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Meeting Reports 2016-17 Season
12th April 2017
2nd Open Print Competitions
Dave Philips of Hartlepool Camera Club was the judge for Alnwick and District Camera Club’s second open competition of the year for colour and monochrome prints. Dave is a regular and welcome visitor to the club and is a very well respected judge. On this occasion, he had the considerable task of judging thirty four colour prints and thirty nine monochrome prints covering a very wide range of subjects. Nevertheless, he still found time to comment on every entry in detail, with valuable comments on composition, viewpoint, use of light and many other aspects, both technical and practical, making this a most interesting and instructive evening.
In the colour section, Rebirth by Alastair Cochrane, Summit Tarn by David Burn and Three Candles by Peter Downs were commended, while Water Power by Gerry Simpson, Callanish Stones by Jim Kirkpatrick and Tasty Lunch by Margaret Whittaker were all highly commended. Fourth place went to By The Old Wooden Cross, a splendid night time view of Alnmouth by Jane Coltman, and third place to View From The Chillingham Road, a superb landscape looking towards the Cheviots by Carol McKay. In second place was Misty Morning, Lake Periyar, an atmospheric view of this Indian wildlife sanctuary by Laine Baker, but first place went to Tilly, a lively and well captured image of a small dog running through water by Kevin Murray.
In the monochrome section, commended entries were Misty Morning, Holy Island and Burmese Boy, both by Jane Coltman and Graffiti Serenade by Richard Stent. Highly commended were Tunnel by Micheal Mundy, Mountain Hare by Kevin Murray and Cragside Trees by David Burn. In fourth place was Behind Bars by Laine Baker, an engaging picture of two young children staring out from a window, while in third place was Low Tide at Seahouses by Carol McKay, a beautifully toned, high quality image of a familiar scene. Second place was awarded to Jane Coltman for In a Flap, a superbly executed action image of birds in flight but David Burn took first place with Bamburgh Castle, an outstanding image of a much photographed subject taken from an unusual angle with a spectacular sky.
Report by David Carter
5th April 2017
Members' Night
Members’ nights at Alnwick and District Camera Club provide an opportunity to showcase their work and, on this occasion, Laine Baker, Richard Stent and Dave Dixon provided three contrasting presentations.
Laine showed a series of pictures taken on her latest visit to India. Palaces, temples and street markets figured largely in her photographs but the greatest emphasis was on the people themselves. She showed us shopkeepers, farmers, fishermen, silk producers and traditional dancers amongst others. Her rapport with her subjects is clear and many seemed keen to have their photographs taken.
Richard Stent showed a fascinating series of images of Whitby taken before and some time after the extremely high tide of last November. The high tide pictures were all in monochrome, so effective that you almost feel the cold and wet, whereas the later pictures, taken from the same points of view, were in colour, providing contrasting feelings of warmth and optimism.
Dave Dixon presented two sets of images. First he showed a series of Newcastle’s less obvious architecture featuring places such as subways, stairs, bridges and car parks. While some were liberally decorated with graffiti and many could be regarded as examples of urban decay, Dave’s pictures had a beauty of their own with fine composition and sensitive use of monochrome and muted colour.
His second presentation concentrated on Newcastle’s Civic Centre, a building that he holds in high regard for its fine architecture. As well as excellent images of the exterior, taken both by day and by night, we also saw an impressive range of interior shots which were a revelation to many.
To complete the evening John Strong and Dennis Hall presented a fine gallery of prints. John’s colour pictures included local and Scottish landscapes and an historic image of cranes leaving Swan Hunter’s shipyard for the last time, while Dennis’ pictures featured both colour and monochrome prints of various subjects, including some interesting images of Malta.
Report by David Carter
22nd March 2017
Second Open Projected Image Competition
Alnwick and District Camera Club’s second open projected image competition was judged by member Malcolm Kus. Malcolm is a very experienced and highly regarded competition judge who works with pictures on the evening rather than vetting them beforehand. Although this was the first time he had seen the entries, Malcolm was able to comment in detail on each picture with useful analysis and plenty of encouraging comment, all delivered with his usual dry humour.
The fifty seven pictures entered covered the usual wide range of subjects for an open competition but with some particularly fine landscape and wildlife images.
