| 22nd Aug 2010 | Club Trip to Beaulieu, Butlers Hard & Lymington |
With everybody on board we were away on the WHCC annual beano to the coast - well Beaulieu actually! Half a coach full of photographers and half a coach of bowls fanatics - well that's the start of a joke if ever you heard one. |
| 12th Aug 2010 | Summer Evening -Treasure Hunt |
A Treasure hunt? Well an image hunt actually. A fine body of members turned out for this first time event (15 in fact). I created two lists of twelve subjects and gave Ros French the choice of which one we worked to. List chosen and fifteen split into three groups of five and then we were off. Simple rules - try to obtain the best image to satisfy each subject.
The teams crossed from time to time with our team being very resourceful and popping into Dave's house to take a shot of his fridge contents! Inevitably when in Pangbourne, we congregated on the meadow and around the newly finished Dolphin canoe and activity center. This ended up with us being invited in for a look around. We were very suprised to see a rock climbing wall inside and we were even asked if we could help them with some advertising photos.
The evening ended with us taking over a corner of the Cross keys garden, setting up a laptop and then sorting and viewing the teams efforts. We all agreed it would be a great idea to allow the club members to judge the images on the first night of the season.
Many favourable comments were received regarding the success of the evening so look forward to round two next season. Thanks for your efforts. Graham
|
| 21st July 2010 | Summer Evening -Sulhampstead |
Well over twenty members turned out for this evening. Once again the British weather held up and the only people getting wet were the kayakers - Well mainly me! A couple of members took to the kayaks for their first attempt and very much enjoyed the tranquility of the cana,. whilst others - supposed competent paddlers - decided to go over the weir. The trip down was fine but getting stuck on the rocks required me to bail out and then try to get the water out of the boat faster than it was coming in! I eventually managed it then proceeded to sink the boat completely further over on a bigger area of the weir. This meant I had to push the boat out into the river and swim to the bank - nice! Once again the evening was finished off in the pub - The Spring Inn on the A4, Ascot Alley cat beer - definitely the WORST pint we have all had in years, if not ever! Thanks to Jason, and Trevor for supplying some kayaks. Graham |
| 14th July 2010 | Summer Evening - Harslock Nature Reserve |
Once again the British weather held up for us and gave us a wonderful evening amongst the purple Orchids and various wild flowers. A few insects were in attendance but not many butterflies. One big furry one was photographed quite a lot but this turned out to be Scamp - Helens dog! The attendance was much better than last week and a lovely stroll back along the river to Goring was rewarded with a few pints in the pub - I can still taste that wonderful Ringwood Forty Niner. A few spots of rain raised us from the pub garden and off to the cars. A very pleasant eve for all. Graham |
| 7th July 2010 | Summer Evening - Bradfield Walk |
Seven intrepid members of the 80+ club membership attended the first summer eve of the season. Was there football on? yes I think so but even Germany taking a walloping wasnt as much fun as a lovely walk in majestic English countryside. |
| 30th June 2010 | 10 x 8 Evening |
Congratulations to all the winners. |
| 23rd June 2010 | The Winners Enclosure |
Then members who had gained 20s gave their comments on their images. Tony’s description of how he had dug up a frozen turf from his garden, with a snow capped fungus on top of it to photograph indoors had to be the most amusing. It was very interesting to hear all the comments on how these top images had been achieved and get a few useful tips. Thanks and well done to everyone who took part. |
| 16th June 2010 | The Spirit of Glastonbury |
| Dave Probert, one of our club members, gave a superb presentation of the history and spirit of the Glastonbury Festival. The first half of the evening looked back at the history of the festival and it was interesting to see that the admission price was only £5.00 for the 3 day event in the early years and admission was even free in one of the earlier years. This compares with a ticket price of about £190.00 which this year’s visitors will have to pay. Dave had a number of maps and souvenir artefacts which he had collected and I was surprised at the scale of the festival and the huge area needed to house such an event. The site is almost one and a half miles wide across and a similar length from top to bottom. The festival takes place over 6 miles from Glastonbury and is a huge undertaking costing many millions of pounds. In the second half, Dave showed some slides he took a couple of years ago which illustrated the wide range of food stalls, attractions, sculptures, musical and artistic tastes as well as the thick mud for which Glastonbury is famous. An absolutely fascinating evening with wonderful stories although I may not be rushing to the ticket office to buy my pass for next year’s event. |
