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Forty Years in Professional Photography was the title of Neil Atkinson’s presentation when he visited Alnwick and District Camera Club. Neil, who is based at Whitley Bay, modestly claimed that his main achievement has been to survive as a professional but it soon became clear that his talents as a photographer have contributed largely to his success.
After one of his photographs made the front page of a national newspaper when he was only twelve years old, Neil seemed destined for fame and fortune in photographic journalism but he was quick to point out that this did not happen. He talked about his early years working with pop musicians and how he went on to become a wedding photographer for thirty years. Over that period he covered more than 1400 weddings but never seems to have lost his enthusiasm for this type of work.
In 2005, he wrote and presented the pioneering ITV television series A Moment in Time where local celebrities were photographed against the background of their favourite places in the North East. He has also carried out a wide range of other commercial work, photographing people, architecture and industrial subjects, and is also a qualified teacher, organizing workshops on a wide range of topics and training sessions in Photoshop techniques.
Neil’s love of photography shone throughout his talk, which was full of interesting and often amusing anecdotes. It was well illustrated by a fine series of pictures both in colour and monochrome covering a multitude of subjects from churchyards to glamorous models. There was plenty here to inform and inspire his audience.
The evening was completed by an extensive gallery of excellent colour and monochrome prints by Laine Baker, Jane Coltman, Gordon Charlton and Richard Stent as the result of a joint visit to Salford Quays.
Report by David Carter
Alnwick and District Camera Club welcomed back Dave Richardson from Ryton to judge its second open print competition. This was divided into colour and monochrome sections which were judged separately, meaning that Dave had a total of seventy four prints to deal with. This he achieved with aplomb, talking at length about each entry with encouraging comment and useful advice, all delivered with enthusiasm and a gentle humour which made the evening a pleasure.
In the colour section, Listening Through the Wall by Margaret Whittaker, Feeding the Carp by Ian Atkinson and The Earth’s Shadow by Stanley Trafford were commended while Elderly Monk by Laine Baker, and How Much is that Ducky by Micheal Mundy were both highly commended. Gordon Charlton’s beautiful landscape of the coast at Elgol was awarded fourth place and Laine Baker’s detailed and delicately coloured image of Spinning took third place. In second place was American Dream by Micheal Mundy, a strikingly simple but effective image of a white clapboard house set against a blue sky, but Peter Downs’ well seen and vividly coloured pattern image entitled New Building Wall, Amble was the winner of first place.
In the monochrome section Across the Generations by Jane Coltman, He Never Returned by Peter Downs and Bombed by a Bullock by Ian Atkinson were commended. Highly commended were View of Holy Island by Pat Wood, The Sentinels by Peter Downs and Boats by Margaret Whittaker. In Fourth place was Chilled Roman Style by Gordon Charlton, a well captured image of a statue with good use of a textured background, while in third place was Heavy Metal Pete by Micheal Mundy, a dynamic, high quality portrait with elements of both threat and humour. Out of Darkness into Light was the title of Peter Downs’ superb, atmospheric study of light and shade, a worthy winner of second place but Micheal Mundy took first place with another of his matchless portraits, this one entitled A Pipe Dream, an amusing and cleverly constructed image of a smoker.
Report by David Carter
At Alnwick and District Camera Club’s latest club evening, six members showed some of their pictures and explained what they had done to achieve the results they were aiming for.
Gerry Simpson started with an interesting monochrome still life of a flower in a vase, showing how he converted the original image from colour and added a subtle background texture.
Next was Laine Baker who had also converted her colour images to monochrome but had ‘colour popped’ the orange safety jacket of a rail man to give extra impact to the pictures. She demonstrated two techniques for achieving this effect.
Dru Dodd’s dramatic night time view of New York was in fact taken in daylight using a four minute exposure with an extreme neutral density filter. Some clever digital manipulation to adjust shadows and lighting completed this impressive picture.
In complete contrast, Micheal Mundy’s highly imaginative and rather disturbing picture, evoking the aftermath of a nuclear explosion, was a studio shot of a broken doll converted from colour to monochrome and aged using a series of digital filters.
Jane Coltman explained how some effects can be achieved in camera by correct use of exposure settings. She had created a selective blurred motion effect in a crowd scene using an exposure of a quarter of a second. Jane also showed how she produced an attractive grid of multiple close-up colour images of rocks and stones that she had taken on Blast Beach, Seaham.
Last, but by no means least, club president John Thompson showed some beautiful images of Scarborough Spa, Seahouses Harbour and the High Level Bridge in Newcastle. They had all been manipulated in a very individual manner to remove extraneous details. John explained his thinking behind the images and his ultimate aim to produce prints of the highest quality.
