On Friday 16 October 2020 around 40 members of the club were joined in a virtual meeting by the award winning seascape photographer Rachael Talibart.
Rachael grew up on the Sussex coast and was inspired by her childhood experiences with her yachtsman father, “The experience left me with a lifelong passion and respect for the sea”, said Rachael. The epiphany moment came after a successful career as a lawyer when she made the bold decision to become a professional photographer during a holiday in Venice.
“On the last morning, there was a mist. Everyone was photographing gondolas, but it wasn’t working for me. I thought all the shots would look the same so I decided to go off on my own and find something different”. It was this experience that led to her big decision to make photography her life.
In 2016 she won the Sunday Times magazine landscape photographer of the year award, and now Rachael is best known for her critically acclaimed photographs of stormy seas, and in particular her portfolio, Sirens, which was published in 2018.
“Going back to places over and over again is very important to me. If you keep going back the conditions and the changes in the light and tide make the sea endlessly varied”
Many of Rachael’s images are brought together in black and white collections, “as soon as you present a photograph in black and white it becomes accepted as art, and a collection of images makes room for the smaller and quieter images which add depth to your work”.
Rachael’s passion for the sea and her deep commitment to the subject has led to her becoming one of the most accomplished and respected landscape photographers in the UK, “I like to approach my work with curiosity and wonder – it makes me more creative, and also evokes curiosity and wonder in the viewer”.
Rachael’s work can be seen on her website rachaeltalibart.com
Her latest book ‘Tides & Tempests” can be pre-ordered from Kozu books on this link
The next meeting of Ilkley Camera Club will be on Friday 23 October and will be the annual digital competitions, Abstract and Food & Drink. They will be judged by Nigel Plant.
Ilkley Camera Club is currently meeting via Zoom on Friday evenings at 7.30pm.