| 9th June 2010 | Annual General Meeting |
| A reasonable number of members attended this year’s AGM to hear Reports from the Chairman, Treasurer and Competition Secretaries. All the Reports reflected the success of the club in this season and the members had the opportunity to raise any points they wished to. Alan (Chairman) thanked the committee members for their work throughout the season. As two members of the committee, Geoff and Joyce Storey, stood down, two new members, Sally Waygood and Eric Needs were nominated and elected to take their places. The evening finished with Geoff proposing a well earned vote of thanks to Alan for the tremendous amount of work which he puts into the club. |
| 2nd June 2010 | Digital Mix n’ Match Competition |
| Members enjoyed a fun evening this week. Geoff Storey led a team of men and Joyce Storey led a team of ladies to try to match obscure digital images, with Marilyn Ward acting as judge. Each team had 50 images from which to choose one to be projected on one screen and the other team had to project a matching image on a second screen. Some matches were excellent, such as the rear views of American footballers in a line of scrimmage or the girls in the sea. The images could only be used once and it became harder to match them as time went on, resulting in some bizarre “matches”. Marilyn encouraged banter from the members and asked for justification for awarding top marks for a good match and a bonus point for the best image photographically. With a fairly close finish the men just managed to beat the ladies. Many thanks to Marilyn for her humorous judging. Also thanks to all members who took part by producing some very obscure and funny images and joining in the banter to make an enjoyable light-hearted evening. |
| 26th May 2010 | Liverpool – European Capital of Culture 2008 |
| Club member, Angela Cullinan, gave fellow members an interesting insight to her home city, Liverpool. She outlined the history, culture and architecture of the city. In the second half of the evening, she showed images taken at two or three cultural activities organised as part of the 2008 festival. One of these included over 100 strange looking statues called Superlambananas. These were created and then passed to local schools, organisations and charities to decorate showing a cross section of what goes on in Liverpool. Another sequence of images featured a huge 50 foot tall spider weighing 37 tons which had been created at a cost of nearly 2 million pounds and was able to walk along the road at a speed of 2 mph. It was seen clinging to the side of the concourse building after which is descended to walk among the busy shoppers. No study of Liverpool is complete without a reference to The Beatles and we saw locations of the original Cavern Club as well as the more recent Beatles Museum. Music during the sequences was, of course, provided the Fab Four. Many thanks, Angela, for all your hard work in presenting this fascinating talk. I shall definitely buy A Ticket to Ride and visit the City as a Day Tripper. |
| 19th May 2010 | Wildlife through the Year |
| Jill Pakenham made a welcome return visit to the club to show superb digital images of mainly British wildlife at different times of the year. Members were enthralled with the high standard of her photographs, especially the action shots of birds, accompanied by Jill’s excellent, informative narration. Her love of her subject showed in the great care that she had taken to avoid disturbing the animals and birds. This talk definitely had the “WOW” factor and it is good to see that, with Jill’s skill, time and patience, top class natural history photographs can be taken in the British Isles. Many thanks Jill for such a brilliant presentation. |
| 12th May 2010 | Photographer of the Year Competition |
John’s “Gone Fishing” was chosen as the best in this section. Prints Results (27 entries) Four 20s were awarded to:
Tony's "Swanage Pier" was chosen as the best print. Slide Results (6 entries) One 20 was awarded to:
Danny's "Hisinbyume Paya" was chosen as the best slide. Well done to all these members. Stan, after some deliberation, proclaimed Tony Bates as the Photographer of the Year with his image of “Swanage Pier”. Congratulations Tony. Many thanks to Stan for his valuable comments. Also thanks to Tony and Geoff for presenting all the images. |
| 5th May 2010 | Studio Evening No. 2 |
| Members had the chance to practise studio shots of an attractive young model, Francesca Amiss, with the aid of helpful advice from club members Trevor King and Carl Chilley.
