THURSDAY 28th April 2022
FINALS NIGHT judged by Beryl Heaton ARPS EFIAP CPAGB
At long last ….. a face to face meeting ….. the first since March 2020!
It was good to see so many members turn up in person for the last meeting of the season and it was also good to know that those members who preferred to stay at home didn’t miss out as the meeting was Zoomed to them over the internet.
The judge for Finals Night was Beryl Heaton ARPS EFIAP CPAGB and although Beryl has judged for us before over Zoom, chairman David Brookes took great pleasure in welcoming her for the first time to North Nibley Village Hall. Beryl began by thanking the club for inviting her to judge our PDI of the Year and Personal Selection competitions. She said whist viewing the entries at home she had projected the images onto a larger screen so as to see them and appreciate them more than on her computer screen. Beryl had clearly given a lot of time to her judging as her comments about each image went into great detail about the composition, lighting and technical aspects. She gave a good spread of scores in each competition and awarded a number of images commended and highly commended placings but at the end of the evening the winners were :
Personal Selection Competition
1st place – Christine Ryske – Broad Bodied Chaser
2nd place – David Brookes ARPS – Clouds over Marmolada
3rd place – Brian Wetton – Snowdrops
PDI of the Year
1st place – Elizabeth Restall ARPS – Tourists at Karnak
2nd place – David Gamm – Early Morning Shopper
3rd place – Peter Whitfield – Treeflake
At the end of the evening David Brookes announced the winners of all six cups awarded throughout the year they were
First place in Division 1 – Steve Varman LRPS
First place in Division 2 – Peter Whitfield
Landscape Competition- Steve Varman LRPS
Folio Five Competition – Christine Ryske
PDI of the Year – Elizabeth Restall ARPS
Personal Selection – Christine Ryske
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THURSDAY 21st April 2022
The Inner Landscape
ANDY PHILLIPS
At very short notice, Andy Phillips agreed to give his ‘The Inner Landscape’ presentation over our last Zoom meeting of the 2021-2022 season. Like other speakers we have invited over the past two years, Andy is from quite a distance away (Chorley, Lancashire) and it would have been impractical to have him visit under normal circumstances. He began his talk by introducing himself, he is both a professional landscape photographer and tutor, and although his talk was actually about still life, Andy did start his slide show with beautiful landscape images taken in the Arctic Circle, Iceland and Scotland, particularly Glencoe and The Outer Hebrides, explaining as he went along, how his ‘smallscapes’ evolved from these massive landscapes. He talked about the lenses he uses for landscape photography and explained how he searches out the ‘non-chocolate box’ images. He also has an interest in and teaches infra-red photography and he showed several images taken in Lancashire with his dedicated infra-red camera. With the landscapes taken care of, Andy then got down to the main event of his talk. His inner landscape is a specific type of still life as every image taken is lit by natural light only and the subjects bought (or in the case of flowers grown) on a very small budget. Within the first few images he shared with us, Andy showed that even a photograph of a weed can look good if taken under the right light conditions and then post processed with good textures. When he started this type of picture taking he set out to photograph an everyday object in his kitchen to produce a ‘wow’ factor picture. He talked us through the basic equipment he used to achieve the beautiful images he shared with us and stated that anyone can attain exactly the same without too much expense but plenty of patience – just step out of your comfort zone but ‘keep it simple’.
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THURSDAY 14th April 2022
Members Evening
The last members evening of the 2021-2022 season took on a very different format – it was more of a ‘back to school’ evening ….. but ….. a most enjoyable and very informative ‘back to school’ evening as the talks given by the three members were ‘lectures’ on photographic and post processing techniques.
The first speaker was Peter Whitfield and his talk was entitled ‘Motion’. Each year Peter sets himself a project where he can explore different aspects of photography and use his creative mind to have fun with his camera. He split last year’s project into three sections and talked us through the camera settings, techniques and post processing operations he used to create stunning images of moving subjects, intentional camera movement (wobbly camera) and in-camera multiple exposures. His inventive mind and camera skills definitely gave us ‘food for thought’ on what we could all achieve if we only had a go at something different, which I am sure was Peter’s intention.
