Mentoring With Chillingworth

I attended a Mentoring Session with John Chillingworth Hon FRPS, Hon FBIPP, legendary ex-Picture Post photographer, at his home in Devizes on April 1 2018.

He opened by showing me a book of monochrome portraits by the late Jane Bown:

We discussed techniques for achieving satisfactory portraits using existing light only, after Chillingworth criticised my use of fill-in flash, suggesting that I 'looked for photographs rather than looking for pictures'.

He described his techniques, using mainly Nikon film cameras, remembering that Jane Bown used mainly Leicas, although a self-portrait in one of her books shows her using an Olympus SLR:

We discussed the possible differences in viewer appreciation of images between monochrome and colour capture, concluding that perhaps monochrome demanded more viewer involvement, making for deeper content appreciation.

We ended the session by suggesting that I should make portraits using existing light only and discuss results with Chillingworth in a week's time. I agreed to do this.

END