Francesca proved to be a versatile model following members’ requests for different poses. Many thanks to Trevor, Carl and, of course, Francesca for a most enjoyable evening. |
| 28th April 2010 | Slide & Digital Competition - No 4 - Close Up |
There was an extremely high standard of entries for the fourth and final round of the club’s slide and digital competitions, with 16 slides and 59 digital images, setting the judge, Ian Bateman, a considerable challenge. His comments were constructive and fair. Results as follows: Slides:
One 20 (maximum mark) was awarded to: Nigel Glover-Wright Rising Sun Digital:
Three 20’s in this section were awarded to: John Sexton Crested GeckoJohn Sexton Reed Frog Tony Bates Snow Cap Results for the season:Slides:
Digital:
Congratulations to all. |
| 21st April 2010 | Colour Management for Photographers |
| Phil Binks, who runs his own colour management company, gave a fascinating talk on the whole process of managing colour to produce colours on your printer which match the colours you see on your monitor. Whilst this was a very technical talk, Phil explained everything in such a way that it was easy to follow. All aspects were talked about in great detail and Phil answered all our questions very professionally and amicably. Members will be able to put their newfound knowledge to good use. Maybe the already high quality of the print competition entries will be surpassed in future! Many thanks, Phil, for such a useful and interesting presentation. |
| 14th April 2010 | Print Competition No 4 - Close Up |
The final round of the club’s print competitions, with a subject of “Close-up”, saw a good entry – 10 monochrome and 34 colour. Roger McCallum from Woodley Camera Club gave good constructive comments and entertained us with his sense of humour. Results were as follows: Monochrome:
Two 20’s (maximum marks) were awarded to:
Colour:
Five 20’s in this section were awarded to:
Well done to all. Results for the SeasonMonochrome
Colour
Congratulations to Tony, Brian, Nigel and Trevor. |
| 7th April 2010 | Up, Down and a Bit in the Middle |
| Club member, Graham Piper, entertained the club with his digital images taken during his 8 day trip from Berkshire to Scotland. He rode his Honda CBF600 motorbike to the Peak District, staying at Holmfirth (the location for the Last of the Summer Wine series) before crossing over to Lake Windermere where he met up with a fellow motor cyclist on his Honda SP1 for the trip up to Scotland. Going through Gretna Green the pair avoided Glasgow to make their way westwards via Loch Lomond to the Isle of Skye, where they spent some time riding around the Isle before returning to the mainland to visit Applecross, the area of a recent TV series. They then made their way to Pitlochry and began the ride down to Darlington, where his friend lives. Finally, for the last stretch, Graham rode home on his own. Throughout the trip he had taken some lovely shots of the scenery and villages he passed through showing that the UK has plenty to offer with its own beautiful countryside. In particular, Coral Beach was particularly stunning. Many thanks Graham for putting together this interesting talk. |
| 31st March 2010 | Natural History Competition |
John’s “I know you’re there” (a stunning shot of a fox on hind quarters looking up a silver birch tree) was selected as the best in this section. Slide Results (6 entries) One 20 was awarded in this section to:
Digital Results (39 entries)
Peter chose Nigel’s “Squacco Heron” as best digital image and, after some deliberation, announced it as the winning photograph of the competition. Many congratulations Nigel. Well done to all the authors for their 20s and to all the entrants for “having a go”, which makes the competition such a success. Many thanks to Peter for doing such an unenviable job so well. And many thanks to Geoff, Tony and Frank for making the evening run smootly as always |
| 24th March 2010 | Walking Between Water – Frank Loveder |
| This was another evening with one of our members giving a talk. At last the reason for the strange title became clear, as the talk was about two walks from one sea or ocean to another. Firstly Frank talked about his recent coast-to-coast walk from the North Sea at Robin Hood’s Bay in North Yorkshire to the Irish Sea at St. Bees in Cumbria. This walk was devised by none other than Arthur Wainwright, although Frank and his group of scouts decided to walk it the opposite way round. The route is 190 miles long and took them 12 days, crossing the North York Moors and the Yorkshire Dales, finally passing through the Lake District to arrive at Cumbria’s most westerly point, St. Bees. Although it was in August, the weather was very mixed, with a lot of wet and even cold weather, the Lake District, unsurprisingly, being especially wet. This would not appeal to everyone, as they were camping out every night. However, judging by the photos, everyone had a good time and managed to dry out eventually! We may have thought this was a good distance for a walk, but it was dwarfed by the second one. This started from Hendaye, which is a frontier town with Spain, on the edge of both the Atlantic Ocean and the Pyrenees. The hike then traversed the length of the Pyrenees, to end at Banyuls-sur-Mer on the Mediterranean. This is a total distance of 650 miles, including a huge amount of climbing and descending, which Frank and team covered in six and a half weeks, including one rest day per week. Unlike the English walk, the weather was hot and very settled, with only the odd rain shower. It was amusing to see the change in colour of the walkers as the weeks progressed, as they all gradually went from white through red to a deep bronze! It was particularly good to see teenagers enjoying a challenge like this and they are lucky to have someone like Frank to lead them and show them another side of life. Yet again we have had an interesting and stimulating evening run by one of our members. Many thanks, Frank. |
