Club News / Member's Messages
| 21st May 2008 | Northern Tanzania - Part One |
Safari in Whitchurch The grasses slowly parted ………… we collectively held our breath ……… and there it was, outlined against the African skyline – a magnificent cheetah! No, this wasn’t one of the club’s more exotic photoshoots. This week (21st May), we had been transported to Africa courtesy of our very own Nigel Glover-Wright, armed with his camera and 300mm lens (plus 2x extender!) Nigel, as we know, is a keen safari –ist and over the years he has amassed a collection of wonderful scenes shot in Africa, mostly in the form of slides which he processes himself (apparently he’s closeted for weeks in the darkroom after a safari – probably fed on scraps passed under the door!) and subsequently scans. So here we were, firstly in Tarangire and Lake Manyara and then on to the Serengeti. We were treated to spectacular images of wildebeeste thundering through the bush, zebras collectively drinking at the waterhole and, through swirling dust, fighting over some disagreement (probably to do with sex!), sandy-maned lions glaring speculatively at the camera (obviously considering the possibility of a Nigelburger for supper) - some with scars – the relics of past skirmishes. But as we know, Nigel is a self-confessed cheetah-holic and so it was inevitable that these magnificent cats would feature prominently in the programme. The images that we saw showed them in all their sleek and slender glory, often seemingly posing for the camera (this is my best side, don’t you think?). All those present at the evening would undoubtedly like to thank Nigel for sharing his experiences (now we’re all examining our boots for skulking scorpions!) through his memorable images and we look forward to the result of his future safaris (we know he’s booked his next one!). Finally, in case anybody was wondering - yes – there was at least one Superb Starling!!!! |
| 30th April 2008 | Slide & Digital Comp |
On Wed 30th April we had our last rounds of the slide and digital image competitions, it was going to be a close battle for second place in the Slide competition as Nigel Glover-Wright was in a healthy lead with 116 points, but lying in joint second place with 102 points were Dave Probert and Nigel Fenner, and in third with 99 points were Claire Borrowdale and Ian Nash. The judge for the evening was Chris Whiting and he gave some constructive comments. His marks ranged from 15 to 20 and he was very generous with the 20s giving 5 in total. One of these went to Ron Coppock for 'Rural Craftsman', the other 4 gave both Nigel Fenner and Nigel Glover-Wright a full house. Nigel Fenner's winning slides were 'Derwentwater at Dawn' and 'Pattern of Reeds' and Nigel Glover-Wright's were 'Black Winged Stilt' and 'Bat Eared Fox'. It was a very close finish and the final result for the last round was:- The Slide trophy was retained by Nigel Glover-Wright with 156 points and the Runner up was Nigel Fenner with 142 points out of a possible 160. |
| Next Seasons Set subjects |
As you know, the two Set Subjects for next season have been agreed as Urban Landscape and Dusk to Dawn. Next season's four rounds will therefore be: A number of questions have already been raised and, following discussions within the Committee, the following notes will, I hope, be of assistance. Urban Landscape. Your image should concentrate on structures or processes rather than on people. Any figures included in your picture should be secondary and existing within the structures of the town or city.
Dusk to Dawn Your image should, therefore, be taken during the fading evening light, during the night or first thing in the morning before sunrise. To direct your thinking, the title will be changed to: From Dusk to Dawn. For this reason, sunset and sunrise shots will not be accepted.
A condensed version of these notes will appear in the new Programme as a reminder. |
| 30th January | Whitchurch hill v Goring & Streatley |
A very good evening with the hall packed with both our members and many visitors from Goring & Streatley. The images were of a very high standard and once again Stan McCartin was a very fair judge. We are extreemly pleased that we were the winners of tonights battle.
WHCC v Goring & Streatley Digital Battle WHCC v Goring & Streatley Print Battle |
| 14th Nov | Still Searching |
An unusual start to the evening. Keith Long presented us with his images, he light heartedly informed us of the criticism and low marks awarded them by various judges. He did however go on to show many more images which he did receive and deserve some higher scores! He had a very dry sense of humour which produced plenty of sniggers and laughs!
