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Vic Attfield made his first visit to our club as a speaker and he fascinated us with a series of superb, very large images all printed in black and white and all taken many years ago in the nineteen seventies.

Vic’s prints demonstrated his ability to create the perfect landscape by building the picture with the eye before pressing the shutter. Many of Vic’s prints have appeared in exhibitions throughout the world and it was refreshing to be taken back to the days of real photography before Mr Adobe arrived on the scene.

The hall was, once again, packed with over fifty members and guests enjoying Vic’s work and his photographs were complemented by his very dry sense of humour which was noticeable when he responded to questions from the audience.

Vic has a number of other presentations following his photography over the years and we shall certainly be inviting him back to enjoy another traditional club evening very soon.

The colour and monochrome print ladders have been incredibly close all season long, and the final round proved to be just as close. Stan McCartin returned to the club to preside as judge, and decide on the final destinations of the trophies.

In the Monochrome section, two prints were awarded the top score of 20 points but it was Bill Scott who just managed to claim the trophy for the first time.

The standard of images in the colour section was extremely high and Stan selected four prints as worthy winners of the maximum points accolade. The eventual winner of the annual trophy is Matt Whorlow but the runner-up is the winner of the monochrome prize, Bill Scott.

Top scoring Prints

Title Photographer

Cactus Bill Scott

The Hoodie Tony Bates

Sheep’s Tor Matt Whorlow

Streaks of Rust Nigel Fenner

Erithacus Rebecula Bill Pound

Mount Desert Landing Brian Jolley

Colour Print Round 4 Results

Position Points Photographer

1= 39 Nigel Fenner

1= 39 Matt Whorlow

2= 38 Bill Pound

2= 38 Brian Jolley

3 36 Tom Chadwick

Monochrome Print Round 4 Results

Position Points Photographer

1 38 Tony Bates

2 37 Bill Scott

3 36 Graham Piper

Colour Print ladder (final standings)

Position Points Photographer

1 144 Matt Whorlow

2 141 Bill Scott

Monochrome ladder (final standings)

Position Points Photographer

1 147 Bill Scott

2= 144 Tony Bates

2= 144 Graham Piper

Matt Whorlow, one of our most successful photographers whose images appear regularly in the photographic press, delighted us with an evening of superb images captured over a period of twelve months showing the changing seasons and demonstrating his skill in composition and viewpoint.

Matt specializes in low angle, slow shutter speeds and soft light and his favourite locations are in the West Country. Stunning shots of the coastline and standing stones in Cornwall thrilled a packed hall who were treated to a superb series of images divided, calendar style, into the month they were captured.

Matt’s stories surrounding the shots made it clear that he is devoted to this type of photography which entails many journeys through the night, together with his wife, to ensure that he is “on location” as the sun rises. Matt’s devotion to both the West Country and his photography was well demonstrated with stories of timed night exposures of twenty minutes or more whilst a picnic on the travelling blanket was enjoyed.

Thanks for another great evening – although you have now moved to the West Country, could you manage just one more presentation next year?

Natural History has always been a popular subject at the club, which is why we have a whole competition dedicated to the best in Natural History Photography. This year, Sandy Watson was our judge and he complimented us on the very high standard of the entries. Sandy demonstrated his depth of knowledge for the subject and his comments were well received by all concerned.

This year, there were a number of flower portraits entered, together with the usual favourites of birds, butterflies and other insects. The Print section was very competitive, but Sandy managed to whittle the entries down to just 3 top scorers, with Tony Bates taking the Best Print honours with his photograph “Just a Little Higher.” In the Slide section, just one slide scooped the top score, “Black Backed Jackal” from Nigel Glover-Wright.

That left Sandy with a difficult choice to make for the overall winner, and after much sole searching he eventually selected Nigel’s slide Black Backed Jackal.

Top scoring images

Title Photographer

Just a Little Higher* Tony Bates

Lizard Bill Scott

Red Underwing Tom Chadwick

Black Backed Jackal** Nigel Glover-Wright

Overall Winning Image

Title Photographer

Black Backed Jackal** Nigel Glover-Wright

* Best Print
** Best Slide

The JPCR competition brings the 6 photographic clubs in the Reading area together to battle it out for supremacy. This year, the host club was Goring and Streatley who made sure the evening ran smoothly.

