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WEEKLY NEWS
| 4th May 2012 On Thursday 3rd May we met Alsager, Nantwich, Sandbach and Whitchurch societies for our annual prestigious FIVE TOWNS MONOCHROME PRINT COMPETITION. We used the GALLERY at the OAKLEY CENTRE, which gave us plenty of space. The host club always books a judge of the highest calibre for the event and we could do no better than Christine Widdall EFIAP MPAGB BPE3*. Christine had just the previous weekend attained MPAGB, which is described quite simply as representing the highest standards in photography. She is a highly respected judge both locally and nationally. Despite all these high flying credentials (or perhaps because of them!) she failed to give us a win. Nantwich walked off with the prizes (winners and best print by Andrew Charlesworth). Nantwich deserved the win as there was not a single weak image in their arsenal. Nantwich 176, Crewe 168, Whitchurch 162, Alsager 157 and Sandbach 155. Regards, John |
| 27th April 2012 Our last meeting at the Library this season saw a fun-packed PDI Knock-Out won by Kath Hill. There were about 130 entries which are shown in pairs with the members voting for their preferred image each time. Kath's was the last image standing. Just for fun, a chance to try audience reaction to images you might use next season. Our last meeting of the season is the FIVE TOWNS MONCHROME PRINT COMPETITION which is next Thursday (3rd May) at the Oakley Centre. Newcomers are always welcome but if you want to be known please introduce yourself because there will be 5 clubs there and you may not be noticed as a potential new Crewe PS member. Our new website is under test at present and may appear any day. Members will get more detailed information about how we are using it. Regards, John |
| 20th April 2012 We celebrated the successes of the year with our Awards ceremony last night. Congratulations to all our winners! (You can download a full list above.) At the AGM, also last night, we changed the way in which the marks are accumulated in our league competitions, elected three Life Members - Alan Goodin, Ron Smith and Howard Edwards - planned how a themed competition might be executed, and changed the way people who join late in the year are charged for membership (making it a better deal for them). We also set the charges for 2012-13. We heard a summary of how we had performed in our local and regional competitions; another successful year for CREWE PS. With top class projection equipment, great depth and breadth of ability (33 members took part in competitions this year) and a friendly atmosphere, Crewe is a hard club to beat in every sense! Regards, John |
| 5th April 2012 The Inter-Club Competition with Nantwich tonight saw a Crewe win but we are evenly matched and the benefactors were the viewers who had 60 excellent images to view. Bill Preston DPAGB LRPS BPE2* judged them in a very considered fashion with comments which traced his reaction to each picture resulting in a convincing score for each one. This is the first "battle" which has featured 30 images from each club and this certainly increased our enjoyement of the evening, coupled of course with the excellent judging! Thank you Nantwich for showing us some of your top images of the year - we look forward to the 5-Towns Monochrome Print Competition in May! Regards, John |
| 29th March 2012 The Annual Print Competition this week was judged by Tremaine Cornish EFIAP PPSA BPE2* in fine style. He was expected to choose a Colour (General), Colour (Nature) and Mono winner from the 70 plus prints submitted. Prints are the ultimate expression of photographic Art and it is a shame that some clubs are not getting the interest in printing that we have at Crewe. From his winners Tremaine chose the superb Marbled White Butterflies by Paul Hill as his overall winner. This work is a perfect nature print in colour, detail and composition and a worthy example of our very best work this year. Regards, John |
| 22nd March 2012 Much good advice about taking photos of animals in zoos this week from photographer and author Ron Pickering. Our "Battle" with Sandbach on Wednesday night saw a close competition in the PDIs but Crewe moved ahead more strongly in the prints giving us victory by a clear margin - see results above. The PDIs were selected simply by taking the top 5 Open and top 5 Nature images from our PDI Annual of the previous week. Interesting to see how they fared with a different judge - in this case the excellent Mr Gordon Jenkins APAGB L&CPU Competition Secretary. Regards, John |
| 16th March 2012 LAST NIGHT: Christina Gill on "Madagascar", and Open Evening New member Christina gave us a delightful talk which showed us the life of the island very well indeed. Its unique animal species were particularly striking, including the incredible Giraffe Necked Weevil – surely one of the most weird animals on the planet, at least on land! We then looked at www.1x.com, a wonderful source of inspiration for your photography. Finally, some guides to good working practice in Photoshop Elements. Regards, John |
