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These reports appear in the Northumberland Gazette.
The Art of Black and White Photography was the title of the presentation given to Alnwick and District Camera Club by Keith Moss. Sponsored by Ilford Photo, Keith is a professional photographer based in Saltburn by the Sea. While much of his commercial work is digital and in colour, his passion is for monochrome photography using film cameras and darkroom printing.
Keith spoke about his commercial work in fashion and advertising, where the requirement is to produce the kind of images that will not only satisfy his customers but will also be successful in promoting the products concerned. This is a far cry from his monochrome film work where portraiture and street photography come to the fore. He emphasised the importance of establishing a rapport with the subject in successful portraiture.
Working in monochrome requires the photographer to look at subjects in terms of tones rather than colours. Keith maintains that many people do this quite naturally while others may need to make a conscious effort to achieve it.
Much of Keith’s presentation was in the form of a question and answer session with members of the audience, who obliged with plenty of questions relating to film types, cameras, filters and differences between digital and film photography.
While Keith accepts that good monochrome prints can be achieved by digital means, he still maintains that traditional darkroom prints have an additional depth and richness that makes them unsurpassed. Unfortunately, he only displayed four darkroom prints and these were framed behind glass, obscuring any subtle differences that may have been apparent.
Report by David Carter
Dave Richardson from Ryton Camera Club was the judge for Alnwick and District Camera Club’s final print competitions of the season. The monochrome print competition attracted thirty one entries and the colour print competition attracted forty entries. As these were both open competitions, there was an extremely wide variety of pictures, ranging from landscapes, architecture, and portraits to wildlife, still life and sport, so Dave had quite a challenging task to deal with all of these on one evening. However, he rose to the occasion, talking about each of the entries in detail, with plenty of useful and encouraging comment, spiced with a gentle sense of humour that always makes him a welcome visitor to the club.
In the mono competition, As Night Falls (Barn Owl ) by Kevin Murray and The Offering by Micheal Mundy were commended while Swallowed in the Sea by Dru Dodd and View from the Fort by Nick Johnson were highly commended. Fourth place went to John Thompson for Storm at Dunstanburgh, a wonderfully atmospheric landscape, and third place to Dru Dodd For The Great Water Horses, a skilfully captured image of the spectacular sculptures known as the Falkirk Kelpies. Jane Coltman’s fine action sports shot of rugby players, entitled My Ball, was awarded second place but first place went to John Thompson for Raining on the Forth, a powerful and memorable image of sky and water.
In the colour competition, Calling (Red Grouse) by Kevin Murray and Going Home by Nick Johnson were commended and Iced Yellow by Malcolm Kus and Spectator by Alastair Cochrane were highly commended. Dru Dodd was awarded fourth place for Aurora Beach, a spectacular and vibrant image of the Aurora Borealis, and also took third place for Holy Light, an equally impressive night time image taken on Holy Island. Second place went to David Carter’s unusual image of a section of crumbling mural, entitled Breaking Up, but Gordon Charlton’s fine natural history picture, entitled Lilac Breasted Roller, captured the jewel-like nature of this beautiful little bird and was worthy winner of first place.
Report by David Carter
Brian and Sophia Fuller, known professionally as Wild Talks, are wildlife and nature photographers and lecturers based in Cumbria so it was good to welcome them to Alnwick and District Camera Club for an evening devoted to macro photography. Brian first defined the subject of his talk as close up photography where the image is between one to five times life size. Such specialised photography requires technical knowledge which Brian imparted in an easily digestible form which was both informative and encouraging.
While there are many fine lenses on the market specifically designed for macro photography, Brian demonstrated that it was possible to achieve good results with less expensive equipment, using supplementary lenses, extension tubes and other accessories attached to standard lenses. A sturdy tripod is an essential requirement to avoid camera shake when working close up, although sometimes the humble bean bag can provide a very serviceable alternative, while for photographing moving subjects such as butterflies, a monopod can form a more portable and versatile support.
As well as explaining the theory behind choice of lenses relating to magnification and depth of field, Brian also addressed more practical issues such as choice of subject and background.
Starting with static subjects such as lichens, requiring little depth of focus, Brian moved on to mosses, fungi, ferns and other plants where a greater depth of focus is required. Subjects that move of their own accord present other challenges and Brian ran through a whole range of creatures from slow moving snails to frogs, lizards, insects and birds. In order to avoid disturbing them, he recommended the use of longer focus lenses to provide a greater working distance.
Throughout Brian’s talk, we were treated to a fine range of superb wildlife photographs illustrating all aspects of his subject. He even included examples of his pictures that had failed, demonstrating some of the pitfalls to avoid. Hopefully this will encourage many of our members to get up close and personal with wildlife in this very demanding but rewarding form of photography.
Report by David Carter
Two very different competitions were judged at Alnwick and District Camera Club’s latest meeting. First was the Alastair Cochrane Progress Award, open to any member who has not won a first, second or third prize in a club competition. Those eligible were invited to submit three pictures to be judged by a panel of experienced club members. This year, there were eight entries, and the judges were Gerry Simpson, Athol Swanston and Doug Ross.
The judges first commented on the entries and then awarded points for each picture. Judges were able to award up to ten points for each picture so that the maximum possible score for any entry would be 90 points. The judges comments were extremely helpful and encouraging, delivered in a friendly and light hearted style that made the competition most enjoyable for the audience. Nevertheless, this was quite a close-fought competition with total marks ranging from 53 to 76.