Gordon Roberts was the judge booked by Goring and his comments were well constructed, very positive and very well received by the members from all six competing clubs. The prints and slides shown were the best of the work submitted to the competing clubs and the overall standard was of a very high level.

Gordon awarded five images top marks in the print section, and then had the difficult task of choosing which to select as the winning print. In the end, Gordon went for Tony Bates’ clever shot of a circular staircase with two figures - the first trophy going to Whitchurch Hill.

In the Slide section, Gordon awarded four top scores which included one image from our Club – Bill Pound’s stunning image of a Robin. The trophy for the best slide was awarded to Roger McCallum from the Woodley Club for his beautifully atmospheric shot “Dinton Sunrise”.

A long silence occurred at the end of the evening while the tellers compared notes and the final result could not have been closer. We won by just two points with two clubs tying for the second position. That’s two wins in a row for us - can we make it a hat-trick next season?

Top scoring images

Title Photographer Club

Stair-ing Faces* Tony Bates WHCC

Leadenhall Arcade Marianne Chandler South Reading

Arch Bernard Clucas Goring

Lemon and Lime Dave Patterson South Reading

Stair-ing Faces Geoff Addis Burghfield

Dinton Sunrise** Roger McCallum Woodley

Robin Bill Pound WHCC

Trees and Snow Ernie Loft Wokingham

Le Phare des Baleines Scott Johnston Goring

Overall Results

Position Overall
Points Club

1 178 WHCC

2= 176 Woodley

2= 176 Goring & Streatley

3 172 South Reading

4 168 Burghfield

5 165 Wokingham & East Berks

* Best Print
** Best Slide

Ian Bateman FRPS MPAGB is acknowledged as one of the leading exponents in digital audio visual work and his recent visit to our club lived up to and exceeded his reputation.

Ian took as his theme “Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue”. His first sequence was his signature show - a study of the Opera House, Paris following the story of the Phantom of the Opera. Superb images illustrated the story and one section showed the chandelier falling to the ground.

His new sequences included a very cleverly worked study of the local Oxford Monopoly board which switched between images of the board and real location shots as portrayed around the board. Ian’s commentary recalled the various problems encountered in identifying some of the locations and questions were asked as to the possible commercial sponsorships of some of the named industries.

The borrowed section of the evening consisted of a number of very punchy sequences from entries in the annual international 321 competition in which the creators are limited to a maximum time of 3 minutes, 21 seconds and “something blue” was nothing more sinister than the background colour to his title slides

Silhouettes was, once again, the Set Subject for our third Slide Competition which was judged by Chris Whiting from the Newbury Camera Club. With an entry of over thirty images, Chris had a difficult task sorting out the winners and, after an initial run through and critique, he held back twelve slides for further study.

The capture of a perfectly exposed silhouette is harder than it looks and Chris successfully identified the genuine articles from those slides which were just under exposed or taken at low light.

After a great deal of consideration, he awarded the maximum 20 score to five slides and the full results of a very closely fought competition were as follows:

Top scoring Slides

Title Photographer

One Man and his Dog Nigel Glover-Wright

Cormorant at Dusk Nigel Glover-Wright

Harbour Life Tony Bates

Into the Sunset Clair Borrowdale

Thames Evening Ian Nash

Slide Round 2 Results

Position Points Photographer

1 59 Nigel Glover-Wright

2 58 Tony Bates

3 53 Claire Borrowdale

Jill Pakenham ARPS from the Princes Risborough Camera Club provided an evening with a difference when she demonstrated her love of insects and macro photography.

Jill had a superb presentation skill and it came as a bit of a shock to hear her tales of the lengths she goes to on order to capture the perfect image. Her main interest was in lepidoptera (that’s butterflies and moths to you and me) but she also included a whole range of more sinister creepy crawly things all portrayed perfectly.

One of her stories recalled an incident when she picked up a live hornet and placed it on a different plant purely to get a better balanced photograph.

Jill kept the audience fascinated with her anecdotes and, at one stage, demonstrated a moth trap she had brought with her which involves leaving a 1,000 watt light on all night and seeing what has flown in the next morning - I hope the neighbours have got thick curtains !

A brilliant lecture accompanied by superb images - Thanks, Jill, for a great evening.

