterly swipes, and the fascinating steering wheel movement Rose used to capture the acoustic resonance of the organ inside Wells Cathedral.
Multiple Exposures and Blending: Rose shares examples of shapes, subjects and textures directly in-camera using four distinct blend modes, including additive, average, bright, and dark settings.
The Creative Lens Rabbit Hole: Learn why Rose stepped away from clinically perfect modern optics to embrace the gorgeous imperfections, soft edges, and unique character of Lens Baby optics, modified Helios lenses, and vintage Russian slide projector lenses.
Extreme Distortion: See her latest experiments with an ultra-wide six millimetre fisheye lens used to completely warp, bend, and recreate architectural lines.
Tactile Alternative Processes: Rose touches on the historic world of analogue creation, including standard cyanotypes, wet cyanotypes mixed with turmeric, vinegar, and salt, and the delicate art of lifting Polaroid emulsion onto watercolour paper.
 
A personal note from Mark
Rose is one of the most wonderful people you could ever hope to meet in the photography world. She has such a generous spirit and a genuine passion for helping others find their creative voice. Having used some of her vintage lenses myself during our community meet-up in Wells last December, I can tell you that her creativity is completely infectious. We are incredibly lucky to have her as part of our Camversation family, and I know you are going to love spending an evening with this recording.