In third place was Rosalee Cook-Jury with 67 points, in second place Peter Sutcliffe with 74 points and in first place and worthy winner of the Alastair Cochrane Award was Dru Dodd with 76 points. Pictures that were individually awarded ten points were Fishing, Hong Kong Harbour, by Penny Gough, Tyne Bridges by Dru Dodd, and Langstrothdale by Peter Sutcliffe.
The second competition of the evening was the Reportage Award, judged by Jean Findlay who was last year’s winner. This competition is for a set of images that tell a story and can be in any form. This is quite a demanding competition, reflected in the small number of entries. This year they comprised sets of digital images by Tom Dundas, Fiona Beatty and Rosalee Cook-Jury, an audio visual presentation by Ian Atkinson and photo books by Dru Dodd and Jane Coltman.
Jean spoke about each of the entries, commenting on the quality of the pictures and their success in reporting an event. She felt that some picture sequences would have benefitted from more written commentary while others let their pictures speak for themselves. This was the case for Jane Coltman’s photo book of Appleby Horse Fair, a wonderfully evocative collection of excellent quality monochrome pictures that Jean chose as this year’s winner of the Reportage Award.
Report by David Carter
Alnwick and District Camera Club’s latest projected digital image open competition attracted a large entry of eighty four pictures. The judge for the evening, Alan Porrett from Whitley Bay Photographic Society, was therefore presented with a challenging task which he fulfilled in good time without appearing to be hurried. He spoke about each picture with helpful criticism and encouraging remarks, indicating that he had spent a great deal of time in considering his judgements beforehand. There was an immense variety of images both in colour and monochrome making the selection of winners even more difficult but Alan rose to the occasion choosing the following pictures.
Commended were High Level Shadows by Gordon Charlton, Cups and Saucers by Jane Coltman and Field of Dreams, also by Jane. Those highly commended were Holy Island Sunrise by Dru Dodd, Hen Pheasant Reflection by Kevin Murray and No – On your other left! by Christine Gray. In fourth place was John Thompson with Night Sage, a most unusual, pastel coloured image of this much photographed landmark building, while in third place was Richard Stent with Grand Central Station, a slow exposure shot that captured the hustle and bustle in the main concourse of this famous New York terminus. Kevin Murray’s fine bird portrait, Dipper with Caddis Grubs, was a superb record of a delightful little bird in its natural habitat and fully deserved second place but John Thompson’s dramatic picture of waves crashing against a lighthouse, simply entitled Defender, was worthy winner of first place.
To complete the evening were two fine galleries of prints by Peter Sutcliffe and Richard Stent.
Peter showed a series of beautiful images of Northumberland both in colour and monochrome, showing how he was developing his own individual style, while Richard’s excellent monochrome photographs of people and places in New York had all been taken using a film camera.
Report by David Carter
Alnwick and District Camera club enjoyed a double-header presentation at its recent meeting when Atholl Swanston and Roger Black, both long-term members of the club, each gave a showing of their pictures. Some would describe the shows as 'retro' others nostalgic because both focused on the days of film rather than more modern digital.
Atholl began the evening by showing film slides of subjects that have a particular interest for him: Northumberland landscapes and wild life. Members were treated to some lovely pictures of the hills and rivers of the county and to well-recorded images of birds such as eiders, puffins, kittiwakes and a bright-eyed shag. After almost ten years of viewing digital images it was a pleasure to see again the rich, deep colours of the film slide. The digital camera has brought many exciting developments but Athol's beautiful pictures showed what has also been lost.
When Roger's turn came he produced a film development tank he had been given in 1951. For some in the room, those with memories of working in the pungent dark room, this was a familiar sight. Others may have been amazed at how laborious and pains-taking it must have been to have to go through this time- consuming process compared with the instant gratification of the computer. Anyway, Roger took his audience carefully through the loading of a film, previously trimmed with scissors, and stressing that everything had to be done in the dark. This may seem to have been a little, well, uninteresting but it wasn't; it was amusing and enjoyable.
Roger completed the evening by showing an AV (digital!) of the lochs and mountains of the isles of Scotland. His pictures were excellent and, together with Atholl's, provided a most entertaining evening.
Report by Doug Ross
There were plenty of fine pictures to enjoy when Alnwick and District Camera Club members showed a selection of their recent work this week. Pictures were shown as projected digital images and members were encouraged to talk about them.
John Whittaker started with an interesting selection of people pictures taken on a recent holiday in the Caribbean. He was followed by Doug Ross with some striking scenes in the new entrance to the Central Station in Newcastle with clever use of exposure control to capture motion and depth in his images. Rosalee Cook-Jurie’s flower close ups made a good contrast, concentrating on colour and form, while David Carter showed pictures of a glacier lake in New Zealand and some experimental flower portraits in colour and monochrome.
Kevin Murray’s bird portraits are always superb but this time he had created a setup enabling him to include their reflections in water, resulting in some unusual and captivating images .
Peter Carter’s architectural pictures have been extensively used in the newly refurbished Bailiffgate Museum and he showed a few panels, explaining the need for images of different format to fit with the explanatory text.
John Thompson’s excellent pictures of the Newcastle Gateshead Quayside were all taken on Boxing Day showing that our members never waste an opportunity for a good picture. In the same vein, Dawn Groves has resolved to take at least one picture every day this year and showed a fascinating range of images that she has already captured, including some spectacular shots of the Aurora Borealis.