The evening was completed by two fine print galleries by Micheal Mundy and John Strong. Micheal’s wonderful set of monochrome prints depicted a local stone mason as each year he transforms himself to become Santa Claus while John Strong’s fine miscellany of colour prints included pictures of Guyzance Weir, Woodhorn’s Weeping Poppies and Scottish landscapes.
Report by David Carter
Two competitions of a very different nature were judged at this week’s meeting of Alnwick and District Camera Club.
The Alastair Cochrane Progress Award, is for members who have not previously been placed in any club competition. Only four members entered but standards were extremely high. The judges were club members Gordon Charlton, Val Atkinson and Peter Sutcliffe, who each commented on the pictures and awarded them points out of ten. Their remarks were full of useful and encouraging comment, lightened with some amusing banter. Two members had submitted prints while the other two entered digital projected images. At the end of the judging, points awarded were totalled to find the winner. In fourth place was Liz Gordon with 64 points, in third place was Christine Gray with 67 points, in second place was Jim Kirkpatrick with 68 points, but in first place and winner of the Progress Award, was Dennis Hall with 71 points. This was a close fought contest with each entrant producing some excellent work but Dennis well deserved the winning place with his set of three superb portraits.
The second competition was for the Reportage Award. This competition seldom attracts many entrants, and this year there were only four, but their quality and originality made it very well worthwhile. The judge was last year’s winner, Jean Findlay, who spoke eloquently about each entry.
Carol McKay entered a set of colourful digital projected images under the title A Tuscan Festival while Ian Atkinson’s entry was an audio visual presentation entitled The Hospice Gardens with beautiful images accompanied by well chosen music. Jane Coltman entered a photo book entitled Bilbao 2015 with a huge number of excellent photographs of people, places and much more but the winner was Micheal Mundy’s highly original entry entitled Tony Roberts, Escapologist, In his Own Words. This comprised a cloth bag containing a box bound with chains. Inside was a wonderful set of monochrome prints of Tony Roberts at work accompanied by a sound recording in which he talked about his act and his philosophy of life.
This was reportage at its best and well deserved the award.
Report by David Carter
Jim Welsh from Blyth Photographic Society was the judge for Alnwick and District Camera Club’s second open digital projected image competition. Jim, who is a frequent and welcome visitor to the club, talked about the sixty six images entered, making useful comments about composition, lighting and use of colour. He likes to look for a story in each picture and is quick to praise those elements of the image that the photographer has captured well.
There was a good variety pictures entered, both in colour and monochrome, including some outstanding landscapes, cityscapes and wildlife pictures.
Jim commended Northumberland Winter by Carol MacKay, Rosy Apple by Dru Dodd and Tilt by Gordon Charlton. Gordon was also highly commended for Salford Nightscape, as were Gerry Simpson for Singing Swallow and Jane Coltman for Taking a Break. Fourth place went to David Burn’s atmospheric seascape, After the Storm, and third place to Margaret Whittaker’s highly detailed portrait of a Colourful Character. Val Atkinson’s well composed monochrome image of Three Upstanding Men was awarded second place but the winner of first place was Jim Kirkpatrick with a serene evening image of boats and water entitled Harbour View.
At the end of the meeting, members enjoyed a fine gallery of colour prints presented by Athol Swanston, including a panel of images of Amble, scenes from Scotland and pictures of Howick Gardens.
Report by David Carter
Prints from Projects was the title of Leo and Carol Palmer’s joint presentation when they made a welcome visit to Alnwick and District Camera Club. Leo and Carol are renowned for the quality of their presentations and this was no exception.
In his opening remarks, Leo explained how setting themselves projects gives a structure to their work and inspires them to explore subjects in new ways. He also explained the importance of making high quality prints in order to realise the maximum potential of their work.
Both Leo and Carol normally produce their work in panels of prints but, for the purposes of this talk, they displayed them individually so that they could comment on them in detail. They each showed examples of their own work, alternating throughout the evening so that the audience was able to enjoy a wide variety of pictures of the highest quality.
Visits to Yellowstone National Park had provided them both with the opportunity to capture some superb landscapes, often taken in challenging weather conditions but making the most of dramatic lighting and steam generated in this highly volcanic region. Wildlife projects resulted in beautiful images of animals including bison and black bears as well as some fine portraits of the abundant bird life of the area. Staying in America, projects about Route 66 and ghost towns resulted in memorable images of classic cars, abandoned buildings and colourful local characters.
Other subjects that they have chosen for projects include food, bric-a-brac, characters from Northern Pride and the Edinburgh Festival, architecture and visual art. Perhaps their most challenging project was entitled Hand of Man. Carol interpreted this with architectural images from America based around the tragedy of Seven Eleven and the subsequent recovery while Leo’s pictures were of man-made representations of icons of mythology, religion and fashion.