| 17th March 2010 | Slide & Digital Competition - No 2 |
Paul Joachim travelled from Ealing to judge the 14 slides and 63 digital images in the second open competition this season. Slides:
One 20 (maximum mark) was awarded to: Nigel Glover-Wright Behave Yourself Digital:
Three 20’s in this section were awarded to: John Sexton Night HeronDanny Callcut Snowgirl Frank Loveder Kimmeridge Waterfall Nigel Glover-Wright Burchell’s Zebras Congratulations to all the winners and authors of the twenties. Many thanks to Paul for giving sound advice and constructive comments, together with witty remarks. Finally, not least, thanks to Frank and Tony for all their work in presenting the images. |
| 10th March 2010 | Transylvania – A Land of the History Books |
| Our own member Bill Scott entertained us with his photographs and talk on Transylvania. Normally when we have a talk about a foreign county, there are several club members who have visited it, however exotic it may be. This one was new to all of us; the only thing the vast majority of people associate Transylvania with is, of course, Dracula and his castle. We did see some photos of Bran Castle, which, in fact, has nothing to do with the character on which Dracula was based, i.e. Vlad Dracul, otherwise known as Vlad the Impaler (a far nastier character than the fictitious Dracula). Bill showed a variety of images, ranging from villages in the Saxon, Gypsy or Rumanian style to exteriors and interiors of churches to landscapes to portraits of the local people. It was interesting to see that the most basic of gypsy huts all had satellite dishes attached! The country is very quickly and rather sadly losing its old-fashioned ways, such as horses and carts outnumbering cars. We ended with pictures of the cows who find their own way home at the end of the day, including the lovely tale of the one which got lost because its home gate had been repainted during the day! Thanks very much, Bill, for a fascinating talk and further proof our members can do as well as the paid visiting speakers! |
| 3rd March 2010 | Print Competition No 3 - Open |
Caroline Colgate was the judge for the third print competition of the season. With no set subject to follow, there was a wide range of prints and with 14 monochrome and 37 colour Caroline had reasonable time to pass on her valuable comments and suggestions about them. Results as follows: Monochrome:
Two 20’s (maximum marks) were awarded to: Tony Bates Kimmeridge & Swanage Pier Nigel Fenner On the Way Up Colour:
Two 20’s in this section were awarded to: Brian Jolley South Parade Pier Many thanks to Caroline for her helpful comments. Thanks to Geoff for his work in assembling the prints and record keeping. |
| 24th February 2010 | Kenya – A Wildlife Photographer’s Paradise |
| Yes, he’s been before with his spectacular slides of African wildlife but, once again, Mike Wilkes had the packed hall spellbound with his amazing photography, accompanied by his humorous and interesting commentary. This time he took us through Kenya on one of his photographic safaris. Mike showed us top class photos ranging from wonderful close-ups of exotic birds, elephants chasing lions towards his bus, full views of leopards and a hippopotamus walking on dry land (the latter normally only seen in water) to the humble dung beetle – the list could go on and on! Many thanks Mike for another superb evening. We look forward to seeing you next year. |
| 19th February 2010 | Annual Dinner |
| Having been postponed from January due to the heavy snow, members met at the Caversham Heath Golf Club to enjoy the club’s 21st annual dinner. With a more relaxed dress code, the welcome addition of excellent guitar music provided by Tim and Alan’s jokes, the whole evening proved a great success. Before adjourning to the lounge to draw the raffle and chat, Graham Piper proposed a well deserved vote of thanks to Alan for all his hard work throughout the season. |
| 17th February 2010 | Brindle’s Magic Lantern Show |
| Alan Brindle made the long journey from Southampton to present a show of images using the latest state-of-the-art technology - for the year 1800. Before the days of computers, television, radio and even electricity, the Magic Lantern Show was a favourite form of entertainment. Alan completed the early Victorian atmosphere by coming fully regaled in bow tie, top hat and tails and a Victorian cane. He was the perfect showman and shared with us many of his lantern slides which were created before photography was even thought of by Mr Fox-Talbot. These slides were all hand drawn, many of which were animated by means of moving sliders which altered the image on screen. Others told moralistic stories with titles across the top of the slide using up to ten separate images. Whilst not quite as expected, a totally unique evening was enjoyed by everyone who attended particularly the son of one of our members who entered into the spirit of the presentation with great responses and banter. |
| 10th February 2010 | Enprint Comp & Discussion Evening |
| Members became judges for the evening to assess their fellow members’ work in this year’s enprint competition. Although slightly down in numbers, there was a high level of work shown, varying from studio portraiture, landscape and architecture to natural history in the 21 panels. Results as follows:
