News

2nd May 2008

THIS WEEK WAS : Dianne Owen

Towards the end I was sitting there thinking; “How do follow this?”

Photoshop certainly has opened up creativity and there is no better exponent of that than Dianne. Her presentation was fascinating because we saw a few prints on the stand and then an AV on the digital projector which showed us how it was done – with great choice of music too.

I say, how it was done, but only in outline. Dianne just “plays about” with layers and I can imagine that, by the time she has finished an image she has totally lost track of what she did. She did say that she doesn’t use blending modes much but tends to “fade” layers to get the effects she wants. She uses motion blur and transformations on small areas of a picture to create those misty swirls.

She is turning out 2 to 10 images a week; look at the number of pictures on her website and you will easily believe that!

Many images start life very simply; items shot against fabricated backgrounds, on the conservatory floor, in daylight, on a 400D. She uses a 3800 printer, but I think everything we saw last night could have been done on an A3.

Dianne is our last speaker of the year – what a note to finish on.

There are some traditionalists who object to Dianne’s style; thankfully we are better educated at CPS. There is room for all; from traditional slide photography right up to Dianne’s creations! Just enjoy what you do!  To look at Dianne’s website http://dianne.viewmy.info/ 

THE FIVE TOWNS MONOCHROME PRINT COMPETITION

Nantwich CC did the event proud on Tuesday night; the Killick Suite at Nantwich Civic Hall was generous accommodation, the judge Mike McNamee FRPS FBPPA we knew would make a great job of it and their presentation was first rate. Andrew Charlesworth is to be thanked particularly there for making a DPI presentation of the pictures so they could be clearly seen even from the back of the room.

Colour prints are so vibrant and precise these days that they tend to attract our attention when placed along side monochrome. All the more important that we are given the opportunity to appreciate the great elemental qualities of mono by having a mono-only event. Colour may be the catchy pop tune but mono is the essence of image making which richly repays careful study – a more serious piece if you like.

Mike’s style was to present quite a few 20s and we all became very excited when the two entries by Carol Cotter were in those select few. Obviously I was particularly rooting for “Dancing With Time”, my Chairman’s Choice this year.

However Mike went for delicacy rather than rhythm and gave Best Print to Andrew Charlesworth’s “Lily”. There was another gem in there; “Blizzard In Kadriorg Park” by Nantwich’s Keith Wild – classic simplicity which I hope you will get a chance to see.

It is vitally important that we keep this competition going. I say this because a few members of the other clubs have said that they were struggling to get an entry together. Much as I would like to see the same friends in this competition we must keep it going even if it becomes the Four Towns or we look for replacement competitors.

Nantwich CC’s website carries an account of the Five Towns and includes my note thanking them for doing such a good job. I congratulated them on their win. I am pleased that we have such a good club in the area to pit ourselves against. They have won all their club battles this year, we lost only against them – let’s see what we can do next year!


Results

Nantwich 186
Crewe 181
Sandbach 173
Whitchurch 165
Alsager 160

Our individual scores were:

On The Royal Daffodil – Mary seaton – 17
The Photographer – Stella Rew-Dixon – 19
Peveril Of The Peak – John Royle – 18
Follow The Leader – Simon Cotter – 17
Dermot O’Reilly – John Royle – 17
The Cartoonist – John Royle – 18
Sunflower Detail – Carol Cotter – 20
Digital Message – Tom Seaton – 17
Dancing Through Time – Carol Cotter – 20
Ynys Llanddwyn – Simon Cotter – 18

NEXT WEEK

We have our Celebration Of The Season.

In the first half we will have our Review Of The Year and see our full entry of Prints, Slides and DPIs. We will have our FIVE TOWNS entry on display.

A special feature will be a chance to see ALL THE FIVE TOWNS images. I am very grateful indeed to Andrew Charlesworth of Nantwich CC for letting me have his DPIs of all 50 images, so we will all have a chance to see them. This competition is in a class of its own and we must keep it going.



John

2nd May
 

25th April 2008

THIS WEEK : PRIZE-GIVING & AGM

Well, the dancing girls never appeared but anyone who takes the view that AGMs are boring or pointless for them would have changed their minds last night. That’s because it was all about YOU. Your successes, your work, your Club.

Firstly, what a smashing idea to get Ron Smith to present the prizes!  Ron made it such an event – and so much fun. Thank you Ron, we must book you for next year!

Ten members have won trophies and/or certificates. That’s about a quarter of our total membership. Some have won several prizes and a couple are new to the club.

Patrick Whalley

2nd Colour Print League
2nd Colour Print Annual
2nd Slide League
2nd Slide Annual

After the Prize Giving I had two surprises for you all.

Chairman’s Choice was a new prize that I have instigated to celebrate members’ work on a broader basis. I wanted to use it as an opportunity to comment on the successes of all of you in our competitions but some people in particular.

This year I think amidst all that impressive work two people have stood out. Dot Johnson, who I know has been a bit shy of entering competitions (yes, shy, Dot!) amazed us all with Colours In The Rain, Fading Autumn, Snow Leopard, Stalking Heron. All simple, powerful images. They would take some beating but, in the end I felt that we should remember one of Carol Cotter’s pictures as the image of the year because this year we have witnessed the emergence of a special style of Carol’s.

It was heralded by Pink Perfection last year but now she is doing something quite individual with her photography. She is communicating something. Her pictures are not just pretty flower shots, they draw you in and make you notice and appreciate those tiny beautiful details. She is innovative and fearless in this pursuit – look at Poppy’s Tear – only a tiny area of that picture is in focus yet it works wonderfully well.

Dancing Through Time was my choice though. It works for several reasons. It has many elements which speak of motion and rhythm; the falling fruit just slipping out of the frame, the sine-wave pattern drawn by the remaining fruits. It has the detail which draws you in, as does her other work, to admire the textures and lines of the fruits still attached. The background is dark to keep our attention where it should be. The title is perfect. Finally, it is monochrome. Colour is absolutely unnecessary; in fact we would be distracted by the green stalk.

Afterwards I was so pleased to be able to honour Tom & Mary Seaton for their remarkable work for the Club by giving them each a medal “for outstanding service” to the Club.

I felt it was high time that we said how much we appreciate what they do and I know from discussions after the Dinner that you were 100% with me. There are others too, who we will pay tribute to in time but nobody can fail to agree that Tom & Mary – well, a tribute is long, long overdue. I always feel anxious that newcomers in particular may not appreciate at first that they are the bedrock of our Club. Tom prefers that I act as “front man” during meetings but he is too self-effacing – his votes of thanks which he sometimes does are just so, so genuine and full of enthusiasm. This email is now a special means of communication, but Tom was doing a Newsletter years ago. We are years ahead in digital work thanks to Tom’s initiative in applying for the Lottery Grant. Tom does go back further than Mary with the Club but they now form a seamless team – it is hard to know where one ends and the other begins – just the way it should be.

I really enjoy working with them. They are receptive to new ideas whilst keeping feet on the ground. They take a broad view of what photography is about and enjoy their hobby immensely. They are great ambassadors for the Club when we make visits elsewhere. We salute them.

Back to business. You voted, almost unanimously, to make the following changes to our competitions:

Reduce the number of Slide Competitions to ONE per season. You will be allowed to enter far more slides so it will not make much difference there.

Allow only genuine film slides. We are trusting you here. It is very hard to tell a “digital slide” from a genuine “film slide” but, please keep to the spirit of this. To clear a point raised by Ken Dickenson. This applies ONLY TO THIS ONE INTERNAL COMPETITION. You are free to enter digital slides in the L&CPU Annuals, through the Club, if you wish. There would be nothing to stop us using them in Battles too, though I fear that the opportunity for that is rapidly diminishing.

Introduce more DIGITAL PROJECTED IMAGE COMPETITIONS. Basically the Slide Comps and the Jim Harrison Trophy would swap places. We will have two League and a final for DPI comps.

We will review things next year. I already have in mind another innovation for our Annuals which we can formulate during the year.

Our meeting closed last night with a touching tribute to all the Club executives from our President, Alan Goodin. Thank you, Alan.

Don’t forget that we have the FIVE TOWNS MONO COMPETITION hosted by Nantwich CC at the Nantwich Civic Hall on TUESDAY 7.30. The room is very plush but not too big so get there early. You can park behind the Civic Hall.

The Five Towns is not Arnold Bennett’s Five Towns but Crewe, Nantwich, Sandbach, Whitchurch and Alsager. The competition is held in high regard by us all and we have won the competition more times than anyone. Mike McNamee is the judge. It is the Monochromatic Derby – don’t miss it!