Finally, Dru Dodd showed a superb range of landscapes from Scotland and Northumberland and equally excellent cityscapes of Newcastle including panoramas and multiple exposure images used to record vehicle light trails.
Once again, this was a highly successful members’ evening providing a wealth of information and ideas to inspire our photography in the months to come.
Report by David Carter
Alnwick and District Camera Club’s latest print competition was judged by its members. The set subject was Texture, Pattern or Geometry and the competition attracted 59 entries of a very high standard. The prints were first shown individually on a light box and afterwards arranged around the room so that everyone had a chance to examine them more closely and make their own choices. Each person had the opportunity to award points for their five favourite pictures and the totals were used to establish placings as follows.
Commended were Roof Pattern by Gerry Simpson, York by John Thompson and Spittal Rocks by Nick Johnson while Linked by David Carter, Patterns in Nature by Kevin Murray and Smooth by Alastair Cochrane were all highly commended. Fourth place went to Jane Coltman for Bench View, a dramatic monochrome image of a sculpture of a seated man and third place was awarded to Kevin Murray for Wing Feathers, Jay, a beautiful close-up study in shades of blue. Laine Baker’s striking texture picture, Wood Knot, was winner of second place but overall first place went to John Thompson for Birmingham, a fine architectural pattern image of the iconic Selfridges building.
This was a very successful evening giving everyone a chance to participate and to appreciate just how difficult it is to judge a competition when there are so many varied ways of interpreting a set subject. Thanks go to Laine Baker for hosting the evening and to Richard Stent for totalling up the scores.
Report by David Carter
There was standing room only when renowned wildlife photographer Laurie Campbell visited Alnwick and District Camera Club to give a presentation entitled Taking Stock. Although his home is in the Borders, where he does a great deal of his work, Laurie is regarded primarily as one of Scotland’s leading natural history and landscape photographers.
Laurie is now celebrating thirty years as a professional photographer and this presentation provided an overview of his work in more recent years.
Starting at home, Laurie showed an amazing range of superb images taken in and around his own garden. He demonstrated how he approaches each of his subjects in many different ways. While most of us would be more than happy with the superb record shots that he produces, Laurie likes to take his time with each subject, often moving in close to produce some spectacular macro photographs that offer a completely different perspective on common plants and animals. Some of his most impressive and personally rewarding pictures have been taken close to home.
All forms of wildlife feature in Laurie’s vast library of photographs and his love of nature extends from frogs, hedgehogs, starlings and wood pigeons to salmon, otters, beavers, red squirrels, woodcock, hen harriers and countless others.
He is willing to spend many hours in cramped hides, which he constructs himself, to capture his more elusive subjects. His accounts of photographing gannets on Bass Rock and golden eagles on North Harris were accompanied by some breathtaking images that were both imaginative and beautiful.
Laurie employs every photographic technique in the book to produce something different and revealing about his wild subjects. Unlike many professional photographers, he is very generous in providing information on techniques such as employing long exposures, selective focus, motion blur, silhouettes and use of lenses from fish eye to extreme telephoto. However, he only records what is present and never resorts to the use of digital manipulation to change or add to his pictures.
This was a highly enjoyable, informative and stimulating presentation by an engaging and modest photographer who is a true master of his art.
The evening was completed by an excellent gallery of prints by Judith Snaith and Andrew Mackie. Judith showed a fine selection of landscapes and wildlife from Scotland while Andrew showed some impressive panoramic images of landscapes taken locally.
Report by David Carter
At the latest meeting of Alnwick and District Camera Club, member Gordon Charlton gave a presentation entitled The Big Five Minus One. The Big Five, in safari terms, refers to the lion, the African elephant, the Cape buffalo, the rhinoceros and the leopard, and Gordon went to Kenya to hunt them with his camera.
Gordon’s first animal encounters were in the Samburu Reserve, a region noted for its dramatic landscapes and abundance of wildlife. From there he travelled to Lake Nakuru, famous for its flamingos although unfortunately they were not present in the usual huge numbers due to heavy rainfall which had affected their habitat. Lake Naivasha was a different story offering a wealth of bird life and plenty of good photographic opportunities.
Finally Gordon moved on to the grassland plains of the Masai Mara reserve. He had planned to photograph the migration of wildebeest across the Mara River but sadly the vast herds of these animals were not yet ready to move so he had to satisfy himself with other subjects, including some superb shots of hippos entering the water.
Overall, Gordon bagged an impressive range of animal photos, including all of the big five except for leopard which eluded him for the entire trip, hence the title of his talk. He showed some fine images of giraffe, zebra, impala, oryx, crocodile and cheetah amongst others, as well as many excellent bird pictures including a wonderful sequence of crested cranes in flight.
Gordon also visited a Masai village and was rewarded with some excellent portraits of these proud and handsome people. He commented on the fact that alongside their traditional dress he noticed that many were wearing digital watches and carrying mobile phones, a sure sign that their way of life is rapidly changing.
Report by David Carter
Members were the judges for Alnwick and District Camera Club’s Northumberland Plate digital projected image competition. As its title suggests, this is a competition for pictures taken in Northumberland. The subject for this year was the natural world and this attracted a wide range of pictures including animals, birds, insects, plants and geological features. Each member was invited to award their favourite pictures from one to five points and the scores were totalled at the end of the evening to produce the following results.