| 2nd March 2012 THE JIM HARRISON TROPHY Our Jim Harrison Trophy winner this year is Ian McNab, with his image "Bill". The winner was chosen by Adrian Lines ARPS DPAGB BPE 4*, our judge for the evening, between Ian’s image and that of Mary Davies “Common Wild Orchid” which won the NATURE section. Congratulations Ian - your images always have that special feel to them, and "Bill" is a bold mono portrait, simple and effective. Mary at least had the compensation of having perhaps the widest success of the evening with a first for Orchids, high commendation for 5-spot Burnet Moth and a commendation for Botallek Chimney. Darren Carter must be the next with a second and high commendation, then Paul Hill with a 3rd and commendation. In fact the awards were well spread amongst the authors. (RESULTS attached for inclusion at top of this page) Congratulations! It was good that Adrian picked a number of images which have been favourites of mine this year. Bill was one, of course; we also had Darren's Mill and Sacred Shore and all three of Mary's. Paul Compton did well, too, and he is one of the few that modified his picture after a judge's comment - and it paid off! Regards, John |
| 2nd March 2012 Last Night – The Bebington Salon Of Photography, presented by Bob Dennis APAGB CPAGB AFIAP BPE 3* and John Dougherty APAGB. The salon is one of the 19 National Exhibitions which are part of the BPE scheme. Started in the 1980s, the scheme makes awards for acceptances in the competitions: 25 gets you started with one “crown” (usually depicted as BPE*); 50 gets you 2 crowns. But after that things get harder: 100 are needed for 3 crowns, and 300 for 5. Bob and John are making their presentation to 26 clubs. What dedication!! There were 2754 entries, and 533 were selected. We saw 477. Thanks to Bob and John for an excellent evening. I’m sure everyone found the images an inspiration to get out there and get the shots – and then enter them next year!! Regards, John |
| 24th February 2012 The PRINT LEAGUE 3 2012 attracted a good entry, and members should be very proud that CREWE continues to be strong on prints both on quality and quantity. Some clubs have virtually given up on prints – to us they are the highest expression of photographic art. Chris Kay ARPS did a great job in judging our work. It was by no means easy to separate them. NEXT WEEK Is the Bebington Salon of Photography and we have Bob Dennis here to show us the entries in this PDI National Competition. Alsager are invited too, so be sure of a seat by getting there early. Regards, John |
| 17th February 2012 The Colour Print Folio Q attracted a lot of comments; interesting that any about print quality have ceased – that is no longer an issue: the technology is there to create excellent quality digital prints. NEXT WEEK Is the Third (and last) Print League. Over 50 prints, judged by Chris Kay ARPS, on the night. We have over 50 prints and it is so pleasing that we are still getting a good entry. Many of us regard the print as the pinnacle because it is an absolute entity, tangible and with a presence that PDIs can never match and it is a shame that some clubs are struggling to get a print entry. Regards, John |
| 9th February 2012 An exciting week at the North Cheshire PS Club challenges. On Wednesday night all our prints did well but Great White Pelicans by Ian Whiston and Blue Eyes by Peter Robinson exceptionally so, with 18 and 17 respectively. (This is out of 19, since the one 20 is reserved for the winner.) This was enough to see us into 5th place with our Robertshaw rivals, Leek PC. Wigan 10 took the Trophy, with Chorley and hosts NCPS close behind in joint second. Wigan PS completed the quartet above us. Judge David Johnson was very brave with some decisions and a significant one was a lovely studio portrait in the classic style which would have been very successful in 1999 which got 11. Thursday night saw the PDI Knock Out with David Johnson's shutter-buddy Peter Gennard (both these guys are EFIAP/p) judging. The competition progresses by the judge eliminating about half of the images in each round, commenting and giving reasons each time. All our images survived the first round- only 5 of the 33 clubs managed this. Ken Dickenson's "This is for Money" made it through a third round but then that was it. You need at least one image to survive well to do well and our game was over. The strong start however saw us through to 7th place. Another good year for us at the major event, superbly well organised and presented as usual. Many thanks to Ian Whiston for his help with the PDI selection and to Tom and Mary Seaton for their help with the prints. Regards, John |
