Paul Mitchell Woodland Workshop

4 days ago

2 min read

Report by Paul Newman

An opportunity arose recently for the club to partake in a woodland workshop led by Paul Mitchell FRPS, at Thorncombe Wood near Dorchester. Paul is an eminent woodland and landscape photographer and former chairman of the visual arts and landscape assessment panels of the RPS distinctions programme, so is perfectly qualified to lead this activity.

Ten eager members of the club assembled on a questionable weather day at Thorncombe and, after a short brief from Paul, the traditional coffee and cake was consumed in the location cafe. Calorie cravings satisfied, the group then set off on a trail around the woodland which included Thomas Hardy’s house, dense woodland and clearings, all providing myriad magical photographic opportunities. Paul provided guidance to his method of photographing forests, showing his own images in-camera and, using an iPad, his previously edited shots from the locations visited.

Lunch and discussion of the morning activities at the café provided a welcome respite from the showery and windy conditions before the group commenced the afternoon session. With improving weather conditions, our members happily shot a set of different locations and made full use of the landscape to take both wide angle and detailed close-up images of everything the forest had to offer. One small detraction of the day was, despite it being late October, the normally gorgeous autumn colours associated with this time of year were only just starting to take effect so the predominant colour was still summer green!

In the evening at the Club meeting, Paul Mitchell gave an excellent presentation on his woodland photography work displaying and explaining some of his exquisite images from his career. He rounded this off with a real-time guide to post-processing in Lightroom and Photoshop; the techniques he used was of immense benefit to our members and will certainly help in our own individual photography journeys.

Overall, a thoroughly enjoyable and beneficial day with many valuable photography techniques learnt.