| Professional Photographer Charles Lyon spoke at the SCC meeting Thursday, January 8 |
| By Richard Nichols |
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At our January 2009 meeting of the Sweetwater Camera Club, professional photographer Charles Lyon shared his knowledge and insights gained throughout his career as a working image maker and visual communicator. He also judged our monthly photo contest whose topic was "Cultural Icons or Landmarks." His professional assignments have included portraits of families, children and business executives, events, weddings, catalogs, and interiors. He also shoots
 architectural photography from time to time, but mostly for his own pleasure. Mr. Lyon's presentation consisted of many of his favorite photographs and examples of difficult assignments. Especially stunning were his pictures of the Brooklyn Bridge and several examples of street photography and abstract architectural works. At each step Charles mentioned the type of film he used and what its qualities were that caused him to select that medium. He also showed a number of examples made with his digital SLR. Most of his work was not retouched in an image editing program.
Charles began his career in communications by obtaining a degree in journalism. From there he worked at small TV stations in the South and eventually found his way to Atlanta where he worked as a writer and producer until 1991 when he took up professional photography in Atlanta as a full time business.
His passion for making pictures goes back to the day he was given his first camera as a kid, a Kodak Instamatic, the flash cube camera. He has studied the art and science of making good pictures since that day. Charles still prefers the look of subjects captured on film rather than digital camera captures. Only recently has he adopted digital image making, mostly for portraiture using a Nikon D70s digital SLR.
 Through his love of film, Lyon experimented with a large number of brands, qualities and speeds including XP2, Tri-X, Plus-X, Ilford, and Agfa. When he started his own studio, he preferred Agfa 25 speed black & white film developed in Rodinal at 50:1 to obtain very fine grain with excellent contrast. He eventually decided that Verichrome Pan 125 was one of the finest b&w films ever made, but as a pro he mostly shot Agfa. He enjoyed using Agfa 100 developed in D-76 diluted 1:1. Does this bring back memories for anyone?"If anyone were to ask me today what to shoot, I would say Fuji Acros 100, and Fuji Neopan in 400 and 1600 speeds." Lyon says that he is completely self-taught. Some of his early business came from freelancing at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta where he started out shooting with a Hassleblad. As the digital revolution has evolved, he has found himself shooting assignments on film, then using a Polaroid SprintScan 4000 to scan 35mm negatives at 4000dpi. He says that he would love to own an Epson Perfection V 750-M Pro scanner which can capture up to 6400dpi. He delivers 2 versions of his work to his clients, a 300 dpi image for high quality print work and a 72 dpi image for use on the web.
Charles has been the official photographer for the Grant Park Tour of Homes since 2005. This allows him to shoot exteriors and interiors of the vintage homes there. He would like to do more of this type of work.
One of the highlights of the evening was Lyon's contest judging. He didn't mince words or waste any time. He shot straight from the hip as he parsed through the entries. He commented on composition, subject matter, creativity, exposure, cropping and impact. In the end, he selected several of the very best images, soon to be published in the March 2009 Chapel Hill News & Views.
Below are a few samples from Charles Lyon's portfolio:
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