| 2nd February 2012 PORTRAIT EVENING A big thank you once again to Ian Whiston and Sharon Barton for setting things up last night and to Tracey for finding us a model (how many of the ladies could conjure up a handsome young man at a moments notice!!!). Seriously, thanks to Ashley too for modelling for us. As we set off for home Tracey was continuing the shoot in the underground car part, so don’t be surprised to see an Urban-Directions-Meets-Gentleman’s-Quarterly in a future comp. NEXT WEEK - NO MEETING AT CREWE Instead… For a number of years now we have been taking part in the best inter-club competition in the county – now called the NORTH CHESHIRE PS CHALLENGES. Up to 30 clubs take part and it is held over 2 nights in February, this year on WEDNESDAY (Prints) and THURSDAY (PDIs) next week at the civic hall in POYNTON. It is superbly well run, with in-house-created computer software controlling the display of the results and simultaneous projection of the prints as digital images so that everyone can see them. The NCPS has their own ANNUAL EXHIBITION at the same time and the prints are displayed round the Hall for you to peruse as you chat with other club members. They always book a prestigious judge for each night and this year they have Peter Gennard for the PDIs and his associate David Johnson for the prints. Full details are on the NCPS at http://www.northcheshirechallenges.info/. (They have two websites, this one devoted to the Challenges.) Regards, John |
| 27th January 2012 We had the pleasure of having Tillman Kleinhans judging our third PDI of the season last night. It is always a delight to hear him describing what makes a picture work. You never feel put down and the whole thing flows so well. The results are at the head of this page. We have now completed the PDI League competitions for 2011-12 and I will get the League figures ready soon. NEXT WEEK Next week we have our PORTRAIT EVENING, thanks to Ian, Sharon and Dave. BRING YOUR CAMERAS!! EXTERNAL COMPETITIONS Coming up we have the excellent NORTH CHESHIRE PS CHALLENGES – PRINTS AND PDIS. We are entering – more later. In March we have the L&CPU PDI Challenge at Chorley. Again we feel unable to compete in the prints – not enough to hand. This is a pity because the prints are less well contested – perhaps because others are in the same position as ourselves! Regards, John |
| 20th January 2012 Crewe – Mid-Cheshire – Whitchurch Inter-Club Battle It was actually a result of a mistake that we meet these two clubs together rather than separately, but it turned out to be a fortunate error because we get to see 60 images rather than 40 and gain an evening into the bargain. Last year the contest was as close as you can get, short of a tie, with Whitchurch taking the trophy by a single mark and Mid-Cheshire third by only another single mark. Graham Johnston ARPS did a great job of judging the competition and I was careful to thank him BEFORE we started as there is a danger of it looking a bit “well he would say that wouldn’t he” if we happened to win. As it happened, we did! By a good margin. For the PDIs I used a few from the next competition (next week) partly to surprise you all but also because I think we have a few good ones just entered. Thanks to the visiting clubs for a good evening – it was good to see such a variety of work. (Download the full results as a PDF at the top of this page) Regards, John |
| 14th January 2012 Welcome back and a Happy New Year to you all. This week was the L&CPU FOLIO – MONO. Some excellent work which we were able to view with the digital projector as well as seeing the prints themselves. The folio is selected from the 600-700 mono prints entered in the L&CPU Annual competitions. Nearly 70 of the 95 clubs in the Union enter these comps. Over 2000 prints are entered, the others being Colour General and Nature. Commentaries are no longer provided for the folios but we were not reticent in providing our own! Inter-Club with Whitchurch PS and Mid-Cheshire CC next week - and we move back to the big room! Regards, John |
| 16th December 2011 Best wishes for Christmas and the New Year. We hope to gain our old (bigger) room back at the Library in the new year. By the time we start back on Jan 12th we will have made our Great British Cup entry and will be looking forward to an exciting second half of our season. Regards, John |
| 9nd December 2011 Second Print League Competition The judge Andrew Brochwicz-Lewinski ARPS certainly took a different and thoughtful approach and while he stumbled a bit on the natural history his intelligent comments and insistence that a photograph must communicate made the evening very interesting. He had his own scoring system; 5 for impact, 5 for technique and 10 for communicating a message - interesting to have someone try to make it more objective. Congratulations to Peter Robinson who did very well, especially with a 1,2 and 3 in the monochrome. Maurice Baker and Ray and Kath Hill dominated the Nature section, congratulations to you all. Also to Christina Gill who did splendidly in her first competition with us. It was good to see our youngest member Christopher Ashley (and mum of course) entering his first competition, well done Chris! (The results can be downloaded from the links at the top of the page.) This is the last of the NEWS until 12th January. Best wishes to everyone for Christmas and the New Year. John |