Then, NEXT THURSDAY, at the BRITTLES we have another lady with something to say – Dianne Owen. Dianne is enjoying great success nationally with her finely drawn images which lower the barrier between photography and painting – don’t miss it! Look at http://dianne.viewmy.info/  (Told you it was a funny address)

More to follow,

John

25th April 2008

17th April 2008

THIS WEEK : SLIDE KO

Thanks to all of those who contributed last night and to Dave & Sharon for running the event.

Ian Whiston had the winning slide and also several more in the top 5 or 6. Peter Robinson was in with the leaders, as was Ken Dickenson.

The detailed results will be listed next week.

In the second half of the evening we looked at slide photography in general and saw examples of results from different cameras, film, and lighting conditions. Some past competition entries got an airing as did some near-misses (the ones that got away and the versions which were not entered in our competitions.

I hope an enjoyable evening but can we do it again next year?

NEXT WEEK – AGM

Some important decisions to be made and those prizes to be awarded, don’t miss it!

L&C ANNUAL ENTRIES

These have been even more work this year with a record entry and more submissions on an individual basis too (we normally only enter those images which have scored well in competitions). This is good but it has meant a lot of work for Tom and Mary.

In addition we have digital projected image sections for the first time and I have prepared the entry for that.

Every member who entered one of our competitions this year has at least one entry. This is not just to generate interest but to ensure that the newcomers pre-qualify for PAGB distinctions should you wish to go for them.

This is another example of the way that Crewe PS looks after its members; 40% of the clubs in the region don’t even bother entering the competition!

John Royle
18th April 2008

11th April 2008

THIS WEEK : BATTLE WITH NANTWICH

Whatever else might be said about our Battle with Nantwich CC on Tuesday – they won by 9 points and I would not argue with the outcome. They definitely had the edge with their prints (178 to 170) but as the slides came up I felt we might well bridge the gap. In the end they were still one mark up on the slides (170 to 169).

There was a tie for first place in the prints between Tom Seaton’s Line Dancing and a lovely Amaryllis detail (a la Carol Cotter) from Nantwich.

In the slides another flower picture from Nantwich’s Harry Smith was the winner. (I asked you last week to look at Harry’s pictures on Nantwich’s website www.nantwichcameraclub.org.uk ).

The judge had a struggle sorting the pictures because there were so many very good images. He worked on a knock-out basis and did not have time to comment much on the pictures so we did not get to find out more precisely how he was making his selection.

THIS WEEK WAS – THE DIGITAL PROJECTED IMAGE KNOCK-OUT

Can I start by saying how impressed I was with the entry? Established workers had some exciting new work and there were some great images from our newcomers too.

As I said, it is a flawed system (for fun only!) because when two really good images come up together, one has to go. The converse is true of course, so some really good stuff is knocked out early and some poorer stuff will survive a round or two.

But it is good fun and gives you an audience reaction to your pictures – you can then use the best ones next year.

I said there was some excellent work from newcomers. I was sorry to see Graham Lymer's images not survive better. I think he had the best prepared images of all the newcomers. They were dead sharp with good contrast and well saturated. They were also simple, bold, clear images with a clear message. I look forward to seeing what Graham produces next year.

Another remarkable newcomer is Bob Bradshaw, whose Common Darter picture deservedly survived well. This was an excellent piece of work; very well composed with the four radiating leaves making a great backdrop to the insect which was perfectly sized and placed in the frame. All sharp. His Common Darters in Tandem was remarkably well captured because the insects were in flight (just try it!) but the image didn’t have the pictorial quality of the other. Again, I look forward to seeing what Bob comes up with next year.

Then we had some really well composed images from Peter Hemsley. Peter clearly has the eye for a picture and his Path to the Woods nearly made it to the final round. Peter’s wife Maureen was not to be left out either with her Reflections and The Sharp Edge doing well.

I would have liked to see more pictures from John Davies – he only entered three but Coliseum In Evening Light was a pleasing one. And he should not give up on the punning titles!

I only really have time to offer these words of encouragement to those just starting out. We had some stunning stuff from established workers. Carol Cotter had two images in the final five – quite an achievement and what images they were! Swans tend to be hackneyed subjects and so you need a new angle and Carol certainly had that with Eye Spy. Her winning image Sail Away, a Froy-dian creation of remarkable beauty was something else!

Results for DKO – Subject to ratification

Totals (Totals for 6 images – those with fewer entries not counted)

Carol Cotter 16
John Royle 15
Ian Whiston 12
Pat Whalley 10
Bob Bradshaw 10

Dave Lucas 9
Alan Goodin 6
Simon Cotter 5
Graham Lymer 4
Ken Dickenson 4

Winner - Sail Away - Carol Cotter
2nd - Wildflower Meadow - Rosemary
Third = Eye Spy - Carol & Great White Pelicans - Ian Whiston
Fifth - Approaching Storm - Tom Seaton


John Royle
11th April 2008

5th April 2008

THIS WEEK: SLIDE ANNUAL & MAURICE ASHWIN TROPHY

The judge was Tony Pioli ARPS ABPE. It is the first time that Tony had judged for us. He is a highly respected photographer in the region, especially successful with his macro shots of insects etc but author of many great landscapes too. He has visited us twice before to talk to us and he is one of our speakers next year – this time on macro photography.

I have rarely heard a such a detailed commentary on the composition and viewers perception of a picture than Tony gave last night. One message which I think we will all recall is the importance of realising that, in our culture, we read a picture from left to right. He asked Dave to laterally invert a couple of the slides to illustrate the point.

Thank you Tony for a very informative evening.

Results

SLIDE ANNUAL

Leafy Bank – Ken Last 20 and WINNER

Curlew – Patrick Whalley 19.5 and SECOND

Tate Modern – Ken Last 19 and THIRD

Concentration – Ken Dickenson 18.5 HIGHLY COMMENDED

Stone Posies – John Royle 18.5 HIGHLY COMMENDED

Bee-Fly At Dawn – Patrick Whalley 18.5 HIGHLY COMMENDED

18s

After The Storm, Rannoch Moor – Jean Dickenson
It’s Really My Turn – Patrick Whalley
Elephant Stampede – Jean Dickenson
Unfurling – John Royle
The Cheshire Eye – Jean Dickenson
Telstar – Ken Last

17s

Breakfast For Young Wagtail – Patrick Whalley
Prayer Book – John Royle
Water Buck with Pelicans – Ken Dickenson
Two With Class – Ken Last
Male Kestrel – Ken Dickenson
Sun Dial – Bill Bailey
Morning Bath, Crested Tit – Patrick Whalley
Common Buzzard Portrait – Ken Dickenson


MAURICE ASHWIN TROPHY

There were three slides and 23 prints. Tony seemed to prefer the traditional studio portrait and our chief exponents did very well. We may well be able to set up a portrait evening next year on one of our Open Evenings.

WINNER

Bill – Howard Edwards ARPS

SECOND

Dreaming - Howard Edwards ARPS

THIRD

Evie – Stella Rew-Dixon

17s

Arthur – Peter Robinson
Josie – Dave Barton
Snow Monkey – Patrick Whalley (not a studio portrait!)
Man Of Florence – John Royle
Sophie - Howard Edwards ARPS
The Captain - Howard Edwards ARPS
Dermot O’Reilley – John Royle
J – Dave Barton (our shortest title yet?)

NEXT WEEK

Firstly, on Tuesday – starting at 7.45pm, we have our Battle with Nantwich CC at Nantwich CC.

This is always our most exciting Battle because they have some very good photographers at Nantwich and that makes you particularly pleased if you win. Take a look at their website to see what I mean – www.nantwichcameraclub.org.uk  . While you are there make sure you see the work of Harry Smith. Look at the one of the children playing in the street (Our Gang). Did you ever see a better piece of street photography? Not often!

"The Gables", Beam St, Nantwich is where Nantwich CC meet. It is a local authority building with a mock Tudor first floor. Its location is close to the town centre and is directly opposite the Library, Civic Hall, bus station and next door to the "Red Cow" public house. Access is gained from Lady Helen Walk” – quote their website (well, almost).

You can park on the Library Car Park near the old Health Centre and you are only just across the road.

Then, on Thursday at The Brittles, we have our DIGITAL KO.

Thank you to the 24 members who have entered and there are about 130 images and it should be a great evening.

John Royle
5th April 2008

27th March 2008

THIS WEEK WAS IRENE FROY

Irene had us all captivated. The praise afterwards was universal and it seemed that everyone was reluctant to leave. If you were not there take a look at www.irenefroy.com  to see why her pictures had us enthralled. Then her talks are so well organised, nothing interrupts the flow and the delivery is so clear and well-tempered. She tells the stories behind the pictures but at the same time you get a stream of advice about what to look out for and what is appealing about a particular picture.

Irene is an international selector as well as holding FRPS, EFIAP, MPAGB, Hon PAGB and BPE 4*. She is associated with the London Salon and a member of the EYECON group started by Adi Sethna. I said she was a distinguished visitor and you cannot get more distinctive than that.

