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For those who know Georgette's work,
this honour will come as no surprise for she has consistently
produced top quality work despite being a 'comparative
newcomer', having joined BSoUP only three years ago. Her
entries for the 'Focus On' monthly competitions have nearly
always come in the first three and to confirm her talent, she
was voted 'Best Beginner' at Brighton 1983.
Despite this success in the underwater
photography world, Georgette remains a quiet BSoUP member
preferring to let her work do the talking, leave. her to
concentrate on future images. This quiet exterior is deceptive
for it protects an underwater photographer whose determined
enthusiasm is infectious and reminiscent of early BSoUP members
as they reacted to this new and exciting medium.
Using standard Nikonos equipment,
Georgette has produced results in both British and Tropical
waters which show a different approach to the medium and which
provide a refreshing change to the majority of work. Her work
underwater is really a natural progression for she had been
involved with art from birth in an artistic family and later
attending art college. In addition to this has been taking land
shots for many years. It is because of this that she finds it
hard to discuss her work at length for, when taking shots, she
is merely responding to almost subconscious reactions -
pressing the trigger when the subject looks pleasing to her
eye. For those of us with a sparse artistic background whose
introduction was through diving. we must accept that underwater
photography will always be hard work, until we can react to a
subject and produce well composed interesting shots.
Originally shooting with colour slide
film, Georgette's early work was concentrated on achieving
consistent results in a world dominated with seemingly
complicated equipment. Her extensive experience in land
photography helped to some extent but, in generally she had a
great deal of equipment to overcome. She simplified her
approach by concentrating on close ups with a single flashgun,
taking shots which satisfied her interest in marine
biology.
Operating from Lundy and Plymouth in
the U.K., her early submissions to BSoUP Slide Clinic showed a
new talent with a fresh approach and gave her the beginnings of
a competitive spirit. She admits that BSoUP is responsible for
this and relies on attending the monthly meetings to provide
stimulus and a springboard for her results.
Yet, despite her achievements,
Georgette feels that there is still a long way to go. Her
Nikonos camera does not give the reflex image so vital when
composing so accurately. This has led to extensive use of
colour negative film so that re-composition can be done in the
darkroom and also, with a wide exposure latitude, she can
concentrate much more on the subject and less on the mechanics
of exposure. Her early work with transparencies introduced her
to Cibachrome for producing colour prints from colour slides
but with the advent of negative film, she can produce much more
pleasing prints in a fraction of the time with lower contrast
and at lower cost.
The use of negative film is mainly
responsible for Georgette's performance. When she is happy with
her material she produces her best work. If she feels that she
has the wrong film it will curb her concentration and this will
ultimately show in the results. The limitations of Nikonos
camerae are balanced with the latitude of colour negative film
to produce a working solution.
However, with the imminent arrival of a
housing for her Pentax LX, Georgette is eagerly awaiting the
possibilities. The ability to compose in the reflex viewfinder
will allow her to use Kodachrome slide film - a film she
praises highly for its ultra fine grain and pure colours. This
in turn will encourage her to submit her work to agencies -
something she has never considered until she joined BSoUP. Most
libraries/agencies insist on colour slides from their
photographers as the printing industry is geared up to handle
these.
Preferring to work with one camera per
dive she would look upon a second camera as a means of having
extra film or a different film but always the same lens system
so that her concentration could he on the subject. Switching
from wide angle to close ups during the same dive would add
complications which impair the concentration.
When on location, an on-site processing
facility would prove useful for the initial rolls but, once it
was established that gear was behaving itself, Georgette
prefers to save the processing until she can get back to her 6'
x 41 darkroom and steam into the films as soon as she returns
home. With the rolls of colour negatives dry, she is ready to
make contact sheets and then prints of individual frames up to
1011 x 1211. This is an extremely time consuming process but is
one she sees as entirely necessary. If slides are required,
these are produced using print film (Process C41) and copying
the negatives same size. The beauty of colour negative film is
that you have a wide exposure latitude when shooting the
original and you can then make top quality prints and still be
able to make perfectly acceptable slides.
Always an advocate of 'shoot as much
film as you can' Georgette, as are we all, is happy if there
are 3 or 4 good images on a roll of film. What we must take
account of however is the high standard Georgette sets on her
work and the enthusiastic effort she applies to the task of
producing underwater images. It is this standard which, I feel
sure will prove to be a major influence for BSoUP members who
appreciate such qualities.
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