Since 2020 I’ve been presenting talks to camera clubs across the country and as an active camera club member I’ve lead a number of workshops teaching beginners how to take control of their cameras and to easily edit their images.
Join me for a Photography Workshop at Chiltern Open Air Museum – for details on the workshops visit https://www.coam.org.uk/workshops
I have several talks available to clubs – presenting either in person or via Zoom.
My Journey into Theatre Photography: From the Edinburgh Festival Fringe to Sunset Boulevard
From documenting young performers at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in the 1990s to shooting vintage Hollywood portraits for Sunset Boulevard in 2019, in this camera club talk I’ll take you on a trip through my adventures in theatre photography. Including the equipment I use and images from publicity shoots, rehearsals and performances.
Buckingham Camera Club “Meeting in a remote village hall means we often miss out on interesting speakers so it was a delight to meet Cat on Zoom and to hear about her journey in theatre photography, from her very early days at Edinburgh Fringe through to the mammoth task of photographing a production of Sunset Boulevard and producing the head shots, dress rehearsal publicity shots and the programme! We learnt, with her, about what camera and lens to use and how tricky theatre lighting is to photograph in, as well as how to move around the theatre to get shots of actor’s expressions, costumes and as many of the cast as possible. Cat admits that theatre photography is a labour of love and not an easy way to get competition photographs but we came away infected by her enthusiasm and enjoyed her professional presentation. Her descriptions of how she takes head shots and her style of presentation of the final photograph were useful for exploring portrait photography in general and she also shared what she has learnt about the use of Lightroom for post-processing.“
Edmonton Camera Club “Thank you so much for your super talk last night. Really entertaining and informative, and great to see your progression from early days through to becoming a freelance photographer.”
Potters Bar & District Photographic Society “Many thanks for your great talk last night. A number of members fedback at the end of the evening how much they enjoyed it and also how we’ve never had anything on this sort of photography before.”
Beyond Sunset: More Adventures in Theatre Photography
Following on from my first talk on how I got into theatre photography, this session brings us up to date with productions from the past four years. Continuing the story of how I’ve photographed local drama groups since they returned to theatres after the pandemic, the challenges of changing from mirrorless to full frame and taking the leap into being a full-time photographer. Including the equipment I work with, post production techniques and how my images made it onto BBC News.
Photo Analysis Workshop: capture better images by knowing what judges look for
Photography is both an art and a science so in this talk I’ll be exploring what judges look for when critiquing images, along with our emotional connection and instinctive reactions to photographs. This is an interactive evening where we all become judges, analysing and scoring images online during the Zoom session and reviewing the results together.
Dudley Camera Club “Thank you for an interesting talk and interactive session last night. Although you might not have heard it there was a lot of discussion going on during the interactive section. During the break a couple of our experienced members came to me and said that they were very impressed with your presentation saying you definitely “knew your stuff” and had presented it well.”
LOST IN LENSES: Aperture, focal lengths and sensor size
Are you anxious about aperture? Frustrated with focal length? Stumped about sensors? In this talk we’ll be getting lost in lenses as we explore the effects of aperture, focal lengths on our photography. We’ll look at different types of lenses including wide angle, telephoto, macro, tilt & shift and special effects lenses. Covering the differences that sensor size has on our choice of lens, and the implications of switching from crop sensor to full frame.
The History of Photography: Inspiring Women
In this talk, I lead the audience on a journey through the lives of women who changed photography forever. From Elizabeth Fulhame, whose chemistry research set the foundation for the birth of the photographic process, to Cindy Sherman playing with the 20th Century visual and cultural codes of art, celebrity and gender. The stories of these women will tell us how their photographs reflected or challenged the society around them and how they changed art & photography through the decades.
Judging photographic competitions
I’ve been a photographic judge for the Chilterns Association of Camera Clubs since 2016 and have a great appreciation for the creativity and technical decisions that go into producing competition images.
Feedback on judging by Woodley PC “…your commentary was nicely paced and balanced; picking out the positives of the images as well as things that could have been done better. Somehow you managed to give praise to all the images, regardless of their eventual score! You also gave helpful comments on issues such as banding and blemishes which are often missed in post-production – many of our members will benefit from this. I was particularly pleased that you took note of the photographer’s intent in the more artistic or experimental images, appreciating what the thinking had been behind the image.”
Cat Cross Photography 