Commended entries were Stac Pollaidh from Loch Lugain by Andrew Mackie, Bookends by Gerry Simpson and Into the Tunnel by Valerie Atkinson while those highly commended were Autumn Flower by Peter Downs, Bamburgh Ripples by David Burn and Sunrise Log, also by David. Second place went to Laine Baker for The Diver, a spectacular, dynamically composed image of a statue in a waterfall, but the remaining top places all went to Kevin Murray for a series of stunning wildlife pictures. In fourth place was Beauty of Nature, a well captured, tranquil image of a Roe Deer, in third place was The Catch, a wonderful underwater action shot of a Kingfisher with its prey, and in first place I can Fly, a superbly timed picture of a Red Squirrel at full stretch.
The evening was completed by two fine print galleries. Ian Atkinson’s striking prints featured sunrise and sunset in the deserts of Namibia and the vibrant colours of Colombia, while Dave Dixon’s high quality monochrome images were part of an ongoing project to document the Architecture of Newcastle.
Report by David Carter
15th March 2017
Morpeth Camera Club
It was a lively evening when Alnwick and District Camera Club invited members from Morpeth Camera Club to show their pictures. Morpeth members are clearly enthusiasts for audio visual presentations and they regaled us with an impressive range of their work.
Three presentations, under the titles Observations, More Observations and Get Me Out of Here, were brash, colourful and streetwise AVs featuring graffiti, street signs, shop windows, cars and much more. While not to all tastes, these were excellent demonstrations of the art of manipulating images in combination with energetic music to produce exciting effects.
Interspersed with these were AV presentations covering a wide range of other topics .First came a visit to Blist Hill open air museum in Shropshire followed by Nature, a fine selection of wildlife images featuring insects, birds, fungi and marine life. Next came an homage to the automobile with striking close up images of iconic vehicles, and then, in complete contrast, In the Garden featured tranquil images with beautiful close ups of flowers. An AV of Paddy’s Hole near Redcar captured an interesting picture of fishing boats and gently decaying buildings set against an industrial background, while Fares Please, was a nostalgic reminder of London buses in the 1960s.
Equally impressive were two presentations with projected digital images. The first featured the rewarding results that can be obtained from following set projects. Dying roses may not seem an attractive prospect but, cleverly photographed against a black background, the results were quite remarkable. These pictures were part of a general a theme of growth and decay which was interpreted in a variety of ways. Remaining in the plant world, Five a Day was another project resulting in some fine, colour-themed, still life images of fruit and vegetables.
The second presentation, entitled Birds and Buildings, commenced with pictures of puffins, Arctic terns and many other sea birds, with superb close up portraits and pictures showing bird behaviour. These were followed by some excellent architectural shots, including manipulated images which emphasised pattern and form.
A memorable evening was completed by a fine gallery of colour and monochrome prints, further demonstrating the high quality of work produced by Morpeth Camera Club.
Report by David Carter
1st March 2017
Print Set Subject Competition
Members were the judges for Alnwick and District Camera Club’s set subject competition for colour and monochrome prints. The subject was ‘Past its Best’ and the competition attracted fifty entries that interpreted this in a wide variety of ways.
Prints were first displayed on a light box and were then arranged around the room in a gallery so that members could peruse and discuss the pictures at their leisure before awarding points to their four favourite entries. Score sheets were then collected and the results collated to establish the winning pictures. It was a close fought competition with only ten points separating the ten winners.
Those earning commended awards were Tour D’Ocean? by Gerry Simpson, Second Incarnation by Jim Kirkpatrick and Forgotten by Alastair Cochrane while highly commended went to Rusting Albion by Malcolm Kus, Leaning in Liverpool by Carol McKay and Storm Damage by Richard Stent. In fourth place was Down But Not Out by Valerie Atkinson, an unusual still life of the battered remains of a guitar held by an injured hand, and in third place Old Tap, a remarkably colourful image of rust and corrosion by Laine Baker. Jane Coltman’s second placed print, Seen Better Days, fitted the subject description in several ways depicting an elderly woman seated on an ancient bench in front of a crumbling mural but Gerry Simpson’s simple image of a faded daffodil entitled Nearly Gone was the judges’ first choice.
