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'Tabletop Photography' was the theme of Alnwick and District Camera Club’s practical night so members came armed with their cameras, lenses and tripods ready to get involved in taking photos of a range of props set up on tables around the room.
Light boxes and light tents were set up with a range of different light sources and members visited the various set ups to try their hand at close up and macro photography. Props included tiny little figures, flowers, shells, paint tubes, prisms, twigs, fruit, jewellery even a toy battleship!
The evening proved very successful and members are looking forward to repeating the experience again in the future.
Report by Jackie Stent
Our 1st open colour print competition was held on Wednesday evening 24th October and we were lucky to have David Hall to judge our 30 entries. David is a very experienced photographer who shoots film, processes in his dark room and is passionate about prints. We know we’re in for a good night when his name is on the programme and there was a good turnout of members to hear what he thought of our work. David had spent a lot of time considering our prints and commented on technical skills, choice of paper and mount size, the white gloves even came out at one point to handle a beautifully presented print on matte paper.
Commended went to: Bursting Forth by Val Atkinson, Interior by Geoffrey Bradford, Saturn by Celia Watson.
Highly Commended went to: Belsay Hall rooms 1-4 by Geoffrey Bradford, Red Squirrel by Richard Stent
4th was Centenary Stones by David Burn, a calm landscape with the dark centenary stones contrasting with the beautiful pastel lake and mountains.
3rd was Bamburgh Dawn by David Burn, a beautiful shot of a misty Bamburgh castle from the sea
2nd was Grab & Out by Margaret Whittaker, a great action shot of a squirrel leaping from the water
1st was On Bamburgh Beach by David Burn, another great seascape of Bamburgh castle, the judge loved the texture on the rocks, the perfect slow shutter speed and the great lead in.
Well done to David Burn, for almost sweeping the board!
Report by Val Atkinson
"Show Me How" was the theme of a practical evening for members of Alnwick & District Camera Club last week.
Five Club members had volunteered to run “mini workshops” on different aspects of photography. John Thompson offered advice about Infrared Photography; Geoffrey Bradford showed how to create good mounts for images; Dawn Robertson demonstrated how Photo Stacking can create interesting images; Jane Coltman shared her skills with Photoshop; and Richard Stent explained how to prepare digital images for competitions.
Members could dip in and out of the workshops as they wished and the room was buzzing with conversations! The practical evening was declared successful by all involved and it is hoped to run more similar evenings later in the season.
Report by Jackie Stent
Alnwick camera club held their First Open Projected Image Competition this week. It was judged by a regular visitor to the club, Jim Welsh of Blyth Photographic Society, who has judged our competitions over many years. There was an entry of 48 images covering a wide variety of subject matter including landscape, portrait, street photography, table top and abstract. Jim gave a very detailed assessment of each of the images and offered some useful advice in an informative and often humous way.
The three commended images were "Stormy Monday" by Dave Dixon, a very atmospheric image of a field of gold under a dark, moody, cloudy sky. Also commended was "A pair of Fulmars" by George Nasmyth an image of the two birds nesting on the side of a cliff and Stanely Trafford’s abstract image called "Soap Bubble", something which the judge puzzled over how it was created.
Highly Commended went to Dave Dixon’s "Busy Bee", a close up of a honey bee on covered in pollen on a purple flower head, and another of his images called "Tunnel Vision, Old Street Station", the type of image of uban image which Dave excels at. The third Highly Commended went to Tony Broom’s "Ready to Fly" a close up of a spider approaching a fly caught in its web.
Margaret Whittaker had entered three very successful images and came 4th with "Fungi at Night", a beautifully lit image of woodland fungi, 3rd with "Quick Jump Over" showing a very athletic red squirrel almost in flight and 2nd with "Under the Umbrella" an image of a very colourfully dressed oriental lady smiling under a bright red umbrella.
First place went to Andrew Mackie’s stunning image called "Spool the Owl". Every detail of the owl was crystal clear as it was caught in flight in front of a subdued forest background.
Report by Richard Stent
"A simple photographer, using simple gear to produce simple pictures" is how Tony Broom described himself in a talk at Alnwick Camera Club on 27th September 2023.
Tony talked us through his work using medium format cameras and film to produce some stunning mono and infrared images all developed in his darkroom at home. Although darkroom work is in the distant past for many of us the principles are the same and everyone in the audience picked up something we can take back to our own photography. Tony talked about composition and the handling of light and shade areas as well as offering advice on techniques used.
His keen eye for a photograph combined with a high level of technical skill resulted in a gallery wall of exceptional quality - anything but ’simple pictures’!
Report by Dawn Robertson
On 20th September we held our print knock out evening. There were some tough decisions as members chose between two images until we got down to the winner.
4th place went to George Nasmyth for a shot of trawlers at North Shields.
3rd place was Carol McKay with abstract reflections in the windows of a building.
George Nasmyth had a very successful evening and came 2nd with a beautiful shot of a painted lady butterfly.
Our worthy winner this evening was David Burn with a stunning, technically perfect long exposure seascape. Well done everyone!
Report by Dawn Robertson
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