David Brookes was next to take centre stage and he spoke in great detail, giving tips and advice, about printing our own images at home. He explained that different papers and inks make a huge difference to the quality of the print and that calibrating your monitor to your printer and getting the correct setting on your PC are imperative to getting the colours correct. He described the different types of mounts for printed images and advised about cropping to fit pre-cut mounts. David is passionate about the printed image and feels this is the ‘proper way’ to view your photographs.
Steve Varman was the last speaker for the evening and he took us through some of the post processing techniques he uses when he ‘creates an image’ from photographs he has taken. By walking us through the different stages of adding a sky, moon and birds from one image onto another image, adding textures to an image to make it feel different and creating an image from several obscure objects, Steve showed us the power that Photoshop layers, masks and blends have when making a composite piece of art. He also demonstrated how to repair and put colour into old photographs – who said ‘the camera never lies’?
Although the meeting over-ran slightly I am sure that none of the members noticed or even cared, because each of the talks was fascinating and I’m sure that some of the methods demonstrated by these talented members will be tried out by others in the not too distant future.
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THURSDAY 7th April 2022
A visit from members of Sodbury and Yate Photographic Club
Stuart Lewis introduced the three members from Sodbury and Yate who were going to entertain us and it was Ray Grayson who started the evening off with his presentation ‘Potpourri of My Snaps’. Ray shared with us many landscape images from all around Britain, Scotland in colour and monochrome, the North Coast of Devon, Dartmoor, Cornwall and Yorkshire are just a few of the many delightful areas Ray has visited and captured ‘on film’. He then displayed his Photoshop skills with textured background flower images that he had taken not only in his back garden but also in numerous places he has visited, including a garden centre. He concluded his section of the evening with infrared images, a area of photography that Ray has a real interest in.
Cathy Fordham has a very keen interest in audio visuals and stamps her own artistic approach on everything she produces. The first of her works gave us an idea of how and from where she gets her ideas and she explained about finding appropriate fonts and music to accompany the images she selects for each audio visual. In an AV called ‘Transience’ she blended old sepia family photographs with recently taken images at Arnos Vale Cemetry giving a real feel for the brevity of life. ‘Soapsuds and Solace’ was a lockdown project where Cathy decided to ‘voice over’ her AV – it was a successful project as, with it, she was placed second in 2021 The Western Counties AV competition.
The third and final presentation of the evening was given by Dave Clarke. At Sodbury and Yate Club they have Special Interest Groups and Dave belongs to their Portrait Group. His presentation was all about the work that this small group of people have produced. He walked us through the artists and photographers that they intended to take their inspiration from and then showed the results that Annette Wakefield, Linda Parker, Keith Barlow and he has achieved. It was amazing to see how they had all managed to produce very similar images without actually replicating the works they took their guidance from. Ray ended his talk with ‘Rhapsody’ a storybook he had made of his wife and her journey to a keyboard recital performance.
It was a most entertaining evening with three very different presentations.
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THURSDAY 31st March 2022
PDI SET SUBJECT COMPETITION judged by Martin Fry FRPS FBPE EFIAP/d2 AV-EFIAP/b APAGB
The PDI set subject for this season was ‘CIRCLES’ and Martin, who is a member of Cheltenham Camera Club, accepted the invitation to judge the 48 images entered into this competition. Martin is no stranger to our club, he visits at least once a season, so very little introduction was needed. Before he began his appraisal he explained what he looks for when judging competition images, subject matter, background and technical ability are the three main areas with contrast, colour and emotion following closely behind.
Martin took his time over commenting on each image which gave us, as members, the opportunity to study each photograph in great detail. His comments were constructive, extremely fair and he ensured that, as it was a set subject, the circle should be the main focus of the image. Four images were awarded commended and three highly commended, the winners were
Division 1
First Place – Reflected Stone Circle – Steve Varman LRPS
Second Place – Spiral to circles – Elizabeth Restall ARPS
Third Place – Rusting Wheels – George Ryske
Division 2
First Place – Counting the Years – Peter Whitfield
Second Place – Spares – David Gamm
Third Place – Marblelous Light – Peter Whitfield
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THURSDAY 24th MARCH 2022
9th Cheltenham International Salon of Photography (2021)
Michael Krier MA(Photo) ARPS AFIAP made a Zoom ‘visit’ to Tyndale Photography Club to show the audio visual presentation of The 9th Cheltenham International Salon of Photography (2021).