Report by David Carter
22nd February 2017
Andy Gray
My Camera as my Brush was the title of local photographer Andy Gray’s presentation when he visited Alnwick and District Camera Club. Andy admitted that this was the first time that he had given a public talk but any initial nerves that he may have had were soon overcome by immense enthusiasm for his own very personal kind of photography.
As his first few pictures showed, Andy is a very fine landscape photographer, but he is always looking for something new. He has experimented with high dynamic range, infra red and long exposure amongst other techniques but this was still not enough.
Two techniques that he has subsequently made his own are intentional camera movement and multiple exposures. The first involves moving the camera while an exposure is being made. Andy uses neutral density filters to prolong exposure times so that he can move his camera to a greater extent to produce interesting effects. He admits that results are unpredictable and that many attempts are often necessary to achieve success. However it soon became evident that he has mastered this technique to a fine degree.
In the case of multiple exposures, Andy merges the resulting images digitally to produce a single picture. Sometimes he uses the two techniques in combination to produce highly imaginative results. He is willing to spend many hours at the computer enhancing his images digitally and admits that he enjoys the time he spends in post processing.
He has taken years to refine his work, researching the methods of other photographers and studying online tutorials, and this has obviously paid dividends. However it still requires enormous creativity and artistic appreciation to produce work of this calibre.
Andy showed a fine range of his pictures demonstrating the use of these techniques. They included many memorable and often quite beautiful abstract landscapes. Some featured high key, faded images suggesting a past age while others conveyed a dream-like, painterly atmosphere with fine use of form, light and colour. He feels that his approach to photography gives him a sense of freedom to express himself and many of his pictures have a very personal feel.
Andy pointed out that this kind of photography does not require expensive equipment, as any basic camera with manual controls can be used, but warned that waving a camera around in public view is liable to create some unwanted attention! However, his instructive and inspirational presentation had amply demonstrated that using your camera as a paintbrush can produce amazing results.
Report by David Carter
8th February 2017
Set Subject Projected Image Competition
The subject for Alnwick and District Camera Club’s projected image set subject competition was People. Pictures had to be taken in Northumberland and the competition was to be judged by club members. The forty seven images interpreted the subject in many different ways including formal and informal portraits, sporting activities, holiday pictures, people at work, and local events.
The system of judging allowed each member present to score their top five choices from one to five points in order of preference. The pictures were projected several times in order to give everyone plenty of time to make their choices before score sheets were gathered and the count took place. The ten pictures with the highest points were awarded as follows.
Commended were Going, Going, Gone by Stanley Trafford, Waiting for the Light by John Strong and Gone Fishing by David Burn, while Seahorse by Margaret Whittaker, It’s February by Carol McKay and In a Spin by David Burn were all highly commended.
Home to Amble, a beautifully lit picture of man and boat by Jim Kirkpatrick was fourth with 22 points and David Burn’s A Walk in the Fog, an atmospheric monochrome image of two people walking their dog along the pier, was third with 29 points. In second place was Jane Coltman with The Fallen, a fine sporting image of a steeplechase incident which earned 38 points, but runaway winner with 65 points was Gerry Simpson with Bird Watching, a delightfully captured, amusing picture of a group of elderly men sitting on benches watching a cheeky starling.
Report by David Carter
1st February 2017
Macolm Kus
At the latest meeting of Alnwick and District Camera Club, member Malcolm Kus entertained his audience with an evening of good prints and good humour. Malcolm is well known both as an excellent competition judge and as a successful entrant in club competitions so it was no surprise that his pictures were of the highest standard.
He started with a sequence of fine pictures of Northumberland’s iconic castles and went on to show some atmospheric panned shots of sand and sea, reminding us of the wonderful colour palette that can be captured on the beach. Further images of sand and stones revealed delicate patterns and colours that are easily overlooked.
Next came pictures of rusting farm machinery, a subject that is close to Malcolm’s heart. By this stage it became very evident that colour is very important to him, even in subjects such as this. His next pictures of doorways both in Staithes and further afield in French villages were all notable for pastel shades emphasised by the use of a soft focus filter.
In complete contrast, his next pictures featuring white water canoeing and sidecar racing were captured in sparkling colour. Very different again was a set of effective still life flower images photographed through frosted glass.