| 2nd December 2011 I’ve had many of you saying how much you enjoyed JOHN WIDDALL’S talk last night about creating panoramas. He mentioned some free software HUGIN which you might like to try. John went through the history and the technical problems of panoramas before showing us a selection of images made by himself and CHRISTINE WIDDALL. Viewing panoramas is a problem – a wide one produces too small a height on a 1400 x 1050 screen to see any detail. Chris had presented a few of hers by using Pictures to Exe to slowly pan the panorama! This facility has been available on PtE for a little while now, since the programme included ANIMATION. ( www.wnsoft.com) I’m afraid that we didn’t do so well in the L&CPU KO. Only 4 images from each club were displayed because 37 clubs entered and many clubs lost all their images in the first proper round – we kept one! We do need more images to choose from and have resolved to ask you for PDIs of some of the prints submitted this year. This is partly because all the images must be new and we only have a free choice from this current season’s PDI entries. This week member Ray Hill brought us an offer by his son’s company to do special rates on computer tune-ups at home. The details are on the DOWNLOADS PAGE. Non-members are welcome to make inquiries but will not get the club discount. Regards to all, John |
| 25th November 2011 NOCTOGRAPHY Last night we met a remarkable young man who is surely going to be a great name in night photography. Even that over-used word passion is hardly strong enough to describe his enthusiasm. He took us through the whole gamut of his work; history, techniques, tricks styles and, in the end, some chilling tales. His name is Chris Benbow and if you missed it you can look at his website www.noctography.co.uk. L&CPU KO On Saturday we have the L&CPU KO at Poynton Civic Hall at 7pm. 37 clubs are taking part. All the details are on the L&CPU website, here: www.lcpu.org Regards to all, John |
| 18th November 2011 Tonight we had as our Judge one of the highest achievers in the region: Margaret Sixsmith EFIAP/s PPSA FBPE. The latter distinction is held by only 13 people and is, of course, the highest BPE award. She had good advice to offer about all the images and in particular we had mention of vignetting as a way of keeping attention and good placement of the horizon. Light backgrounds also came in for criticism. Members are reminded that they can work on pictures and modify them before submitting them into the Annual Competition. Ian Whiston is to be congratulated on a win in the NATURE class for his superb Female Cheetah which is featured as this week’s Image of the Week on the front page. Ken Dickenson’s This is for Money won the General Class and will be featured next week. Other successes were Darren Carter’s two mono images: Snailey Bridge (which has just won a magazine comp); and Sacred Shore, which we are using in the L&CPU KO this time. Ray’s Dog In the Window was a charming and effective (and simple) image which scored 19 but you couldn’t get much simpler than Ian McNab’s Jedi, which gained a 19. Back in the Nature section Dot Johnson did well with two images, as did Bob Brown. Ken Dickenson was on the leaderboard too and Peter Stoneley, Wallace Baxter and Bill Crichton. Next week we have a new lecturer who uses the pseudonym Chris Nocturne – he specialises in night shots and I am sure you will find his images novel, exciting and stimulating. Regards to all, John |
| 11th November 2011 In the days of darkroom photography probably one of the first things they did to improve the picture was to give different bits of the paper more or less exposure to darken (burn) or lighten (dodge) those areas of the print. It controls how the viewer sees the picture. Now, in Photoshop and other editing programs this can be done not just to darken or lighten different areas but to control ANY feature we want to apply – through using LAYER MASKS. Beyond getting the exposure, colours and cropping right treating different areas in different ways as JON ALLANSON showed us last night is probably the most effective may of changing the viewer’s perception of your photograph. You also saw how it is best to work on ADJUSTMENT LAYERS and leave your original image alone at the bottom of the layers stack. This way you can always go back if you make a mistake. But, if you are just starting out, just wade in and play with all the setting and see what they do – if you make a mess you can always just reload the picture! Finally I would say always make subtle adjustments – use a soft brush and a low opacity to apply effects – otherwise it can become obvious that the image has been manipulated and you do not want that. Next Week we have our PDI 2 – the second projected digital image competition. The judge will be Margaret Sixsmith. Margaret is one of the highest achievers in photographic distinctions that we have in the region and she and husband John are specialists in natural history and are much in demand for lecture tours. So, natural history people especially should pick up some good tips! If that makes the general subject photographers feel left out – don’t be – Margaret does a lot of creative stuff too. Regards to all, John |