Well done Sue, Graham and Tony and thanks to all members who submitted their panels to make the evening its usual great success. Members were later given the opportunity to raise any matters they wished to and vote for next year’s set subjects. The two chosen subjects are “Curves” and “Decay”. Alan also announced that the club is looking for volunteers for print competition secretary and one other committee member next season. |
| 3rd February 2010 | Print Competition No 2 - Water |
Although we’ve had Ruari Cumming as a speaker, this was a first for him at our club as a judge. He had 60 prints (21 monochrome and 39 colour) based on this season’s water theme to wade through. He gave fair and constructive comments, proving himself to be as good a judge as speaker. Results as follows: Monochrome:
Two 20’s (maximum marks) were awarded to: Sylvia Blackmore The Fountain Tony Bates Curtain of Water Colour:
Two 20’s in this section were awarded to: Trevor King Flow Congratulations to Sylvia, Trevor and Tony for your 20s and the top three in each section. Many thanks to Ruari for giving excellent assessments of our photos. We look forward to your return to the club next season as a speaker, with your lovely sense of humour. Again, thanks to Geoff for his work in assembling the prints and record keeping. |
| 2nd February 2010 | Away Match - Goring & Streatley |
Ten of our club members travelled the short distance to the Goring and Streatley Photographic Society for this digital and audio visual away match, which was judged by Sandy Watson, and received a warm welcome from our hosts. Results as follows: Digital Section:Both clubs submitted 15 images each in the digital section. As usual, the standard was very high.
Maxinum marks to 20 went to:
Audio Visual Section: In this section both clubs showed 3 AVs each for the judge to choose his favourite. This was quite difficult as the topics covered a very wide range. However, he had no hesitation in choosing:
Well done to all the participants who presented such excellent images and special congratulations to the Tony and the GSPS authors (sorry, names not known) for their 20s and Rod for his AV . Thanks to Sandy for the unenviable task he performed and to GSPS the warm welcome we received. |
| 27th January 2010 | The Thames Uphilt |
| Starting from Grain in Kent, Rod Bird walked “uphill” along the Thames to its source in Gloucestershire. Rod told us that it was a primarily a walk rather than a photographic expedition, undertaken as a challenge after breaking his leg. The first few days he averaged just over 20 miles a day, passing through industrialised areas towards London. At the Thames Barrier he joined the official Thames Path. As he approached Berkshire we became more familiar with the route and, in fact, the Path goes within half a mile of our club meeting hall. Trudging on through Oxfordshire, where the river becomes narrower, he reached the last navigable point at Lechlade and then on to the source, which was completely dry. Rod kept us amused with his interesting anecdotes about the people he met and we enjoyed some different shots taken en route. |
| 25th January 2010 | Away Match - Woodley |
| Woodley Camera Club hosted this print and digital image competition, with ever popular Stan McCartin acting as judge. Several members of our club attended and received a warm welcome. Results as follows: Print Section:
Maxinum marks to 20 went to:
Digital Section:
Maximum Marks of 20 went to:
Overall Results:
Congratulations to all the participants who presented such excellent images and in particular to Sylvia, both Tonys, Bill and Andy for their 20s. Thanks to Stan for another evening with his excellent, helpful, sometimes humorous, comments and to Woodley Club for their warm welcome. |
| 20th January 2010 | Touching the Light |
| Ken Scott travelled all the way from West Sussex to entertain us with his fascinating talk about mountain photography, with special emphasis on the role light plays. As well as seeing some superb photographs and getting a number of useful tips, we also learnt about the fascinating phenomenon of Brocken Spectres, seen when the photographer is facing mist with the sun behind, throwing an eerie shadow with a bright ring (Glory Ring) around the head. Many of Ken’s images were taken in Snowdonia, but we also visited Scotland, the Western States of America, the Sierra Nevada in southern Spain, Corsica, the Lake District and Ken’s home area of the South Downs. Unusually, Ken rarely uses a tripod, relying on very careful handholding, the use of natural supports or a beanbag. He said if he carried a tripod on his camping trips, he would have to carry less food! His enthusiasm for mountains and photography came through very strongly and he was quickly invited back for next year. Thank you, Ken, for a fascinating talk. |
| 4th January 2010 | Rosebowl Competition No2 |
| The Second Round of the Rosebowl Competition was held at the Pinner Camera Club and the other clubs involved were from Marlow and Watford resulting in a 4-way digital projection battle. The judge was Paul Joachim from Ealing & Hampshire House and he had a very difficult job in separating such a fine selection of images. All clubs produced an excellent display of images and many of the photographs scored very high marks. The competition was very close throughout and, two thirds of the way through the evening, all four clubs were tying on 177 points each Results as follows: Three 20s (full marks) were awarded to:
Well done, Geoff, for scoring maximum points - your image certainly deserved it.
