Art for the Untalented
08th April 2026
Our delegation of four of members paid a very pleasant return visit to Bolsover camera club, where they were warmly welcomed their work was very well received.
We were pleased to welcome Colin Lusby and his wife, Janice, from Grimsby, an excellent double act who combined good humour and friendly delivery with a chance to see some excellent prints.
Colin clearly demonstrated serious understanding and skill in his work, despite his self-deprecating style and witty delivery. He described himself as an average photographer who enjoys taking, and above all printing and holding, photographs.
Colin showed a wide range of subjects. He enjoys little projects and plans his photographic excursions, admitting to having a good and a bad weather option. He likes to go to Skye, and then there is a third plan – one for ‘Skye weather’. We saw a number of examples of panels of three images with a common theme or story. Woven into his stories, Colin revealed that he has studied the history of many of his subjects.
The first few shots were taken in and around Grimsby Docks, where we learned a good deal about the restrictions on access and the construction of the water tower, based architecturally on that in Sienna, which proved too expensive to knock down when electricity made it redundant. We also learned that Colin enjoys a bit of fun with his work when we saw shots of beer cans superimposed on the dockyard landscape along with his pet fish, Harry the Haddock, who made a number of appearances. Colin is clearly no slouch when it comes to editing.
Moving on to nature shots, and birds in particular, Colin showed a ‘robin on a stick’. This was an allusion to the term ‘bird on a stick’, which is used pejoratively in relation to birds resting on branches. At this point Colin admitted to being a judge, and said he is happy to see such images, because he has no way of knowing if the author is a beginner and first-time competitor who needs encouragement. He then showed several more shots proving he is quite capable of also getting shots of birds doing things on land and in flight.
Maybe not quite continuing the theme of nature, we next saw a panel of shots showing dinosaurs in the wild! In fact, they were figments of Colin’s fertile imagination born of using his own landscape shot, his grandson’s toy dinosaurs and some creative editing. He is apparently nicknamed ‘The Dinosaur Man’.
Colin was an enthusiast for infra-red photography back in the days of film, but finds he cannot match the results using modern digital methods and no longer works in the medium. He does enjoy photographing water using low shutter speeds, and he shared several panels of waterfalls.
After the break Colin showed some motor sport images. He explained that his is not particularly interested in this type of shot, but that as a judge, he feels it is his duty to try all genres. This gives him a first hand understanding of the challenges of achieving pictures of all types so that he can give due credit and make sensible comments when he judges shots outside his own preferred areas. He did say that portraiture and street photography are not things he does because he has tried and feels very uncomfortable doing so.
Moving on, we discovered that Colin likes shots of bad weather. Many of his shots were taken when a storm was impending and he saw particularly attractive light. He joined a select few of our speakers in going above and beyond in pursuit of his art. While on Skye he and Janice encountered 100mph storm winds. Janice wisely stayed inside the car. Colin tied himself to a telegraph pole and hand held his camera to get some graphic shots.
Colin allowed himself various digressions, such as rocks, rust and shots inside St David’s Cathedral. He likes stained glass and compared old works with some very modern examples.
Members were able to interact with Colin and Janice throughout and it was a very friendly and pleasant evening. We were left hoping to see Colin and Janice again before too long.
After Easter we have a members’ night when we will see work produced by our fellow members and the season concludes the following week with the AGM and presentation of trophies and certificates won this season. We then move into the summer break. Full details of the club are on the club web site: http://www.retford-photographic.co.uk/ and the new season programme will appear during the break.
Meetings are weekly on Mondays at 7.30pm in St Joseph’s Hall, Babworth Road, Retford
We were pleased to welcome Colin Lusby and his wife, Janice, from Grimsby, an excellent double act who combined good humour and friendly delivery with a chance to see some excellent prints.
Colin clearly demonstrated serious understanding and skill in his work, despite his self-deprecating style and witty delivery. He described himself as an average photographer who enjoys taking, and above all printing and holding, photographs.
Colin showed a wide range of subjects. He enjoys little projects and plans his photographic excursions, admitting to having a good and a bad weather option. He likes to go to Skye, and then there is a third plan – one for ‘Skye weather’. We saw a number of examples of panels of three images with a common theme or story. Woven into his stories, Colin revealed that he has studied the history of many of his subjects.
The first few shots were taken in and around Grimsby Docks, where we learned a good deal about the restrictions on access and the construction of the water tower, based architecturally on that in Sienna, which proved too expensive to knock down when electricity made it redundant. We also learned that Colin enjoys a bit of fun with his work when we saw shots of beer cans superimposed on the dockyard landscape along with his pet fish, Harry the Haddock, who made a number of appearances. Colin is clearly no slouch when it comes to editing.
Moving on to nature shots, and birds in particular, Colin showed a ‘robin on a stick’. This was an allusion to the term ‘bird on a stick’, which is used pejoratively in relation to birds resting on branches. At this point Colin admitted to being a judge, and said he is happy to see such images, because he has no way of knowing if the author is a beginner and first-time competitor who needs encouragement. He then showed several more shots proving he is quite capable of also getting shots of birds doing things on land and in flight.
Maybe not quite continuing the theme of nature, we next saw a panel of shots showing dinosaurs in the wild! In fact, they were figments of Colin’s fertile imagination born of using his own landscape shot, his grandson’s toy dinosaurs and some creative editing. He is apparently nicknamed ‘The Dinosaur Man’.
Colin was an enthusiast for infra-red photography back in the days of film, but finds he cannot match the results using modern digital methods and no longer works in the medium. He does enjoy photographing water using low shutter speeds, and he shared several panels of waterfalls.
After the break Colin showed some motor sport images. He explained that his is not particularly interested in this type of shot, but that as a judge, he feels it is his duty to try all genres. This gives him a first hand understanding of the challenges of achieving pictures of all types so that he can give due credit and make sensible comments when he judges shots outside his own preferred areas. He did say that portraiture and street photography are not things he does because he has tried and feels very uncomfortable doing so.
Moving on, we discovered that Colin likes shots of bad weather. Many of his shots were taken when a storm was impending and he saw particularly attractive light. He joined a select few of our speakers in going above and beyond in pursuit of his art. While on Skye he and Janice encountered 100mph storm winds. Janice wisely stayed inside the car. Colin tied himself to a telegraph pole and hand held his camera to get some graphic shots.
Colin allowed himself various digressions, such as rocks, rust and shots inside St David’s Cathedral. He likes stained glass and compared old works with some very modern examples.
Members were able to interact with Colin and Janice throughout and it was a very friendly and pleasant evening. We were left hoping to see Colin and Janice again before too long.
After Easter we have a members’ night when we will see work produced by our fellow members and the season concludes the following week with the AGM and presentation of trophies and certificates won this season. We then move into the summer break. Full details of the club are on the club web site: http://www.retford-photographic.co.uk/ and the new season programme will appear during the break.
Meetings are weekly on Mondays at 7.30pm in St Joseph’s Hall, Babworth Road, Retford