John Sheridan is a photographer from Kells, Co Meath, Ireland. Kells is a town in the Boyne Valley region. John initially took up photography as recently as 2015 and is an extremely passionate photographer who loves all genres. John is probably best known for portraits and landscapes and his distinctive style.

John successfully achieved Fellowship status in the Irish Photography Federation in 2022. John is the current IPF Photographer of the Year. John won best image in the FIAP Biennial 2022, featuring 10 photos representing each country. It was a competition involving 46 countries. John has been very successful in International Salons, achieving numerous awards. An evening with John will be an exciting and stunning presentation showcasing many of his award winning images.

Join us for an evening to be stunned by local long time astronomy enthusiast and photographer Richard Guest’s images of the heavens. Richard will share his remarkable and yet short journey from no photography to producing world class images of the night sky – all from his backyard in the urban light polluted setting of Kingswinford in Dudley.

Richard’s presentation will be littered with stunning and award winning images of the milky way, galaxies and countless nebulae. Contrary to the popular belief that good astrophotography can only be achieved in designated ‘dark sky’ areas Richard has proved the experts wrong and will share his secrets with the Smethwick audience on how he is able to get these images from his urban backyard!

Al comes from an art background and has extensive experience working in the UK and USA mostly in the Greeting Card Industry, and has had several children’s books published.

He has always had an interest in photography where his main interest is photographing people at play: on the street, in pubs, in clubs, at sporting venues and festivals.

The advent of Digital Photography opened another door with imagery and manipulation. Al’s manipulated images don’t come from a camera, but from “between my ears”! All you need is a little bit of imagination.

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Join us for an evening to share Kevin’s story of his wildlife photography journey to date, now spanning almost 7 years.

Kevin will not only discuss some of his favourite wildlife and nature images, but will also inform the Smethwick audience of how he actually gets the images in the field, with sections including : style of nature image, having an image in mind, advantages of working locally, iconic UK wildlife and locations, camera techniques & working the light.

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Monica enjoys travelling around the UK in her camper van and abroad. These are a collection of her photos from her trips. They are mostly wildlife but she also dabbles in sport and landscape. She has been a finalist in British Wildlife Photographer of the Year and shortlisted for Scottish Landscape Photographer of the Year.