|
| 16th December | Digital AV Comp |
DIGITAL AV COMPETITION RESULTS Here are the total scores awarded to the ten sequences 1st WHCC at Bath 406 points The last meeting before Christmas featured a digital Audio Visual competition and ten members submitted entries covering a very wide range of subjects. |
| 9th December | Studio Evening – No 1 |
Our first Studio Evening this season gave us the opportunity to experiment with our new Advanced Lighting Kit and a group of around 20 members were able to try various lighting angles including the use of coloured gels to create different effects. |
| 2nd December 2009 | Slide & Digital Competition - No 2 - Water |
The ever popular Peter Jackman returned for the unenviable task of judging 66 digital images and 18 slides on the theme of “Water”. Slides:
One 20 (maximum mark) was awarded to: Ron Coppock Over the Weir Digital:
Three 20’s in this section were awarded to: Rod Norman Out of the BlueJoyce Storey Whirlpool Dorothy Wood A Wet Evening Congratulations to all the winners and authors of the twenties. Many thanks to Peter for his constructive comments and for amusing us with his opinions of whether the water in the image was “wet enough”. Finally many thanks to Frank and Tony for all their work in presenting the images. |
| 25th November | Toyota to Tanzania |
| The ever popular Dr Peter Brandham, formerly a botanist at Kew Gardens, returned to show us a different view of Tanzania in the form of the strange and exotic plants of the country. Peter’s tremendous enthusiasm for his subject made for a most interesting presentation as he showed slides taken during a trip from Nairobi down through Tanzania to the southwest several years ago with other leading botanists. Club members who hadn’t met Peter before possibly learnt for the first time that cacti don’t grow in Africa – the African equivalent is euphorbia. Always something new to learn at our club! The evening ended with an audio visual sequence of the trip, including the roar of the 4 x 4 (much needed in this terrain) and the birdsong. As one club member said, you could feel every bump in the road and another was suffering from backache! It certainly made you feel you were actually there. Thanks Peter for another interesting evening. |
| 18th November | Underwater Photography |
| This week saw a presentation by Trevor Rees, a photographer that unlike most of us, enjoys getting wet - very wet, in fact submerged! Yes Trevor is an underwater photography enthusiast. Trevor explained to the club how he started over 25yrs ago with this passion and how much he still enjoys it. He travels all over the world and has dived on many sites in varying conditions. Trevor counts his most precious memories as those taken in and around the UK and now very seldom ventures further than the UK shores. The kit that an underwater photographer such as Trevor uses was all on display for us to look at and handle. Cameras dating back to the early Nikonos types up to the latest Nikon D80 with huge underwater housing with a price tag to match we suspect. Trevor used many digital slides to explain the technical aspects of the hobby and how it differs from land based photography. All the images on display were of the highest quality and the technical slides were very informative, so much so that the evening lasted probably half an hour longer than usual but nobody got up to leave and there was a silence most of the evening in awe of the fabulous images such as UK Pike, Perch, slugs, cuttlefish etc and weird and wonderful things from far afield. Graham Piper, standing in for the Chairman, summed up the evening by saying that the beginners would appreciate this show more than the more advanced as the more advanced had spent most of the evening racking their brains as to how to cope with diminishing colour balance, limited vision, limited feel for equipment, false perspective and distance, off camera flash settings, macro depth of field etc etc the list goes on and obviously Trevor had been all through this and made a successful job of overcoming them all to provide a fascinating talk punctuated with very impressive images. "I want a go now!!" |
| 11th November | Familiarity Breeds Content |
