FRANK COHEN LRPS: A MEMBER PROFILE

By Frank Cohen LRPS

My first photographic experience would be sitting on a Liverpool street pavement one summer making sun prints. That was probably at age six. I can’t claim to have become a dedicated photographer from then on, but at eighteen I found myself doing national service in Egypt with a camera borrowed from my Dad. This was a Kodak 820 folding camera, quite large and taking only eight shots on a roll of film—when you could get one. This being the case, I was sure to make every shot count, a habit that persists even today with my digital camera.

I’ve always sketched and painted and used my camera as back up, taking the subject, usually a landscape, at the end of a photographic session. When I once showed a painting to a friend, I included the photo. He suggested that my photo was better than my painting. At the time I was not best pleased, but did start to take the camera more seriously. This fitted in well with my obsession at the time, which was camping. We camped all over the continent, first with the tent, then the motor van, and latterly, the caravan.

After taking a degree in chemistry, I went into teaching, and for a time taught some photography. I joined the South in 1973, did the “L” in 1976, and became hooked on the monthly competitions and have probably never missed one. Could this be a record? What do you do with seventy-six merit certificates?

I have my name on many of the cups and have taken prizes at Southport, Blackpool and the Mersey River Festival, which I have entered every year since it began. I have a small collection of cameras but have always done most of my stuff with a Pentax—the only exception to this being a Canon Digital. I tend to favour pictorial and illustrative photography, with an eye for any humour around, but have not yet found one particular interest. I can only envy someone who can specialise in birds, butterflies or some such—but I’m still searching.

Please send any comments to Frank