Saturday 27 October 2018

'Steeplechase' Saturday 27th October 2018


Blackwater Farm usually plays host to 3 day equestrian events but today saw them hosting the ‘Steeplechase’ Norfolk’s original obstacle race.  The course offers 5k or 10k options over around 50 obstacles and today's challenge was extremely tough as it was cold and, before long, very wet with driving rain and hailstones!
Photography was tricky as the light was poor and keeping equipment dry was a real problem.  However, as most of the competitors seemed to be coping with the conditions, the least we could do was to try and capture some of their efforts.
After getting pretty wet, most of us discovered the cafe was open and providing very welcome hot drinks and fantastic cakes which soon warmed us up.


Some of our images can be seen below:




Never Again by Diana Graham

Still Going Strong by Dawn Osborn


Nutty Nadine by Graham Frost

Stuck by Christine Frost


Not What I Call Magic! by Sue Baldwin


The Vault by Andy Caws

The Orange Thunderbolt by Liz Akers

Fun Run Fairy by Caroline Tillett

Pushing On by Nick Akers

The Helping Hand by Di Jackson


One of Our Own by Dawn Osborn

I'm So Cold! by Diana Graham


Still Smiling by Christine Frost

Patriot Games by Graham Frost

In the Lead by Liz Akers

Making a Splash by Caroline Tillett

Over the Obstacle by Nick Akers

Splash and Dash by Andy Caws

The Paparazzi by Sue Baldwin

The Orange Tutu by Di Jackson

Friday 26 October 2018

Tuesday 23rd October – Digital Open Competition

For our first competition of the year we welcomed Adrian Stone as our judge. There were 27 images in the Members class and 56 in the Members Advanced group. The theme was Open and images were submitted digitally.
Adrian was clear and concise in his comments for both groups and managed to get through all images within the time frame. He commented that in both groups the standard was very high and also that the subject matter was very varied.
The high scoring images are shown below.
Anemone by Christine Alcock 20/20

Misty Morning by Daphne Lingwood 20/20

Fighting for Possession by Di Jackson 20/20

Farewell by Chris Kott 20/20

Kingfisher by Maureen Campbell 20/20

Abandoned by Liz Akers 20/20

White Morph Reddish Egret Fishing by Dawn Osborne 19/20

Guillemots by Paula Cooper 19/20

Evening Tide by Daphne Lingwood 19/20

A New Look by Christine Frost 19/20

Chilean Flamingo by Liz Akers 19/20

Marching Through the Mist by Sue Baldwin 19/20

Fly Agaric by Andy Lowe 19/20

Cutting Edge Technology by Ann Barber 19/20

Sharing a Drink by Tim Leonard 19/20


Wednesday 17 October 2018

Tuesday 10th October – Night Time Photography: talk and practical

This evening we welcomed Duncan and Dibs from Through the Lens Workshop to give us some guidance about taking night time images. After a presentation in the hall which covered basics and some more advanced aspects we attempted to put what we had learnt into practice.
Slightly challenging as we could not turn off the halogen security lights but thankfully it was a clear evening, no clouds and lots of stars, including the milky way.
Some images taken on the night are shown below.
Members practising what they have learnt by Tim Leonard

Night Sky by Maureen Campbell


Floodlit Trees by Tim Leonard


Wednesday 3 October 2018

Tuesday 2nd October – Summer Challenge Results and a talk by David Spain

The moment everyone has been waiting for when the results of this 2018 Summer Challenge were announced.
There were 24 entries ranging from motor racing to horses, from overseas to very local. A big thank you to all members who entered. The judges had a tough time and the results were close. 
In third place was Jack Mitchell with Winged Insects, in second place was Any Lowe with Last Minute Macro and this year's Summer Challenge Champion is Dawn Osborn with Birds of Iceland. The contact sheets of the winners are shown below.

This was followed by an illustrated talk from one of the club members David Spain, who has had a varied and interesting career taking pictures of the famous and not so famous, covering a wide variety of genre, including several images which had been published in magazines. He even had one of his pictures used on a  postage stamp!
David stressed that his career had been helped by who he knew and as such many doorways had opened for him.  However, as David himself said, it is not just knowing the people to get the openings, you still had to come up with the goods. Most of his images were taken on film which had the added disadvantage of not being able to "chimp" but have the agonising wait to get the rolls developed to see whether or not you had captured the required images!! Clearly David repeatedly met the client's brief and showed us some stunning images, both colour and monochrome, many of which he had developed himself. 
An interesting evening which was well received by members.


2018 Summer Challenge Champion, Dawn Osborn 

2nd in 2018 Summer Challenge, Andy Lowe

 3rd in 2018 Summer Challenge, Jack Mitchell