One thing that all of these pictures shared was superb print quality. Many had been digitally enhanced, using a technique developed and perfected by Leo to simulate the old and complex darkroom process of bromoil printing. The resulting images, both by Leo and Carol, were quite outstanding and this technique will surely have an important future for digital photographers.
Enlivened by friendly banter between the pair, this was a most enjoyable and instructive evening by masters of their art.
Report by David Carter
Alnwick camera club held one if its regular Member’s Nights on Wednesday. This is an opportunity for members to give presentations on any aspect of photography that is of interest to them and several audio visual presentations were shown by three members.
The evening began with Dave Dixon showing an AV of Glanton Show held in 2013. Several events were included and set to music including the displays of classic cars and finishing with terrier racing. The presentation was an interesting and comprehensive record of the show.
John Thompson then showed an AV, originally made on slides but transferred to digital of the changing light and landscape of the Cheviot Hills. The presentation highlighted his passion for the landscape and was made up of images taken on many walking trips he and other camera club friends made over ten years ago. Moving to a different aspect of our local countryside, John went on to show another AV called “From the Tyne to the Tweed” a presentation which illustrated the fabulous coastline we are fortune to have so close to us.
Doug Ross then entertained the audience with two AVs, one of children inside and trying to manoeuvre the almost uncontrollable large plastic balls on water at the fare in South Shields. A very different AV was then shown illustrating graffiti produced by college students in Gateshead. Wetting everyone’s appetite with a possible opportunity for other club members to go and photograph this location, at the end of the presentation, Doug informed us that the wall was now no longer!
The evening also included two galleries. One from Gerry Simpson showed a number of unusual photographs showing how street life can be captured through the reflections in puddles. Buildings and people where caught in the puddle reflections and many of the images were deliberately displayed upside down which made the viewer really think about what was going on.
Val Atkinson commented that her gallery was produced partly in response to a recent competition judge who asked the club members how many considered themselves to be printers. Val showed a range of images covering the themes of religion and street life in Mumbai, where she used to live. She also included two very early black and white contact prints taken of her family members, some of her very early attempts at photography.
Report by Richard Stent
Alnwick and District Camera Club held there Projected Image Set Subject competition this week for the Northumberland Plate Trophy.
The set subject changes every year and this year all the photographs had to be on the subject of Landscape. The subject was interpreted in many ways including day and night time shots of the land and sea, early morning atmospheric pictures taken during the recent period of misty mornings and images taken with long exposures to produce unusual photographs of moving water. A condition of this competition is that all the images have to be taken in Northumberland, a county not short of subject matter! Fifty images from 17 members were entered and they were judged by the 29 club members present at the meeting. Members scored their top five images and the points were added together to produce the results. Two of David Burns images, Guyzance Curve and Warkworth Castle and Margarets monochrome image called Skyline of Trees were commended. Highly commended images came from Andrew Mackie (Cheviot and Hedgehope from Cartington), Gordon Charlton (Duddo Path) and Jean Findlay (Cheviot Foothills). A night time image called Night at the Pavillion by Jane Coltman was in fourth place. Early Morning Mist, taken in Swarland forest by Richard Stent was third. Jane Coltman also came in second place with beautiful image of Poppies at Lesbury with a score of 29 points. Only eleven points separated the commended and second place images. However the outright winner, with a score of 79 points went to another of David Burn’s photographs, an image of the moving sea and a dramatic sky with Bamburgh Castle in the distance called Wisps at Dawn.Report by Richard Stent
This week’s presentation was given by club member Peter Cater. It was no surprise to find that the evening was devoted to architectural photography, a subject which has appeared on several occasions in Peter’s galleries. Peter’s interest in photography first began in the 1960s and his presentation showed some very early images originally taken on slide film using a Rolleiflex, a camera that he still possesses. Peter discussed what constituted an architectural photograph, what should be included and what should best be left out. The difficulties of taking an architectural photograph were highlighted. The importance of choosing the correct viewpoint was discussed so that an undistorted record of a building, free from converging verticals was obtained. He also pointed out how difficult it was to photograph a building without the inclusion of people, foliage and overhead wires (at one point illustrated with an early image of Newcastle which included overhead tram cables). Peter also took his Rolleiflex out of retirement and showed some images taken very recently on slide film, highlighting the difficulty of using such a camera today with a fixed lens and the considerable cost of buying and processing the film. The advantages of using modern digital cameras with zoom lenses and the use of photoshop were clear to see.
Peter’s projected presentation was just part of the work he had put into the evening. He also produced a fine gallery of colour and monochrome architectural photographs taken over many years.