This was the Set Subject for our third Print Competition which was judged by Caroline Colgate LRPS from the Bracknell Camera Club. Caroline had a very difficult task sorting out the winners from an entry of over fifty images and her friendly and helpful comments were appreciated by all present.

The choice of subject matter meant that there was a marked degree of similarity running through the prints but Caroline managed to pull out those which were superb photographically as well as completely satisfying the subject.

After much deliberation, she awarded the maximum 20 score to four different club members and the full results of a very closely fought competition were as follows:

Top scoring Prints

Title Photographer

Winter Sun Graham Piper

Salt Pans in Sicily Bill Scott

North by North West Geoffrey Borrowdale

Going Fishing Chris Giles

Colour Print Round 3 Results

Position Points Photographer

1= 35 Tom Chadwick

1= 35 Geoffrey Borrowdale

1= 35 Jean Bean

2= 34 Chris Giles

2= 34 Bill Scott

2= 34 Bert Probert

3= 33 Angela Cullinan

3= 33 Brian Jolley

3= 33 Tony Bates

Monochrome Print Round 3 Results

Position Points Photographer

1 39 Graham Piper

2 37 Bill Scott

3= 36 Chris Giles

On Sunday, 11th June 2006, well over a dozen members of the club set out to photograph a variety of scenes and locations designed to build a picture diary of the events of that One Day in June.

The results were then gathered together by our Vice-Chairman, Graham Piper, who entertained us with a digital display of images accompanied by comments delivered with his inimitable style with plenty of good humored banter from the club members involved.

Graham also included images taken during the outdoor Wednesday evening meetings throughout the summer and it was good to be reminded of the locations visited including a wonderful story of the disappearing Turville windmill which ended with the traditional pantomine favourite “It’s behind you !”

Once again, the hall was full when around 50 members and visitors enjoyed a superb digital presentation by Gaston Alziary ARPS who took us on A Photographic Tour of Chile.

Gaston is a very experienced photographer who has encompassed the digital medium and the only weakness throughout the evening was our club’s digital projector which failed to reproduce Gaston’s images clearly on screen.

Gaston’s talk included much detail of the layout and topography of the country and many of his images, including dramatic iceberg photographs, have won several medals in exhibitions.

Travel shows form an important part of the club’s programme and remain popular with regular audiences filling the hall. The standard of presentations this season has been exceptionally high and I hope that next year’s speakers will match those from this season.

This evening was our annual Enprint Competition in which members are invited to submit a panel of five enprints to be judged by all club members on the night.

After last year’s record number of entries, it was very disappointing to see only nine panels of prints for study. With a Club membership of over ninety, I would have expected much more support for this easy to enter competition and I hope that next year’s event shows a very marked upturn.

The second half was opened up as a discussion evening and the first item for consideration was the selection of Set Subjects for next season’s competitions. The eventual choices for the two themed rounds were “Looking Up” and “A Book Title.”

Discussion then turned to the question of digital competitions next season and the Chairman outlined his thoughts for the inclusion of regular digicomps running alongside the traditional slide and print competitions. A final vote showed unanimous support and we are now investigating software issues for running digicomps and also the possibility of buying a new digital projector.

We all safely made it around the nearly finished bridge over the railway to meet up with the Goring camera club for our annual battle.

Goring brought in a judge of great standing with over thirty years of judging experience both locally and at an international level - the legendary Peter Upton FRPS.

I felt that Peter had mellowed since I last met him as a judge and his comments on our work were generally well received by the members of both clubs. Peter’s personal photographic tastes became evident when he admitted that Natural History subjects did not really interest him and he was more at home with street scenes and candid type images recording people doing what comes naturally.

The overall results proved that the battle was the closest fought for many a year and demonstrated the very high standard of the prints and slides from both clubs. Peter selected just one image from each section to receive the maximum 20 point accolade - these were “Honouring the Ancestors” by Peter Bean (WHCC) and “Hanging Around” by Ken Lyndon (Goring)

Top scoring images

Title Photographer Club

Honouring the Ancestors Peter Bean WHCC

Hanging Around Ken Lyndon Goring

Overall Results

Position Overall
Points Print
Points Slide
Points Club

1 405 200 205 WHCC

2 393 195 198 Goring

The hall was full to capacity when over 50 members and visitors enjoyed a superb presentation by David Glover of the RSPB explaining how they have been successfully introduced in the local environment.