The bewildering range of wonderful pictures went on to include Scottish Landscapes, the historical sights of Herculaneum and the birds of the Farne Islands.
Malcolm then went on to talk about sets of three prints, a regular subject for competitions. He emphasised the importance of balancing sets so that they look good together as a panel. Examples included the roof patterns of Kings Cross Station, colourful glass sculpture in Las Vegas and boats on Holy Island.
Finally Malcolm showed pictures that captured happy memories of a visit to Venice, a fine image of the Flying Scotsman and pictures taken at Beamish Museum, all taken because he loves his photography. Few people could show so many pictures in such a short time and encompass such a vast range of subjects whilst engaging with his audience in a warm and friendly manner.
The evening was completed by David Carter’s gallery of colour prints of Christchurch, New Zealand taken exactly five years after a devastating earthquake destroyed much of the city.These showed the remarkable recovery that is taking place there.
Report by David Carter
18th January 2017
Set Of Three Prints Competition
Mary Hartley from Ryton and District Camera Club was the judge for Alnwick and District Camera Club’s first competition of 2017. This competition was for a set of three prints, either in colour or monochrome. There were seventeen entries covering a variety of subjects from portraits and landscapes to still life and wildlife and Mary discussed each set in detail. She emphasised the importance of giving sets cohesion, not only through their subject matter but also in their composition, colour range and presentation. So often it is the elusive third image that lets an otherwise excellent set down but Mary was very encouraging in her comments, also praising individual pictures and entries that were clever in their thinking but less successful in their execution.
Andrew Mackie’s set, Early Light, was commended, while Jane Coltman’s Men of Cuba and Malcom Kus’ Sand Patterns were both highly commended. In fourth place were Gerry Simpson’s highly amusing and well seen images of Seagull Droppings entitled Goat, Dog and Newt. Third place went to a very different set of fine monochrome images by Richard Stent entitled Washing Day in Venice and second place to Kevin Murray’s superb bird portraits of British Tits. The winning set was also very different, offering three small but high quality monochrome prints by Alastair Cochrane entitled Going Down Slow. These were intimate, beautifully lit portraits that worked together to produce an entry well worthy of first place.
Report by David Carter
14th December 2016
President's Evening
Alnwick and District Camera Club’s president, John Thompson gave members an evening to remember when he presented an account of his latest ventures in photography. Not content with simply producing high quality, competition winning pictures, John is always looking for new challenges and constantly seeks fresh approaches to photographing the world around him.
High key images are popular with many photographers but John’s approach is a minimalist one, where backgrounds are almost completely bleached out so that the viewer can concentrate on the main subject. He showed a series of beautiful prints of people on the beach taken on a misty day with just enough detail left in the background to create a convincing atmosphere.
This minimalist approach has also lead John to experiment with deconstructed monochrome images of buildings and other architectural features, where all extraneous background is digitally removed to create a result akin to a pencil sketch with all salient features clearly delineated. He has taken this technique a step further using a fisheye lens to capture some striking images of travellers walking through the barriers at Newcastle Central Station.
Camera phones are widely used for snapshots today but John has looked seriously at the photographic potential offered by the latest iPhones. He presented a series of fine A3 monochrome prints with good tonal range and detail, showing that these cameras can produce excellent results in the right hands. He continues to experiment with his iPhone and no doubt we will see more results in the future.
Landscapes were subjects that John always used to treat as colour pictures but recently he started to look at the monochrome approach. When the distraction of colour is removed, larger landscape features and patterns become more evident, encouraging a new way of looking at the countryside. He has gone to the lengths of having one of this cameras adapted to take infra-red images which produce even more dramatic pictures with high contrast and spectacular skies. This is a very different type of photography and John continues to experiment with its potential.
One final project that John is working on is night photography, which he has been carrying out in locations close to his home. Already he is building up a portfolio of atmospheric images that are quite different to his usual photographs and satisfy his quest once again for finding a different approach to something familiar.
John often described his projects modestly as works in progress but the superb prints that he showed throughout the evening clearly demonstrated his mastery of the photographic techniques he had used.