Report by Richard Stent
At Alnwick and District Camera Club’s first meeting of 2016, members enjoyed a knockout competition in which there was a record 100 images to be viewed. In this competition two images are projected at the same time and members choose their favourite by a show of hands. As this was an open competition in which there is no limit to subject matter, members had to choose between landscape, cityscape, still life, flora, fauna and abstract. Following a recent visit by a number of club members, there were also a large number of images of owls both large and small!
After seven elimination rounds an image of small dog, called Tilly, running through the sea by Kevin Murray was chosen as the winner. A monochrome image of people harvesting in the fields came second. Another monochrome image by Dru Dodd of night of New York at night came third. In fourth place was an image of a stain glass window called “Crossing Over” taken by Carol McKay.
Report by Richard Stent
Alnwick and District Camera Club’s latest meeting featured the work of two of its more recent members.
Carol McKay provided two excellent audio visual presentations, the first of which was devoted to a visit to New York. With well chosen background music, Carol’s pictures captured a vivid impression of that exciting city. As well as images of iconic subjects ranging from The Empire State Building and the Statue of Liberty to Central Park and the ubiquitous yellow taxi cabs, Carol included a wide range of other subjects, including plenty of fine street pictures.
Much closer to home, Carol’s second AV was devoted to Newcastle. Accompanied by Jimmy Nail’s Big River, we were treated to familiar and unfamiliar views of the city and its environs.
There were plenty of excellent architectural and people pictures to enjoy and doubtless many members will be encouraged to look again at the great photographic opportunities that Newcastle offers. Carol also showed a fine gallery of prints to accompany her AVs.
Paul Snaith’s presentation was very different. In his amusing and entertaining introduction, he very modestly described himself as a collector of cameras rather than a photographer.
He explained how he enjoys the challenge of using old film camera lenses on his modern digital single lens reflex equipment, using suitable adapters. These lenses can often be obtained for a very modest outlay and, as Paul’s presentation of digital images showed, they can produce very good results. Paul’s pictures, both in monochrome and colour, covered a wide range of subjects including, portraits, landscapes, close up images of plants and even an impressive picture of the moon taken using an old telephoto mirror lens.
To complete his presentation, Paul provided a small display of vintage film cameras from his collection and encouraged members to handle them.
Report by David Carter
Alan Porrett from Whitley Bay was the judge for Alnwick and District Camera Club’s Set of Three digital projected image competition. Alan is always a welcome judge who can be relied upon for his opinions. This time he started by talking about the requirements for a competition of this nature. Unlike a set of three print competition where pictures are seen as a panel, projected images are viewed one at a time and so need to tell a story or create an overall impression where all three pictures contribute an essential element.
Alan then talked about all of the entries in detail, analysing them not only as sets of three but also as individual images. This meant that he was able to give valuable advice on the composition, content and overall photographic quality of each picture as well as commenting on how well they held together as sets.
Alan commended the following sets: The Potter by Ian Atkinson, Lunch by Margaret Whittaker and Apple Chilli Cloggers by Val Atkinson. Highly commended were Lilies by Barry Robertson, Time and Tide by David Burn and Lowry by Laine Baker. In Fourth place was Guggenheim People by Jane Coltman, an extremely creative and well seen set of almost surreal images, while third place went to Alastair Cochrane for Some Day my Prince will Come, a very colourful and lively group of pictures of street theatre. John Whittaker’s fine set of wildlife action shots with a touch of humour, entitled Sea Otter were awarded second place but deserved winner of first place and the Nellie Bache Award was Gordon Charlton with Girls at the Edinburgh Festival, three superb quality street portraits.
David Carter provided a gallery of colourful square format prints of images from Grosmont Station in Yorkshire and the ‘Tractor Graveyard’ at Battlebridge Farm.
Report by David Carter
For its 19th Playhouse Event, Alnwick and District Camera Club invited award winning landscape photographer Mark Littlejohn to give a presentation entitled A Different View.
Mark is based on the edge of the Lake District where he takes many of his remarkable photographs. In 2014, he was named Take a View Landscape Photographer of the Year.
It soon became evident that Mark’s approach to photography is a very individual one. He seldom employs a tripod and does not use filters but still manages to capture stunning images of superb quality. While most landscape photographers would choose to use wide angle lenses, he frequently uses long lenses to capture detail that is so often overlooked. In this way he finds those different views that so often elude us.
His informative and entertaining talk was richly illustrated with beautiful images, not only from the Lake District but also from the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. Along the way, he gave plenty of valuable tips on achieving good pictures with the minimum of digital manipulation. Although he may for the most part be using top of the range equipment, Mark made it quite clear that it is the photographer rather than the camera that counts in the end. Some of his most memorable images were captured with quite modest equipment.
One of Mark’s current projects is a study of trees, resulting in some superb pictures revealing his passion for nature in all its aspects. Some images of gnarled roots were almost gothic in appearance, while other woodland pictures were notable for ethereal lighting and graphic patterns.