Commended were Swallow’s Feeding Time and Robin on Leaf, both by Gerry Simpson, and Coquet Seal by Dru Dodd while Squirrelkins by Andrew Mackie and Flick of the Tongue and Blue Tit Flight, both by Kevin Murray, were highly commended. Kevin also took fourth place with a wonderful action shot of a red squirrel, entitled Leap, while Margaret Whittaker’s excellent insect picture, Hummingbird Moth Attaches to a Flower was awarded third place.
In second place was John Thompson with a striking bird portrait appropriately entitled Starling but it was Jane Coltman’s dramatic action picture, Attacking Tern that was runaway winner of first place.
The evening was completed by two fine print galleries. Gordon Charlton showed an interesting range of pictures including scenes from Dubai, Malta and Newcastle, but his most striking images were three action shots of an African fish eagle taken in Kenya. John Thompson showed a fine sequence of monochrome prints taken at Blyth, all featuring the lighthouse, and, by contrast, an extremely colourful set of almost abstract close up images of interior structural features of the Lowry Gallery at Salford Quays.
Report by David Carter
Alnwick and District Camera Club welcomed back former member Alan Ainsworth to give a presentation entitled The Sound They Saw- Classic Jazz Photography. His interest in jazz started at an early age, encouraged by his father, and has developed over the years alongside his interest in photography. His main business today is as an architectural and urban photographer, but he has also built up an extensive archive of photographic images of jazz musicians. Currently one of the country’s foremost jazz photographers, Alan is well qualified to talk about this subject.
However, Alan did not come to talk about his own photographs but to tell the story of the development of jazz photography in the twentieth century. To a great extent jazz and photography evolved together with the growing sophistication of one captured by the technical advances of the other. At first jazz largely found its home in small dark and smoky venues where pioneering photographers such as Charles Peterson and Gjon Mili used flash to capture their images. Their pictures played an important part in creating an acceptable cultural image for jazz performances where black and white musicians played together.
As cameras became more portable and photographic materials more sensitive it became possible to capture the atmosphere of performances in a more intimate way.
The advent of long playing records provided a new and influential outlet for jazz photography with musicians such as Miles Davis and Sonny Rollins controlling the use of images on their record sleeves.
As Alan pointed out, jazz is an uniquely visual art and over the years it has generated some superb photographic images which have eventually become accepted as fine art in their own right, much as jazz has itself. This was a superb, well illustrated and refreshingly different talk giving an insight into an aspect of photography that very few club members will have experienced.
An outstanding gallery of Alan’s own colour and monochrome images of jazz musicians proved that jazz photography still flourishes in the twenty first century.
Report by David Carter
Alnwick and District Camera Club’s latest meeting featured winning pictures from the London Salon and the Northern Counties Photographic Federation annual competition.
First came a short series of successful entries to the London Salon, featuring some fine examples of portraits and other people pictures. Many seemed to have favoured the use of limited colour palettes or use of muted tones. Other pictures included cityscapes, snow scenes and some atmospheric misty images of trees.
The main feature of the evening however, was a travelling portfolio of pictures selected from the NCPF’s 2013 competition, introduced by Malcolm Kus who outlined the activities of the Federation and its competition procedures. The portfolio included a wide variety of pictures, ranging from landscapes and industrial scenes to portraits, wildlife, sports, aircraft and abstract images. Among the successful entries were two fine coastal pictures by Alnwick club member Barry Robertson. There was a particularly strong entry of wildlife pictures with some excellent bird portraits to the fore. Quite a large number of non natural history pictures had been digitally manipulated, a skill which produces excellent results in the right hands.
The evening was completed by two outstanding displays by club members. Geoffrey Bradford showed a fascinating and instructive display of extracts from a portfolio submitted for a photographic arts degree while Micheal Mundy presented a gallery of superb monochrome prints of street scenes and people pictures taken in Boston and Cape Cod.
Report by David Carter
Alnwick and District Camera Club welcomed back John Smith from Gateshead to judge its Set of Three print competition. The requirement is for a group of three prints that work together as a panel. Since there was no set subject, the variety of pictures entered was good, both in colour and monochrome. There were some innovative approaches to creating a set using different mounting styles and sizes of print, making the job of judging quite a challenging one. However, John rose to the occasion with enthusiasm, commenting on the overall high standard of entries. He assessed all of the pictures, both individually and as sets, with encouraging comments along the way.
Stained Glass Windows by Rosalee Cook-Jury, Italian Facades by Sue Baker, The Fish Market by Ian Atkinson and Evening Light, Quayside by Laine Baker were all commended while Long Exposure Seascapes by Dave Dixon and Tynemouth Metro by Gerry Simpson were highly commended. In fourth place was Midnight at Salford Quays by John Thompson, three sparkling monochrome cityscapes including the Lowry Centre and the Imperial War Museum North, and in third place was Boatsheds by Moonlight by Nick Johnson, a set of magical long exposure images of Holy Island. Second Place went to Kevin Murray for Puffins, a superb group of appealing and humorous bird portraits, but winner of first place was David Carter with On The Shelf, three detailed and delicately coloured images of everyday objects from a bygone age.