| The club was treated to a brilliant slide presentation this week by Chris Palmer ARPS AFIAP DPAGB APAGB. All these letters after his name give an indication of the extremely high standard of his work. In the first half he showed us many different ways of photographing rock, stone and pebbles to make the best of their varying shapes and colours. Then he took us to Zion National Park for landscape photography at its best and The Wave in the southwest of America really took our breath away with its beauty. After the tea break, Chris presented a water theme (very helpful for any members who haven’t taken their own photos for the club’s set subject of water). Mainly waterfalls, some taken from unusual angles and also making the most of fallen leaves in rivers or puddles. The next destination was at the entrance to a goldmine with rusty old cars and lorries providing scope for the wonderful colours that can be found in such a location. Finally, Chris took us to his local beach on the south coast where the main feature was the iron water defence. Once again he showed how, by getting in close to the subject, the beautiful colours of corroded metal can produce outstanding abstract photos. A really instructive and enjoyable evening providing inspiration for us all to look beyond the obvious viewpoint. Many thanks Chris. |
| 4th November 2009 | Rosebowl Competition No 1 |
The first round of the season’s Rosebowl Competition organised by Chilterns Association of Camera Clubs (CACC) was held at our club this week. The clubs taking part in this round were Kidlington, Stoke Poges, St Albans and, of course, ourselves. Colin Harrison took on the task of assessing the digital images supplied by the four clubs before awarding very fair marks. Results as follows: Three 20s (full marks) were awarded to: Charlie Spackman (Kidlington) Dancing Smoke The two stars awarded for the best two 20s both went to Kidlington. 1st Whitchurch Hill 271 An excellent start for WHCC. Congratulations to Charlie, Roger and Tony. Also well done to all the other participants for their impressive images. It was good to see several members from Stoke Poges. Thanks, once again, to Frank and Tony for their work in presenting the images. |
| 28 October 2009 | Print Competition No 1 - Open |
Stan McCartin, one of the club’s most popular judges, returned to give us his usual well informed comments in this season’s first open print, with 19 monochrome and 44 colour prints. Results as follows: Monochrome:
Two 20’s (maximum marks) were awarded to: Tony Bates Tracks from a Bygone Era Colour:
Five 20’s in this section were awarded to: Ivor Cowley Bath Abbey through the York Street Arch Many thanks to Stan for once again giving excellent and fair assessments of our photos. Also thanks to Geoff for his work in assembling the prints and record keeping |
| 21st October | Footloose In Britain |
| Clive Jones from Oxford made a welcome return to take us “hiking” around Britain. Starting in the Brecon Beacons we saw the mountains in all weathers and some lovely shots of rivers and waterfalls before moving on to Snowdonia where some of our members have spent photographic weekends. We travelled on to the Lake District to see the sheer beauty of Wainwright’s part of the country. Finally, we reached Scotland and were enthralled with the spectacular scenery of the Glencoe area. Once again, photos taken in all weathers showed how different the same place can look in varying weather conditions. Clive showed us incredibly narrow ridges which he has climbed – really scary! Clive’s passion for mountaineering and his love of the British countryside showed throughout this excellent presentation of top class images. |
| 14th October 2009 | Slide & Digital Competition - No 1 - Open |
There was a full house for the season’s first open competition of this season when the club welcomed Les Spitz for his first visit as a judge. He had quite a formidable task with 72 digital images and 16 slides to assess.Slides:
Two 20’s (maximum marks) were awarded to: Nigel Glover-Wight Stripes before my eyes Geoffrey Borrowdale Pilgrims on Sand Digital:
Five 20’s in this section were awarded to: Rod Norman Alcazar Bathing Pool, Sevilla Eric Needs Roman Orchid on Monti Moricone John Sexton Gone Fishin’ Tony Bates Brighton West Pier Nigel Glover-Wright Dik Dik These very close finishes make an excellent start for a highly competitive season to determine the winners of the trophies. Congratulations to all the winners and authors of the twenties, in particular to John for his stunning image of a black bear catching a fish (Gone Fishin’), which the judge said was of national standard. Many thanks to Les for his constructive comments and unenviable task of marking. Finally, not least, thanks to Frank and Tony for all their work in presenting the images. |
| 7th October | Shooting Raw – The Naked Truth |
