Presentation by Julie Skelton, Professional Garden Photographer
We were very lucky to be joined by Julie Skelton, who talked to us about her approach to garden photography. Julie specialises in garden photography and her work has featured in many publications. One major achievement is her contribution to the book "A Year of Colour" by the garden designer Ann Marie Powell, for which she worked with Ann Marie extensively to capture a garden throughout the year.
Julie talked about her approach and one of the key take away messages was the importance of light. Light at either end of the day allows you to pick out the texture and form of plants, in preference to light in the middle of the day, which is often too harsh to show the fine detail of the petals or leaves. This of course does require some planning, especially if you can only access gardens during public opening times. Julie suggested that there are ways to access gardens by contacting the owners, particularly those in the National Gardens Scheme. Consideration of light may also lead you to visiting gardens in winter, when the opening times are more likely to coincide with morning and evening light.
Another drawback of accessing public gardens is the presence of other people - this requires patience to wait for people to pass, once you have set up your shot!
Here are some photos from Julie's portfolio
(all pictures are Copyright: Julie Skelton)
Julie's photographs include a wide range of approaches, from macro, and close up to the wider shots. She emphasised the importance of composition, using leading lines, S-shaped paths, and the golden spiral, for example, to draw the viewer's eye into the picture.
Following our coffee break Julie very kindly offered some critique to members' garden pictures. As always from our members there was a wide variety of approaches to the prompt of garden photography. There were macro photographs that emphasised the detail of the flowers, to wider views of garden, evoking feelings of peace. Here are just a few examples of those that we looked at.
ⓒCraig Purvis
ⓒCaroline Howe
ⓒAmanda Gregory
ⓒTony Bamford
ⓒRob Macklin
ⓒPhiliip Male
ⓒJulia Lloyd-Parks
ⓒAnn Horne