| 4th November 2011 Our battle with Alsager CC started with a near draw in the PDIs but in the prints the judge, John Dougherty APAGB was holding back so many of Crewe's prints for consideration for a higher mark that victory was clearly going to be ours. It is not about that though, it is always good to see our friends from Alsager and take a look at the work they have been doing which is always intriguing. I understand that they have a big influx of new people this year and they work hard to help newcomers and deserve every success with them - good luck! We will be seeing Alsager again before the return competition - when they come over to join us for the Bebington Salon showing on March 1st. Regards to all, John |
| 28th October 2011 Last night, Brian Law led us expertly on a fascinating tour of Pictorialism: from its birth in dissension within Britain's Photographic Society in the 1880s, through the exodus in the 1890s of the Brotherhood of the Linked Ring from what was, by then, the Royal Photographic Society; to the spread of Pictorialism in Europe and its flowering in the two decades upto the First World War within America's Photo-Secession movement, which, under Stieglitz's leadership, won photography's acceptance into the art world; and finally to Pictorialism's eventual decline through the 1920s, swamped by the inexorable spread of Modernism across the post-war artistic world. The Pictorialists held that photography would only gain acceptance as an art if it imitated painting - initially the painting of the Pre-Raphaelites, but later, and more especially, that of the Impressionists. So the Pictorialists made elegant, atmospheric photographs using soft-focus lenses, composite images, and all manner of methods for altering negatives and prints so that their images resembled Impressionist paintings. Brian informed us about the artists, delighted us with examples of their work, and treated us to succint explanations of the wet collodion, bromide and other photographic processes, and how the Pictorialists put them to creative use. We learned that arguments we have today about whether and how much images should be altered in post-processing are a continuation of disputes that have gone on since the invention of photography. About this, and much more, Brian's eloquent exposition of Pictorialism was both illuminating and engaging. Many thanks to him for a great talk. Regards to all, Ian McNab |
| 20th October 2011 Our first print competition of the season yielded 56 entries and they were all of good quality. New judge Sheila Tunstall had quite a task to mark them. Some of us found fewer images meant a more relaxed tea break and more time to talk, but at the same time it is to be hoped that newer members will give printing a try. Printing your own can be expensive, but there are opportunities for getting your pictures printed commercially at very good prices. The results are available for download at the top of this page. Photography has a fascinating history, firstly because light could be recorded faithfully for the first time, then imitating Art, then becoming an Art form itself. Along the way many great works have been created which will always be regarded as masterpieces and fascinate generations to come. We will see more of this I'm sure in Brian Law's talk on 27th October. Regards, John |
| 14th October 2011 L&CPU Nature and Illustrative Folio and Open Evening We had a visit from Andy Starkey, a local professional photographer, who has designed a rain cover for your camera. Andy asked if he might come over and show you the product and gather comments about the prototype design. He spoke very well and I think we made a new friend! The L&CPU Folio was shown in digital form as well as viewing the prints. It is always useful to see these selections from the last L&CPU Annuals and see the range of subjects and quality of the work. In the final part we went through a few basic Photoshop tips for those starting to use image editing software for the first time. We are pleased with the number of new people we have along and I hope this was useful to get them started. Look on the downloads page of this website for the guide to what I covered (don't forget to desaturate