| Following his excellent talk at the Digital Group a couple of weeks ago, Carl Chilley again demonstrated the breadth of his knowledge of all things photographic by talking about shooting raw – nothing to do with naturism (especially in October!), but only to do with using a more versatile file type than jpeg. The first half was spent learning some of the technicalities of photography, including how the human eye sees light compared with how our cameras see it. In the second half Carl showed us some examples of how images can be improved by raw processing before completing the process in our normal editor. He showed how overexposed and underexposed shots can be rescued and also how simple it is to correct a shot which had the wrong white balance set on the camera. He explained the pros and cons of shooting raw, the main pro being flexibility and the main con being file size. He also recommended an excellent book “Getting Started with Camera Raw” by Ben Long. Many thanks Carl. |
| 30th Sept | Selection Evening |
| This week all members had the opportunity to submit their best images for selection by their fellow club members for use in the external competitions this season. There were 37 prints and 87 digital images and members could choose 15 from each section. Whizzing through the rather low number of prints gave plenty of time for the more difficult task of whittling down to the 15 from the digital section. As normal the standard was high and the results will be posted on the club’s notice board next Wednesday. Many thanks to Frank, Tony and Geoff for all the work involved in preparing and presenting the images. Digital Selection Choices Print Selection Choices |
| 23rd Sept | Pinhole Photography |
| Derek Reay ARPS treated us to an evening of unique and fascinating photography. After an introduction to the pinhole camera, which most of us probably tried out in our young days, he moved on to the camera obscura, the Victorian invention which uses a whole room as a camera, with the outside scenery projected upside down onto the whole wall of the room via a pinhole in the blackout material. Derek’s passion is to create a set inside the room and photograph the whole room, set and projected outside image, using a 5 x 4 film camera in the corner of the blacked-out room, with an exposure time measured in hours or even days. We were shown a negative which it took 2 people to hold up – I doubt anyone in the club had seen a 42” wide negative before. Nor had many of us imagined an f-stop of over 1000! Derek amused us with tales such as how he found a hotel room in Windsor with a view of the castle and hired it for 2 days. On the first day he designed and build the set in the room and put up all the blackout material. On the second day he set up the 5 x 4 camera to make the actual exposure, whilst he went off and did normal things during the day. When asked how long he took to explain to hotel managers and letting agents what he wanted to do with their rooms, he did say he usually received a bemused reaction, but the end result was that, provided he left the room as found, there was no problem. He readily admits his kind of photography is weird and not many people in the world do it, but his passion for it shone through and gave us all a very entertaining evening. |
| 16th Sept | From Film to Digital |
| Over 60 members and friends braved the road closures in Pangbourne to be rewarded by an incredible lecture presented by Clive Minnitt who showed a collection of absolutely superb images he had taken in various locations throughout the world. The first half featured photographs he had captured using slide film and the second half was composed of digital images which Clive had converted to 35mm slides. This was a photographer’s lecture with information covering all aspects of good photographic skills but the underlying message related to the importance of the quality of light in photography. The detail in all of Clive’s images was of the highest standard and many members took the opportunity to purchase cards featuring the best of Clive’s photographs. Everyone agreed it was an inspiring evening – the best collection of images we have seen for a long time. Thank you, Clive. Maybe we can persuade you to return next Season. |
| 9th Sept | Opening Night |
| The first night of the 2009/10 season started with about 50 members turning up to eagerly renew membership, together with a few welcome visitors. Alan, our chairman, outlined the forthcoming season’s programme in his usual entertaining manner, making for a very light-hearted start to the night. After the refreshment break Dave Probert showed us some of his slides taken on the club’s first weekend away in Snowdonia last April. Then Frank and Tony projected digital images of the Snowdonia trip and the club’s day out at Bath in August taken by various members, who added their own commentaries. It’s very interesting to see how many different types of photography can be achieved in the same situations. Many thanks to all members who took part and, of course, to Alan. An excellent start to what must be another successful season for the club. |
