Joaquim Capitão presented a TTT on minimalism in photography. He described how photography was part of the more general minimalist art movement that started in the US in the 1960s, while the “less is more” principle has been around at least since ancient Greece. He described which elements can be used to create minimalist photos, starting with the choice of subject and the small numbre of colours represented. He explained how weather conditions such as fog or snow and a good use of negative space can help, as is also the case with certain techniques, such as long exposures, a shallow depth of field or intentional camera movement. He also mentioned that it is possible to increase the minimalism in a photo in post-production, but only if the original photo was already very close to the desired result.

The main part of the meeting was dedicated to the second challenge of this season, on the theme of “Reflections”. Thirty members of Viewfinders submitted digital photos, and ten of those also submitted a print. The challenge judge was Christa Geeroms, a Belgian photographer who had been our invited speaker in January 2025. Some of her work can be seen on her website, https://www.christageeroms.com/ and on Instagram, @christa_geeroms_photo. Christa explained that she was particularly interested in photos that had a less obvious second reading, and that was the way in which she approached the judging. The photos that she chose were by Héctor Epelbaum (best print), Bogdan Florea (best projected image) and Beatrice Spates (best overall). One of these photos, the one by Bogdan Florea, also won the “people’s choice”.

Alun then closed the meeting and thanked everyone for their participation.

Adrian Cornwell presented a TTT on scanning negatives. This can be done by a professional photo lab, but by doing it ourselves we keep total control of the exposure used for the scan, and can avoid the waiting time. Adrian discussed the alternatives of using a scanner to do this work versus using a camera (photographing the negatives). The main advantage of using a camera is the ability to do this faster, as scanners are generally very slow and can be hard to configure. Modern digital cameras can produce very good quality scans and setting the exposure is much easier. He showed images of the system that he currently uses, as well as of the home-made system he used before. He then described the system he uses to process the images, which needs to take into account the fact that the images are negatives and therefore the tone curve needs to be inverted before any other processing takes place.

We then had a presentation of the photos submitted by members of Viewfinders for the photo project “Multiple exposures”. A total of 11 members submitted three photos each, which were a good illustration of the creativity of club members. The variety of subjects and techniques was truly impressive, with some fantastic results.

Finally, Alun Foster made a short presentation on “Photographing (other people’s) Art”. He presented this subject under two different points of view, to document a work of Art or to interpret it. He presented examples of both approaches. He then discussed briefly the photography of Art in context, with the examples of street art and exhibitions.

Alun then closed the meeting and thanked everyone for their participation.

This was the last meeting of 2025 and, as usual, we had a longer break to allow for some more socialising and sharing some “finger food” brought in by the members attending.

Erick Espinoza presented a TTT on how to submit materials for publication in the Viewfinders Magazine. He briefly described the guidelines for submissions of articles and photos, before explaining where articles and photos should be sent and when articles or photos will appear in the Magazine depending on when they were submitted.

The “main course” of this meeting was the Viewfinders challenge on “monochrome shapes”. Nineteen digital photos and eight prints were submitted. A wonderful collection of photos by Viewfinders members! Our guest judge for this challenge was Luk Vander Plaetse (https://www.lukvanderplaetse.com) , who was kind enough to comment on each one of the images submitted, giving his opinion about how the images submitted could have been even better.

As is always the case for Viewfinders challenges, there were four prizes to be awarded. Luk was asked to select a “bet overall”, best projected image” and “best print”, while all those attending the meeting had the opportunity to vote for the “people’s choice”. Janet Wishnetsky’s photo of the stitches on her knee was chosen by Luk as “best overall”, with Miguel Angel Vilar and Michael Stierle winning the prizes for “best projected image” and “best print” respectively. Finally, a photo by Peter Löffler won the “people’s choice” award,  ith honourable mentions for Miguel Angel Vilar and Bogdan Florea. 

Alun then closed the meeting and thanked everyone for their participation, in paticular Luk Vander Plaetse for the work he did on the judging.

Alan Waldern delivered a “TTT” on “Learning resources”. He described his own evolution in photography and how he learned different aspects of it, from camera operation to composition and processing photos. He then described briefly the resources available, including manuals, magazines, web-based tutorials, training courses and participation in photo walks, workshops or organised photo trips. He concluded with a discussion on expectation management and how we all need to set our expectations according to the time we can invest in learning.

We then had a presentation by Anja Strelec, who briefly described her professional activities in videography and photography . She then showed examples of her personal work on street and minimalist photography. Having the possibility to travel extensively for work, she takes all opportunities to work also on personal projects, mainly doing street photography in parts of the world where that would normally not visit a tourist. She showed some of her photos from cities in Africa, Asia or America, as well as a series of photos taken in Brussels during the Covid pandemic and a short series of minimalist photos.

Anja concluded her presentation by mentioning her workshops and, in particular, the one she is organising for members of Viewfinders, on mobile phone photography.

Alun then closed the meeting and thanked everyone for their participation.