For some time, Mark has worked for Ullswater Steamers, presenting him with plenty of unique photo opportunities. To conclude his talk, he showed a series of pictures that form part of a project to record the lake, its steamers and the people that work on them. As with all of his photographs, these captured mood and atmosphere in a way that only a true lover of landscape can. A fitting end to a memorable evening.
Report by David Carter
Despite wet and windy weather, there was a full house for Alnwick and District Camera Club’s latest members evening. Club chairman Richard Stent started proceedings with a talk about interclub competitions. He showed projected images from the most recent knockout competition in which Alnwick came second out of seven clubs. He also talked about the requirements for further interclub competitions that will take place over the next few months in the hope that more members will submit their pictures for consideration.
Three members then showed pictures that they had taken during the past year. First was Peter Downs who is undertaking a project to document Tanfield Railway. He showed a fine series of projected images which he had converted from colour to monochrome, subtly vignetted and sepia toned to produce an attractive and convincing antique effect. Alongside this, he also presented an excellent gallery of the same images as colour prints.
Next was Dave Dixon, who has been photographing a derelict gravel works over a number of years. His amazingly diverse pictures of rusting machinery were strangely beautiful, especially those taken in warm evening light. This site has since been cleared and new machinery installed so Dave’s pictures now have an historical importance.
Jean Findlay then followed with a hair raising account of her experiences during a freak storm in Zion Park in Utah. Her pictures included some spectacular rocky landscapes with deep canyons bounded by sheer sandstone cliffs. Undaunted by her surroundings, Jean climbed up rocky footpaths in fine weather but, on starting her descent, was overtaken by bad weather with torrential rain. She narrowly escaped flash floods which filled the canyons through which she had been travelling but, despite the danger, still managed to take a brief video to record the thundering torrents of water.
On safer ground, Margaret Whittaker gave an excellent talk about the Alnwick Garden. Earlier this year, thanks to the cooperation of Head Gardener, Trevor Jones, club members were invited to spend twenty four hours in the garden to take photographs which then formed part of an exhibition. Margaret showed a selection of pictures from this exhibition, including many memorable images taken at night when the garden’s illuminations create a magical world of their own. She then talked about the possibility of a similar event for the future and showed some of her own fine images of the garden taken at various seasons of the year.
In conclusion, the chairman pointed out that Margaret had put an enormous amount of time and effort into organising this event and his vote of thanks was warmly applauded.
There was then a presentation of a framed photograph to Trevor for his help and cooperation with the club.
Report by David Carter
The print knock out produced a large number of entries and participation from club members as they were the judges of this competition at Alnwick and District Camera Club. Although the judging was taken seriously it is a lighthearted evening where members enjoyed a bit of banter too with Laine Baker and Jane Coltman who organised the prints through the different rounds.
The standard was high and in 4th place was Boats by Margaret Whittaker and 3rd was Over the Bridge by David Burn. The last two prints had been strong favourites throughout each round but eventually second place went to John Thompson with 'Alone', a graphic abstract based on the Weeping Window display at Woodhorn and the winner was Andrew Mackies Early Morning at Caistron, a serene image of mist rising in the morning light.
Report by Jane Coltman
Alnwick and District Camera Club members welcomed back David Hall from Gateshead Camera Club to judge their latest monochrome print competition. David is a popular choice of judge, renowned for his boundless enthusiasm and good humour. These qualities were well in evidence as he talked about the fifty three pictures entered. While he commented on the high overall standard of entries, he was quite prepared to criticise technical shortcomings where they were present. However his comments were always helpful and encouraging and his words of appreciation were heartfelt. As he said, there is so much more to producing good prints than just taking the photographs.
David commended Hawk Eye by Christine Gray, Guggenheim Bilbao by Jane Coltman and Sky High by Micheal Mundy and highly commended To The Sea by Dru Dodd, Cuban Cigar by Gordon Charlton and Everyday Robots by Micheal Mundy. Fourth place went to Dru Dodd for Remembering Flight 77, a poignant, cleverly composed image of a memorial plaque while third place was awarded to Micheal Mundy for Ossie, a superb quality full length portrait.
Laine Baker’s beautifully toned print of a nun sweeping steps, Early Morning Chores, took second place but first place went to Richard Stent for A Quiet Place to Pray, an extremely well lit and atmospheric image of an intimate place of worship.
Report by David Carter
Mostly Wildlife was the title of Kaleel Zibe’s presentation when he visited Alnwick and District Camera Club. Kaleel is a professional photographer based in Newcastle, specialising in wildlife and sports photography.
He initially built up his expertise by working with captive animals in zoos and wildlife parks, resulting in some excellent close-up animal portraits.