Report by David Carter
Alnwick and District Camera Club made a good start to the New Year with a projected digital image knockout competition that attracted 112 entries from around 30 members. This record entry included a fine range of pictures both in colour and monochrome. Subjects varied from landscapes and portraits to wildlife, pets, people and architecture. Images were projected in pairs and voted on by the audience until all but four pictures remained. As usual with such competitions, there was a light hearted atmosphere with plenty of friendly banter from members who nevertheless proved to be good judges, selecting some fine winning pictures.
In fourth place was Jaipur Kids by Valerie Atkinson, a picture that successfully captured the exuberance of its young subjects, while third place went to The Eye, a striking monochrome close up of a reindeer’s head, by Margaret Whittaker. Judith Snaith’s beautiful, atmospheric image of Caistron in the Mist took second place but Dru Dodd’s spectacular picture of the Aurora, entitled Holy Island of Lindisfarne, was worthy winner of first place.
To complete the evening were two fine galleries of prints by Rosalee Cook-Jury and Athol Swanston. Rosalee’s pictures included a fascinating selection of people and places taken locally while Athol’s colour and monochrome prints, including some beautiful sunset images, were also mainly local, proving that you do not have to go far to look for inspiration.
Report by David Carter
Members Nick Johnson and Gerry Simpson entertained Alnwick and District Camera Club with an informative and highly enjoyable presentation about their kind of photography.
Nick started the ball rolling with a display of prints highlighting different photographic problems he has dealt with. He showed a number of prints in pairs to demonstrate the various results achievable by use of different papers and digital processing techniques including conversion to monochrome. He also showed the effect that different coloured mounts can have on the final appearance of a print.
Nick then went on to talk about exposure and high dynamic range effects and also demonstrated how effective some sharpening programs can be if used correctly.
Gerry came next with a series of projected images under the title View from the Chair. Gerry is wheelchair-bound but doesn’t let this stop him from getting around and taking some superb pictures. By obtaining some special all-terrain tyres he has been able to adapt a wheelchair that enables him to get onto the beach with a little help from his friends. A fine series of pictures taken along the Northumberland coast showed just how successful this has been. Sometimes, taking pictures from the car window is the only option but, once again, Gerry seems to have the knack of taking excellent landscapes from this restricted position.
Once on the streets with his mobility scooter, his pictures take on a different aspect again with images of people and places taken from an angle that few of us would consider using.
Taking this idea of using different angles a step further, Gerry and Nick went on a couple of photographic expeditions together where they each took the same picture with Gerry in his chair and Nick standing alongside. By showing their pictures together in pairs they were able to demonstrate the remarkable difference in the results they achieved. While both had taken some extremely good pictures, the general consensus was that many of those taken by Gerry from a lower level had more impact. Hopefully this will encourage members to experiment with taking their pictures from different viewpoints in future.
Report by David Carter
Alnwick and District Camera Club’s latest club night gave an opportunity for members to show some of the photographs they have taken during the past year. Ten members showed projected images and talked about them. Their pictures covered a rich variety of subjects including landscapes, architecture, portraits, astronomy, gardens and wildlife, with locations ranging from Northumberland to Europe, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Barry Robertson also gave an audio visual presentation of pictures taken on a walk along Hadrian’s Wall and Jane Coltman showed a brief video taken at Durham’s Lumiere festival.
Evenings such as this are immensely enjoyable and give an insight into the wide range of members interests and approaches to photography. This is the second event of this nature that has been held this season and it is a tribute to the friendly nature of the club that so many members, whatever their level of expertise, have been encouraged to share their thoughts and their pictures.
Report by David Carter
George Ledger from Hexham was welcomed to Alnwick and District Camera Club to judge its latest competition. This competition was for sets of three projected digital images, either in colour or monochrome. There was a total of 31 entries, meaning that George had 93 images to consider. Nevertheless, he managed to give each picture a thorough appraisal as well as judging it as part of a set. It was evident that he had spent a great deal of time in considering the merits of each set and his comments were both interesting and helpful.
Commended were Beach Huts by Dawn Groves, The Stool by Gordon Charlton and On the Buses by Alastair Cochrane, while highly commended were Red Grouse by Kevin Murray, September Snow by Jean Findlay and Autumn Seed Heads by John Thompson. In fourth place was Signs and Fences, a set of snowy Cheviot landscapes by Barry Robertson, and in third place were three superb animal portraits, entitled Otter, by Judith Snaith. Second place went to three beautiful images of Fungi, digitally processed to resemble vintage wet plate collodion prints, by Peter Downs, but first place went to Margaret Whittaker’s wonderfully atmospheric set of images entitled Snowstorm on the Lake.
The evening was completed by two fine picture galleries by Dave Dixon and Ian Atkinson. Dave’s excellent high dynamic range prints were all of Northumberland churches while Ian’s impressively detailed architectural pictures were of Barcelona, particularly featuring Gaudi’s amazing cathedral.
Report by David Carter
Print knockout competitions are always popular events at Alnwick and District Camera Club so a good number of members turned out on a cold, wet and windy night to take part. There was a large entry of seventy four prints covering a wide range of subjects both in colour and monochrome. These were shown in pairs with the audience voting for their favourites until all but three pictures were eliminated. The winning three were then voted on again to establish first, second and third placings.
As usual on such occasions, there was plenty of friendly banter contributing to a light hearted and enjoyable evening. Nevertheless, members proved themselves to be shrewd judges of a good picture and finally selected three excellent winners.