A Salon of Photography is an exhibition, created by a photographic society or camera club, with a set number of sections. International associations support and give patronage to these salons and also supply a range of awards to recognise photographic merit. Images are judged to the standards set by whoever a club has received patronage from and photographers from around the world are able to submit images into any of the worldwide salons held each year.
In 2021, 738 photographers, from 55 countries, entered 9006 images into the Cheltenham Salon, giving the panel of five international judges quite a challenge. 2028 (22.5%) of the entered images were accepted and of those 60 were awarded medals.
At the beginning 0f the evening Michael explained how the judging had to be done over Zoom because of the restrictions placed upon them by covid-19, however everything went to plan and ran smoothly.
A selection of the accepted entries in each of the five sections were displayed in turn, with the images given awards shown at the end of their respective section.
The five audio visuals that Michael showed were produced by Martin Fry FRPS EFIAP/p AV-EFIAP ABPE APAGB and, as in all other years, the images and accompanying music were matched together perfectly.
The evening began with the TRAVEL section and this displayed a wide variety of landscapes, portraits and characteristics of various cultures. The MONOCHROME section was an amazing group of photographs, they displayed the power that black and white images can give in emotion and texture. The CREATIVE section definitely showed a ‘different’ type of photography, creative thinking and post processing produced some unbelievable and unique images. The NATURE section as you would expect, covered images from insects to animals, birds to butterflies and even a few fungi shots. The final section was COLOUR and in this section it seemed that as it was colour it was OK, the variety of subjects was wide ranging and included landscapes and portraits, it was pleasing to see such an assortment.
The excellent audio visual was well presented and displayed an amazing variety of stunning photographs, it was most definitely a celebration of photography from around the world.
Four of our members had between them seven images accepted into the salon and luckily each had at least one image chosen to be shown in the audio visual presentation.
ELIZABETH RESTALL ARPS had two acceptances in the monochrome section – ‘13.55 at Canary Wharf’ and ‘Spiral Staircase’.
GEORGE RYSKE had an acceptance in the creative section – ‘Happy Meal’.
DON GRUNDELL had an acceptance in the monochrome section – ‘Bristol Eye’ and an acceptance in the creative section – ‘American Dream’.
BRIAN WETTON had two acceptances in the travel section – ‘Indian Musician’ and ‘Buddhist Monks, Hanoi’.
Well Done to you all!
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THURSDAY 17th March
CHAIRMAN’S EVENING – DAVID BROOKES ARPS
For one meeting every year the chairman can do whatever he/she wants, certain members can be invited to show their photographs, other members may be asked to give a talk or he/she can entertain the members present at the meeting themself. It is the third option that our new chairman David Brookes opted for and it was most definitely a wise choice as it was a very entertaining and most informative evening for all those present at the Zoom meeting.
Through the long, cold, wet winter months many of us must have dreamt about ‘getting away’ to a warm sunny clime and that is just where David took us. He gave us a virtual tour of a city he and his wife find to be one of the most magical places they have ever visited – Venice.
Our journey began at Santa Lucia Railway Station at the western tip of Venice where the bridge from the mainland meets the city and followed The Grand Canal down to St Mark’s Square. The many diversions taken off the main canal enabled us to see so many different parts of Venice that the day tourist just wouldn’t have time to visit. David shared with us breathtaking internal and external images of so many of the incredible churches he visited, some of them being the main attractions of Venice and others being hidden gems that David managed to find by venturing off the tourist trail.
The grand palaces and ordinary buildings that sit on the canals were beautifully captured from the water bus he used to get around, from several of the bridges which span the numerous canals and even from waterside bars and cafes whilst he was enjoyed a well earned drink and meal. There were several photographs of gondolas with the gondoliers weaving their way through the city avoiding the speedy motorboats and vaporetti on the busy waterway.
Throughout the evening David took and talked us through each of the six districts/sestieres that Venice is divided into and with his charming narrative you could feel the atmosphere and almost hear the lapping of the water in every image he shared.
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THURSDAY 10th March
PDI OPEN COMPETITION judged by Bob Phelps
Bob, who is a member of Bristol Photographic Society, joined our Zoom meeting to judge the fourth open competition of the season. He kept his comments on each of the forty four entries brief but concise and concluded his remarks with his thoughts on the potential for improvement. He hoped his views and observations on composition, contrast and monochrome vs colour would be helpful to all members of the club. After awarding three commended and three highly commended images he then announced the top three winners.