British wildlife has figured strongly in his work, much of it associated with conservation issues such as the Gosforth Wildlife Project where his pictures helped to raise the profile of the campaign. His involvement with Red Kite conservation required not only photographs of the birds themselves but also of the people involved in their protection.
Kaleel’s favourite wildlife site in Britain is the Farne Islands, an area that he has visited many times. While the Farnes are very familiar to club members, they still enjoyed a wonderful sequence of pictures of puffins, terns, gulls, seals and other local favourites.
In contrast, Kaleel then showed images of some of the exotic creatures he encountered on a visit to Costa Rica, including colourful humming birds and toucans.
Moving to the other side of the world, he then took us to Kenya, where he organises photographic safaris. Here he concentrated mainly on large mammals, with fine pictures of giraffes, lions, leopards, elephants and many other examples of African wildlife. He also showed the vehicles and accommodation provided for visitors and explained about the importance of using experienced guides in order to locate prime sites for photography.
Kaleel is a keen triathlete, so sports photography also figures largely in his work, with swimming, running and cycling foremost amongst his subjects. He showed how he captures the excitement and emotion of sporting occasions, with a series of excellent pictures including a video sequence of local events, with some impressive time-lapse imagery.
To demonstrate his versatility, Kaleel also showed some fine landscapes, children’s portraits, building interiors and even close-up advertising shots of medicines, all part of a successful professional’s armoury. This was a most entertaining and enjoyable presentation by an engaging and good humoured speaker.
The evening was completed by Stanley Trafford’s outstanding gallery of thirty two colour prints of polar landscapes and wildlife taken on a Shackleton Centenary Voyage to West Antarctica.
Report by David Carter
Alnwick and District Camera Club‘s president, John Thompson, presented an evening of prints from the Northern Counties Photographic Federation’s latest International Salon.
He started by explaining the organisation and significance of such events and showed samples of the different ribbons and medals that are awarded. From a total of some three and a half thousand prints submitted from all over the world, just three hundred are selected for the final exhibition by a panel of three judges. From these, prints are selected for awards from the Royal Photographic Society, the Photographic Society of America and the International Federation of Photographic Art as well as individual awards from the three judges.
John showed a selection of accepted entries along with all of the award winners in both monochrome and colour categories.
The range of pictures was immense with many fine examples of landscape, seascape architectural, sports, still life, wildlife, portrait, studio and street photography. Needless to say, the standard of print quality was extremely high and there was plenty to inspire the audience. Monochrome prints ranged from punchy, high contrast pictures to gentle high key images, some resembling delicate pencil sketches, while colour prints displayed a similar variety with soft pastels, desaturated and bold colours all in evidence.
John provided a useful commentary along the way and encouraged comments from club members. This resulted in some interesting discussion, particularly relating to the use of the term ‘creative image’ which, for the purposes of this salon, relates to pictures created from multiple images.
Inevitably, not all pictures appealed to everyone and the audience may have been left wondering why the judges made some of their decisions. Nevertheless, there was no doubting the overall high technical quality of work on show and hopefully this evening’s presentation will encourage members to submit their own pictures to NCPF salons in future.
Report by David Carter
Stephen Fowler, chairman of Ryton Camera Club, was the judge for Alnwick and District Camera Club‘s first colour print open competition of the season. He commended the overall high standard of the forty seven pictures entered and commented on each one in detail. It soon became apparent that Stephen had spent a great deal of time and trouble in evaluating the entries and his observations on composition, use of light, selection of backgrounds and overall technical quality were extremely valuable.
There was a good variety of subject matter with plenty of good landscapes and people pictures and a strong entry of natural history subjects.
Commended pictures were Sitting Out by Margaret Whittaker, Sunset by Alastair Cochrane and Temple Boy and Pigeons by Ian Atkinson while Communal Bath by Gerry Simpson, Don’t Mess With Me by Andrew Mackie and The End of the Day by Jane Coltman were all highly commended. Laine Baker’s elegant, informal street portrait, Thoughtful, Edinburgh, was awarded fourth place and Margaret Whittaker’s well seen image of two tiny figures amongst a maze of walled fields of grape vines in Lanzarote, Lost in the Landscape, won third place. In second place was Jane Coltman’s Starry Starry Night, a breathtaking view of the night sky, complete with shooting star, but winner of first place was Laine Baker with a memorable architectural picture, extremely well composed with beautifully delicate pastel colours.
Report by David Carter
Alnwick and District Camera Club‘s latest meeting featured the photographic talents of two of its members.
First was Paul Penman with an impressive selection of photographs relating to music. As an active member of the Alnwick Playhouse Concert Band, he is in an excellent position to take pictures of its members and the instruments they play. His images ranged from close up details of the instruments to portraits of the musicians themselves. Some simply focussed on the hands of the players while others revealed the intricacies of the musical instruments which ranged from woodwind to brass and percussion. Paul successfully avoided run of the mill pictures by selecting interesting viewpoints which seemed to capture a connection between the instruments and their players. Group pictures in the playhouse were mainly taken during rehearsal sessions, but still managed to give a good impression of the band in action.