In third place was Shadow Light, a fine graphic architectural image in monochrome by Doug Ross, while second place went to Noon by John Thompson, a vibrant colour picture of shutters and shadows that captured the heat of the midday sun in Spain. In contrast, Kevin Murray’s beautiful and atmospheric bird portrait, entitled Barn Owl, lent itself admirably to a low key monochrome treatment and was a worthy winner of first place.
Report by David Carter
Every year, Alnwick and District Camera Club organises an event at the Playhouse and this year’s eminent speaker was the travel writer and photographer John Pilkington. John has more recently become known for his adventure travel documentaries on BBC Radio 4.The title of his presentation was From Georgia to Afghanistan and told the story of his travels along part of the Silk Road in the steps of his hero Marco Polo.
Starting in Tbilisi, John made his way from Georgia through Azerbaijan to the Caspian Sea at Baku. Crossing the sea and entering Turkmenistan, he then travelled on to Uzbekistan where he visited the Aral Sea, now largely a parched mudflat littered with rusting remains of fishing vessels. From there he moved south to Bukhara and thence to Khiva and the legendary city of Samarkand. The high Pamirs of Tajikistan were John’s next destination, moving on into northern Afghanistan where he followed the valley of the River Oxus until he finally reached its source. John’s account of this amazing journey was richly embellished with insights into the daily lives of the people that he met along the way. Local culture, architecture, food, history and politics all found a place in his lively commentary, to say nothing of his amusing encounters with recalcitrant camels and salted tea with rancid yak’s butter. This memorable talk was richly illustrated with fine photographs including a wonderful series of colourful portraits that captured the spirit of the many different people that he met along the way.
John not only informed and entertained but also engaged his audience so successfully that the evening ended with a lively question and answer session.
Report by David Carter
David Hall was the judge for Alnwick and District Camera Club ‘s 1st Open Monochrome Print Competition of the year. There was a strong entry of sixty four prints covering a wide range of subjects from landscape to abstract. David’s ebullient and highly personal judging style may not be to everyone’s taste but his enthusiasm for photography was well in evidence as he commented on every picture in detail. Once again, the overall standard of prints was high and David made it clear that selecting just ten pictures for awards and commendations was difficult with so many worthy entries.
David’s final choice of commended prints were Cheviot Hillside by Barry Robertson, Just Thinking by John Thompson and Tea Break by Jane Coltman. Highly commended were Edlingham Castle by Dave Dixon, Lighting Up by Laine Baker and Ribblehead Viaduct by John Thompson. In fourth place was an atmospheric interior scene by Ian Atkinson, entitled Home Dyeing, while in third place was Alastair Cochrane’s small but striking print depicting a hand over guitar strings entitled Guitar George – He Knows All the Chords. Second place went to After Sanding (Admiration), a finely composed portrait by Micheal Mundy but winner of first place was Kevin Murray with Snow Storm Approaching, a wonderfully moody seascape looking towards Dunstanburgh Castle.
Report by David Carter
Alnwick and District Camera Club welcomed Dave Yates from Birmingham to give his Royal Photographic Society presentation entitled Photography My Way. Sponsored by Fotospeed, Dave Yates is a highly respected photographer and is currently chairman of the London Salon of Photography.
Although he works primarily in monochrome, Dave commenced his presentation with some wonderfully atmospheric hand coloured prints of derelict buildings and vehicles taken in abandoned ghost towns along Highway 50 in the U.S.A. His entertaining account of his experiences there was accompanied by some valuable information about his methods of hand tinting and digital manipulation of images.
Dave likes to produce his pictures in panels of three or more and his final set of colour images were of frost laden trees, subtly manipulated to stunningly beautiful effect.
Moving on to monochrome images, Dave first showed a series of prints of Paris by night. These darkly romantic street scenes captured the city so successfully that they have been much in demand for exhibitions. A series of timed exposures of seascapes taken in North Devon set a completely different mood with misty water and peaceful skies while,
back in Paris, Dave’s stark infra red pictures of modern buildings set a different tone again.
Finally we were shown a few of his superb monochrome portraits, taken with natural lighting. The last two prints, one digital and one processed in the wet darkroom, demonstrated that there is still a quality difference between the two. As a result, Dave is moving back to the latter method for his future work.
This was an entertaining and highly informative evening of excellent photography.
Report by David Carter
Every year Alnwick and District Camera Club devotes an evening to pictures from the Northern Counties Photographic Federation International Salon. From 2,500 entries from all over the world, only 500 were accepted for the 2013 Salon. Of these,168 prints had been selected for circulation to clubs, including all entries that had won awards and medals.
Club president John Thompson conducted the evening, giving information about each picture and encouraging comment from the audience. There was a good variety of subject material both in monochrome and colour with a wide range of different treatments. Landscapes, portraits and people pictures predominated while natural history subjects were less strongly represented than usual.
Amongst the monochrome prints there were many excellent examples with good use of tonal range although it was generally agreed that a few fell short of the very high quality usually expected from the salon with some pictures appearing rather grey and flat.
In the case of colour prints, there were again many superb pictures with an astonishingly wide variety of different treatments. There was some discussion about the use of colour and the effect of different paper types including silver printing paper.
In making their selections for the salon, judges have only a limited time to view each picture so that those with immediate impact are most likely to succeed. This seems to have been the case with a large number of successful entries from Hong Kong, all displaying the same extremely high technical quality but with such hard lighting and bright colours that, to some, they appeared somewhat artificial on close examination.