David explained at the outset that this was not a photographic lecture and it made a very pleasant change to enjoy the images on view and listen to his comments without having to worry whether the photographer had used a 1.2 converter on a 600mm prime lens.

David gave us lots of information and statistics, not only on the Red Kite population but also many other bird species and the English landscape in general. This was complemented by a large sales table with many items and novelties being sold on behalf of the RSPB.

We will now be looking at these birds in a new light and I feel certain we will be seeing many images taken by our Club members in future competitions.

This evening was a celebration of the many years service which Jim and Rose Gracey have given to the Club.

They will not be able to attend meetings for the next six months and the opportunity was taken to enjoy their photographs and digital images in an evening which traced their photography over the last twenty years.

Everyone agreed it was a splendid evening with a superbly relaxed and enjoyable atmosphere which ended with a surprise presentation of two pieces of crystal glassware to Jim and Rose following a collection from the members of the Club.

“The clock is already in use in pride of place on the lounge mantelpiece and the Candlestick piece will be used as a table centrepiece” writes Jim the following day.

Thanks again, Jim and Rose. See you later in the year.

Our first away battle of the New Year saw an elite group of members travelling to Wallingford for a new external competition.

The judge booked by Wallingford was Eric Jenkins who was a new judge as far as we were concerned. His comments were well constructed and he spent time in closely studying each print before making his judgement. Both Clubs entered prints and slides of a very high standard and this resulted in a good number of images receiving the top score of 20 points. It also provided victories for both Clubs as each half of the evening (prints and slides) was won by a different club.

At the end of the day, when all the points were totalled, the final result was a victory for ourselves by the narrow margin of just three points.

Top scoring images

Title Photographer Club

Corfe at Dawn Matt Whorlow WHCC

Champagne Pool Gaynor Roberts Wallingford

Swimmer Chris Gannon Wallingford

Dusk at Kimmeridge Matt Whorlow WHCC

Arabesque Gordon Roberts Wallingford

Peacock Steve deHaviland Wallingford

Swimmer Chris Gannon Wallingford

Martial Eagle Nigel Glover-Wright WHCC

Durdle Door Alan Rew Wallingford

Overall Results

Position Overall
Points Print
Points Slide
Points Club

1 415 207 208 WHCC

2 412 194 218 Wallingford

Phil Binks from the Ealing & Hampshire House Camera Club gave us an evening of superb crisp images presented in prints as opposed to digital or conventional slides.

The title for the evening was capable of interpretation in a number of ways and the range of subject matter was very wide and included wonderful landscapes, portraits, still life subjects, beautiful natural history shots and a number of female glamour shots.

With such a range of photography, I can safely say that every Club member found something to his taste and everyone agreed it was a superb evening.

A number of Phil’s images had been digitally manipulated and this resulted in some striking and very original interpretations. The title Big Boys Prints was originally intended to reflect the fact that the original presentation was made up of very large prints measuring at least 24 inches across.

A large number of members and guests enjoyed a study of how Reading changed through the 1960’s and 1970’s with the building of the new Inner Distribution Road. Our Chairman, Alan Copeland, presented the work and commentary of Doug Noyes, a well known local photographer, who died four years ago.

Doug followed the demolition and construction work in Reading for over thirty years, very often returning to the spot where he had taken an image thirty years ago comparing it with the modern scene. His commentary, which included great detail of the shops and families which were affected by the construction work, was recorded and forms a fascinating retrospective of the face of Reading.

Alan was determined that Doug’s work should not be lost or archived and has obtained permission and agreement from his widow, Rita Noyes, to continue presenting her late husband’s photographs to local groups and clubs.

This was the Set Subject for our second Print Competition which was judged by John Chandler. John congratulated our members on finding such a wide choice of subject matter and his comments and constructive critique were enjoyed by all.

The competition was divided into Monochrome prints and Colour prints and the marks awarded resulted in a very close finish particularly in the colour section.