Paul’s other pictures mainly featured jazz musicians, photographed both in a New York jazz club and at Ronnie Scott’s in London. Both black and white and colour images captured the atmosphere and excitement in a way that only an enthusiast can.
In complete contrast, Barry Robertson’s presentation was based on his professional work as a wedding and portrait photographer. He first explained how wedding photography has moved on in recent years with digital images replacing film and photobooks replacing photograph albums. The type of pictures required has also changed so that customers demand more than just the traditional wedding groups. Barry’s photoshoots now cover the entire occasion so that his pictures tell the whole story of the day. He talked about the challenges of working with unusual locations, crowds of people and difficult lighting conditions.
Portraiture is another matter as Barry is working in his own home studio and is able to control lighting and backgrounds. He showed diagrams of a number of lighting arrangements that he uses and showed some fine examples of the results he achieves with different setups. There were plenty of tips on photographing challenging subjects such as family groups, babies and lively youngsters and Barry completed his presentation with a short audio visual sequence of delightful pictures of his young granddaughter.
Report by David Carter
Members of Alnwick and District Camera Club enjoyed an entertaining talk and fine display of photography when they spent an evening with guest speaker Keith Saint from Ashington Camera Club.
Keith’s first pictures of the evening were of the Kelpies at Falkirk, including a stunning close-up image taken at night time when the sculptures are illuminated from within. From here he took his audience steadily southwards along the coast from Cove and St Abbs to Lindisfarne, Beadnell, Alnmouth, Blyth, Roker and Saltburn, with many other well-known locations along the way. Although some of these places were very familiar to the audience, his thoughtful and different approach revealed new aspects which will encourage many to revisit old haunts with their cameras.
There were also some fine monochrome wide angle shots of Newcastle and railway pictures at Tanfield to enjoy as well as some beautiful images of the Lake District taken in poor weather. Keith emphasized the importance of making the best of weather conditions and admitted that cloudy skies are his favourite.
Keith is an expert proponent of high dynamic range pictures where up to fifteen different exposures are combined digitally to produce pictures revealing great detail in both highlights and shadows. In the wrong hands, this can produce very artificial looking results but Keith’s subtle and controlled use of the technique, both with colour and monochrome photographs, showed just how effective it can be. He also makes good use of slow shutter speeds to capture movement in water and in clouds, an approach which he illustrated with some wonderful seascapes
Finally, Keith showed a sequence of people pictures, including some excellent portraits taken at Beamish, and talked about the importance of choosing good backgrounds for his subjects.
Throughout his presentation Keith provided a wealth of information about good composition, depth of field, use of light and many other pointers for taking good pictures, all delivered with a fine sense of humour. This was an inspiring and memorable evening.
Report by David Carter
The judge for Alnwick and District Camera Club’s latest projected digital image competition was club member Malcolm Kus. Malcolm is acknowledged to be one of the best club judges, with the amazing ability to assess pictures on the evening without seeing them beforehand. On this occasion he had eighty three entries to deal with, covering a wide variety of subjects both in colour and monochrome, ranging from landscapes and portraits to wildlife and still life.
Malcolm talked about each picture in detail, providing interesting analysis and plenty of encouraging comments, all delivered with great enthusiasm and good humour.
Commended pictures were Storm Approaching by Margaret Whittaker, Bench Under Starlight, Corby Crags by Dave Dixon and Weeds, Holy Island by Jane Coltman, while those highly commended were End Of The Line by Mike Christian, Teasel by Carol McKay and Warmth by Jim Kirkpatrick. In fourth place was Moonlit Tower, an atmospheric night time image by David Burn and in third place, Fence To Nowhere, a beautiful ethereal seascape, also by David. Second place was awarded to Gerry Simpson for Tattooed Barber, an excellent people picture taken at the Corn Exchange in Leeds but the deserved winner of first place was Valerie Atkinson with What Fun, a charming, well captured action portrait of two young girls enjoying themselves in a fountain in the Alnwick Garden.
Report by David Carter
Professional photographer Jed Wee was the latest speaker at Alnwick and District Camera Club, giving a presentation under the title Camera Eclectica. After achieving a law degree at Durham University, Jed decided to follow his passion for photography and joined a sports agency where he worked for a number of years before going freelance in 2008, operating under the title Essence of Light.
