Our Members
Insights - Geoff Wareham, 14 Feb 2021
Insights - occasional articles about our club members - Geoff Wareham, 14 February 2021
Following on from the Insight articles which appeared on our website last year, we are continuing this theme into 2021. You may recall Dee Wareham recently talked about her journey into photography, and of course, we also wanted to include Geoff, the other half of this lovely couple.
Geoff’s interest in photography started as a result of his own impatience!! Why? – quite simply, he became impatient at having to wait while Dee spent a long time carefully composing her shot, leaving him to hang around on a path or roadside. In time, Dee decided she would enrol on a photographic evening class at Weymouth College and Geoff thought he would keep her company. It turned out to be a waste of money, so they both decided to join Weymouth PS in 1989 and also joined Dorchester Camera Club shortly after - a decision they have not regretted.
Like many photographers Geoff’s early interest was in landscape and natural history - mainly birds. He soon realised however that he did not have the desire to get out of bed before daybreak (he is not alone!) in order to catch the best light, nor did he have the equipment to take good quality photographs of birds. As so many of us have found, Camera Club competitions encourage members to widen their interests and to try many different genres. He has always thought that "set subject" competitions are desirable, as they force people to think outside their comfort zone. As result, over time, this has encouraged Geoff to be become a “jack of all trades” but – in his eyes - unfortunately, a master of none! Nevertheless, it has given him a lot of satisfaction.
Over the years he and Dee have travelled quite extensively and have visited many interesting places eg the Taj Mahal at dawn (I did get up early then!), the salt pan at Sossusvlei in a thunderstorm, the gorges of the Australian outback and many others. However, one of Geoff’s favourite locations are the old villages of Southern France, which he finds very photogenic and also historically very interesting.
As a “photographic couple” he and Dee tend to do most of their photography together, so they consciously try to finish with different images and over the years, Geoff has found that many of his photos are taken in the portrait format - even landscapes.
Geoff enjoys "fiddling and diddling" in Photoshop and while he may not always achieve the result that he wants, he still finds it satisfying. For him, he does not believe that what comes out of the camera, is what you must accept and so does not see anything wrong in subtle improvements.
In the current environment in which we all find ourselves, Geoff feels that his travelling days have finished and will be concentrating on areas closer to home. His garden will probably become his main focus and more wild flower images taken in locations in and around Weymouth and Portland. We shall look forward to witnessing his next phase!
~ Janine Scola
Geoff’s interest in photography started as a result of his own impatience!! Why? – quite simply, he became impatient at having to wait while Dee spent a long time carefully composing her shot, leaving him to hang around on a path or roadside. In time, Dee decided she would enrol on a photographic evening class at Weymouth College and Geoff thought he would keep her company. It turned out to be a waste of money, so they both decided to join Weymouth PS in 1989 and also joined Dorchester Camera Club shortly after - a decision they have not regretted.
Like many photographers Geoff’s early interest was in landscape and natural history - mainly birds. He soon realised however that he did not have the desire to get out of bed before daybreak (he is not alone!) in order to catch the best light, nor did he have the equipment to take good quality photographs of birds. As so many of us have found, Camera Club competitions encourage members to widen their interests and to try many different genres. He has always thought that "set subject" competitions are desirable, as they force people to think outside their comfort zone. As result, over time, this has encouraged Geoff to be become a “jack of all trades” but – in his eyes - unfortunately, a master of none! Nevertheless, it has given him a lot of satisfaction.
Over the years he and Dee have travelled quite extensively and have visited many interesting places eg the Taj Mahal at dawn (I did get up early then!), the salt pan at Sossusvlei in a thunderstorm, the gorges of the Australian outback and many others. However, one of Geoff’s favourite locations are the old villages of Southern France, which he finds very photogenic and also historically very interesting.
As a “photographic couple” he and Dee tend to do most of their photography together, so they consciously try to finish with different images and over the years, Geoff has found that many of his photos are taken in the portrait format - even landscapes.
Geoff enjoys "fiddling and diddling" in Photoshop and while he may not always achieve the result that he wants, he still finds it satisfying. For him, he does not believe that what comes out of the camera, is what you must accept and so does not see anything wrong in subtle improvements.
In the current environment in which we all find ourselves, Geoff feels that his travelling days have finished and will be concentrating on areas closer to home. His garden will probably become his main focus and more wild flower images taken in locations in and around Weymouth and Portland. We shall look forward to witnessing his next phase!
~ Janine Scola
