This was a first time visit to the club for Geoff Perry, a professional photographer from Darlington. The photographs, largely taken in Durham, Northumberland, North Yorkshire, Lake District and further afield, were of outstanding quality. Atmosphere, light, magnificent skies and detailed foregrounds were the elements that made the images special. They combine equal measures of artistry and technical skill, of early rises and patience. Geoff’s love of the environment and its essential details came through the images and the thoughts and feelings about the locations shown that he shared. In coastal photography, he often uses long exposures to tone down the activity of the sea so that shoreline details are the focus of an image. Geoff was a teacher for many years teaching Fine Art, Photography and Graphics in schools, as well as in evening classes. As well as his landscape photography, he now runs photography courses both here and abroad. He also photographs for commercial companies.

He likes to move away from the well-known frequently photographed landscape images, and find less well known parts of the countryside. To do this he talks to walkers and climbers, uses OS maps and now Google earth and Google maps. He is now using a tilt camera and the technique of hyperfocal distancing. Together, this ensures that, as long as the aperture is correctly set, then the foreground and the background elements of the photograph will be equally sharp. He uses manual focus. Geoff had brought his equipment with him and gave a practical demonstration of this process.

The five images below provide just a flavour of just a fraction of the locations shown. There is the view of the Eiffel Tower from a different perspective, Teeside Transporter Bridge with the contrasting brick foreground, a coastal pier, the beautiful tones of the sky and waters at Lindisfarne and the striking image of the yacht at a seaside estuary. The latter was exhibited at the South Bank when short listed for the Landscape Photographer of the Year competition.

This was an evening with a great photographer who also had the gift of being a good communicator who can share his love of the outdoors, passion for art and technical knowledge.

Next week, there will be a digital battle with Ripon Camera Club at Easingwold. The judge will be Mike Barnard.