Report by David Carter
7th December 2016
Set Of Three Projected Images Competition
Jim Welsh from Blyth Photographic Society was the judge for Alnwick and District Camera Club?s projected digital image competition for a set of three. Jim is a regular and welcome visitor to the club. His jovial nature and love of photography was well in evidence as he judged the entries which covered a wide range of subjects both in colour and monochrome.
He spoke about every picture in detail and offered plenty of encouraging comment, with particular attention to composition and use of light. Jim likes to look for a story behind each picture and offered several humorous anecdotes along the way.
Sets of three offer a special challenge to photographers and they respond in different ways.
Some choose pictures displaying different aspects of the same subject while others illustrate a sequence of events but the problem is often to find that elusive third picture to complete the set.
All of the entrants had tackled this problem successfully but those that were commended were Richard Stent with Misty Morning, Peter Downs with Fingers No Fork, and Judith Snaith with Three Wrens. Highly commended were Brinkburn Doorways by Carol McKay, The Rice Fields of North Vietnam by Ian Atkinson and Six Minutes at Bamburgh by Peter Sutcliffe.
In fourth place was Margaret Whittaker with Flowers in the Garden, three stunning flower portraits against a black background, while third place went to Laine Baker for In Montparnasse Cemetery, a set of sombre but beautiful pictures. Jane Coltman took second place with A Christmas Tale at the Alnwick Garden, three well captured images of the Garden's spectacular displays, but winner of the first place and the Nellie Bache Award was Kevin Murray for What a Kingfisher Does Best, a superb action sequence of a bird catching a fish.
Report by David Carter
9th November 2016
1st Open Monochrome Print Competition
David Hall from Gateshead was the judge for Alnwick and District Camera Club?s first monochrome print open competition of the season. David is a frequent and most welcome visitor to the club. He is a keen darkroom worker and is renowned for his knowledge of monochrome printing. He is also well known for his enthusiasm and good humour as a club judge and so it was no surprise that his comments about the forty seven prints entered were not only authoritative but also encouraging and down to earth. He commented on the overall high quality of the pictures entered and was full of praise for many that did not achieve a top award.
The three pictures that David commended were Tired of Waiting by Pat Wood, Rounding the Corner by Carol McKay and At Ease by Valerie Atkinson. Highly commended were Yorkshire Waterfall by Valerie Atkinson, Ivan by Micheal Mundy and In the Queue by Pat Wood. In fourth place was The Ascent, by Micheal Mundy, a finely composed and well seen graphic image of workmen climbing the dome of the O2 Centre, while in third place was A Hole in the Wall, by Laine Baker, a beautiful high key, softly textured still life image. Second place went to Alastair Cochrane?s dramatically lit architectural picture of The Calatrava and the Cloud but first prize was awarded to Kevin Murray for The Champ, an outstanding portrait of a racing pigeon cradled in the gnarled hands of its owner.
Report by David Carter
2nd November 2016
Paul Stevenson
Members of Alnwick and District Camera Club enjoyed a very special evening when Paul Stevenson from Berwick gave his presentation entitled Breaking the Norm. Paul developed late onset full blown Tourette syndrome after the tragic loss of a friend. This devastating condition changed his life and for a time he was unable to face the outside world and was virtually confined to his home. However, things began to change when his wife gave him a small digital camera. This encouraged him to venture out and he found that, when he became involved in the creative activity of photography, his Tourette?s symptoms were greatly reduced. He had no formal training in photography and so he was not constrained by the rules that can be a barrier to creativity. As a result, he has produced some stunningly original pictures.
After a time he staged an exhibition of his pictures at a local library as a means of getting back into society and this was very well received. He has also had excellent response from work that he has posted on line and has won a number of competitions.
From the examples that he showed, including some superb landscapes and a beautiful close up portrait of his son, there is no doubt of his talents as a photographer. Many of his pictures are now being sold to raise funds for the charity Tourettes Action.
Through his photography, Paul has done a great deal to inform people about Tourettes through interviews with the press and television, both in this country and abroad. Most recently he took part in the BBC2 series Employable Me, highlighting the difficulties experienced by those with neurological problems when trying to find employment. He is also setting up photography workshops for children with Tourettes, Autism and ADHD.
Although he has yet to find fully paid employment, he has just been appointed photographer in residence for the Natural Trust and is currently documenting the refurbishment of Lindisfarne Castle.