This was an extremely interesting and instructive evening which should inspire more members to think about submitting their own pictures to future salons.
Report by David Carter
Dave Phillips from Hartlepool was the judge for Alnwick and District Camera Club’s latest open colour print competition. Dave is a frequent and welcome visitor to the club and is a well known and respected competition judge. In considering the sixty six prints entered, he first commented on the overall high standard of work, meaning that many excellent pictures sadly failed to win awards. Nevertheless, he commented on every print with great enthusiasm offering plenty of helpful advice and encouragement. He was unstinting in his praise for the best entries, often commenting that he wished he had taken the photographs himself. There was a fine variety of pictures to enjoy, ranging from landscapes and portraits to animals, birds, architecture and abstracts.
Commended entries were Astronomical Clock Lift and Stairs by Gordon Charlton, Trees in a Rock Landscape by John Thompson and Woman in the Wall by Jane Coltman while Fishermen by Andrew Mackie, Red Reflections by Kevin Murray and Squacco Heron by Gordon Charlton were all highly commended. Fourth place went to Jane Coltman for an appealing portrait of a young Indian girl entitled My Doll and third place to John Thompson for The Sign, an unusual and arresting image of sea and sky. The winner of second place was Pat Wood with an extremely well seen and composed picture of contrasting shoes appropriately entitled In and Out of Fashion while, by contrast, first place went to Kevin Murray for The Hunter, a truly superb wildlife portrait of a Sparrowhawk.
Report by David Carter
Alnwick and District Camera Club member Doug Ross provided a fine evening’s entertainment when he gave a presentation of his pictures together with an absorbing account of his approach to photography over the years.
Doug commenced with some beautiful landscapes of the Cheviots, an area which he knows extremely well, enabling him to be in the right place at the right time to achieve the finest results. He is equally at home with cityscapes as evidenced by some impressive views of London and Newcastle. His approach to this type of work is highly imaginative, employing unusual viewpoints and lighting effects to maximum effect.
One of Doug’s greatest loves are his people pictures. His empathy with his subjects is always apparent and often he engages them in conversation to establish a rapport before taking their photographs. Doug is also a keen Francophile, even though he admitted that his linguistic bloomers sometimes cause amusement for the locals. Some fine portraits, landscapes and village close-ups captured the warmth and vibrancy of southern France.
Doug is never afraid to experiment with his photography, particularly in an attempt to capture movement. This he often achieves by the skilful use of multiple exposures.
These are just some examples of the great range of Doug’s pictures. He talked about the changes over recent years brought about by the advent of digital printing and digital cameras. Many of the prints that he showed were digitally printed from colour transparencies although he has been using a high specification digital camera in recent years. However the last three prints in his presentation were from images taken with a smart phone, proving that it is primarily the person behind the camera that produces the results. This was a masterclass in photography, enjoyed by everyone.
Report by David Carter
Peter Talbot came to Alnwick and District Camera Club to give an illustrated talk on his ski touring expedition to Greenland in 2008. In his introductory remarks, Peter emphasised the sheer size and remoteness of Greenland, which is an autonomous country within the Kingdom of Denmark located between the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. It is the world’s largest island with a tiny population living in coastal regions and an economy dependent on the fishing industry. Much of the country is largely unexplored providing great opportunities for adventurous people such as Peter.
Because of its location, it is an expensive place to travel to and so Peter’s expedition group of four joined with two other small groups to share the costs. Travelling first by charter plane from Reykjavik in Iceland to Constable Point on the east coast of Greenland they then proceeded to the ice cap in the region of the Watkins Mountains by means of ski plane and helicopter. Along the way there were numerous delays due to poor weather and soft snow which bogged down the aircraft but eventually they reached their starting point amongst mountains so remote that many of them have never been climbed. Pulling their own sledges, they covered distances of around ten miles a day, detouring to climb mountains and avoid crevasses. Peter’s photographs not only captured the spectacular landscape but also the day to day activities of the expedition members.
Peter concluded his talk with an appeal for the charity Prostate Cancer UK, a worthy cause close to his heart as his father had received successful treatment for the condition. His lecture fee and the results of a collection on the night were donated to the charity.
The evening was completed by a fine gallery of prints by Pat Wood and Peter Downs. Pat’s pictures included a series of excellent photographs of a derelict mill at Guyzance, while Peter’s pictures featured some atmospheric images of Woodhorn Colliery – part of his ongoing project about mines and miners.
Report by David Carter
Malcolm Kus was the judge for Alnwick and District Camera Club’s first open projected digital image competition of the year. Club member Malcolm is a highly respected judge and, as usual, gave an excellent individual appraisal of every entry, with plenty of useful and constructive criticism, liberally spiced with his much appreciated sense of humour. The seventy nine pictures entered covered a wide spectrum with many outstandingly good images ranging from landscapes and townscapes to portraits and natural history, both in colour and monochrome, making Malcolm’s task to select the winners a difficult one.
