One exciting feature of the upcoming PPS season is our new novice development programme. After last year’s pilot scheme, this year we’re offering a more structured support to members who identify as novice photographers. Check out our Novices page and see some more Before and After images from our current ‘novices’.
Meanwhile, you can get a taste of what we do at our current exhibition at Birnam Arts, which runs until Sun 08 Oct (closed Thu 05 Oct). Around half of the images on display are by members who have been in our pilot novice group! We have Meet the Artists days on: Fri 29 Sep; Tue 03 Oct; Fri 06 Oct.
We all like a good photo, do we not – but do the photos we take match what we feel when we take them? How can we convey ‘that moment’ better?
Many PPS Members have found that joining a club gives them greater insight into how to take and make a good photo.
Our exhibition in Birnam Arts has over 50 prints, with another 70+ digital images on display – and around half of these are by new members who have never exhibited before.
“Following my dream trip to Antarctica in December 22 I joined the Perthshire Photographic Society, which has greatly helped me to grow my photography skills through the support, guidance, and inspiration of other members” – Nicole
“Until now, I have never shown any of my photographs to anyone other than my family and friends. I do enjoy photography, and thanks to my PPS mentor, I now have the confidence to show some of my images” – Paul
You can catch their work at our current exhibition at Birnam Arts, which runs until 08 Oct.
On Wednesday 20 Sep you will be able to meet some of the artists with work on the wall in our exhibition at Birnam Arts.
Ian and John will again have a few co-artists available most of the day to show you round, answer questions, talk to you about photography, point you to the cafe, and more!
They’re just some of the 20 artists exhibiting prints between now and 08 Oct.
Watch out for other dates, with other artists to speak to, during the exhibition’s run. You can of course visit at other times too, whenever the gallery is open.
This Thursday at Birnam Arts you can visit our exhibition, and meet some of the artists with work on the wall.
Ian, John and Bob will be available most of the day to show you round, answer questions, talk to you about photography, point you to the cafe, and more!
They’re three of the 22 artists exhibiting prints between now and 08 Oct.
Perthshire Photographic Society is one of the oldest of its kind in Scotland, maybe even the UK. Lots of PPs members are very experienced photographers.
We have been closely involved with Birnam Arts for many years, running a biennial exhibition of work until Sun 08 Oct 23. The 2023 exhibition is in place, and was informally opened on Saturday with a gathering of almost 50 members and their significant others.
But this year, something is different. In 2023, many of our exhibitors are new to PPS, some are even new to photography, and are showing their work, in public, for the very first time. For many people it is quite a daunting challenge – to print your picture, get it framed and hang it on a gallery wall for strangers to look at. This year, more than half of our prints are by people who have never exhibited in public before. Come along. Take a look at the pictures and give your feedback.
The prints are just upstairs from the cafe, which is itself an ideal destination for light meals and snacks, and quick to get to from Perth now all the lanes on the A9 are fully open. Also accessible by train!
Perthshire Photographic Society’s biennial exhibition of members’ work will be running at Birnam Arts in Birnam, from 09 Sep – 08 Oct.
We’re asking members and supporters to help spread the word by picking up some printed publicity materials and arranging for them to be displayed somewhere visible to suit the timing of the show. .
We have both posters and flyers, available for collection during opening hours at e-Computers on Kinnoull Street, where ace photographer/ proprietor Chas has them stashed under the counter.
The A4 posters are intended for anywhere willing to put up something of this size – take a couple if you think you can can find a prominent location for them.
The A5 flyers are double-sided, suitable for putting out as a pile, handing out to those interested, or displaying both sides as a pair – take a dozen or two.
More news of the exhibition itself will follow over the coming weeks…..
Here we publish details of all our visiting speakers, plus a Quick Calendar, linking to a fuller look at each evening of the season. Meetings will be held on Wednesdays at 7.30pm, at the AK Bell Library, unless noted otherwise.
If you’re new, details on how to join are on our membership page.