By the end of his talk, there was no doubt that Paul had won his audience?s respect and admiration, not only for his courage in adversity but also for the quality of his photography.
The evening was completed by an interesting gallery of prints by Carol McKay, showing the same pictures dealt with in colour and monochrome.
Report by David Carter
26th October 2016
1st Open Colour Print Competition
David Ord from Ryton Camera Club was the judge for Alnwick and District Camera Club?s first open colour print competition of the season. With a high quality entry of fifty two pictures covering a wide range of subjects, David was presented with a difficult task to select the winners but he rose to the occasion admirably. There was plenty of useful analysis and encouragement for all those who had entered, presented in a light hearted style. David?s excellent rapport with his audience, with plenty of good humour and amusing anecdotes, made this an entertaining and enjoyable evening.
Commended entries were Blue House, by Malcolm Kus, In Transit by Alastair Cochrane and Safely Over by Pat Wood, while A Touch of Red by Alastair Cochrane, Artist at Work by Ian Atkinson and Period Architecture by Andrew Mackie were all highly commended. In third place was Holy Smoke, an atmospheric and beautifully detailed interior shot of a Croatian church by Laine Baker and in second place The Lowry Centre, a well composed and strikingly colourful image of modern architecture by Richard Stent. First place went to Jane Coltman for Trinite, a wonderfully captured image of a platform on the Paris Metro with strategically placed figures that made this a worthy overall winner.
Report by David Carter
12th October 2016
Steve Emberton
Professional photographer Steve Emberton took his audience back to the pop music scene of the 1970s when he spoke to members of Alnwick and District Camera Club. Steve, who has been running the Harbour Gallery at Amble for the last year, was born in Idaho, USA. Having joined the US Airforce in the 60?s, he was posted to England and enjoyed it so much that he eventually settled here.
It was in the 70?s that he decided to take up photography as a profession and gave himself a trial year to see if he could make a success of it. His lucky break came when a friend suggested he photograph a band at a local pub and his work was seen by a PR company. This led to one of his pictures featuring in Melody Maker and eventually to his becoming a staff photographer for the Record Mirror. His achievements are quite remarkable, given that he is entirely self taught and initially worked from a darkroom improvised in his bedroom.
This was the period of punk and glam rock and Steve?s pictures have appeared throughout the world. In 2004, one of his iconic photographs of Sid Vicious of the Sex Pistols and his girlfriend Nancy Spungen was selected by Rolling Stone Magazine for its ?50th Anniversary of Rock, 50 Greatest Portraits? issue.
Although he sometimes worked in colour, most of Steve?s finest pictures are in black and white. Often he was working in poor lighting conditions and the atmospheric grainy images resulting somehow capture a feeling for the period.
Throughout his talk, Steve showed a series of projected images of his work, covering a staggering range of pictures of musicians and celebrities of the punk era.
He has recently begun digitizing his archive of 70s music pictures, many of which have never been seen before, so that he can make them available for publications or limited edition prints. His strongest word of advice to club members was to be ruthless in weeding out unsuccessful pictures from their own digital files. As he said, you are only as good as your worst picture.
Report by David Carter
5th October 2016
Steve Mayes
Alnwick and District Camera Club welcomed Steve Mayes from North Shields to speak about working as an architectural photographer. Steve grew up in the Midlands and moved to the North East in 2000, where he fell in love with the landscape and buildings of the area. He formed Steve Mayes Photography in 2002, largely selling monochrome prints and cards of architectural images taken in Newcastle. He became a full time freelance photographer ten years ago.
Architectural photography as Steve sees it embraces a wide range of subjects, including bridges, street furniture, statuary, interiors, parks, shopping parades, construction sites and much more, depending on his client?s requirements. He obviously enjoys projects requiring some artistic input and likes to use unusual viewpoints or concentrate on interesting details and textures. However, the more mundane subjects, such as straight record shots of public buildings, form an important part of his business. Some clients provide very detailed briefs while others leave the choice of photos to his own discretion.
Steve went on to talk about the equipment he uses and explained the importance of tilt and shift lenses for maintaining correct perspective and avoiding converging verticals where accurate records of buildings are required. However these lenses are very expensive and he showed how wide angle lenses can sometimes achieve good results providing that the resulting images are cropped appropriately.
