Our Members
Insights - Phil Whiffing, 15 February 2023
Insights - occasional articles about our club members - Phil Whiffing, 15th February 2023
I am delighted to start off the new season with a chat with Phil Whiffing – perhaps known to some of you, but through this article, hopefully an opportunity for others to get to know him!
Like so many of us, when Phil was a child, once a year he and sister were dressed in their Sunday best and taken to the local photographers – for him it was Marshalls in Gravesend; this may bring back memories to some of us having our hair ‘tided’ for the annual school photo! But I digress – Phil found this visit fascinating as he walked past metal, glass and leather objects in the shop on his way to the studio. For years he enjoyed looking in the shop window, trying to work out what all the gadgets were, how to pronounce exotic names like Voigtlander and how many years’ pocket money it would take to actually buy a camera!
Then, aged about 13, he spotted the second-hand shelf and after saving enough money he was able to buy a used Halina 35x. Since, then he has enjoyed taking photos, although the amount of time and money available to do so has varied with career, mortgage and family commitments.
So started his interest in photography, and particularly in natural history, leading ultimately to his favourite subject of nature, followed by landscape. Coming up closely behind is his fascination with macro and being able to see the detail in objects, both natural and man-made which we often overlook – some of you may remember Phil’s image of the inner workings of a fob watch in last year’s Print competition.
Until recently his landscape photography has been in locations where he is visiting. He enjoys photographing the rugged Cornish coast through to the wide skies of East Anglia. With his working career coming to an end in April, like many of us, he hopes this will afford him more time and the opportunity to explore Dorset, rather than fitting it around the myriad of other things which get in the way! As a result, he rarely plans anything but just takes the opportunities when they present themselves. This, of course, is all about to change and he has already begun to research locations, tides. sunrise/sunset times and directions (always helpful!) for a trip to Northumberland in March – we shall look forward to seeing these photographs in the future.
Before joining the club, Phil readily admits he knew little about photography, learning over time from magazine articles and more recently YouTube. Since then of course, he has received so much excellent advice from club members and club evenings. No defined best piece of advice, but lots of tips, which in time he hopes will, like the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, add up to make the perfect picture!
Currently, Phil and his wife Sally, are working on a project to digitise, restore and catalogue thousands of her family photographs from all over the world dating back to the nineteenth century – no mean feat there then! However, among these they found one that was labelled as the only picture of a Nigerian tribal king. Nothing unusual about that you might think, except he was dead and clearly held on his throne by ropes!
In 2021 both of Phil’s daughters bought new puppies. Previously he had taken a mono portrait of Jenny’s old dog, good enough to hang on the wall after he died and went on to get a couple of images of the new puppies, which showed their personalities. One is a hyperactive spaniel and the other a laid-back Labrador! This then led to Phil’s sister asking if he would take a portrait of her Cavapoo; again he managed to capture its personality and his nephew printed it in 3D on a lampshade! Phil enjoys the company of dogs, but the only one he has owned (or possibly she owned him!) was so special he has never thought to replace her, but he is always happy to try to catch a dog’s personality in an image – something he has achieved quite successfully.
So what kit does Phil possess now? From the early days of his Halina, he has worked his way through a Zenith E and a Canon AT1 which convinced him of the quality and robustness of the Canon brand. He currently uses the Canon 5D Mark IV which usually has a 24-105mm lens attached; if he fancies going wider, then the 17-40mm comes out to play and if he needs to go longer, then the 100-400mm ‘trombone’ gets an airing. And, if he really wants to go faster the 1.8 nifty-fifty! There is also the 100mm Macro. For Phil, his star lens is the 500mm F4 – most of his kit was bought second-hand, just like the original Halina!
During Covid, like so many of us, it was hard to get motivated with our cameras, but other than the project to digitise and restore the old photos mentioned earlier, he started to photograph various family heirlooms, including some old watches – the latter gave him practice in focus stacking (what a great idea!) and these have been well received in club competitions.
Now that travel has opened up again and no doubt ‘the bucket list’ of places to visit and photograph, with Phil’s imminent retirement his mind has turned to such dreams as wishing to see tigers in India, gorillas in Rwanda, bears in Canada……but naturally he has a deep concern that flying around the world will have an adverse effect on the environment, and ultimately the creatures he wants to see. This is not to be seen as a criticism of club members who do travel the world and whose pictures he enjoys seeing, but his personal dilemma that he is trying to reconcile for himself.