He first spoke about sports photography, showing a wonderful set of pictures covering football, rugby, boxing, athletics, swimming, tennis and cycling. He explained how he was always on the lookout for something different that would tell a story and make his pictures stand out from the crowd. Jed gave plenty of advice on composition and choice of backgrounds and pointed out that excellent sports pictures can be achieved by the non professional by choosing good spectator-accessible positions. He also pointed out that opportunities for exciting sports images can be found by visiting minor sports events where access to amateur photographers is much less restricted.
Jed then went on to talk about photographing birds and animals and showed an impressive sequence of pictures of British wildlife, including birds, mammals and insects.
His pictures of more exotic creatures such as lions and orang-utans were mainly of captive animals but his skilful selection of backgrounds and use of close ups produced extremely convincing results. Nevertheless he made it clear that he would not enter such pictures in wildlife competitions.
Jed then talked about the photography workshops he runs at Swinton Birds of Prey centre in North Yorkshire and showed an enticing series of pictures taken there.
His final subject was landscape photography, again illustrated with some fine images, including moving water, beautiful reflections and wonderful skies. His advice was to stop and look around for alternative viewpoints before using your camera. Taking pictures at night is a more challenging undertaking but Jed showed his mastery with pictures that included impressive star trails.
To conclude a most inspiring and informative evening, Jed showed a brief but memorable video of superb time lapse images of the countryside.
Report by David Carter
Member’s Night at Alnwick and District Camera Club gave members the opportunity to show pictures illustrating what they did this summer. As usual on such occasions, the response was excellent, with contributions from eleven people covering a wide variety of subjects.
Rosalee Cook-Jury showed a potpourri of pictures including favourite coastal spots and the fauna and flora of her garden, while Liz Gordon presented an unusual set of images recording a tour of the Barcelona Camp Nou football stadium.
Peter Downs’ pictures included examples of his experiments in manipulating images to produce some interesting abstracts both in colour and monochrome. Pat Wood presented some nice images taken at Tanfield Railway and even showed a picture of herself at home tiling her bathroom, not quite a selfie but nevertheless a record of an excellent DIY effort.
Gordon Charlton had a sad tale to tell of a trip to Cuba where he was dogged by bad weather and food poisoning but still managed to produce some excellent images of that fascinating country. John Thompson didn’t reach his holiday destination in Rome at all, due to a fire at the airport, so contented himself with a stay in Scarborough where he produced an impressive set of images taken at the Winter Gardens using a fish-eye lens.
Jim Kirkpatrick visited Wales and showed a nice set of pictures from Conway, Port Merion and Bodnant Gardens. Doug Ross showed pictures taken in York Minster and also a sequence of fine images of cyclists racing through the Bondgate in the Aviva Tour of Britain, taken on that very afternoon.
Kevin Murray had continued his photographic pursuit of red squirrels, brown hares, roe deer and other wildlife, producing some stunning images which have already been successful in major competitions. Continuing the wildlife theme, Mick McMahon talked about dragonflies and damselflies, illustrated by some beautiful close up pictures taken along the River Aln.
Last but by no means least, Val Atkinson showed an interesting miscellany of pictures including images from Alnwick Music Festival and the Glendale Show.
Report by David Carter
The first meeting of the season at Alnwick and District Camera Club is traditionally Chairman’s Evening and so Richard Stent, who is current club chairman, took the floor.
After talking about the various club and interclub competitions open to members and providing plenty of useful information about presentation of digital images, Richard went on to speak about his great enthusiasm for film cameras.
When asked how many cameras he possessed, Richard admitted to having ‘cupboards full of them’ but claimed that many are still in use. He showed pictures of his darkroom where he processes his negatives and makes prints. A chest freezer is used to store his precious horde of films and printing paper which he acquires by searching the internet for suppliers. He pointed out that there has been a recent resurgence in interest in film and that it has even been proposed that digital images should be re-photographed on film for archiving purposes, given that photographic negatives have been proved to last for considerably more than a hundred years.
As an example of the cameras he loves, Richard displayed a Mamiyaflex twin lens reflex camera. For the benefit of those only familiar with digital cameras, he showed how it was constructed, with one lens for focussing and one for transmitting light to the film.
Setting of aperture and shutter speed is carried out manually and exposure has to be calculated using a separate exposure meter. Focussing is carried out by moving the lens panel via a beautifully engineered bellows system.
Although this camera is not easy to use and film costs are high, the excellent quality of images produced on large format square negatives more than outweighs any drawbacks.
Richard then showed a selection of projected monochrome images made with this camera, all taken during the summer months at club outdoor meetings known as Wednesday Wanders. The square format worked perfectly with his well composed pictures which demonstrated the power of monochrome images. A further selection of monochrome pictures taken on his holiday to Florence, also using a film camera, successfully captured the beauty and vibrancy of that city.
To complete the evening, Richard presented a superb gallery of monochrome prints made in his own darkroom.
Report by David Carter
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