The final scores for each section were as follows:

Top scoring Prints

Title Photographer

Strolling round the Sarsen Circle Tony Bates

A Cross in the Hills Nigel Fenner

We will Remember them Ron Coppock

Thebes Jackie Giles

Colour Print Round 2 Results

Position Points Photographer

1 37 Ron Coppock

2= 36 Nigel Fenner

2= 36 Bill Scott

2= 36 Tony Bates

3= 35 Matt Whorlow

3= 35 Graham Mulrooney

3= 35 Jackie Giles

3= 35 Peter Bean

Monochrome Print Round 2 Results

Position Points Photographer

1 38 Tony Bates

2 36 Bill Scott

3= 35 Nigel Fenner

A new venue at the Caversham Heath Golf Club proved highly successful when, once again, 50 members and their guests attended what has now become a prestige Black Tie dinner evening.

The evening went well with the usual high standard of catering which included our usual table novelties including, after an absence last year, balloons which fly through the air emitting an ear piercing shrieking sound.

After dinner, our Chairman, Alan Copeland, recalled the winners of the Club competitions at the end of the previous season thanking them for their continued support and high standard of work and went on to provide the entertainment with a sparkling and very amusing oration which included a number of after dinner jokes on a wide selection of subjects.

The evening ended with a surprise presentation to the Chairman and his wife, Sheila, to celebrate 20 years continuous service to the Club as Chairman.

The New Year started with a study of photographs which have all been entered in to International Exhibitions within the last two or three years. We were treated to some superb images taken by photographers in many different Countries with background music and these came via cd which was then projected for our enjoyment.

In addition to the normal slide show, a number of images were studied one by one and various members of our Club were invited to comment on what was shown.

This was the second year devoted to this type of photography and, once again, many Club members realized that a number of pictures shown were not too different from those we see at our own monthly competitions.

The last meeting before Christmas featured our traditional Audio Visual competition using just one projector and seven members submitted entries covering a very wide range of subjects.

Great entertainment was provided for over 40 members who had the task of marking each sequence of slides up to a maximum of ten points. The winner this year was last year’s runner-up, Nigel Glover-Wright, who showed a superb sequence of Natural History images under the title Watch the Birdie.

The evening closed with an enormous Christmas Buffet with loads to eat and drink and everyone staggered home in the true spirit of the season. Thanks again, Sheila, for all your hard work in preparing such a magnificent spread and, as this was your last year, all your efforts over all the previous years.

This was a Studio Evening with a difference. Instead of the normal attractive young ladies we usually have, we were pleased to welcome members of the 44th East Essex Regiment of Foot who are a group of re-enactors capturing the atmosphere of the Napoleonic wars.

We were faced with several challenges as to how to obtain the best results and our guests brought along their tent and several domestic items which they take to the battle scene. Composition was always going to be a problem but we all seem to have got some very colourful results.

The highlight came when the soldiers charged their muskets with black powder and, upon a given signal, fired their guns resulting in several flashes in the pan.

A great evening’s shoot (in more ways than one) and good entertainment - we hope to repeat the exercise in the summer along the banks of the Thames. Further details and more pictures can be seen at: www.44theastessex.co.uk

Local bird photographer Dickie Duckett mad his first visit to our Club and stunned us all with some amazing images studying the landscape and wildlife of the Falkland Islands.

This was an excellently prepared show with maps and details showing the make-up of the islands with plenty of shots of penguins and other sea birds. Dickie included many photographs of the buildings on the islands including memorials and other reminders of the conflict in 1981.

All this was well balanced with a lively commentary from Dickie and the result was an evening which will be remembered for a very long time. I wonder whether we could persuade Dickie to return to our nest next year !

If you would like to see more photographs, log on to: www.dickieduckett.com

'Made of stone' was the theme for the second round of the slide ladder, and brought a surprisingly varied entry - so well done everyone who entered. There were castles, bridges, ancient monuments, cathedrals, churches, walls, cobbles, statues, grave stones and more on show.

Peter Jackman is one of our regular and most popular judges, and he was on top form with both his in-depth assessment, and his witty remarks. Interestingly, the top scores were again dominated by a 'husband and wife' team. This time it was the turn Geoffrey and Clair Borrowdale to do 'the double'. Geoffrey scored his top score for a superb work on some cobble stones. Excellent lighting and simple composition produced a strong image. Clair was commended for her 'Shepard’s shelter', a stunning landscape of small stone building perched onto of a hill. The only other person to claim a top score was Geoff Storey for his study of an ancient temple, which was notable for its Biting sharpness and superb light.