I also paid tribute to Irene’s husband Gerry. Irene’s photography would be very restricted were it not for Gerry’s devoted assistance in getting her around to places and – not occasionally – spotting photo opportunities.

Please don’t expect anything better than last night.

GETTING INTO PRINT

Have a look at the downloads on printing and mounting on our website. They need a bit of up-dating but there is still a lot of good stuff there.

Whilst some of you have hit the heights this year with print quality (not to mention content!) some prints have caused concern. If you are struggling with your printer why not try getting them printed for you? It is actually cheaper than doing it yourself and you can get excellent results, especially for monochrome. Simon and Carol are trying the printers that the Charnocks are using.  Ian has been using the place in Bradford for nearly a year now.

Two more tips. Thinking changes as we progress with the technology and techniques of printing and one thing which those arbiters of taste (the judges) are starting to criticise more is over-sharpening. This is a difficult one because some sharpening is almost always needed and also sharpening for printing on an inkjet can be taken a shade higher than appears right on the monitor. But back-off a bit.

The other problem is over-enlarging. We were getting away with a bit of crunchiness caused by this but we are getting more critical and backing down on the enlargement might be a good idea. A good little-un will beat a crunchy big-un.

EXHIBITIONS

Last week Janis and I went to see the George Rodger Exhibition at The Imperial War Museum North.

It is remarkably well done and I can heartily recommend it. You are warned that some pictures may be disturbing but you can easily avoid these (some are quite well-known anyway). There is no getting past the fact that George Rodger was a war photographer but he pictured life at home as much as anything and his photos are a remarkable social document as well as having that extra magic of being great pictures. (I stood for a long time in front of the big enlargement of four young lads pictured in the streets of Coventry; the baggy socks, grubby short-trousered suits, the mixture of emotions on the faces, the suggestion of suburbia in the background – if ever the “thousand words” cliché were true. . . ).

I said to our companions that, in these days of wall-to-wall photo-reporting, where video cameras are stuffed in the faces of every event and person even vaguely out-of-the-ordinary we have gained not one iota over the single gifted observer with a camera.

If you go you can nip over to see the Harold Riley exhibition at the Lowry. He is a Salford Artist who was a friend of the great Andre Kertesz. The pictures are good historical documents and certainly worth a look. They are experimental (in some cases) and a few are very good. On the whole, though, his undoubted artistic eye is not matched by his ability with a camera and so that extra magic ingredient that makes a great photograph is missing – but worth a look.

There is also an exhibition of some early Cartier-Bresson (also a founder of Magnum) at the Media Museum Bradford starting on 1st March.


John Royle
28th March 2008

20th March 2008

THIS WEEK WAS – David Foster - Tuscany

David painted a charming little portrait of the highways, byways, churches, houses and, yes, doors and windows (!) of one of the World’s most beautiful regions.

It wasn’t just a collection of good shots though, he had a number of photographic notes along the way which added interest for us all. Thank you, David.

Next Week – Irene Froy

Irene will pay us the visit postponed from last November. Definitely one not to miss. If you are not familiar with Irene’s work take a look at www.irenefroy.com .

Is There A Future For Slides?

Firstly, a correction. Nantwich DO have slides available for the Battle in April. But they want us to consider digital images in the future.

One of our members has said that there is a return to slides to some extent in natural history workers because they dislike all the sorting etc on the computer which digital demands.

There is no doubt as well that slide photography demands greater skill in taking the pictures – in fact everything depends on it. All the skill is in the taking and none in the making. With digital the emphasis is a little bit the other way – though you will never make a good bad shot into a good one.

As someone still taking slides and using digital cameras I do admit now a disappointment with my slide pictures because you get used to “tidying up” a digital image and this makes such a difference, even if the picture is a very good one.

We are getting views from you on this topic and some very useful ideas are coming through which will take shape over the next week or two, when we will hopefully get a chance to discuss them – something which is difficult when you have a guest speaker or competition on.

If you have any views about having fewer slide competitions and more digital please let us have them.

L&CPU ANNUAL and the FIVE TOWNS

Mary kept the prints from the Annual for possible inclusion in the L&CPU Annual. We also have the 5-Towns and you may be asked to reprint some images if they are needed for both competitions. The 5 Towns is, of course, for mono only.

For newcomers; the “Five Towns” is a nickname for a Trophy which is awarded for the best monochrome image from the “Five Town” clubs. It is not Arnold Bennett's Five Towns but Crewe, Nantwich, Sandbach, Whitchurch and Alsager. We won it last year and, if anything we have just as strong a list of contenders as last year so, you never know.

DIGITAL KO

The Digital KO, which was to have been on that day is now scheduled for 10th April – our “spare” slot.

Entries for the DKO will be accepted up to and including the 3rd April BUT NOT AFTERWARDS. 1024x768 please, on disk, memory device or email. The entry is 6 maximum (still) so we might have a full evening! The subject this time is open.

COURSES etc

Simon is beginning to get a few emails about courses addressed to us through the Website. He has passed these on to you separately.

“Alan Towse mentioned that many of Wigan 10 have stopped doing their own printing and Gwen and Phil Charnock told me that they use DS Colour Labs ( www.dscolourlabs.co.uk ) in Didsbury for their prints now. An A3 Fuji print is 95p though the minimum order quantity is £12 (one league comp's entry for Carol and I!).

TALL SHIPS

Ken Last has pointed out that the Tall Ships will be in Liverpool from 18th July – 21st July.

John Royle
20th March 2008
 

14th March 2008

Battle With Sandbach PS

Anticipation ran high when we arrived at Sandbach to find that the judge was to be John Cartlidge. John is a very entertaining judge who is capable of moments of pure rapture when talking about a picture, so we were in for a good evening – turning into a great one when we won.  The marks on the prints was exactly the same but in the second half we knew we were going to win when he held back 4 of our slides for higher marks and kept none back from Sandbach.

So, well done Crewe PS. Thank you to Sandbach for being excellent hosts, giving us some hard competition and for inviting John to judge it!

Results: Prints; 164 each. Slides; Crewe 169, Sandbach – 150.

Those of you who have work in our Battle Selection will want to know how your babies fared:

Train Inspection – 18, Pink Perfection – 15, Mohammed – 15, Smoke On the Water – 20, Surfs Up – 15, Fighting Zebras – 14, Line Dancing – 19, Tree Light – 16, Jewellery Lady – 17 and Lady In Waiting – 15.

Slides:

Eden Valley – 14, Great Spotted Wood pecker – 17,Listen – 15, Dawn Canter – 17, Stalking Cheetah – 19, Quayside – 19, How To Catch An Elephant – 14, Bicyclist – 15, Marmot – 20, Green Machine – 19.

Is There A Future For Slides?

Nantwich CC have told us that they have no slides with which to compete with us next month. Last night a well-known national judge told us he wasn’t going to judge any more slide competitions. In judging other clubs’ competitions I am finding the slide entries pathetic; they have already entered their best slides and are now revisiting those old boxes just to find something to enter. Many winners are digital files printed as slides – something deplored by the purists as a mockery.

At Crewe we have kept the film flag flying as well as anyone. We have had some excellent work entered, but we have to ask – can we support 4 slide competitions each year when the overwhelmingly popular medium of digital projected images sports only 2? (Really 3 to 1 when you omit the Knock-Outs).

We want your views. We have to think ahead – in fact the judges are already booked now and we may have to go back to them and ask them if they will judge a different competition – but we must do this now if we are to keep our meetings interesting.

Here, just as an example, is one approach we could take. The dates are already set. What if we have one big slide competition on the night designated for the Jim Harrison Trophy and then turn all the slide competitions into a DPI League and Final. The Jim Harrison Trophy would be awarded at the Final.

This is just one proposal – a bit makeshift because we are already committed on the dates. Have you any suggestions, ideas or opinions?

This Week Was – The Print Annual – Judge Alan Towse LRPS

Alan is a stickler for quality, as I said and some images that had done well in the league were marked down on over-sharpening, printing problems and any lack of sharpness due to focussing problems.

Alan was struck by the quantity of prints which were of high quality. We saw Tom Seaton well and truly back on top and a great many successes from the ladies; Mary, Dot, Stella all did well but chiefly, of course, we had Carol Cotter who really has turned out some gems this year. Husband Simon was certainly not left out and Les Simpson and I did reasonably well. Congratulations also to Maurice for some good scores.

COLOUR

First – Poppy’s Tear by Carol Cotter. This print also took Print Of The Year. Congratulations to Carol who has really found her feet this year and is developing a very special style. Her close-ups of flowers show their fascinating details to great effect. We are seeing an important talent emerging here!