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| 7th Nov | Lesbos |
A very entertaining evening was presented to us by Mike wilkes FRPS. Our biggest subscribed evening this season with 52 members attending! The photography was excellent (although he did have a lot of help with his 500 & 600 mm lenses), you certainly see alot of exotic birds during the migration periods.
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| 6th Nov | Away Match v Henley |
Details to follow!! I can tell you that Whitchurch hill Won!! |
| 31st Oct | Print Competition No. 1 |
Details to follow!!! |
| 24th Oct | End to End - The Flowers of the Mediterranean |
Peter Brandon returned to us with a botanical presentation of his own images this week taken on his many springtime visits to almost all of the countries aligning the Med! A very detailed programme of landscape and plant life which most of us never see when we visit in the summer! |
| 19th Oct | 4 Club Battle at North Hampshire |
Peter Brandon judged the 4 club battle. Each of the 4 clubs entered 10 prints of images all taken at Kew Gardens, the images were chosen by members at the selection evening, unfortunately we didn't do very well!!
1. Basingstoke 77 2. North Hants 76
3. Winchester 72
4. WHCC 60.5 |
| 17th Oct | Slide & Digital Comp 1 |
| A good start to the season with our 1st competition. An open competition always gives the judge something to get his teeth into with a great variety of images. Our 1st ever digital competition went very smoothly. Check out the competition page to see the results ladder. Results of Slide Comp 1 1. Nigel Glover-Wright 38 - 20 for Early Morning Stroll 2. Nigel Fenner 36 3. Tony Bates 35 |
| 10th Oct | Selection Evening |
| A busy evening with plenty or choice from a good number of entries, we were selecting images for both our local external competitions and a one off competition between 4 clubs on images taken at Kew. The images were chosen by the members who voted for their favorite 15 prints and digital images the top 12 of each will go on to present the club in the various events. Please note: the selected photographs, together with the results of the vote, are on display on the clubs notice board. |
| 3rd Oct | Images That Changed The World |
| A last visit from Andrew Wilson before he moves down to Dorset! Andrew gave an interesting account on photographic images that have changed the world from the early invention of the photographic process to modern day Techniques. He showed many examples of photographs that illustrated the use of photography in many aspects of life past and present. |
| 26th Sept | Preparation for Competition Entries |
| Thank you to 4 members who showed us their expertise in various ways to prepare our competition entries. Firstly we had Dave Probert giving us a very detailed talk and visual help (thanks to a camera and the digital screen) on how to cut beveled mounts correctly and precisely, a complicated procedure which we will all now be able to tackle more efficiently. We then had Alan Copeland show us how to mount & crop our slides and correct position of the labeling - we don't want 'upside down' slides on the screen. After the break we progressed to the digital competitions and had a look at file sizes & how too few pixels will affect your image on the display especially diagonal lines. We were told not to worry too much about the sizing and it was suggested that portrait images should be about 1200 pixels wide & landscapes should be 1600 pixels wide, let the rest look after itself! |
| 19th Sept | Cropping for Composition |
| A very informative and entertaining evening from our Vice Chairman Graham Piper. He provided us with some very constructive ideas on looking at our images, cropping them and creating a new composition. Looking into the background of the image for distractions is a very common fault which we will no doubt make more effort to correct at the image taking process from now on. I'm sure that our competition entries this year will give the judges plenty to challenge them. |
| 12th Sept | Opening Night |
| Our new season started off very successfully with over 40 members attending. This included 4 visitors, one of whom has already joined us as a new member. Welcome to the club Ivor. The evening was a very relaxed affair, we spent the first half of the evening renewing memberships and recounting our photographic experiences through out the summer months including the organised summer evenings. During the second part of the evening after a refreshing cup of tea we looked at photographs and slides brought in by the committee members to show our visitors and new members some of our (hopefully) better work from the last season. |
