Picture this: Digital Photography by Lorence
Digital photography is one of Lorence Fizia’s, a Tap into IT Trustee and Volunteer at various Viewpoint locations, many passions. He has been involved with Tap into IT for many years and if he’s not at a connecting people session it’s because he’s on holiday!
Lorence has visited many countries on many occasions and has some great tales to tell, as well as some amazing photos to share.
This term Lorence agreed to share 10 photographs. These were showcased on our Facebook page but if you missed them, you’re in for a treat as we are exhibiting them below.
1 Forth Rail Bridge (2017)
Lorence enjoys taking night shots, but this was actually 3 shots joined together by his trusty computer. The camera was held down on the nearest wall while it took long slow photos.
2 Ford Popular (1979)
This was one of a series of photos taken at about 1 am when Lorence was walking home, having had a few! (Lorence always had his camera on his shoulder then.)
Lorence recalls:
“The fresh snow meant total silence – normal people were in bed anyway! My technique was to find somewhere rigid such as a pillar box, gate post or lamppost, clamp the camera to it with one hand and take a series of timed exposures, since I had no idea what would be correct.
So, 1 sec, 2, 4, 8 & 16 seconds and a very cold hand by the end. This
was about the best of them.”
3 Tutankhamun (1992)
Lorence had missed the 1988 ‘Gold of the Pharaohs’ exhibition in Edinburgh, because the queues were far too long!
On his first trip to Egypt, the hotel that Lorence and his wife stayed in sat opposite the Grand Egyptian Museum in Cairo. He and his wife decided to cross the road and take a look at the exhibits. His wife’s hat blew off halfway across the road and Lorence had to go back into the traffic to retrieve it! Surprisingly no-one ran over the hat (or Lorence) – have you seen Cairo traffic?
In Lorence’s words:
“The museum contents were amazing and naturally, this gold mask attracted most of the attention.”
4 Nile Cruise (1992)
Lorence recalls:
“This is one of the “Must Do” things for tourists in Egypt. Sitting, with my feet in a small plunge pool, Gin & Tonic in hand, watching life go past is quite pleasant.”
5 Pyramids (1992)
Lorence muses:
“We all know the pyramids are big, but around 2.5 million stone blocks, some weighing a couple of tonnes, means that BIG doesn’t cover it! Note the size of the Policeman standing at the corner!”
6 Terracotta Warriors (2001)
Lorence didn’t realise, until he visited Xi’An, China, that the Terracotta Warriors were colourful when dug up but within minutes of being exposed to the air, the colour flaked off.
Lorence mentioned that, “Curators spend lots of time re-assembling some of the warriors like a jigsaw puzzle!”
If you missed the Terracotta Warrior Exhibition in Edinburgh in 1985, take a look at this BBC report on YouTube.
7 Spitfire (2010)
Lorence wanted a blurred background to give the impression of speed, so slowed the camera down. The first 19 pictures all had blurred Spitfires as well!
8 Hot Air Balloon (2010)
Lorence says,
“Another “must do” when visiting Egypt. There is little wind at dawn, so you get up at about 04:00 and cross the Nile to the launch site. You take off and watch sunrise from the balloon. A fantastic sight.”
9 Red Square (1987)
Lorence recalls: “We don’t do “normal” holidays – Another night shot, taken in Red Square, this was actually our honeymoon, on the way out of Russia, having been to the warm bits down the bottom, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan & Uzbekistan. We had really gone to see Samarkand, on
the Silk Route”.
10 Taj Mahal (1995)
This famous monument was built in the 1600’s by the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan to commemorate his wife.
Lorence didn’t want to include the Princess Diana seat (people were sat there anyway) so he stood off to the side for this picture. He also removed everyone else who got in the way using digital techniques!
Unfortunately, that concludes Lorence’s exhibition – thank you so much for sharing your work with us. It has been admired by many tappers, volunteers and Tap IT supporters.🙏
If you enjoyed this exhibition, you can see more of Lorence’s photos on his Flickr account (https://www.flickr.com/photos/elaref/collections) but beware, there are more than a few!
Lorence Fizia 
Gilli Forrest 2022 