George Berrie
From Beirut – with love, lust, and bullets
18 Oct 23 George was a successful businessman until, one day, he realized his work was killing him. This is the story of how he quit his job, bought a camera, rented an apartment in Beirut, learned photography, learned photoshop, and found a new purpose in life – leading to a digital art exhibition in Stirling University.
Graeme Youngson
Urban photography – with a dash of Chiarascuro
25 Oct 23 Graeme Youngson is a very accomplished street photographer from Aberdeen. Of particular interest is his use of the ‘chiarascuro’ technique to produce very dramatic high-contrast black and white images.
Andrew Allan
Scotland’s Night Sky
01 Nov 23 Andrew says: “The talk is about Scotland’s night sky and how to photograph it. Throughout the year there are many different celestial events and celestial bodies to view and photograph. I’ll give some guidance to help photograph the night sky and how to predict events like Northern Lights in Scotland. There is some videography and photography from abroad such as Iceland and Arctic Norway where I travelled to and hunted mind-blowing shows of the northern lights.”
Damian Shields
A Passion for Scottish Landscapes
22 Nov 23 Damian is one of Scotland’s best known and most highly regarded Landscape photographers. He has been highly placed in every Scottish Landscape Photographer competition for the last decade and is a veteran of more than 15 solo exhibitions from London to Aberfeldy. In between photographing stormy landscapes, he is deputy photo editor for The Herald and Times Group in Glasgow. Not to be missed.
David Queenan
Mountains, seashores, and cities
24 Jan 24 David Queenan is a freelance graphic designer and landscape photographer based in Central Scotland. He is a winner of the Scottish Nature Photography award and runner-up in the Scottish Landscape Photographer of the Year. In addition to his well-known Landscape work David will also show some of his beautiful Urban and Architectural images.
Omar Shamma
The Polar Regions: The Last Wilderness
28 Feb 24 Omar will speak of his recent visits to Spitzbergen and Antarctica .
Further information about speakers and topics will be posted here as details become known.
PPS President Ian Mackay will welcome new and returning members as an introduction to the Society and to the forthcoming season.
11 October 2023
Member’s talk/ Workshop Upstairs, in Sandeman Room
Bring and Share
Bring some of your own images, as prints or on electronic devices, to share and discuss in small groups
18 October 2023
Speaker’s Night
George Berrie – From Beirut – with love, lust, and bullets
George was a successful businessman until, one day, he realized his work was killing him. This is the story of how he quit his job, bought a camera, rented an apartment in Beirut, learned photography, learned photoshop, and found a new purpose in life – leading to a digital art exhibition in Stirling University.
25 October 2023
Speaker’s Night
Graeme Youngson – Urban Photography – with a dash of Chiarascuro
Greame is a very accomplished street photographer from Aberdeen. Of particular interest is his use of the ‘chiarascuro’ technique to produce very dramatic high-contrast black and white images.
“The talk is about Scotland’s night sky and how to photograph it. Throughout the year there are many different celestial events and celestial bodies to view and photograph. I’ll give some guidance to help photograph the night sky and how to predict events like Northern Lights in Scotland. There is some videography and photography from abroad such as Iceland and Arctic Norway where I travelled to and hunted mind-blowing shows of the northern lights.”
08 November 2023
Member’s talk Upstairs, in Sandeman Room
A conversation with David Hay
Desert Island Pics: We have asked David to pick a selection of images from his own collection, by well-known photographers, and from the PPS archives, What makes these pictures stand out from the crowd and what can we learn from them?
Damian Shields – A Passion for Scottish Landscapes
Damian is one of Scotland’s best known and most highly regarded Landscape photographers. He has been highly placed in every Scottish Landscape Photographer competition for the last decade and is a veteran of more than 15 solo exhibitions from London to Aberfeldy. In between photographing stormy landscapes, he is deputy photo editor for The Herald and Times Group in Glasgow. Not to be missed.