Second – Small Elephant Hawk Moth – Patrick Whalley. This and Patrick’s GS Woodpecker had fantastic detail, superb quality.

Third - The Pink Bicycle – John Royle. This is one of three of the street shots I took in Tuscany which I have used this year – he didn’t like Grand Tour Ladies much though!

The 19s

Male Great Spotted Woodpecker (Very Highly Commended) – Patrick Whalley
Cala Lily (Highly Commended) – Carol Cotter
Porcelain Fungus (Highly Commended) – Simon Cotter
The Giraffe (Highly Commended) – Stella Rew-Dixon

The 18s

Motocross Jumo – Ian Whiston
The Colour Purple – Carol Cotter
Storm In The Mountains- Mary Seaton
Snow Leopard – Dot Johnson
Stalking Immature Heron – Dot Johnson
Honey Fungus – Alan Goodin
Iris – Mary Seaton
Wave Rider – Simon Cotter
My Darkroom Demise – Howard Edwards

Monochrome

First – Digital Message – Tom Seaton
Second – Sunflower Detail – Carol Cotter
Third – Overgrown – Tom Seaton

The 19s

Follow the Leader (Very Highly Commended) – Simon Cotter
The Day When Steam Was King (Very Highly Commended) – Les Simpson
The Photographer (Very Highly Commended) – Stella Rew- Dixon
Fleeing The Storm (Highly Commended) – John Royle
Standing, Still (Highly Commended) – Tom Seaton
High Key Gerbera – Carol Cotter

The 18s

Peveril Of The Peak – John Royle
Dancing Through Time – Carol Cotter
Black & White – Simon Cotter
Dermot O’Reilly – John Royle
On The Royal Daffodil – Mary Seaton

Congratulations to you all. A splendid field which would have been a credit to any club in the Federation.

L&CPU ANNUAL and the FIVE TOWNS

Mary kept the prints last night for possible inclusion in the L&CPU Annual. We also have the 5-Towns and you may be asked to reprint some images if they are needed for both competitions. The 5 Towns is, of course, for mono only.

PROGRAMME CHANGE

Irene Froy is now visiting us on March 27th. The Digital KO, which was to have been on that day is now scheduled for 10th April – our “spare” slot.

Entries for the DKO will be accepted up to and including the 3rd April BUT NOT AFTERWARDS. 1024x768 please, on disk, memory device or email. The entry is 6 maximum (still) so we might have a full evening!


RONS TOPICS

Are now FEET and DISDAIN.

COMPETITIONS COMING UP

The Wirral Slide Exhibition is just round the corner. Closing date is 26th March. We have application forms.
Beyond Group First National Open for Digital Projected Images (www.beyondgroup.info). Date 19th July. The arrival of a new National may be indicative of a trend. Entry into digital competitions is so relatively easy; no slide duplication, no printing, no bulky posting.

and

31st Solihull Open Exhibition of British Photography 12th April (www.solihullphotographicsociety.com/)

COURSES

Learn From The PROs

Sunday March 30th 11.00 – 4.30 at Hough End, Manchester

Cost £10

We have managed to put together three speakers who are excellent professional photographers. They will cover variety of fields of specialisation for our 30th March meeting at Hough End. This will substitute our annual March meeting which used to be held at St. Martin’s College in Lancaster. The 3 speakers are:-
Ben Hall: a young natural history and landscape photographer:
www.benhallphotography.com

Ian Cartwright FBIPP: who has won many regional and national awards for his photography:
www.caramelphoto.com

Kate Mellor: who has undertaken many projects in the UK and abroad:
www.katemellor.com 
 

RPS NW Digital Group meeting ON SUNDAY (16th) at Grappenhall.

The meeting starts at 1pm.  The venue is easy to find off junction 20 of the M6. Take the A50 left for Warrington and, in about one mile look aout for the FIRST road on the LEFT. This is Bellhouse Lane. Take that, and in a couple of hundred metres up come the Clubhouse on the right.

The speaker is John Wells FRPS from Lincoln.   John is a Permajet sponsored speaker, but in addition to talking about Permajet systems and printing, will be talking about all forms of digital photography, including landscape work, creative work, infra red simulations etc.

ALTHOUGH THIS IS AN RPS EVENT EVERYBODY IS WELCOME.

EXHIBITIONS

NEW! V&A Exhibition of Victorian Photography at the Lady Leverhulme Art Galley in Port Sunlight. Highly Recommended. Closes Sunday 16th March.

Bill tells me that there is an exhibition of George Rodger photographs at the Imperial War Museum North until late April. George Rodger was a founder member of Magnum. There is also an exhibition of some early Cartier-Bresson (also a founder of Magnum) at the Media Museum Bradford starting on 1st March.

Keele Three Counties Photographic Exhibition now on in the Chancellors Building, until 19th March.

My Grand Tour Ladies and Peveril Of The Peak were selected.

The SOUTHPORT OPEN is also on currently.

There is plenty more on – I said months ago that I was not trying to give you a comprehensive guide – look at www.lcpu.org.uk  for that. BTW, sign up to the Forum too!


John Royle
14th March 2008
 

6th March 2008

John & Margaret are well known for their excellent wildlife work and last night we were not only treated to a lovely selection of it their aim was to tell us how the shots were done.  We don’t often find photographers willing to spill the beans on techniques and equipment – I learned a great deal.  The one thing that came across without them telling us was that vital item of equipment – dedication.  I liked their inclusion of “the ones that got away”  because they made part of the story and made you realise that things can go awry even for the best prepared.  They finished the evening with John’s panel for his ARPS. If any of you are interested in gaining distinctions we would be keen to help. For the PAGB distinctions, for example, the L&CPU always have a “trial judging” at their competition in March (15^th this year) and you can try out 3 or 4 of your intended entry.  We congratulated them on each gaining an EFIAP.

We have the BATTLE with SANDBACH on WEDNESDAY at SANDBACH LIBRARY. The Library is easy to find as it faces the COMMON in Sandbach. It starts at 8pm but get there for 7.30. 

Our meeting on THURSDAY is the PRINT ANNUAL, judge is Alan Towse. There are about 80 prints. SLIDES and PORTRAITS for the MAURICE ASHWIN TROPHY are needed NEXT WEEK. The portraits can be new work.

I was amazed to receive the results on Saturday night! Amazement soon turned to delight when I saw we had made 7^th in the L&CPU clubs.  Well done Crewe PS! Hoylake won the “Small Clubs” so we congratulated John & Margaret, who are members there, but look at the lists on the L&CPU website  and ask yourself if we did the right thing.

Has become the THREE MONTH CANON CASHBACK!!  So this is what they are doing about the Nikon onslaught!  The Cashback Offer available at the Show applies from now until the end of June.

Simon & Carol went to this. Here is Simon’s Report…

"BB’s talk was another game of two halves and because of the mixed nature of the audience he covered a mixture of beginners and more advanced topics.  He started by asking how many of the 100-odd audience used Photoshop (PS), with a unanimous result (manfully resisting the follow up question of “who actually paid for it?”) and then asked how many used PicturesToExe (PtE) or intended to use it with about 1/3 raising their hands and then started off the morning session on PtE.  To be fair I actually found it quite interesting as an overview of using PtE: preparing files in PS, creating a slide show with transitions, panning, flowing text and then using Audacity to edit music to suit.  However he does cover lot of ground quickly and lost some of the audience (quite few gave up at the first coffee break). 

The afternoon session was more interesting concentrating on PS.  He started with a run through of Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) and then went on to show how to open ACR files as Smart Objects in PS CS3 which is a good technique for combining multiple conversions of the same raw file in an image, e.g. one conversion for the foreground with a second for the sky.  He also did quite a bit on both making and refining selections including an excellent demo of using Channels to create a complex selection such as a tree.  He finished off with a quick Q&A session which ended with a run through of some of the more useful Blending modes. Barry used a Wacom graphics tablet throughout and gave some useful tips on using it with PS.  He also had a number of his images on display as prints from Loxley which were pretty impressive (he is sponsored by them).

So after some initial reservations we both enjoyed Barry’s talk though the organisation by Chester PS at the Grosvenor Museum left a bit to be desired, the wireless mike kept failing every 5 mins or so in the first half and the logistics for coffee were terrible with an enormous queue forming and the last member only getting their drinks at the end of the 20 min breaks." 

Simon

All but the newcomers will remember John Stanley, who was a member until a couple of years back. He is now persuing his many other interests but still follows what we do through receiving this Email every week.  John is a member of the Orchid Society (one of the things which keeps him away from us!!) and last weekend he was at Bridgemere (now owned by Wyevale), where, together with his wife Margaret, he was advising vistors about Orchids.  I had an email from John which said…

"The orchid society (CANWOS) is having a liaison with Bridgemere-Wyevale to help them with orchid info. Talking to their manager I asked, as an aside,  what it was that that they had against photography (pointing out that anyone hell-bent on industrial espionage could easily surreptitiously video with a cam-phone and that black cloths and Mg-ribbon no longer were a hazard to visitors). We had a discussion about a previous rather naff competition and I then mentioned that I have connections (albeit now tenuous) with CPS. I said that I thought CPS might be able to help if any further photo developments occurred but I stopped there, in case there isn't interest in that direction. 

