John Dadley

I have been a member of the Grimsby Photographical Society since 2016 and now serve as the Honorary Vice President, a position I am proud to fill.

I started my photographical journey at the tender age of 10 years old. At that time my camera of choice was not really of choice, it was all we had. lt was the famous Kodak Box Brownie. Back in those days, most families had a camera of some sorts and it would be brought out to record momentous family events. you know the sort of things – weddings, new babies, christenings, the kids opening their presents at Christmas, and showing off their new school uniforms at Easter.

For reasons of economy (my Dad said), no matter how special the occasion was “two or three SNAPS! would be enough to sum up the event”. This meant that the 12- exposure roll of film could last the whole year round and longer in some cases. There was one family I know that had pictures of their daughter’s christening and wedding on the same roll of film (sadly processed by the subject after her parents passing some years later).

Fast forward a few years, and a few cameras, oh boy has it changed. As much as I love all the new gear and new technology, (Yes I’m a gadget freak). I’m glad to have had a background in the days of film where I cut my teeth not only learning camera and lighting skills but also the processing and development of my images. I spent many many hours in the darkroom trying just about everything there was to try.

Serving in the Army for 25 years opened up the world for me and gave me the sorts of opportunities that are hard to come by in most other walks of life. I would hasten to add at this point, that I was not an “Army Photographer” (that is a specialist trade). I was more a solider with a camera! As my skills developed over the years I was able to turn this hobby of mine to good use not only for military purposes but for social use too, recording the ups and downs of service life.

My Posts

• Multi-Image Layouts Demonstration11/06/2020
• Restoration of Old or Damaged Photographs:10/06/2020
    Back in the days, when people would carry a picture of a loved one around in their wallet or purse it would often be taken out to show other friends and family. Over the years all this handling would take its toll on the paper image. In some cases, no matter how poor the
• Procrastination = The Art of Keeping Up with Yesterday.06/06/2020
  Over the past few days whilst out on my daily walk, I have been keeping an eye on some of the hedgerow flora that I wanted to include in my Field Studio project. I had spotted a number of different plants that I thought needed to develop a bit more to get into pristine condition
• Planning A Big Shoot?03/06/2020
  If you’re planning to carry out a big and important shoot, there are two rules you should apply to ensure that all goes well Rule One: Get yourself a strong team of knowledgeable and trustworthy people to assist. Rule Two: Don’t let them relax for too long!
• Together We Stand, Divide We Fall.02/06/2020
  I’m sure we all have a number of images that by themselves don’t make the final cut, especially when it comes to competitions. They are all taken with the best intention but they just haven’t got what it takes to please a judge. So what do we do with them? Well, for me, now and
• Colour Transects20/05/2020
  Colour Transects The images attached are examples of an idea I saw a few years ago by photographer and author Niall Benvie.  So, what’s it all about?  His explanation is, I quote, “There are two main ideas behind Colour Transect images.  Firstly, they draw the viewer’s attention to the diversity of colours present in a
• Wishing You Well12/05/2020
    Good evening everyone, I thought I would take the opportunity to wish you all well with an example of an image created using the Field Studio Technique  that I demonstrated at a club meeting last year. Now is a great time of year to give this a go, if you are able to get
• The Online Competition23/04/2020
  Hi Folks Just a quick message to congratulate Mike on his first attempt at running a competition on line. I think he did a great job and that it worked well. Congratulations too to all those who where place in the top five images. I hope you all enjoyed to experience and will continue to
• Some On-line Learning 23/03/2020
  A couple of weeks ago I came across a series of videos on YouTube that I thought would be of interest and benefit to some of you. If you are just starting out or perhaps struggling with some aspects of this great hobby of ours, watching the videos that my link refers to might help.
• New Beginnings18/01/2020
  Hello Folks,  At the time of writing I have no idea when this new and exciting website will go live, but I’m sure it won’t be long. I wanted to take this personal opportunity, to put out a blog post for a number of reasons. First and foremost is to give a big shout out and thank