29 November 2023
Member’s talk/ Workshop Upstairs, in Sandeman Room
Member’s Presentations
Top of the bill for this week’s three talks we have David Hay, with Photographing Modern Architecture at the City of Arts and Sciences in Valencia. It’s an extraordinary city, and we know from the other week that David has an eye for the shot. Before him, we’ll hear from Graham Robb, on Pop-up Pics in Perthshire. Graham and John set up a mini studio in a pop-up shop in Aberfeldy, offering portrait photography. And Martin Samson on Scottish Tower House Castles – photographing various tower houses, and regaling us with many tales and legends attached to them. In the middle, Wol Gilbraith will get us ready to build the print stands we need for next week’s PKM Trophy mono print competition.
Workshop Ground floor, in the former cafe. Please note: this is a new venue for us. Enter the library via the usual West Car Park door, turn left and the room is along the corridor on the left.
Portraits with flash/ Still Life Photography/ Miniature Figure Scenes
This evening, we will have presentations from Graham Robb, Vicky McNamara and Tom Ryan, showing us three completely different types of photography! No need to bring your cameras in for this one; it will be demonstrations only. An evening to look forward to!
24 January 2024
Speaker’s Night
David Queenan – Mountains, seashores, and cities
David Queenan is a freelance graphic designer and landscape photographer based in Central Scotland. He is a winner of the Scottish Nature Photography award and runner-up in the Scottish Landscape Photographer of the Year. In addition to his well-known Landscape work David will also show some of his beautiful Urban and Architectural images.
We’ll take a look at the high-scoring images entered by clubs around Scotland in last year’s Portfolio competition. The images have been provided by the Scottish Photographic Federation. David Hay has kindly agreed to provide a commentary to accompany the photos. Hopefully, this evening will give you a good idea of the types of photos that we will be looking for when we submit our entry for this year’s Portfolio competition.
14 February 2024
Members’ Talks Night Ground floor, in the former cafe. Enter the library via the usual West Car Park door, turn left and the room is along the corridor on the left.
We will have 3 presentations this evening: John Boyd will talk to us about printing photos. Should we do it ourselves or should we use a commercial printer? Raymond Leinster will discuss his involvement with a range of sporting organisations. He will highlight the considerations and best practices to be mindful of when engaging in sports photography. Tim Haynes will look at Practical Computational Photography. He will talk to us about post processing, in his own inimitable way!
Members’ Talks Night Ground floor, in the former cafe. Enter the library via the usual West Car Park door, turn left and the room is along the corridor on the left.
Novice Night
This evening will give our new and/or novice members a platform to share the progress they’ve made in their photography through our Cultivating Novice Photographers programme
20 March 2024
AGM for 2023-24.
An agenda for the AGM has been sent to all members. After the AGM is complete, we plan on holding a ‘Bring and Share’ session. Please bring in some prints or digital images and we will split into small groups and talk about your images. There will be an experienced member in each group to lead the discusssions.
27March 2024
End of season dinner and prize-giving. 7pm for 7.30pm. Details will be sent out via a newsletter.
Twenty-seven of us gathered for the annual end-of-season dinner, the first for a while, and this time at Cardo on South Street. Company, ambience, service, food – all wonderful. Twenty-five and a half are pictured, with one holding the camera, and half of Lizzie missing through an artifact of the pano-stitching.
There was also prizegiving, with forty certificates and eight trophies for our internal competitions, plus the Millennium Quaich for distinguished achievement. Congratulations to all the winners, the highly placed, the less-highly-placed, and everyone who supported all our activities through the season in all sorts of ways. This includes a great number of SIgnificant Others, some of whom joined us for the evening – lovely to see you all.
Big thanks, too, to Lizzie and Vicki for taking responsibility for the tea table in the breaks each week.
We’ll meet back again in October. In the meantime, our Facebook Group at Perth Photo Forum will continue over the summer as ‘an online place to learn from discussion of photography, by and for the people of Perth, Perthshire, Perth and Kinross, and surroundings’. So, not just for PPS members. And not just online – we also arrange a series of sociable photo walks. We’ll hope to see you out with your camera over the summer. Bon Voyages!