Commended pictures were Crocuses in Snow by Jean Findlay, Owl by Dave Dixon and Stan Collie-more? By Gerry Simpson while Market Porters’ Break by Micheal Mundy, Misty Morning by Dawn Groves and Fun with Smoke by Nick Johnson were all highly commended. In fourth place was Red Grouse, a fine natural history study by Kevin Murray, and in third place, Aurora over the Mountains, an extremely well handled picture of a challenging subject by Margaret Whittaker. Second place went to Jane Coltman for Mummy’s Boy, an engaging portrait of a little Indian child, but first place was awarded to John Thompson for Dog Walkers in the Mist, a well composed, atmospheric picture taken on the beach.
To complete the evening, Paul Penman and Nick Johnson presented a fine gallery of prints. Paul’s beautiful colour landscapes were all of the Lake District while Nick’s pictures included fine colour pictures of aircraft and some impressive high dynamic range monochrome landscapes.
Report by David Carter
From Here to Eternity was the title of Paul Keene’s presentation to Alnwick and District Camera Club. Paul has been a Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society for 20 years and is a regular exhibitor in international exhibitions.
His presentation consisted of a series of audio visual sequences, starting close to home with Art or Junk, an amazing collection of colourful pattern pictures which he eventually revealed to be images taken of the paintwork of a burnt-out car.
Next came Belen, a captivating series of imaginative studies of a beautiful young woman with a horse.
This was followed by Midnight Blue, a wonderful evocation of an English bluebell wood. Paul mentioned that pictures of bluebells do very well in exhibitions overseas, where bluebells are less frequently encountered.
Still in England, The Life of Swans was an impressive study of these elegant birds, with pictures taken over a period of three years.
Moving on to Australia, Wish you Were Here was an evocation of a day on the beaches of Queensland with multiple images of sea and sky and a brief underwater sequence to show the abundance of marine life there.
Tibet was Paul’s next destination, a place that he visited at the invitation of the Chinese Government. After talking about the political and moral implications of accepting such an opportunity, he also mentioned the challenges of working at such high altitude. Faces of Tibet was an extensive series of superb quality, colourful portraits capturing the distinctive character of the people, while Tales of Tibet comprised of a large number of pictures of daily life as presented by the authorities who had organised the visit.
Finally, in an overwhelming series of images entitled Ascension, Paul demonstrated his skills as a digital manipulator with a plethora of blending images accompanied by appropriately enigmatic music to take us to his final destination – eternity.
Report by David Carter
Members’ Nights are always a highlight of Alnwick and District Camera Club’s season and the latest was no exception. Under the title What I Did This Summer, fourteen members gave short presentations illustrated by projected images or prints.
Nick Johnson started the ball rolling with some high quality images of flowers, aircraft and Durham Cathedral, a theme that was followed up by some impressive photographs of the flower festival there taken by Gerry Simpson. He was followed by Ian Atkinson who showed photographs taken at Beamish Museum alongside versions that had been digitally processed to give a them a period feel.
Then, for something completely different, Mike Christian gave an hilarious and memorable account of his abortive attempts to photograph swallows in flight – a work still in progress.
No less memorable were John Thompson’s superb quality views of Northumberland and the Lake District. Tom Dundas then talked about his prints, including an impressive view of the Tyne Bridges taken from the roof of the Baltic.
Peter Sutcliffe came next with a fine series of pictures including some extremely atmospheric and moody monochrome pictures. In contrast, Doug Ross’ wonderful images from the Basque Country radiated warmth and colour while Kevin Murray’s exceptional natural history pictures included close-ups of insects and birds in flight.
Gordon Charlton then showed some excellent pictures from Prague and Kenya, the latter a taste of a presentation he will be giving to the club next year. Closer to home, Dave Dixon’s interesting collection of pictures from the Glanton Show included flower studies, birds of prey in flight and terrier races.
Moving further north, Andrew Mackie presented a series of pictures taken on the Shetlands including some good wildlife and scenic images.
Wedding photographs are seldom shown at the club but Dru Dodd’s accomplished pictures also included some imaginative and high quality landscapes and cityscapes.
Last but by no means least, Rosie Cook-Jurie talked about her very individual collection of prints, ranging from abstract to natural history.
Report by David Carter
It is customary for the first Autumn meeting of Alnwick and District Camera Club to be Chairman's Evening and this year chairman Jane Coltman gave a fascinating presentation centred around her working year as photographer for the Northumberland Gazette. Starting from last September, Jane took us from month to month with pictures covering events and subjects that have made the news. Subject matter ranged widely from dramatic events, such as such as floods and fires, to sport, farming, charity campaigns, local personalities and local festivals.
Inevitably Jane has to cover the same local events each year and this presents a challenge to find a fresh angle that will capture readers' interest. The start of the school year is a typical example when Jane covers more than fifty schools with pictures ranging from large group photographs to more engaging images of children taking part in various activities. The latter are obviously Jane's favourites but these require both imagination and sensitivity, qualities that shone through in her pictures.
The big society event of the year in the region was the wedding of the Duke of Northumberland's daughter, Lady Melissa to Thomas van Straubenzee. This was a very busy time for Jane and she gave a revealing insight into the hard work involved in covering such occasions.
As we were taken through the seasons it was good to look back at the events of last year captured in such a wonderful range of excellent photographs. No matter what the subject matter, Jane's love of photography was evident, making it abundantly clear that to her this is much more than just a profession.
To conclude a fine evening's entertainment, Laine Baker joined Jane to talk about their experiences on a photographic trip to India that they had undertaken earlier in the year. This was illustrated by an extensive gallery of superb colour and monochrome prints.
Report by David Carter
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