Frank Turner Award Winner 2020: Richard Webber

By | September 8, 2020

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The Frank Turner Award is the most prestigious award given by the Victoria Camera Club. The winners are accomplished photographers and are volunteers who have made a significant contribution to the Club over the years.

The award was created in 1987 to honour Frank Turner, a long-time member of the Club. Frank Turner was an accomplished photographer who won many awards for his art and was an important and vital member of this Club for many years. Members awarded this honour have every reason to be proud to receive an award in Frank’s famous name. The selection of the winner of the award is traditionally made by the last three winners. For this year Mike Wooding (2016-17), Pam Irvine (2017-18) and Bobbie Carey (2018-19) made up the selection committee. The committee was unanimous in their choice of Richard Webber as this year’s worthy recipient.

Richard joined the Victoria Camera Club in 2010 after a career with the provincial government and has been an active member ever since. He has volunteered for many positions over the years, not the least being Chair of the Competitions committee, a position that requires a great deal of dedication and patience. Richard ably demonstrates these characteristics. He was a key contributor in producing the Competitions Guidelines document that clearly defines all aspects of the internal competitions. He is currently on the Novice Judging committee as well as spending time working towards his CAPA Judging Certification.

Richard likes to experiment with infrared photography. He had an old camera converted to record images in the infrared light range (beyond to range seen by the human eye) and describes his photography as follows:  

“My photographic artwork represents my personal perception of the landscape. I treat light as the subject and I use the environment to demonstrate that light. My work is often printed in monochrome as the elimination of colour forces the viewer to concentrate on the essential elements: light, form and texture.

Content is not unimportant in my work because I am attracted to beautiful and noble subjects but, ultimately, the subject is less important than how it is depicted. The beauty of photography for me is the constant evolution of the photographer in the process.  My goal is to inspire those who see my work to look more carefully at the world around them, to discover beauty in unusual places. “

Over the past several years Richard has been the recipient of a number of first and second place awards. “Finn Slough” came in first in Advanced Monochrome in the year-end competition in 2016. Richard shot this image with the Panasonic Lumix G1 he had converted for IR photography. 

“Heavy Metal Plant Works” was awarded second place In the Advanced Digital Theme category, the judge commenting on how well the image evoked emotion because of Richard’s excellent post-processing work.

On competition nights, look for Richard’s beautiful black and white prints.

Our Club has greatly benefitted from having such a talented and hard-working member as Richard. He is a dedicated volunteer and an excellent example of one who has strived for excellence in photography.

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