LIP Central October 2025 Meeting – LIP Satellite Groups

Featured image © Fred Kavalier

The October meeting of the Central London Group was attended by 20 members including two who were attending for the first time. Half of the meeting was devoted to showing work on the theme of ‘Decay’ and the other half to personal projects.

Julian Sainsbury showed images which focused in on slowly decaying steel and concrete with pronounced changes of colour/ texture. These had a natural beauty and left the viewer wondering about the original purpose of the structures.

Chloë Sastry took a contemplative approach to the theme by considering decay as part of nature’s lifecycles. She left nuts/flowers to decay to the extent that they wilted and dropped debris or were covered in mould. She then took still life shots of them set against suitable backgrounds.

Mark Friend showed decay in natural landscapes notably of 1930 petrol pumps set on a forecourt in Cornwall, a wrecked and rusting boat on Sizewell beach and a stone bust in a park where the top of the head revealed the decaying stone it was carved from.

Jan Cylwik’s monochrome work focused on the unseen forces of decay which shaped Victorian cemeteries. Starting with an image of a dead tree which had outgrown its pot and fallen over and ending with an image of a deep open grave full of brambles. The series progressively drew viewers into considering themselves part of nature’s lifecycle.

Steve Jones showed many examples of decay in the Hebrides where it’s uneconomic to repair and recycle. The images ranged from abandoned and decayed shops, houses, farm builds and vehicles, to a field of dead rabbits!

Frankie McAllister found beauty in decaying flower arrangements where colours and textures had changed and the sculptural forms within the flowers were exposed. The group agreed that her first three images would work well as a triptych.

Liv Harris’ project ‘Under My Skin’ interpreted her feelings of chronic joint pain using printed photograms of her limbs which had an X-ray like quality. She linked pairs of prints with silver chains to form joints and so crossed the boundary from photography into sculpture. She made a striking 3D photogram using a chicken wire mould of one of her joints. This worked because we are familiar with 3D wireframe models, and because depth was convincingly rendered by the wire, which became progressively blurred the further away it was from the photo paper.

Janet Nabney’s work rejoiced in the freedoms of mobile phone photography especially its immediacy and unobtrusiveness when taking candid shots. She had taken a stunning shot of a reflection in the overhanging roof of John Lewis in Oxford Street and recommended that photographers should look in every direction including upwards.

Pauline Moon showed a project for ‘Patients Not Passports’ which she co-created with its photographic subjects. The images were usually portraits set against a text. These will be shown in 14 panels in the travelling exhibition ‘Resisting NHS Charging’. The images shine a light on the experiences of people in the forefront of the fight against very significant if not ruinous NHS charges for treatment ie migrants and health care professionals.

Heather Martin left her twins lens reflex camera at home and took a digital camera on a visit to Donegal and Derry. Her images captured the atmosphere of the big evening skies, rolling hills, snaking roads and seaside.

John Tolliday went on a riverside walk in Philadelphia organised by a local meet-up group. He had converted his mirrorless camera for IR photography using a black Hoya R72 filter. Because this filtered so much light he had to shoot at f1.4 1/6 second 600 ISO with a 24mm lens. His images showed an unusual rendering eg dark skies, lightened porcelain like skin, and ability to see through dark sunglasses.

Astrid Zweynert project was an experiment using in-camera multiple exposure taken in graveyards. She found slight intentional camera movement between shots multiplied and enhanced structural features in a landscape eg headstones/walls. The image blend mode produced high contrast images (black/white with little grey) and a newsprint like quality.

Austin Guest went on an artists’ evening photo walk in Bethnal Green organised by Urban Lens. He showed some of his images, pictures of the group on the walk, and projection of their selected images in the St Margaret House Chapel which will be on display during PhotoMonth (October).

Fred Kavalier took photos of cottages near beaches in UK and Massachusetts USA. These included geometrically repeating pastel coloured beach huts and Derek Jarman’s striking Prospect cottage/garden near Dungeness.

The group’s next meeting will take place on Wednesday, 12th November, with a detailed critique of members’ ongoing personal projects.