Tuesday 8th September – Polina Plotnikova

We were delighted to welcome award winning photographer Polina Plotnikova to our Zoom meeting this evening.

Polina's presentation was in two distinct parts, the first half was all about her stunning flower photography whilst the second half focussed on her still life pictures. Most of the images were taken in Polina's home studio with minimal kit which she was only too willing to share with us. her creative flower images  were excellent and certainly provided much food for thought. 

Rather than take notes at the time Polina one some after thwarts which gave all the relevant details about the artists who had influenced her, the kit she used and her workshops.

Additionally she would be happy to return and give us a talk bout Lensbaby lenses, for which she is now an ambassador. 

Tuesday 25th August – a talk by Ross Mckelvey

One advantage of the lockdown situation is that you can have speakers from much further afield to come along and deliver a presentation via Zoom. So this week we were treated to the images of Ross Mckelvey, MPAGB, MFIAP, FIPF, EFIAP/p and FBPE, who comes from Belfast.
Although his focus is mainly on portraits Ross shared a number of images from other genres  and included in his presentation many hints on tips on a variety of photographic topics. 
In the second half Ross focussed on editing and using Photoshop and Nik, demonstrated how to process a number of the images he had previously shared. 
In addition to Ross we welcomed along Margaret Salisbury from Fotospeed who helpfully answered some questions about paper choice.
Some of Ross's images can be seen on his website: https://www.rossmckelvey.co.uk/about.html
In addition Ross has a YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPt9fm1RtwqdzvaJBrHUCwA/videos?view_as=subscriber
where there are many helpful tutorials.

Tuesday 11th August – "Tales of a Riverbank" by Jenny Hibbert, MPAGB, EFIAP/s, AWPF

One advantage of Zoom meetings is that you can invite speakers from beyond the normal travelling distance, so WDPC, based in Norfolk, were delighted to welcome Jenny Hibbert, from S Wales, to give her presentation about the riverbank.
Jenny was very enthusiastic about all the birds and mammals that could be found along the river bank  family close to home. Dippers were a firm favourite but in the second half we were treated to some award winning images of voles and others amongst other creatures.
It was obvious that Jenny had researched her animal/bird behaviour and knew when and where she would find the images she was after, frequently getting wet and lying on muddy banks till she got the shot.
Many members were really inspired by her photography and were keen to seek out some dippers when in a suitable location!

Tuesday 28th July – Zoom presentation by Glenys Garnett

We were delighted to welcome Glenys Garnett to give a Zoom presentation this evening, entitled "Developing a Creative Approach".Glenys suggested ways of developing a creative mindset, how to overcome barriers to being creative and some ideas on using projects to develop creativity. She then showed a couple of her projects to give examples of how she has  used this approach to her own work. Virtually all of Glenys images were taken in camera, with minimal editing, and  using a variety of techniques.Still emerging slowly from lockdown many members needed some inspiration to get their cameras out and Glenys certainly provided lots of inspiration, lots of tools and many different ways to approach taking images.
To see some of Glenys images please check out her website: http://www.ggcreativeimages.co.uk

Tuesday 15th July – My Photography My Vision by Les Forrester

After a long break due to Coronavirus and lockdown we took the plunge and had a meeting via Zoom.
Les Forester had previously delivered his presentation this way so was used to not actually seeing everyone as he spoke.
Having had a dry run of zoom the day before so members were familiar with how the platform worked, we had a really good turn out.
Les not only shared his brilliant photos but also aired some very useful information as to why he took them and also gave us composition and editing suggestions. Many members later emailed to say that they had been given some ideas to go and try.
His images certainly gave a new take on some familiar places.
Thanks Les for a great and inspirational evening, I suspect the first of many zoom meetings.

June 2020 Focus On ... Food

Our latest Focus On competition was on the subject of food.  There were 32 entries and here are the top ten as scored by club members.

Thanks to those who took part and to Robin for organising.

1st OUT OF THE FRYING PAN by Stephen Gregory

2nd STRAWBERRY SPLASH by Francesca Shearcroft

3rd SMELL THE SIZZLE  by Robin Orrow

4th BERRY FLOWER by Pam Rutty

5th WORKING LUNCH by Graham Jackson

6th PEPPER FUNGI IN A BROCCOLI FOREST GLADE by Robin Orrow

7th BUILDING THE MUNCHIES PYRAMID by Roy Scrivener

8th GOOD FOR YOU by Liz Blake

9th LEMON DRIZZLE CAKE by Jan Murphy

10th FAVOURITE FRUITS by Christine Alcock

Focus On "Creative Flowers"

Thanks to our Competition Secretary, Robin, we have run another Focus on Competition whilst in these strange times of lockdown. Thanks to all club members who entered, there were a total of 41 images and potentially all members could vote as if they were the judge. 
The top 10 images are shown below.

1st To the Wind by Christine Alcock

2nd Falling by Christine Alcock

3rd  Freedom by Steve Gregory

4th Dandelion from Seed to Flower by Robin Orrow

5th It's Raining Floaties by Jan Murphy

6th World in a Flower by Francesca Shearcroft

7th Flamingo Lily by Di Jackson

8th Isolation by Francesca Shearcroft

9th Dandelion Twirl by Diana Graham

10th Garden and Sphere by Vanessa Robertson