We will look first at how the work of great photographers can be measured against the key genres of painting in Portraiture, Landscape and Narrative.

The second session will consider photographs that explore the Human Condition, and Still Life; the relative merits of colour photography and black-and-white; the impact of digital photography.

Finally we will enjoy images that make us smile, challenging the assumption that great photography only excels with pessimistic themes.

Brian Stater lectured at University College London for 25 years, retiring in 2021 as a Senior Teaching Fellow. His principal academic interest lay in the appreciation of architecture and he has a lifelong enthusiasm for photography. 

He has written on architecture for a wide range of publications and an exhibition of his own photographs was held at UCL. He is a member of the Association of Historical and Fine Art Photography and he works with a pre-War Leica camera, as used by his great hero, Henri Cartier-Bresson, and many others.

Brian is an engaging and amusing speaker who seeks to entertain as well as inform his audience.