Basically, if the issue of photo competitions, photo-ing plants/flowers, gardens and photography, would you like me to suggest contact with CPS?  I believe that they are into genuine symbiosis with outside expertise in that they would reciprocate with publicity etc.  There'd be no money in it but genuine reciprocation and cooperation if that'd be of use and, conceivably, hanging space (?).

Do you want me to keep the pot boiling on that one or let it cool off?"

I’ve said that we would be interested.

And whilst on the topic of running things; please give some thought to whether you could help us out. It is good to have the stability in the executive that we have BUT we need to always be thinking about continuity – ideally we all need understudies. Or perhaps you would like just more say in what we do.

Join the Committee! Nominations start three weeks before the AGM.

Are now FEET and DISDAIN.

I am currently judging Chester PS’s Themed Competition and it is very interesting to see how their members have tackled the topic PERSONAL SPACE. They range from a full studio set-up of a suitable scene with two actors, through an outside privy (very funny!) to ones where the link is so tenuous the authors clearly hadn’t anything to put in – but did so all the same!

I have been attending meetings of the C&DLHA for some time now as a representative of CPS.  Firstly, please let me know if you, or someone you know, have any photos of Crewe which might be of historical interest.  Secondly, Queens Park. You will know that Queens Park is being refurbished. The C&DLHA has organised a guided tour of the park. It is their meeting but I did ask if 3 or 4 CPS members could attend. Please let me know if you are interested. It will be

IN BRIEF:

Mick Roberts has dealt with a computer repair man in Alsager and recommends him for good prices and reliable work.  DarBro Computers 01270 879101. They are on the little business park by the Radway Green Factory.

Patrick Whalley told us that Mike Wilkes has a spare place on his Galapagos trip in May.

John Royle

7^th March 2008

28th February 2008

First Digitised portfolio a little disappointing
Our PAGB Entries
Cash Back from Canon
RON’S TOPICS : Environmental or Animal

The Downside of Success

I am disappointed to hear that the Annual entries are down (so far) because people feel that “there are so many good ones”. Well, there are, but you should know that photo competitions are far from cut and dried. Also the Annuals are a brand new competition – same images, yes, but we all start from square one.   Please put your pictures in. I am delighted that we now have more members who are capable of top class work but what we don’t want is anyone feeling discouraged from entering competitions.  Remember, it is a brand new competition!!

Please let us have your opinions on this, if there is a problem perhaps we can find a way of dealing with it.

Here are a few things to mull over;

LEAGUE RESULTS

Whilst we are on the subject of competitions, we have now completed the League Comps and the top three in each one were…

COLOUR PRINT

Ian Whiston – 157
Patrick Whalley – 154
Ken Dickenson - 150

SLIDES

Ken Dickenson – 176
Patrick Whalley – 170
John Royle - 164

MONO PRINT

John Royle – 159
Dave Lucas – 131
Simon Cotter - 129

THIS WEEK WAS – L&CPU SLIDES FOLIO

We watched the digital versions first and then the slides. Slides 1 DPIs 0.

You cannot get the best digital images from slides by putting everything on the scanner on “Auto”. They need care with the contrast control, saturation and sharpening. I know this from the AVs I’ve done of your slides.

Still, Gordon Jenkins, our past President, did an excellent job on the commentary and it made a very interesting evening. He talked about the things which made the image successful using that cheery, light-hearted tone that we all know and love. Thanks Gordon.

L&CPU Committee

On Saturday Simon Cotter and I were accepted onto the L&CPU Executive Committee. We now have a firm link with the top.

This is in part a recognition that Crewe PS is well thought of in the Region because CPS was asked if they would like to propose us – “head-hunting” I think it is called. Phrases like “pro-active Club” and so on were used.

So we both now have a responsibility to all the clubs in the L&CPU but I see nothing but benefits to CPS in being better informed, more influential, better known.


NEXT WEEK

Margaret & John Sixsmith – Close Encounters

Margaret and John are leading wildlife photographers and this should be a great evening with Margaret firstly showing us their style of working and then John dealing with techniques.

CPS PAGB GBC 2008

Which stands for Crewe Photographic Society Photographic Alliance of Great Britain Great British Cup!  Our entry has been received. I met Rod Wheelans at Focus On Imaging and he told me there were entries from over 100 clubs and that the results would still be announced at the end of March.

RONS TOPICS

A good entry this week – keep bringing ‘em.

OUR WEBSITE

www.crewephotosoc.com continues to impress throughout the Region and one reason is that we have lots of work on there.

Simon is inviting additional contributions. This is what he is saying….
 

"If you haven’t had a look already our website www.crewephotosoc.com it contains a gallery section with a selection of quite a few of our member’s images. In fact we’ve probably got more member’s work on our site than almost any other club but we always want more! I create a new page for each member so if you like you can use the gallery as your own personal showcase (though at the moment we are limiting the number of images per member to 9 to conserve our web space). I would love to receive your images, these don’t just have to have been entered into a competition, and you can either email them to him at Simon Cotter or bringing them along on a CD. It would be ideal if you could prepare your images to the same standards as the Jim Harrison trophy and upcoming Digital Knock-Out (hint!), JPEG at 1024 x 768 pixels in sRGB colourspace. If you are unsure about how to do this check out John Royle’s excellent help sheet ("How to enter a digital photo competition (resizing images for digital projection)") in the Downloads section of the website. But don’t worry if you have them in another format as we should be able to handle them. "

Simon Cotter
 

COMPETITIONS COMING UP

The Wirral Slide Exhibition is just round the corner. Closing date is 26th March. We have application forms.

The Rushden (www.rdps.co.uk/open/index.htm) is 15th March.
Beyond Group First National Open for Digital Projected Images (www.beyondgroup.info). Date 19th July. The arrival of a new National may be indicative of a trend. Entry into digital competitions is so relatively easy; no slide duplication, no printing, no bulky posting.

and

31st Solihull Open Exhibition of British Photography 12th April (www.solihullphotographicsociety.com/)


Learn From The PROs

Sunday March 30th 11.00 – 4.30 at Hough End, Manchester

Cost £10

We have managed to put together three speakers who are excellent professional photographers. They will cover variety of fields of specialisation for our 30th March meeting at Hough End. This will substitute our annual March meeting which used to be held at St. Martin’s College in Lancaster. The 3 speakers are:-
Ben Hall: a young natural history and landscape photographer:
www.benhallphotography.com

Ian Cartwright FBIPP: who has won many regional and national awards for his photography:
www.caramelphoto.com

Kate Mellor: who has undertaken many projects in the UK and abroad:
www.katemellor.com 


EXHIBITIONS

Bill tells me that there is an exhibition of George Rodger photographs at the Imperial War Museum North until late April. George Rodger was a founder member of Magnum. There is also an exhibition of some early Cartier-Bresson (also a founder of Magnum) at the Media Museum Bradford starting on 1st March.

Keele Three Counties Photographic Exhibition now on in the Chancellors Building.  My "Grand Tour Ladies" and "Peveril Of The Peak" were selected.

There is plenty more on – I said months ago that I was not trying to give you a comprehensive guide – look at www.lcpu.org.uk  for that. BTW, sign up to the Forum too!

John Royle
29th February 2008
 

23rd February 2008

Stunning Work From CPS Members
PRINTS IN FOR ANNUAL NEXT WEEK (28th)
Our PAGB Entries
RON’S TOPICS : Environmental or Animal
FOCUS-ON-IMAGING - EXHIBITIONS

THIS WEEK WAS - THIRD PRINT LEAGUE COMPETITION

I was absolutely bowled over by your prints last night! There were so many remarkable images and such a great variety of subjects. I nearly asked the judge – Frank Hutchinson – who is a member at North Cheshire PS - how they would stand up against a typical selection from their members. I know the answer, because I have judged there, it is “very well”. The great thing is that we have such a large number of extremely good workers. Many clubs sport 2 or 3 members who can score 20 – I think we now have 10!

It was good to see one of our newcomers, Graham Lymer, in there with a 19. Graham has had a good teacher, Ron Smith, but you need the talent too and I think we will see a lot more from Graham. Where are the other newcomers who did well in the JHT? – I think we can safely say that we will be seeing something from them too next season.

Don’t feel that it is a requirement to enter competitions though. As long as we are helping you to enjoy your photography – that’s fine.
 