The final results were
Division 1
1st place – Mike Baxter – Elephant Embrace
2nd place – Christine Morgan – Narcissus Kaleidoscope
3rd place – Jenny Fryer LRPS – Eilean Donan Castle
Division 2
1st place – Peter Whitfield – Winter Melancholia
2nd place – Peter Whitfield – Slipstream
3rd place – David Arkwell – Scramblers Uley Moto X
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THURSDAY 3rd March
Living The African Dream ALISON MEES ARPS
The speaker who was originally booked for Thursday evening was unable to attend and so, at short notice, Alison Mees ARPS agreed to join us at our Zoom meeting to give her presentation ‘Living the African Dream’.
Alison, who lives in Southend, Essex, is a self taught photographer who was, as a child, encouraged by her father to take photographs and produce prints in a dark room set up in the shed in the garden. From a very early age, after seeing the film “Born Free”, Alison fell in love with Africa, she was attracted to the wide open plains that seem endless and was fascinated by the smallest of the big cats in Africa – the cheetah. She now had a dream – to do exactly the same thing as Joy and George Adamson.
For sixteen years before covid-19 hit the world Alison lived and worked in Africa, spending the first eight years in South Luangwa National Park in eastern Zambia. She then moved on to Malawi for a short time and then on to Selous and The Serengeti in Tanzania where her dream as a five year old eventually came true. After several years she and her husband moved to Kenya to the Mara North Conservancy where they continued their work as safari camp managers. It was in the Serengeti and Mara North where Alison had the chance to go out in the field with the cheetah researchers and even though the safari camps had to close in March 2020, due to the pandemic, she had to return to the UK where she still continues to volunteer for the cheetah conservation fund.
She shared with us beautiful landscapes of the areas where she worked and stunning images of the wildlife within the parks including birds, buffalos, crocodiles, hippos, lions, wildebeests and, of course, her beloved cheetahs – in fact this list could go on and on. She felt privileged to see new born cubs grow and then be left to their own devices, recording their lives with her camera. With her narrative and superb images Alison gave us a truly wonderful evening. It is obvious that she has had and still has a passion for wildlife conservation.
Should you be interested in viewing any of Alison’s beautiful images go along to her website www.alisonmeesphotography.com where you can also see details of the Mara safari workshops she will be leading in November 2022 and January & February 2023.
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Thursday 24th February 2022
Tom Crowe Challenge and Jenny Fryer
Each year, Thornbury Camera Club invite other local camera clubs to a challenge in memory of Tom Crowe, a former chairman of their club. The invited clubs submit eight entries, with each image submitted having been taken by a different photographer, the competition is a battle between clubs rather than individuals. This year, there were four set categories to fulfil – Landscape, People, Creative and Night, the remaining four images were placed into Open categories. The competition was judged by Aleks Gjika EFIAP DPAGB who spoke at length about each of the sixty four submissions, giving his own personal thoughts, comments and mark as each image was displayed. At the end of each round the scores were totalled and a leader board displayed showing each club’s mark and photographer for that round and a running total for each club. As it has been in other years, it was a tightly fought competition with superb images entered by each and every club. At the end of the evening when the final scores were displayed I am very pleased to say that Tyndale Photography Club took first place with a total score of 150 points. Congratulations are due to all photographers who entered, thanks are due to those in each club who organised and pulled the folio together for the competition and acknowledgement must be given to Thornbury Camera Club for, yet again, providing another great evening of entertainment.
Tyndale Photography Club images were:
Landscape – Lisemore Lighthouse – Bill Beere
Open – Hare On The Lookout – Mike Smith
People – Lockdown Again – Joan Scott
Open – Walkie Talkie Building – Brian Wetton
Creative – London Rain – Jenny Fryer LRPS
Open – Play It Again – Barry Wilson
Night – Night Crossing – Don Grundell
Open – Come To Me – Dave Rumsam
Jenny Fryer filled in the extra time available by entertaining us with several Audio Visuals. These included moving images from ‘The National Memorial Arboretum’ in Staffordshire, spectacular landscapes in ‘The French Alps’ and very cleverly put together images of ‘Our Planet Earth’.