As in many other photographic disciplines, planning is essential if good results are to be achieved. Lighting is extremely important with buildings looking very different at different times of day and different seasons of the year. When night time images are required it is important to check for problem street lights and to make sure that windows are lit if required.
With cameras being so universally used today, professional pictures need to be of a very high quality to succeed. Steve regards attention to detail and simplicity of approach to be of paramount importance.
Steve spoke about some of the problems he encounters and how he overcomes them, employing techniques such as use of high dynamic range, cloning out of extraneous details, replacing uninteresting skies, and adding or removing people or objects to provide the pictures that customers require.
Finally Steve demonstrated his artistic skills with a fascinating series of deconstructed abstract images of the Sage Gateshead and the Angel of the North. We will never look at architectural photography in quite the same way again.
Report by David Carter
28th September 2016
First Open Projected Image Competition
Alnwick and District Camera Club?s first projected digital image open competition of the season was judged by Dave Richardson from Ryton Camera Club. Dave is a frequent and welcome visitor to the club and is a very well respected competition judge. The forty nine pictures entered covered a wide variety of subjects ranging from landscapes and portraits to wildlife and still life but Dave appraised each image in detail, with encouraging remarks and helpful advice for all. As the evening progressed it became abundantly clear that Dave had spent a great deal of time and effort in examining these pictures before coming to his conclusions.
Commended pictures were A Room with a View by David Burn, Something Fishy by Dawn Groves and Champions by Jane Coltman, while Bagan Temples Dawn by Ian Atkinson and Summer Doe and Success, both by Kevin Murray, were highly commended. Fourth place went to Richard Stent for Spring Tulip, a well composed, colourful picture taken in the orchard of The Alnwick Garden while, in contrast, Margaret Whittaker?s dynamic close up view of a dandelion seed head against a black background, entitled Blowing in the Wind, took third place. David Burn?s excellently atmospheric dawn seascape, Bamburgh Castle, was awarded second place but in deserved first place was Kevin Murray?s outstanding high key image of a mountain hare in the snow, simply captioned Camouflage.
The evening was completed by a fine and varied gallery of members? prints with subjects including architecture, landscape, still life, people and birds.
Report by David Carter
21st September 2016
Mary Hartley - London To Sydney Overland
Members of Alnwick and District Camera Club were taken on a whistle stop tour to the other side of the world when Mary Hartley from Ryton Camera Club gave her presentation entitled London to Sydney Overland. Mary took early retirement in order to take part in this marathon journey which took seven months and for most of the time involved camping overnight before moving on. Each member of the party had their own individual tent but cooking was done communally and one of the first duties on arrival was to collect firewood for the evening. Despite all the demands of this testing journey, Mary still managed to document her experiences with a wonderful collection of photographs.
Travelling by uncomfortable customised bus through Europe, Mary photographed the architecture and people of many cities, including Prague, Vienna, Budapest and Bucharest but on reaching Turkey her photography really took off, with wonderful images of Istanbul, Ephesus, the ruins of Troy and the amazing landscape of Cappadocia.
On crossing to Iran the women were required to wear black coverall costumes to comply with local custom, an uncomfortable experience according to Mary. However, the city of Esfahan did not disappoint with its spectacular bridges and beautiful blue-tiled buildings.
The next country was Pakistan where they travelled across desert to Islamabad and then took the notorious high altitude Caracorum highway before travelling through the Hunza Valley to Karimabad. At Wagah, they witnessed the theatrical ceremonial closing of the border gates to India.
India provided plenty of fine photographic opportunities with visits to Amritsar, Jaipur and Agra and a trip down the Ganges.
It was harvest time when the party reached Nepal, providing more photographic opportunities but sadly a visit to the Everest base camp was cancelled due to political unrest at the time.
However Mary took a flight around Mt. Everest and captured an atmospheric picture despite poor weather conditions.
From Kathmandu new transport was taken over very bad roads to Kolkata where they took a flight to Bangkok. There Mary took some excellent pictures of colourful temples and vibrant street life. A visit to Chiang Mai and the hill country provided more photographic opportunities but they were soon on their way again, travelling along the Mekong River to Laos.