THIRD PRINT LEAGUE – Frank Hutchinson LRPS

MONO

Bill – Howard Edwards – 20  The judge recognised the portraiture skills in this image and it was a digital print. Great to see the old master getting into his stride again.

Dermot O’Reilly, Drayman – John Royle – 19 This one is familiar to you now. Frank picked up on the weakness in this picture, the burnt out highlights, but the character of the guy comes through so well and he is so nicely positioned in the frame.

The Captain – Howard Edwards – 19  I think this one was a real photograph! Well done again Howard, welcome back!

Dancing Through Time – Carol Cotter – 18  I have to say that Carol’s botanical pictures are something really special. She has found a new way of expressing the beauty of flowers, sometimes with a detail, sometimes through the lighting, sometimes through the treatment in Photoshop – always capturing something truly enthralling. If you haven’t realised already, I think we have a new star in our midst!

The Cartoonist – John Royle – 18  I honestly didn’t expect this bit of fun to do quite so well, Frank was right that I should have cropped off the white bit on the left. I did burn it in, but it wasn’t enough.

The Lookout – Simon Cotter – 18  A great landscape with a stone cross powerfully positioned in the foreground.

Fleeing The Storm – John Royle - 18  I admit to this being a composite. The geese were pictured in Norfolk and the stormy landscape (all genuine) was in Lesvos.

Columns Of Philae Temple – Dave Lucas – 17
Moon Dancer – Carol Cotter – 17
Remembering the Prague Spring Of 1968, Monument – Les Simpson -17 (Our longest Title?)
Concentration – Ken Dickenson – 17
Bull’s Eye – Carol Cotter – 17
The Days When Steam Was King – 17

COLOUR

What a glorious cavalcade this turned out to be!

Male Great Spotted Woodpecker – Patrick Whalley - 20  This was the sharpest, most detailed, best framed portrait of a Great Spotted Woodpecker (a popular subject) that we have ever seen – anywhere!

Poppy’s Tear – Carol Cotter – 20  …and you could hardly view this without filling up – exquisite! We were debating the subject of titles – here is a perfect choice.

Juvenile Bald Eagle – Dot Johnson – 17  Another fine piece of work from a very talented lady.

Magenta Mansion – Simon Cotter – 18  I was captivated by this one. Such a clever detail of the corner of a shed window, and the colours – wow, they just transported us into surrealism! I hope the Cotter Family are making plenty of National entries this year!

Motorcross Jump – Ian Whiston – 19  Perfectly caught, all the dust, dirt and danger of Motorcross.

The Yew Monster – John Royle – 19  This was the inside of the old Yew in Astbury Churchyard. I saw the “crocodile” and nailed the impression by inserting the green marble as an eye.

The Colour Purple – Carol Cotter – 18  Perhaps the most esoteric of Carol’s. It made good use of the diagonal in the composition.

Life On Mars? – Simon Cotter – 19  Fantastic. By colouration Simon had created something special from a very plain scene. Notice how we have a very good balance between the coloured sky and the grey foreground, relieved by the white bits.

Dreaming – Howard Edwards – 19  Good title. As I’ve said it is good to see Howard back on the leader board.

Lanner Falcon – Ken Dickenson – 19  Simply superb portrait. Apart from the high technical qualities and the perfect colour rendition the fact that the wings, partly open, make a diagonal across the frame adds a great deal to this picture.

Raymond Porter, Yamaha – Ken Dickenson – 19  Another of Ken’s excellent motorcycle racing shots. What helps is being able to see the rider’s face.

Coming & Going – Graham Lymer – 19  So good to see newcomer Graham do well with this one – and very good it was too.

Crimson Macaw – Dot Johnson – 19  A powerful portrait. Dot admits to being discouraged by judge’s comments in the past. I do hope that nobody feels discouraged here – we love to see your work and by exhibiting it you do improve. Do ask for advice about mounting, printing – anything, if you need any help.

Whooper Swans – Patrick Whalley – 18  Three birds, good arrangement, capturing the grandure of these big birds in flight. Frank suggested a crop and I think that would work.

Lioness With Cub – Ian Whiston – 18  Superb portrait. Colours rich but not oversaturated. Ian is off to Kenya again on Monday (he claims it’s OK!!), we wish him all the best and hope he bags some great game!

The Victorians – John Royle – 18  The good detail in this is due to the Canon 100mm F2.8 – a great macro lens. I did ask them to pose but knew the background was too busy, so they are now backed by Willington Hall. A white layer enabled me to control the brightness of the background.

Portrait in The Rain – Dot Johnson – 18  A simple and effective portrait. We can see her face clearly under the green hood, raindrops on the coat give the atmosphere, no distractions, perfect placement in the frame. Dot, where have you been all our lives?

Feather Work – Tom Seaton – 18  Tom’s only work in the leaderboard – a shame because I liked his other contributions too. In the case of the Yellow Chimneys I didn’t agree with the judge about cropping – the balance was right as Tom had printed it.

Peeling Paint – Patrick Whalley – 17  The judge said this would work better as a diagonal – worth trying. (I couldn’t see the birdie Patrick).

Elephant’s Charge, Ambroseli – Ken Dickenson – 17  The trees formed an excellent background for the group of elephants.

Male Solami Ostrich with Family – Ian Whiston – 17 Another fine Safari shot.

Turning Over A New Leaf – Carol Cotter – 17  Another step in Carol’s adventures in Macroland!

Dahlia Delight – Les Simpson – 17  Two for the price of one from Les.

NEXT WEEK

1. GET YOUR ENTRIES IN FOR THE ANNUAL PRINT COMPETITION

Please note that I have seen no more of these images than you have. I only looked at the mono close-up and cannot comment on the detail. Alan Towse, who is judging the Annual is a stickler for detail – so take care in choosing your entries!

2. L&CPU SLIDE PORTFOLIO

I think this is the one that Gordon Jenkins has done the commentary on, so it should be good!

CPS PAGB GBC 2008

In case you missed my AV of our Great British Cup entry it is printed below. Each title had to be prefixed with the first 5 letters of a post code.

They were posted 10 days before the closing date for entries. Originally they said that the results would be published “at the end of March” but that was beore they changed the entry date by three weeks – so your guess….

1 CW5 7E Carla Lily Carol Cotter
2 CW5 7E Pink Perfection Carol Cotter
3 CW5 7E Face Mask On The Wall David Lucas
4 CW5 7E Upper Yosemite Falls David Lucas
5 CW5 7E Colours In The Rain Dot Johnson
6 CW5 7E Fading Autumn Dot Johnson
7 CW5 7E Giving Their All Ian Whiston
8 CW5 7E Motocross Ian Whiston
9 CW5 7E Dermot OReilly John Royle
10 CW5 7E Return From The Sky John Royle
11 CW5 7E Impala With New Born Ken Dickenson
12 CW5 7E Morning On HolyIsland Ken Dickenson
13 CW5 7E Blacktailed Godwit Fighting Patrick Whalley
14 CW5 7E Dipper Patrick Whalley
15 CW5 7E Mohammed Peter Robinson
16 CW5 7E Smoke On TheWater Simon Cotter
17 CW5 7E WaveRider Simon Cotter
18 CW5 7E Blackpools Best Bits Stella Rew-Dixon
19 CW5 7E Shuttered Windows Tom Seaton
20 CW5 7E Tree Light Tom Seaton

RONS TOPICS

A good entry this week – keep bringing ‘em.

Ron’s Topics: Environmental or Animal. Ron has asked Stella if she would like to take over the choice of subjects for the monthly topic. Stella has agreed and I would like to thank her for that and also thank Ron for running this little divertissement for the past few years. It is a challenge which I wish others would take up – I have a nice little collection of pictures I have done for it – why not do a digital image or two if you cannot get around to printing your creations?

FOCUS ON IMAGING

At the NEC from 24-27th of February, is a Mecca for us all. New members might like to know about this excellent industry showcase. It costs £6 to get in but if you intend to purchase anything photographic there are plenty of bargains to be had and you could save your £6 many times over. www.focus-on-imaging.co.uk  for vouchers etc to save you £££££££££££££s.

Barry & Carol Beckham at Chester

Barry and his wife Carol are leading a day’s tutorial at Chester PS on March 1st. I can heartily recommend Barry as an excellent tutor, giving clear and well-paced instructions. He is also a very creative photographer. He is a leading exponent with Pictures To Exe too and will be including something about using the animations in version 5.1. £10 for the day.

See the L&CPU website “Events” for details.


John Royle
23rd February 2008
 

15th February 2008

Next Week - Third Print League Competition

This Thursday we have our Third Print League Competition. The Judge is Frank Hutchinson LRPS of North Cheshire PS. It is also the Preview night of the Keele Three Counties Photographic Exhibition and my Grand Tour Ladies and Peveril Of The Peak were selected so we shall be over at Keele at 6pm - back at The Brittles by 8pm.