Top scoring Slides

Title Photographer

Effephesis Geoff Storey

Cobbled Path Geoffrey Borrowdale

Shepard's Shelter Clair Borrowdale

Slide Round 2 Results

Position Points Photographer

1 55 Tony Bates

2 54 Nigel Glover-Wright

3 53 Geoff Storey

Mike Wilkes made a welcome return visit with a superb tour of North and South Tanzania when he shared his excellent images covering all aspects of Wildlife in these areas.

Once again, the hall was full with over 60 members and guests enjoying each stunning photograph which was complemented by Mike’s unique presentation style giving many amusing anecdotes as well as technical details of the equipment used.

Mike’s pictures showed many aspects of wildlife in Africa and he included a good number of action shots capturing the unique atmosphere of the Bush. The standard of Mike’s work seems to improve each year and tonight’s show has to be one of the best Natural History evenings we have had at the Club.

I feel sure our Programme Secretary will be inviting him back for another appearance next season.

Our annual competition with Henley Camera Club tends to be the most hotly contested inter club battle of the year, and this edition proved true to nail biting form.

Bryan Powell gave a lively performance as the evening judge, and many thanks for his excellent comments and feedback. Henley arrived with a stunning panel of images, for which they deserve much credit. The scores seemed to be very close throughout the evening; it was obvious that this was going to be a close one. Indeed it was with some surprise when the final results were called to hear that we won, and by 6 points.

Natural History was very well represented - 4 of the 5 top scoring images were from this genre. There was also some interesting landscape, portrait and abstract work on show too. Thanks to Henley for a great show, let’s see if we can claim the hat-trick next year!

Top scoring images

Title Photographer Club

I'm Watching You Norman Horsham Henley

Portrait of a Red Fox Dickie Ducket Henley

Sea Eagle with Fish Dickie Ducket Henley

Nanven Matt Whorlow WHCC

Martial Eagle Nigel Glover-Wright WHCC

Overall Results

Position Overall
Points Print
Points Slide
Points Club

1 404 263 141 WHCC

2 398 264 134 Henley

Just under 40 members and guests returned to the Gardeners Arms for a fun packed evening of drinking, eating and skittling. Once again, the evening was a great success and was enjoyed by everyone.

The skittles competition consisted of three rounds at the end of which there was a tie for the top position. Our Chairman, Alan Copeland had a grand total of 20 pins at the end of the night and this was matched by our Treasurer’s other half, Mark Richards. After a nail-biting play-off, the final scores were 27 to Alan and 24 to Mark. Well done, Alan. At least you’ve won something this season!!

I hope this evening now becomes a regular feature of our winter programme and look forward to taking Alan’s crown from him this time next year.

This could have been a visit to the frozen food shop to stock up the freezer but it turned out to be an awe-inspiring photographic tour of Iceland. Our Digital Group expert, Tony Bates, took us right round the island showing superb images which captured the drama of the Icelandic environment.

Within a few miles of each other, you have hot thermal activity with steam jets shooting out of geysers every three minutes and solid walls of ice being the ends of glaciers which stretch for miles. This was a totally unique evening and Tony’s excellent images were supplemented by a number of short sequences of video capture with the sounds of waterfalls and gushing geysers adding to the presentation.

A lot of work must have gone into the mechanics of the presentation and Tony has demonstrated just what can be achieved using the digital medium.

Last year the print competitions became over subscribed, and the quality of the critiques suffered as a result. So for this year instead of 3 prints per entrant, we enter 2 prints (per section). This resulted in an entry of 71 prints into the first round, so the new rules proved a complete success.

Andrew Wilson was our judge for the evening, and provided some first class feedback on our work. As is normal for an open round, there was a huge variety of photographs entered. Landscapes and wildlife were the most popular genres, although we did see some excellent portraits, candids, sport and still life images as well. In the colour section the top marks went to Bill for is portrait of a fox, and the husband and wife team (sorry wife and husband!) Matt and Kate. It was Kate's first time entering a competition, so it looks as though we have some competition!

In the Mono section, Graham took the only top score for his stunning study of a tree battered by the wind. It was well deserved too, as this work really stood out as the outstanding image in this section.