Vietnam was next on the agenda with a visit to Ho Chi Minh City, although it was the floating markets of the delta region that Mary found the most interesting.Then on to Cambodia with Phnom Pen and the temple complex of Angkor Wat providing more photographic treats.
From there the party moved to Malaya and the 21st century comforts of Kuala Lumpur and Singapore before taking a flight to Java and a visit to the volcanic Mt Bromo. Bali was the last destination in southeast Asia before a six hour flight to Darwin in Australia.
The final leg of Mary?s epic journey took her south to Port Augusta via Alice Springs and the unforgettable red sandstone rock of Uluru. After an enjoyable visit to one of Australia?s famous vineyards, the party travelled along the ocean road to Melbourne and Sydney.
After such an amazing photographic journey the audience were impressed not only by Mary?s fine pictures but also by her fortitude and adventurous spirit.
Report by David Carter
14th September 2016
What I Did This Summer
Alnwick and District Camera Club's latest meeting gave members a chance to show their pictures and talk about ?What I did this summer?. However this was far more than just a collection of holiday snaps, with plenty of variety and high quality photography.
Andrew Mackie started off with a tantalising landscape of Glenmore where he has been photographing wildlife but perhaps is saving those pictures for future meetings. Carol McKay came next with a fine collection of pictures of Brinkburn Abbey that successfully captured its unique atmosphere.
Gordon Charlton then documented his planned move from Northumberland to the Isle of Skye where he intends to settle and run photographic tours and workshops. He also showed pictures taken at club evenings at Amble and Craster.
Ian Atkinson usually holidays in far flung places but this year confined himself to Italy where he explored the lakes and the beautiful Cinque Terre coast. Nevertheless his pictures were just as impressive as those taken in more exotic locations.
John Strong?s caravanning trip to the Lake District was bedevilled by bad weather but did not prevent him from taking some atmospheric photographs. He also showed interesting images taken at the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight Museum at RAF Coningsby.
John Thompson?s favourite photographic location in Northumberland is Blyth so it was not surprising that he had taken some fine pictures of the Tall Ships visit. He also showed a range of impressive night time images of Stratford upon Avon and the Alnwick Garden.
As usual Kevin Murray impressed us with his superb wildlife pictures, including images of Grey Partridge, Kingfisher, Hares and Roe Deer.
Pat Wood was unfortunately indisposed but Peter Downs showed her excellent pictures taken around Northumberland, including Beamish Museum and the Heavy Horse Show at Etal. Peter then showed his own pictures taken in similar locations but including examples of his expertise in digital manipulation of images.
Last but by no means least came Dru Dodd with a fine range of his superbly imaginative wedding photographs. He showed how skilful use of off camera flash could add warmth and sparkle to pictures taken in dull and rainy conditions. His customers must be very happy.
Report by David Carter
7th September 2016
Chairman's Evening
The first meeting of the season at Alnwick and District Camera Club is traditionally chairman?s evening and accordingly chairman Dave Dixon provided an instructive and entertaining presentation entitled Life Without Photoshop. As the great majority of club members use Photoshop software to manipulate their digital images they were intrigued to discover how Dave manages to produce such excellent pictures that are frequently very successful in club competitions.
The answer is that Dave uses Canon software supplied with his camera alongside Corels? Paintshop Pro photo editor. Even though he uses an old version of this program, he still employs an impressive range of manipulation techniques, including lighting and contrast control, conversion to monochrome and specialist effects such as producing ?antique? images from modern photographs. Dave demonstrated how quickly and simply he could achieve many of these effects.
Dave is also a keen proponent of high dynamic range pictures, for which he uses Photomatix software. He demonstrated how such pictures could be produced from single and multiple images and also showed how a more natural final result could be achieved by subtly blending the manipulated image with the original unprocessed image.
To complete the evening, Dave gave an impressive audio visual presentation featuring superb images of derelict machinery at the gravel works at Low Hedgeley. This machinery has now been demolished and removed so his pictures, taken over a number of years, now form an important historical record.
This was a most unusual and instructive evening that will provide members with plenty of ideas and inspiration when working on their own digital images, whatever software they use.
Report by David Carter
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