MIXED SUCCESS AT NORTH CHESHIRE

As usual the organisation at North Cheshire was excellent, particularly for the Digital Projected Image Comp last night where the Canon 1400 x 1050 projector acquitted itself very well indeed. The best prepared images (and that included ours) were as good as slides. The whole thing about digital imaging is that it makes optimal use of our visual perception and gets away with presenting far les information than a piece of film does – yet it looks just as good.

Anyway, right to the point – we did badly in the prints on Wednesday night but really well last night in the DPI KO. Do note, however that just two more marks would have lifted us 7 places – the marks were that close!

The results are in full at the end of the email. You can also view them at www.ncps.org.uk  - right back to the eighties too if you want!

Keith Suddaby was the judge on Wednesday night. He seemed to be taking aiming to get us to do three things; 1) not put borders round images 2) not “over-sharpen” and 3) push digital imaging to new limits. Right, Keith, wish we had known that before we entered. Clearly anything creative was on a roll, though SLIC did not do as well as might have been expected.

The final three images were two “creative” ones and a portrait of a barn owl. Carol Tipping was the author of the winning image and I have to say that it might well have won in any case. Carol uses the program “Painter” to manipulate and change her images. So does Dianne Owen who also had an image in the final three.

Dianne is coming to speak to us in a few weeks and there is something to really look forward to!  Click Here for link

Our marks of 17, 17, 15, 14, 13 were only enough to place us second to last!

Last night, however, brought us great success. 6th overall, tying with Leek PC was a very pleasing outcome.

We didn’t lose any images in the first round. Blackpool’s Best Bits and Godwits Fighting fell at the second, Dermot O’Reilly at the third and Colours in the Rain and Impala and New Born made the fourth round.

A) DIGITAL PRINT COMPETITION
01. Impala Rams, Confrontation. Ian Whiston
02.Grand Tour Ladies John Royle CPAGB
03.Eye at Night Stella Rew - Dixon
04.Barn Owl Ken Dickenson
05.Wave Rider Simon Cotter

B) DIGITAL IMAGE KNOCKOUT COMPETITION
01. Blackpool - The Best Bits Stella Rew - Dixon
02.Godwits Fighting Patrick Whalley
03.Colours in The Rain Dot Johnson
04.Dermot O'Reilly John Royle CPAGB
05.Impala and Newborn Calf Ken Dickenson


John Royle
15th February 2008
 

7th February 2008

THERE IS NO MEETING NEXT WEEK

This is to enable us to visit North Cheshire PS  for their annual Inter-Club Digital Print Competition (Wednesday) and new Inter-Club Digital Projected Image Competition (Thursday). We shall be at both days. On Friday there is a concert to complete the festival atmosphere.

Usually, over 20 clubs take part from all over the North of England, Southern Scotland and North Wales. It is a superbly run event. They have their own Annual Exhibition prints on display and all the prints in the competition are photographed and displayed by digital projector so that everyone gets a good view as the judge works through them. The judges are all National class and this year Keith Suddaby (one time President of our Union and RPS Regional Organiser) will judge the prints.

The venue is Poynton Civic Hall. It is easy to find. Take the A523 from Macclesfield towards Stockport and Manchester and you reach Poynton in some 7 miles or so. In the centre you need to take the right turn at the traffic lights next to the church, the Centre is behind the shops on the left, there is a turn into the carpark a couple of hundred yards or so from the lights. BTW the Congleton – Macclesfield road has a bit of a road works problem in Macclesfield and if you want to avoid that take the Holmes Chapel Siddington route to Macclesfield.

Read more on their website at  www.ncps.org.uk

This is our entry…

A) DIGITAL PRINT COMPETITION

1. Impala Rams, Confrontation. Ian Whiston

2. Grand Tour Ladies John Royle CPAGB

3. Eye at Night Stella Rew - Dixon

4. Barn Owl Ken Dickenson

5. Wave Rider Simon Cotter

B) DIGITAL IMAGE KNOCKOUT COMPETITION

1. Blackpool - The Best Bits Stella Rew - Dixon

2. Godwits Fighting Patrick Whalley

3. Colours in The Rain Dot Johnson

4. Dermot O'Reilly John Royle CPAGB

5. Impala and Newborn Calf Ken Dickenson

This week was – OPEN EVENING

Simon Cotter opened the batting with a run down on colour management. This is a complex subject but Simon did a superb job, clearly explaining the steps in colour calibration of your monitor (and why it may not work!) through to calibration of your printer. One particularly interesting bit was “soft proofing” where you can simulate on the monitor what your printed page will look like and make further adjustments before you press that “print” button. Of course it is impossible to get a print exactly like your monitor display because, for one thing, the monitor is a transmitted light image and the print reflected light – the brightness difference is very large indeed.

Here is a list of Simon’s recommended websites for more information…

The following are professional photographer’s sites with lots of useful information on colour management (along with quite a bit of other useful information as well):

http://www.northlight-images..co.uk

http://www.computer-darkroom.com

http://www.northscape.co.uk


The following are suppliers of colour management products (Including producing custom print profiles) which also have quite a bit of colour management info:

http://shop.colourconfidence.com

http://www.nativedigital.co.uk

http://www.permajet.com

All of these will also be at Focus On Imaging at the NEC from the 24-27th of February.


I hope Simon can put some notes on the website as this was a very useful talk indeed. There will certainly be some links to useful sites on this topic.

There followed about 20 minutes of hilarity as we viewed firstly Simon’s and then Les Simpson’s collection of photos from the internet.

Before the break we viewed our final selection for the PAGB Great British Cup. I processed all your score sheets from a couple of weeks back. They were a useful guide – we must try that again. The list is available to view.

After the break we saw 4 of Ken Dickenson’s AVs. Ken, like me, is just using PtE to display his pictures – and what pictures! We have seen quite a few of Ken’s images in competitions in this first year with us, but there is obviously more to come. He had prepared all the images very well – essential in successful projection – and the subjects were motorcycling, boats and wildlife. A super show, thanks Ken.

To give people some idea what to expect from the Barry Beckham day at Chester PS we viewed one of his tutorials.

There was too little time to deal with the subjects I had prepared on Sharpness, Selection and Sizing but we had a very quick look. More on this later.


Email to Website

The email facility on our website had not been working and we were quite unaware of this until John Corbett said to Simon that he had emailed it and had no reply. It is now up and running and the first result is an email from a Geoff Siddorn; does anyone remember him?

Hi I was surfing around on the net today and came across your web site.
I was a member of your club in the sixties when I lived in Crewe.
I am still a keen photographer and I was always grateful for the help and encouragement that I received at the club and many of the lessons learned have never been forgotten.
I well remember the great competitions that we had when one would take ones treasured masterpiece along only to have it pulled to pieces by the visiting judge, but hey that's how we learn.
In those early days the club had it's meetings over the co-op on Hungerford Rd which was very handy to me as I lived further down that road.
So nice to have found your site and as I now live a long way away I look forward to dropping by your site from time to time.
Regards
Geoff Siddorn
Ontario
Canada

We are wondering how many other messages we may have missed. Thanks John.

PAGB GREAT BRITISH CUP

Tom will have told you that this has been put back until nearer the end of February. We may be able to view our selection next week.


John Royle
8th February 2008
 

1st February 2008

This week was - BEBINGTON SALON at HOUGH VILLAGE HALL

Bob Dennis APAGB CPAGB BPE2* and John Dougherty APAGB presented the 5th Bebington Salon of Photography last night and a very slick presentation it was. The show ran very smoothly because they had digitised the whole thing. This had come about through the final death of the faithful old Royale, so the slides could not be projected. A Herculean effort on the part of Bob & John had seen the scanning of the slides which could then be combined with the digital acceptances into a fully digital presentation.

Although the slides were not seen at their best it was a very impressive show overall with plenty of images to inspire, impress and spark ideas.  As I said at the end we feel privileged to be one of the main venues for this exhibition and the temporary move to Hough Village Hall to accommodate visitors proved very successful.  The show included work by three Crewe members; Patrick Whalley, Ken Dickenson and Ian Whiston. We also saw two of John Corbett’s pictures, which received warm applause. John & Jane Corbett were members at Crewe and have moved to the Lakes – they still get this email and we see them at RPS and L&CPU events. (There is no escape from CrewePS!).

Thanks for a great evening to Bob & John. For the benefit of new members perhaps I should have said that we were in the company of two of the great names in North West club photography last night; both have served as L&CPU Presidents and Bob Dennis is responsible for organising, training and vetting the Judges for the L&CPU.