Top scoring Prints

Title Photographer

Fox Bill Pound

The Path to Cape Cornwall Kate Whorlow

White Rocks Matt Whorlow

Windswept Graham

Colour Print Round 1 Results

Position Points Photographer

1 39 Matt Whorlow

2 38 Bill Pound

3 37 Kate Whorlow

Monochrome Print Round 1 Results

Position Points Photographer

1 38 Graham Piper

2 37 Bill Scott

3= 35 Tara Taylor

3= 35 Tony Bates

Len Deeley ARPS made the very long journey from Guildford (thanks to his satnav system) to give us a superb digital lecture explaining how to use programmes such as Pictures to Exe and Pro Show Gold to produce top notch audio visual sequences.

He covered many aspects of the software available and included details of sound editing programmes including Audacity to ensure the best possible music background with commentary to provide additional information.

More and more of our members are taking the digital side on board and Len’s evening demonstrated that many more features are available than would first appear when starting up these programmes.

We all learnt many new tricks from Len’s demonstration and we should be seeing the fruits of our labours later in the season when we have our digital av evenings.

For more details of the programmes covered and many examples of Len’s work, log on to: www.imagine-photography.co.uk

With the advance of digital, the question about the future of the slide competition comes around every year. However on the basis of the first round of the slide ladder, I have to report, that the slide competition looks in very good health. There were 51 slides entered, which was a good amount - enough to make a good competition, but also allow each one to be well critiqued. It was not a case of 'quantity over quality' either with many slides making it through to the shortlist.

Keith Adams from the Ealing and Hampshire House Camera Club made a welcome return as judge, bringing with him his trademark rye sense of humour and no-nonsense feedback. There were many subjects presented - in particular there were two superb cricket photographs entered which caught the eye - as did Tony's inventive shot of an egg being blown apart by an air rifle. However in the end Keith picked out two wildlife shot by Bill and a Landscape by Matt for the top honours.

Top scoring Slides

Title Photographer

Fox Bill Pound

Robin Bill Pound

Reflections at Constantine Bay Matt Whorlow

Slide Round 1 Results

Position Points Photographer

1 58 Bill Pound

2 57 Matt Whorlow

3 54 Nigel Glover-Wright

Jim Gaines made a return visit to show his latest images in his series of off-beat lectures looking at Inspirations. He showed us many creative aspects of photography including some very original prints which held the audience spellbound.

He balanced this with a number of prints used in competition which were absolutely useless - his excuse being that he was trying for the record lowest score ever which he achieved.

A fascinating, inspiring and highly entertaining evening which was appreciated by all present on the night.

Over 25 members and guests braved the elements and traveled to Kew Gardens for some serious photography. We were met by a very good friend of the Club, Dr Peter Brandham, who took us into the nursery glasshouses giving us the opportunity to take close-up photos of the fascinating range of orchids, cactus plants, insect eating monsters and other exotic creations not normally open to the public.

After a group packed lunch, we then made our way round the gardens calling at a number of grennhouses and tropical houses, again admiring and photographing the incredible range of specimen plants within the Kew collection.

An exhausting day finally ended at gone 7.00 in the evening when the last of our party headed for home.

Thank you, Peter, for a superb day out. Can we come again in a couple of years time?

Neville Chanin was our special guest this week and he gave a fascinating account of a long distance cycle tour which he recently undertook. His journey took him to all four corners of Thailand covering a distance of 1680 miles which he completed in 16 days.

Neville’s slides showed us the warmth and friendliness of the Thai people and the emphasis was on capturing the spirit of the country as opposed to creating competition winning images.

My lasting memory will, however, be of the slide projector which Neville used - a very early form of digital projector which required the use of his digit forefinger to change the slides by pushing across the slide carrier from side to side.

Our new season started with a record number of over 50 members and guests attending the Opening Night which, this year, featured one of our own Club members, Neil Stewart who showed a series of fantastic shots taken during his diving expeditions to all parts of the world in a sequence of Underwater Photography.

Looking through the Programme and judging from the comments made by both members and guests on the evening, it looks like this season will, once again, be one of the most successful years in the history of the Club.

The future for the Whitchurch Hill Camera Club is definitely bright.

2005/2006 season