Tuesday 26th June - Members’ AV Show

Creating AVs is clearly not everyone’s bag!  Only four AVs were submitted which gave us a total of approximately 20 minutes viewing time - obviously not enough to fill the evening.  Thanks to Francesca for sharing her Charlie Waite DVD ‘Traveling Light’ which enabled us to have a full evening’s viewing.  In this DVD Charlie proves that stunning images needn’t be exclusive to larger cameras and that creativity and ‘seeing’ is the key to successful photography.

Thanks to everyone who created AVs for this meeting.  We enjoyed seeing Francesca’s ‘English Country Garden’, David Blake’s ‘2012 Weddings’, David Ryland’s ‘Coast’, and Di and Andy’s ‘An Eventful Year’.  Making AVs doesn’t have to be complicated - maybe a few more people will have a go next year.

Friday 15th June - East Ruston Gardens and Happisburgh

We always have to mention the weather and this event is no different.  Some of us got soaking wet before we’d even left Diana’s drive!  We drove through torrential rain to meet up at East Ruston Gardens.  The gardens were unlikely to be at their best so ‘rain stopped play’, we consulted the Duckworth-Lewis rules and headed off to Happisburgh beach.

Seven club members spent all afternoon photographing Happisburgh beach and lighthouse from every possible angle and in a variety of styles.  A few of our images are below.

Happisburgh Beach by Keith Mountford

Happisburgh Lighthouse by Keith Mountford

Sea Defence Happisburgh by Francesca Shearcroft

Lighthouse at Happisburgh by Francesca Shearcroft

Happisburgh Lighthouse (again!) by Andy Caws

Rocks on Happisburgh Beach by Diana Graham

Happisburgh Beach by Diana Graham

Breaking Wave by Andy Caws

Tuesday 12th June - Bill and David’s ‘Tricks of the Trade’

Bill Pound started off the evening encouraging us to abandon all the ‘rules’ we slavishly follow to please the competition judges.  He illustrated his point by showing us many of his best selling images that break the rules.  None of us will ever again trust an image with flood water and reflections in the foreground!  To see Bill's images, go to http://www.billpound.co.uk

David Blake carried on where Bill left off - despairing of ever satisfying a judge but sticking to his convictions to produce some unorthodox images.  Best known for his wedding photography, David also showed images from his other areas of interest such as wildlife, landscape and sports - if only they paid the bills like weddings!  To see David's images, go to http://davidblakephotography.co.uk

Thanks to Bill and David for a very entertaining evening.

Tuesday 22nd May - Print Competition 'Heritage'

This was the third and final round of this year's Print Competition.  The theme for the evening was 'Heritage' and this was interpreted in a variety of different ways.  Our judge for the competition was David Hodgson, DPAGB, who did a very thorough job determining whether the images met the brief; analysing each image; giving helpful, constructive criticism and finally delivering a score.  Many thanks to David for judging our competition.


The images below all achieved scores of 18 and above.

CARVED MADONNA by Kim Scrivener

FAMILY by David Ryland

FORTH ROAD BRIDGE by Francesca Shearcroft

WHITBY ABBEY by John Bunning

SISTINE CLOISTERS by Robin Orrow

WREN'S CATHEDRAL by Francesca Shearcroft

SWEETSHOP AT CRICH by Di Daniels

GHOSTS by Paul Holman

GETTYSBURG by David Ryland

Saturday 12th May - Pensthorpe Nature Reserve

Pensthorpe was at its best on Saturday when 14 of us arrived with our cameras.  After weeks of ‘nice weather for ducks’ we found many birds, including ducks, enjoying sunshine and blue skies.  Pensthorpe offers a good range of locations for photography.  We got up close to bearded reedlings (AKA bearded tit), ruff, avocets, turtle doves and more in the Wader Aviary where the birds (and photographers!) appreciated the authentic surroundings.  A quick visit to the Mill Pond and Ibis Aviary then it was coffee time!  

We headed to the hides at the Wader Scrape hoping for a photo of the kingfishers nesting there.  Some of us got the briefest glimpse of the trademark blue and orange flash - anyone quick enough to get a photo?  The recent weather meant that the Club’s trip to Foxley Wood to photograph bluebells didn’t happen but we finally got a chance to see bluebells in Pensthorpe’s Alder Carr Woodland.  A bit damp for those low level shots but it was a good advert for the benefits of vari-angle LCD screens!  

Enough writing, I’ll let the pictures tell the story.  

Goldeneye at Pensthorpe (M Ball)

Pensthorpe 123 (K Mountford) 

Pensthorpe Postures (A Caws)

Mandarin Duck at Pensthorpe (D Graham)

Black-winged Stilt at Pensthorpe (T Thurston)

Scarlet Ibis at Pensthorpe (D Graham)

Turtle Dove at Pensthorpe (G Lingwood)

Turtle Dove at Pensthorpe (R Scrivener)

Pensthorpe 9 (K Mountford)

Black Necked Swans & Cygnets, Pensthorpe (T Thurston)

Ruff at Pensthorpe (G Lingwood)

Nesting Avocets at Pensthorpe (F Grimsdell)

Watch the Birdie (R Scrivener)

Bluebells and Hazels at Pensthorpe (A Caws)

Tuesday 8th May - An Evening with Mike and Joy

Last Tuesday we welcomed Mike and Joy Hancock who presented their print lecture ‘An Evening with Mike and Joy’.  They showed us an inspiring range of images and gave us an insight into their individual approaches to photography.  It was fascinating to see the similarities and differences in the end results when both Joy and Mike had taken photographs at the same locations.  All the images made an impact and many of us were encouraged to learn that they were taken using bridge cameras.  An eye for composition, capturing the image and hours of meticulous editing clearly bring rewards.  

Many thanks to Joy and Mike for sharing their knowledge with us.

Andy Caws, Programme Sec

24th April - Digital Competition Round 3

On April 24th we welcomed David Jordan who judged the 50+ images in Round 3 of the Club’s Digital competition which had the theme ‘patterns’.  There were many striking and imaginative entries and those given the highest scores can be seen below.

© PEACOCK DISPLAY by Caroline Tillett

© OCEAN HOME by Graham Goodwin

© THE STAIRS AT KENSINGTON PALACE by Jackie Palmer

© BIG TOP by Di Daniels

© SPINNING PENCILS by Christine Alcock

© TREE REFLECTIONS by Melvin Holmes

© WAITING FOR PUNTERS by Di Jackson

© CACTUS by Andy Caws

© PENCIL ENDS by David Wilkin

© WOOD DIAMOND by Christine Alcock

© PATTERNS OF KNOWLEDGE by Ron Wheeler

© LIFE IN THE OLD TREE by Robin Orrow