WIRRAL SLIDE EXHIBITION

If last night inspired you to enter a National the Wirral Slide Exhibition is just round the corner. Closing date is 26th March. We have application forms.

RPS Photoshop4Photographers

I said last week that Simon & Carol had been to this day’s meeting in Manchester. I hope Simon will not mind me quoting from his email to me – it gives an idea of what went on….

“The Photoshop4Photographers session itself was a game of 2 halves. Terry Steeley is an excellent, quick witted speaker (possibly a bit too quick witted and hip for some of the audience!) with an in-depth hands-on knowledge of Photoshop and digital imaging. The morning session was all about his preferred workflow in Bridge 2, Adobe Camera Raw and CS3 including quite a bit of pretty technical detail on colour management (too be honest if I hadn’t spent quite a bit of time recently reading up on this it would have been too technical). The most interesting point to me was that he recommended an sRGB workflow since the majority of monitors can’t display colours outside of this colour gamut and similarly most amateur inkjet printers are designed for sRGB input. He knew this was controversial and flies in the face of most received wisdom to use Adobe RGB or even ProPhoto RGB but felt it was unnecessary in most cases and minimises problems with saving images for web or digital projection (I’m a convert!). He did stress that it is better to work in 16-bit rather than 8-bit mode for as long as possible during your workflow.

The afternoon session was less interesting to us to be honest as it concentrated on Adobe Lightroom and effectively confirmed that the latest version of Bridge can perform most of Lightroom’s functions – apart from the Cataloguing – and that you can only perform global adjustments to images in Lightroom, you still need PS if you want to work on specific elements of an image.”

I welcome any contributions to the CPS Email by the way; comments, suggestions, adverts.

CPS Website

The facility to email the website has not been working. Simon is grateful to John & Jane Corbett for pointing this out. It is now fixed. Apologies to anyone who has sent and email to the website – you now know why you didn’t get a reply!


PRINTS IN PLEASE

If you still have prints to hand in for the Third Print League, it will be ok to bring them on Thursday, but perhaps Mary would appreciate a call so she knows what is on its way. I was pleased to see at least one new member handing in something in last night.

Next Week – Open Evening

We are back at the Brittles and I have asked for suggestions about things you would like to cover. We also have several Exhibitions to look at, no doubt at least one will feature.

John Royle
1st February 2008
 

19th January 2008

Whitchurch - Mid-Cheshire – Crewe  Battle Wednesday 16th January 2008

 Crewe Won!

 The final scores:

 Prints:  Crewe = 176, Mid-Cheshire = 169, Whitchurch = 160

Slides:  Crewe = 167, Mid-Cheshire = 160, Whitchurch = 174

Totals:  Crewe = 343, Mid-Cheshire = 329, Whitchurch = 334

 There were some excellent offerings from the other clubs. I especially liked a creation by Howard Hilton from Whitchurch called “Seed Heads Of Canadian Poppies” in the prints and Whitchurch also had a very striking bird portrait in the slides; “Sedge Warbler” was in the Finnish style of Jari Peltomaki and co, bird quite a small element. This shot was by a new member of theirs, Alan Heath, who they say doesn’t regard himself as a photographer (“just a bird-watcher”).  Tillman was in excellent form. I sometimes worry about “judging on the night” but I think Tillman can do it – judges don’t come any better, as I said. He is an entertainment in himself – I did tell you!  In the end I do think we had more top prints than our competitors. I was particularly struck in seeing Tom Seaton’s “Tree Light” and “Line Dancing” again. Simon Cotter’s “Smoke On The Water” was also greatly admired by the judge. Tree Light and Smoke On The Water are definite choices for our PAGB Great British entries but “Line Dancing” being very narrow and portrait orientation just would not work as a digital image.

In the slides Whitchurch had the lead with Sedge Warbler and a stormy mountain landscape “Turmoil” and the surprising “Tough Team”, but Patrick Whalley’s Female Great Spotted Woodpecker got the best slide mark of 20.

This Week Was – L&CPU Mono Folio

The commentary was by David Marsh, the immediate past-President, and was the shortest I have ever come across, so we filled out the evening nicely with a review of our PAGB GBC images and some PtEs by Barry Beckham, who is to lead a day on Photoshop at Chester on March 1^st. We also viewed the RPS 150^th Annual International Print Competition pictures.

Next Week – Slide Competition, Second League

The judge is Sigrun Tollerton and we have just under 50 slides, which she will judge on the night. The Slide League is a very close run competition with very few marks separating the top few workers. Slide entries are in decline in most clubs so we are doing well to have such an exciting field.

PAGB GREAT BRITISH CUP

Last night was my deadline for your entries. I had three more workers give me images last night so you only saw about three-quarters of the images submitted. We now need to get some selecting done. I will use the score sheets you handed in last night as an aid to choosing our entries but remember that there must be AT LEAST 8 members represented and no more than 3 images from any one worker.

John Royle

18^th   January 2008

10th January 2008

PHIL & GWEN CHARNOCK FRPSs EFIAPs

I said it was eagerly anticipated and no matter how high your expectations of last night you will not have been disappointed!  There is that over-used expression “stunning” but, by half time I knew what it could really mean! I had some difficulty announcing tea-time!  They told us how they created many of their pictures. There were times when I thought Gwen was going to take off, such was the enthusiasm! That was the nub of it really – the pictures would have been an entertainment in themselves but they communicated so well the fun they have in taking and making them.  We were just enthralled and it was good that we could go on after 10pm and let ourselves down slowly.

Thanks Gwen & Phil for a truly great evening.

….and another thing

It follows from Phil & Gwen’s talk really; don’t get too hung up on the technicalities! Talking to the new members especially I know that you are feeling frustrated about mastering your camera and making more of your pictures. It is daunting to see the plethora of knobs dials and switches on your new camera – they are much more complex than the old film cameras were. Then you open up Photoshop and your brain seems to just seize up!  Fear not! The main thing is seeing pictures. Stick your camera on AUTO and take it on your day-out and LOOK FOR PICTURES. Look at other peoples work – get a few photo books from the library – don’t read them – just look at the pictures – why do they work? What subjects have been chosen? You will see plenty of examples of different kinds of pictures at our meetings and the elements which make them a success are frequently explained – take note. This is all far more important than the technicalities. There is a learning process in both the technical part and the artistic but the artistic is more important.

Phil & Gwen have never read a book about Photoshop.

Whitchurch, Mid-Cheshire Battle is Wednesday 16^th January 2008

This three-club Battle is at the Dingle Recreation Centre, Winsford next Wednesday 16^th January.

The Centre is easy to find on the dual carriageway which runs up from the centre of Winsford to Over roundabout.

Finding the DINGLE RECREATION CENTRE, Winsford.

The post code is CW7 2AS.

The Centre is on the A54 which is the dual carriageway from the top of Winsford (Chester end, Over) to the bottom (Middlewich end, River Weaver).

The easiest approach is from the Middlewich end because the dual carriageway can’t easily be crossed.  After the big roundabout at the bottom of Winsford take the A54 (second exit) to Chester up through Winsford. Go Straight on at the first lights and then TURN IN LEFT BEFORE THE DINGLE CENTRE. Parking round the back is easy. If you reach the second lights you’ve gone past.

 If approaching from the Chester end of Winsford (as you will if you go via Church Minshull) you will find it easiest to go right down to the bottom of the town (on the A54) to the big roundabout and then back up again following the directions above.

 It’s easier than it sounds!

John Royle

11^th  January 2008

3rd January 2008

Second Print League Competition

Bill Preston LRPS CPAGB was our judge for tonight and he showed every sign of having taken great care in looking at the pictures and ranking them. His comments were well balanced and he understood the pictures very well. Thanks Bill for doing such a good job, I am sure we will be asking you back again.  Thanks too Dave Lucas for displaying the prints and Rosemary Cheetham for taking Mary’s place in reading the titles etc.  The quality of the images was very good indeed and I congratulate you all on presenting such a terrific array.

COLOUR (54 pictures)

Both scored 20. The Barn Owl captured the light feathers of this favourite species extremely well but what made the picture was the post alongside which echoed the shape of the bird’s head. The Eye At Night was a masterly night shot, full of interesting detail.

19s

I spotted the Grand Tour Ladies in Siena and they represent the good luck you can have if you are always on the look-out for pictures. The expressions are priceless and gear they are carrying, the sun-hats and sandals and their different builds just add to the charm. I couldn’t get too close and, despite using the long end of a 17-85mm lens I still had to crop about half the picture area. You can still read the print on the drinks bottles though – and they had brought them from England!

Twin Otters was beautifully caught – I think these animals do look better when they are not just out of the water, when their coats tend to look very matted. Alan is becoming our myco-photographer with his excellent Honey Fungus to go with his recent winning slide.

18s

 17s

MONOCHROME (26 pictures)

20

19

18s