the HIGH PASS FILTER LAYER when you sharpen). I had a digital presentation of 3-D pictures to show you which we didn't have time to do justice to. These are by Ken Last. The prints were on view but Ken has secured enough 3-D glasses for you all to view them at the same time. We must put his first on the list for the Christmas Review or a slot sooner than that if we can. As you know Ron Smith is unable to give his Annual Lecture on 24th November. His subject was to be night photography and by remarkable coincidence that is the specialism of the replacement lecturer Chris Benbow. Chris will give us a ultra modern look at the subject which Ron, always forward looking, would have thoroughly enjoyed I'm sure. Look at www.noctography.co.uk for examples of Chris's work. I am sure this will be a very exciting evening and, while nobody can replace Ron in our hearts and minds I am sure you will agree that Chris appearing on the scene is a remarkable bit of serendipity! Don't forget the RPS International at Chester Zoo and the PAGB Inter-Club Print Competition - see www.lcpu.org, then EVENTS. Regards, John |
| 7th October 2011 Those members unable to attend the talk by Stephen Lewis ARPS missed a superb display of Landscape photography. We had titled the talk as ‘Landscapes of Wales’ but we were treated to wonderful landscapes of Wales, Scotland, England and the USA. All the images were made on a large format camera and on Fuji slide film stock – of which he says he has about a five year stock in his freezer, since Fuji have ceased to manufacture it. The prints were then produced from the slides using the Cibachrome process and all of the slide was used for the print – no cropping. Oh, those were the good old darkroom days! Stephen gave us chapter and verse about each print and it very soon became clear that every image was pre envisaged (sometimes months or years before) and that the moment of pressing the shutter was also the end result of extensive preparation on site. These were no lucky snapshots! He introduced us to his extensive use of the spot meter, graduated filters and the concept of planes of focus to achieve the image he envisaged. The fascinating tilt and shift facilities on the large format camera, which he demonstrated, are essential to attain pin sharp focus literally from back to front, or between any selected points, in a huge landscape. It was not only the most interesting talk we have had for some time but it was accompanied by a stunning display of Landscape photography. Robertshaw Trophy On Monday 3rd October we met Macclesfield, Leek, Holmes Chapel and Blythe Bridge at Blythe Bridge for the annual Robertshaw Trophy. We came second to Leek, but we felt some of our work was undermarked. Head in the Clouds - 15 Mating Blue tailed Damselflies - 17 Phil Mercer - 17 Old Mill - 15 Great white Pelicans - 17 The Mask (held back but only) - 17 Corn Bunting - 17 On his Shoulder - 14 Chasing the Ball - 16 Long-Eared Owl - 16 Final results: Leek 174, Crewe 161, Blythe Bridge 152, Macclesfield 148, Holmes Chaple 144. The winning image was by Leek of a 10-pin bowling ball hitting the skittles, entitled 'Strike'. It was clever and eye catching but there were better images in the 18s and 19s. Tom Seaton, Secretary |
| 30th September 2011 The Robertshaw Trophy Is on MONDAY (3rd October) at BLYTHE BRIDGE CC This is a major event in our calendar, a PDI competition between CREWE, LEEK, MACCLESFIELD, HOLMES CHAPEL and BLYTHE BRIDGE. 10 images each. They start at 7.45 but I would aim to be there for 7.30 latest. Blythe Bridge & Forsbrook Village Hall, Uttoxeter Road, Blythe Bridge, ST11 9JN There was a map available last night – I think Tom picked up the spares, but follow these directions and you should be OK… Just take the A500 through the Potteries and then turn left on to the A50 (Uttoxeter). After passing through the two underpasses (tunnels) in Meir you will see the Potteries sculpture on your right and a BP garage on the left – the turn left for Blythe Bridge (A521) is indicated and when you take it you are on Uttoxeter Road. Proceed through Blyth Bridge passing first the railway station and then the turn for Cheadle. In about 400m you will see a garage on the left – the turn into Blythe Bridge & Forsbrook Village Hall is immediately before and behind this garage. It is 23 miles from Crewe. Do go if you can; Leek are one of the Midland Photographic Federation’s major clubs and Macclesfield are now one of our Federation’s largest. We host the Robertshaw next year. PDI 1 2012 – Our first PDI Competition of 2011-12 Some excellent images; giving the season a flying start. I felt that the general section was stronger this time. I had asked the judge – Alan Towse LRPS to bear in mind that the marks are added together for a League competition and he had kept a nice balance in the mark distribution. The results are available at the bottom of the page as a PDF. Regards to All, John |
