Although they’re relatively new members of Surrey Photography Club, Anna Hall and Irene Morden are loving the experience.
“I just jumped in and got involved,” said Morden, who joined just four months ago.
“Community,” Hall replied when asked why she became a club member just over a year ago.
“I just wanted to plug in with other photographers in our community and have a place to have challenges, practices and inspire each other,” she added. “It’s really helped to feed that energy, for me.”
Both Surrey residents, Hall and Morden are among 17 photographers featured in “Multiple Exposures,” the club’s month-long exhibit at Newton Cultural Centre. Fifty-four images are on view at the venue, located in the former fire hall on 72nd Avenue, just west of King George Boulevard, until the end of January.
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It’s been two years since members of the club have had their works featured at the Arts Council of Surrey’s gallery, which spotlights different groups in a monthly rotation.
The current show includes a wide range of portraits, landscapes and other photographs.
“It’s kind of fun seeing your work blown up and hung on a wall like this,” said Morden, who hasn’t had her photographs exhibited for quite some time.
“I’d like to get into more competitions and exhibits,” she added. “My husband said to me this morning that at (age) 61, I’m starting a new career. Why not, right?”
Morden, who has retired from jobs with Aeroplan and Canada Post, recalled the very first portrait photograph she took.
“I was in Grade 3, so that was a long time ago, and it was of my teacher,” she recalled. “I sat her in front of the school in Calgary and took a photo of her, because I was leaving. I still have that photo.”
Hall, a professional photographer, got serious about cameras about a decade ago, and now focuses mostly on fine-art portraiture.
“But I love macro, food and I’m also starting to dabble in landscapes,” noted Hall, who says staying employed as a pro photographer “is a magic question” these days.
“A lot of it is word of mouth,” she related, “and for the most part my work is head shots – there’s quite a demand for that, whether it’s for, you know, a dating profile or LinkedIn, for a professional for a website, and some products, things like that. That’s the most of it, but right now I’m really driven heart-wise. I really want to explore more the fine art (of photography) and mixing Photoshop art with photography, making it almost surreal, but real.”
Three of Morden’s four photos in the current exhibit are of horses, on canvas, while Hall’s featured work includes “Mademoiselle of the Butterflies,” which graces the cover of the latest edition of Spotlight on the Arts, published by the arts council. Hall’s other work includes “She Gave it All” (of an old boat “lucky to be floating still” at Finn Slough in Richmond, she said) and “Brushed Sunset,” of a colourful sky in Maui.
For display, Hall’s photographs are posted on aluminum.
“It does quite a lot to make the colours of the photograph pop,” she explained, “and the lifespan of the photo will be a lot longer, too, because of the coating, not just paper.”
The exhibit’s opening reception, with photographers in attendance, is on Saturday, Jan. 13 from 1 to 3 p.m., at 13530 72nd Ave.
“On the same day,” arts council president Carol Girardi notes in Spotlight on the Arts, “visit the (Youth Arts Council of Surrey) ‘Artist Garage Sale’ from 12 to 3 p.m. Both events are happening at Newton Cultural Centre and are sure to satisfy your artistic cravings.”
New for the arts council is ARTSHOP, a link on its website where member artists and groups are able to sell their works.
“This is a new service,” reads a post on the website (artscouncilofsurrey.ca/artshop), “which we hope to expand in selection and discipline as the site develops. Please continue to visit this page. You never know, your perfect piece of art might be waiting here for you.”
As for Surrey Photography Club, members of the “informal network of enthusiasts and professional photographers sharing an interest in photography” meet twice monthly, on the second and fourth Monday, at St. Helen’s Anglican Church, 10787 128th St., Surrey, from 7 to 9 p.m.
The club, on the web at surreyphotographyclub.com, is open to anyone living in Surrey and surrounding areas.
“If people are interested in photography, they should join the club because it really gets the creative juices flowing,” Morden enthused.
Also on the Newton Cultural Centre gallery calendar is “Just Chairs,” a juried art exhibit of visual arts to be featured during the month of April. The deadline for submissions is March 1, and details are posted at artscouncilofsurrey.ca/visual-arts.
On Feb. 3, the cultural centre will host “a market for people to come buy gifts for their sweethearts,” in advance of Valentine’s Day, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
For more details about Arts Council of Surrey activities and events, visit the organization’s website or call 604-594-2700.
