This week’s meeting featured an inspiring talk from Lee Spencer-Fleet of Bristol, a Photoshop ACE and tutor who teaches both at her home studio and at The Folk House.

Lee began by sharing her personal project centred on Birmingham’s historic baths. What started as a documentary-style series became something much more creative as she transformed her images of tiles, ironwork and architectural detail into striking mandalas. Her work combined photographic precision with artistic experimentation, and members were captivated by how she used Photoshop to layer, rotate and mirror patterns to reveal hidden beauty in everyday structures.

She also spoke about some of the photographers who inspire her, showing examples of their work and explaining how they have influenced her approach to composition and abstraction.

Lee brought along a selection of her prints, and discussed her use of different papers and surfaces, and how these choices can change the impact of an image.

In the second half, Lee explored her fascination with circles and repeating patterns in nature, from flowers and seed heads to bees and moths. With her macro photography illustrating how cropping in even further can expose fine textures and intricate designs that she felt start to look more like woven fabrics or textiles than natural subjects, referencing her original background in textiles and fashion.

It was a visually rich and thought-provoking evening that left members full of ideas about new ways to see and present their own work.