| 22nd September 2011 HOWARD GREGORY and SUZANNE WALKER Howard and Suzanne are founder members of Wilmslow Guild AV Group – probably the best known and successful AV Club in the North West, winner of 300 club medals over the years. They have many successes themselves too including an award to Howard for services to AV. Their talk was superbly well organised and made clear that AV means more than just setting your pictures to music. You need an overall structure that tells a story, with well-thought-out transitions, often a dedicated sound track and specially prepared images. Together with Sheila Davies’s talk at the end of last year (Sheila dealt more with the nuts and bolts, Howard and Suzanne with the overall structure) you now have all you need to get you started in AV. PHOTO DAY Everyone is welcome, about a dozen of you have said that you will be there. Photo Day runs from 10am until 3pm. It says 2pm on the poster, which is the time for closing the print competition. Don’t worry if you can only make it for a limited time, we will be delighted to see you! See you there! FIRST PDI 85 images from 29 members were posted to the judge on Wednesday. The distribution was the usual one of about 1/3 Nature 2/3 General. Regards to All, John |
| 16th September 2011 PETER REES FRPS EFIAP(p) MPAGB – Still in the Dark I would not be surprised if Peter’s talk turns out to be the most memorable of the season. His work is inspirational because often it is built from almost nothing, things that people pass by but a creative eye can make into a wonderful picture. It instils a sense of adventure again if you are feeling that photography is about making a better version of the same subjects. He presents it all with a modest, quiet and charming style and wit which you could listen to for hours. FIRST PDI I am always concerned about the newcomers and absentees when the first competition hand-in is so near to the beginning of the year. This is because we have a league system, which precludes success if you miss an entry. We discussed this at committee, and we felt that delaying the start of the competitions makes the end of the season too crowded with them, with not enough speakers to relieve things a bit. But, missing out on the first league comp doesn't stop you from entering every other competition we have. The hand-in for this first comp is midnight on Sunday. After that you may find that I have processed the images, and I cannot accept entries; but I will be as flexible as I can to help the newcomers especially. I think I have acknowledged all the entries up to last night. Get in touch ASAP if you have sent something and not had a reply. Last night I had entries from Ken Last, Ken Dickenson and Ian Whiston. We normally have 30-ish entering, but I presently have only 16. NEXT WEEK: Getting Started in Digital AV – Howard Gregory & Susanne Walker. The results of the L&CPU survey conducted at the end of last season are yet to be published, but one thing revealed is a big and growing interest in AV. Last season we had Sheila Davies speak to us; now, two other highly successful AV workers, Howard Gregory & Susanne Walker will give us their tips on getting started. Regards to All, John |
| 9th September 2011 Good to see so many of you last night and to have some potential new members - thanks for making them so welcome. We watched the Great British Cup Nature 1 in which we came second highest placed L&CPU club. Then the General Section of the RPS PI International 2010 – you can buy tickets for the 2011 showing at Chester Zoo - see the L&CPU website. The first PDI competition is on the 29th of this month and I already have 6 members' entries. The hand in date will be next week but I think we can extend that to the following weekend, Sunday 18th September. Alan Towse is the judge, so keep ‘em sharp!! How to enter a PDI competition is one of the topics you can download from our website. It has been updated to our new 1400x1050 standard. A lot of interest in how to get a 10x15 print for £1.25. Ian Whiston is the expert on this and can let you have an image in the right format so that you can prepare your pictures in ELEMENTS where, unlike PhotoShop proper, you cannot download profiles. www.proamimaging.com I think some of you have used DS Colourlabs too; www.dscolourlabs.co.uk Next week – Peter Rees FRPS EFIAP MPAGB. Peter is an excellent speaker and you will love his work – I promise an inspirational evening. Peter is a member of the famous EYECON group which includes Irene Froy. The late great Ade Sethna was a founder member and they still meet at Ade’s house. It was formed by the members to pool their ideas and skills to improve their photography but, unlike some such groups they had no intentions whatsoever of entering competitions as a sort of “superclub”. eyeconphotogroup.users.btopenworld.com Peter’s own website is www.farcountryphotography.co.uk Regards to All, John |