When May arrives, Phil will begin his new adventure with photography and we shall look forward to sharing his journeys and of course the many images that will follow.
~ Janine Scola
Like so many of us, when Phil was a child, once a year he and sister were dressed in their Sunday best and taken to the local photographers – for him it was Marshalls in Gravesend; this may bring back memories to some of us having our hair ‘tided’ for the annual school photo! But I digress – Phil found this visit fascinating as he walked past metal, glass and leather objects in the shop on his way to the studio. For years he enjoyed looking in the shop window, trying to work out what all the gadgets were, how to pronounce exotic names like Voigtlander and how many years’ pocket money it would take to actually buy a camera!
Then, aged about 13, he spotted the second-hand shelf and after saving enough money he was able to buy a used Halina 35x. Since, then he has enjoyed taking photos, although the amount of time and money available to do so has varied with career, mortgage and family commitments.
So started his interest in photography, and particularly in natural history, leading ultimately to his favourite subject of nature, followed by landscape. Coming up closely behind is his fascination with macro and being able to see the detail in objects, both natural and man-made which we often overlook – some of you may remember Phil’s image of the inner workings of a fob watch in last year’s Print competition.
Until recently his landscape photography has been in locations where he is visiting. He enjoys photographing the rugged Cornish coast through to the wide skies of East Anglia. With his working career coming to an end in April, like many of us, he hopes this will afford him more time and the opportunity to explore Dorset, rather than fitting it around the myriad of other things which get in the way! As a result, he rarely plans anything but just takes the opportunities when they present themselves. This, of course, is all about to change and he has already begun to research locations, tides. sunrise/sunset times and directions (always helpful!) for a trip to Northumberland in March – we shall look forward to seeing these photographs in the future.
Before joining the club, Phil readily admits he knew little about photography, learning over time from magazine articles and more recently YouTube. Since then of course, he has received so much excellent advice from club members and club evenings. No defined best piece of advice, but lots of tips, which in time he hopes will, like the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, add up to make the perfect picture!
Currently, Phil and his wife Sally, are working on a project to digitise, restore and catalogue thousands of her family photographs from all over the world dating back to the nineteenth century – no mean feat there then! However, among these they found one that was labelled as the only picture of a Nigerian tribal king. Nothing unusual about that you might think, except he was dead and clearly held on his throne by ropes!
In 2021 both of Phil’s daughters bought new puppies. Previously he had taken a mono portrait of Jenny’s old dog, good enough to hang on the wall after he died and went on to get a couple of images of the new puppies, which showed their personalities. One is a hyperactive spaniel and the other a laid-back Labrador! This then led to Phil’s sister asking if he would take a portrait of her Cavapoo; again he managed to capture its personality and his nephew printed it in 3D on a lampshade! Phil enjoys the company of dogs, but the only one he has owned (or possibly she owned him!) was so special he has never thought to replace her, but he is always happy to try to catch a dog’s personality in an image – something he has achieved quite successfully.
So what kit does Phil possess now? From the early days of his Halina, he has worked his way through a Zenith E and a Canon AT1 which convinced him of the quality and robustness of the Canon brand. He currently uses the Canon 5D Mark IV which usually has a 24-105mm lens attached; if he fancies going wider, then the 17-40mm comes out to play and if he needs to go longer, then the 100-400mm ‘trombone’ gets an airing. And, if he really wants to go faster the 1.8 nifty-fifty! There is also the 100mm Macro. For Phil, his star lens is the 500mm F4 – most of his kit was bought second-hand, just like the original Halina!
During Covid, like so many of us, it was hard to get motivated with our cameras, but other than the project to digitise and restore the old photos mentioned earlier, he started to photograph various family heirlooms, including some old watches – the latter gave him practice in focus stacking (what a great idea!) and these have been well received in club competitions.
Now that travel has opened up again and no doubt ‘the bucket list’ of places to visit and photograph, with Phil’s imminent retirement his mind has turned to such dreams as wishing to see tigers in India, gorillas in Rwanda, bears in Canada……but naturally he has a deep concern that flying around the world will have an adverse effect on the environment, and ultimately the creatures he wants to see. This is not to be seen as a criticism of club members who do travel the world and whose pictures he enjoys seeing, but his personal dilemma that he is trying to reconcile for himself.
When May arrives, Phil will begin his new adventure with photography and we shall look forward to sharing his journeys and of course the many images that will follow.
~ Janine Scola
The Pewter Shelf by Phil Whiffing
