Wednesday 28th September - East Ruston Vicarage Gardens

Thanks to everyone who turned up in spite of the rather persistent rain - I'm afraid the weather fairy let us down for once!  Fortunately, we were able to scurry to the cafe during the worst downpours.

Hopefully, you all still managed to enjoy our visit to these amazing gardens and there were still plenty of flowers in bloom to see and photograph - I think the dahlias were definitely the stars of the show.

A few of our images can be seen below:

After the Rain by Diana Graham

White Flower by Ann Barber

Black Dahlia by Jan Murphy

Fuschia by Andy Caws

Rose Out in the Rain by Steve Gregory

Dahlia by Francesca Shearcroft

Cascade by Roy Scrivener

Honey Bee by Maureen Campbell

Tree Unicorn by Roy Scrivener

Waterfall by Vanessa Robertson

Raindrops by Andy Caws

Setaria Palmifolia by Jan Murphy

Pot Plants by Di Jackson

Hydrangea by Francesca Shearcroft

Large White by Maureen Campbell

Angel's Trumpet Flower by Di Jackson

Out of the Rain by Steve Gregory

Flower by Vanessa Robertson

Dahlias by Di Jackson

Water Droplets by Ann barber

Lady in Red by Diana Graham

Tuesday 27th September - Flash photography with Mark Peers

At tonight’s meeting we were learning more about the subject of off-camera flash.  Our visiting speaker, Mark Peers, began with an overview of the essential factors of flash photography and his passion for the subject was obvious.  Mark had brought with him a multitude of lighting equipment and demonstrated how to get different lighting effects for portraits.  After a short break, Mark set up three different lighting situations and members attached Mark’s triggers to their cameras and were able to put their new knowledge to the test.

This workshop could not have been possible without the fabulously attired steam punk models, Paul and Shirley Radden.  Shirley posed very patiently while Mark demonstrated different lighting adjustments.  Paul and Shirley then moved between the different lighting setups for club members to take their own shots.

Many thanks to Mark, Shirley and Paul for making the evening possible.

Tuesday 13th September 2022 - Cherry Larcombe Textures and Triptychs

This was our first Zoom meeting of the season and we were pleased to welcome Cherry Larcombe.  When you look at Cherry's portfolio of images you will see she covers a wide variety of topics.  In the first part of tonight's presentation she concentrated on the use of textures and started with a warning 'don't overdo it' - a texture or combination of textures is secondary to the subject.  

Cherry gave us tips on subjects that make good textures and how to process these photos to achieve the effects we're after.  

After a break Cherry described the different types of triptych before showing us how to create one in Photoshop.  She took us step by step through her method and gave some helpful tips to guide us through the process.  She made it look easy but I suspect that comes with lots of practice!

If you want a reminder of Cherry's work you can visit her web site https://www.cherryannette.com/wwwhome.

Tuesday 6th September - Summer Challenge

 After our summer break we were back at Wells Cole for our first meeting of the season.  Our invited judge, Naomi Saul, had the job of selecting the winner of our Summer Challenge.  19 club members had entered portfolios of images they had taken over the summer.  Each portfolio contained six individual images plus a contact sheet showing them all.  This amounted to 133 images for consideration.

After a preview of all images, Naomi gave concise comments summarising the strengths and weaknesses of each image.  Then looking at the contact sheet, she decided whether or not the portfolio would be held back and reviewed again.  Nine were held back and after a break, Naomi whittled these down to five before deciding on the winner and runners up.  Our thanks to Naomi for judging our Summer Challenge with a combination of helpful critique and encouraging comments.

Congratulations to Graham Frost whose portfolio entitled 'Shuttleworth Airshow' was our Summer Challenge winner.  In second place was Christine Frost's 'Powerboats', third place Jan Murphy's 'It's About Creativity' and two portfolios were highly commended, 'Hedgerow Flowers' by Christine Alcock and 'Botanical Kaleidoscopes' by Liz Blake.  You can see these images and the other held back images below.

It was a great start to our season.  

WINNER: SHUTTLEWORTH AIRSHOW by Graham Frost

2nd:  POWERBOATS by Christine Frost

3rd:  ITS ALL ABOUT CREATIVITY by Jan Murphy

HIGHLY COMMENDED: HEDGEROW FLOWERS by Christine Alcock

HIGHLY COMMENDED: BOTANICAL KALEIDOSCOPE by Liz Blake

Held back: GREYHOUND RACING by Di Jackson

Held back: PROSPECT COTTAGE by Pam Rutty

Held back: HORSES by Chris Kot

Held back: NORWICH FROM DIFFERENT ANGLES by Andy Caws