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THURSDAY 17th February
PDI OPEN COMPETITION judged by Brian Swinyard BA(Hons) MA ARPS EFIAP/b DPAGB BPE3* PPSA MInstLM MIfL
Brian has visited our club many times both as a judge and as a speaker, his most recent visit was to adjudicate the third open projected digital images competition of our 2021-2022 season. He began the evening by defining what he looks for when appraising an image. Technical competence, artistic merit and what the photographer brings of himself/herself into the photograph are the three elements of most importance to him. He then wished everyone Good Luck and began the judging. He spoke at length about each of the 46 entries commenting about exposure, tonal range and composition, giving good technical advice where he felt it necessary. Giving points as he went along Brian held back the three top images in each division and then placed them when all entries had been assessed.
The final results were
Division 1
1st place – Elizabeth Restall ARPS – Frenzied-Takeoff
2nd place – Steve Varman LRPS – Nash Point
3rd place – Joan Scott – Still life with pears and grapes
Division 2
1st place – David Gamm – beech in the mist
2nd place – Peter Whitfield – Treeflake
3rd place – Peter Whitfield – Autumn fire
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THURSDAY 10th FEBRUARY
Echoes of Silence – Chernobyl 34 Years Later
GRAHAM HARRIES
‘Echoes of Silence – Chernobyl 34 Years Later’ is the talk that Llanelli based photographer Graham Harries gave to us on Thursday evening. Graham began with an insight into his background, he is the chairman of Llanelli Photographic Society, he loves photography and travelling, was voted one of the top five wedding photographers in West Wales at the final of the Welsh National Wedding Awards for eight years running and has had work purchased by The Times, New Musical Express and The London Evening Standard to name just a few. He concluded his introduction with the sentence ‘do not expect this talk to have a happy ending’ and it didn’t, but it most definitely gave all those present an insight into the devastation caused by the explosion of the nuclear reactor at the Chernobyl VA Lenin power plant in April 1986. Within hours, the people in the surrounding area were evacuated, never to return.
The documentary like talk was filled with images from his visits in March 2018 and October 2019 to this abandoned and ‘off the tourist trail’ area. Over the two visits Graham spent eight full days inside the exclusion zone, taking the one hour train journey from where he was based in Slavutych into Chernobyl with the workers who are still employed in clearing up the remaining reactors. Some of the first images shown were of the huge Duga radar structure situated just outside Chernobyl. Graham took us into the grey, angular, dull, control rooms and classrooms of the decaying buildings of this, what was, top secret military establishment.
In the uninhabited city of Pripyat, Graham wandered, with his camera, through shops, schools, hospitals and theatres which are now deathly silent, nature has taken over and there are trees growing in the middle of what once must have been very busy roads. He presented to us stark, compelling images of books, dolls, gas masks and disintegrating pianos left in now ghostly rooms of this once heavily populated city.
It was an exceptionally thought provoking, well presented talk and one couldn’t help but be moved by the story and images that Graham shared with us. Photography is not always about pretty images.
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THURSDAY 3rd FEBRUARY
Wildlife of the Camargue etc etc …..
ROY JACOBSON DPAGB
Roy is clearly a devoted wildlife photographer and he began the evening by taking us on a trip around Britain. He explained how when taking photographs of wildlife he looks for that ‘added extra’ and the images he shared with us of a skirmish between cranes and gulls at Slimbridge, egrets at Chew Valley Lake catching fish almost as big as themselves and graceful but aggressive arctic terns on The Farne Islands did have ‘that little bit more’. In his accompanying narrative Roy explained how he is quite happy to find himself a ‘good spot’, set up his equipment and sit there all day waiting for the wildlife to come. He tends to take burst shots of birds in flight hoping that when he transfers them to the computer he will have captured enough good images of ‘something happening’. Although Roy prefers to take his photographs ‘in the wild’ several zoos around the country have enabled him to take superb images of elephants and giraffes in both colour and monochrome. On a couple of occasions Roy has booked ‘an experience’ and the shots of large cats at the Big Cat Centre Kent and harvest mice and red eye tree frogs at Liberty Centre Dorset were stunning.
Roy also shared images he had captured at Fairford Airshow, taken at an unusual angle, several images looked as though the aircraft were about to crash into each other when in fact he tells us they were quite a distance apart.
The Camargue is famous for its white horses and Roy took wonderful images of them galloping in the shallows of the sea and at Parc Ornithologique de Pont de Gau Roy took the opportunity to capture the grace and finery of both the flamingos and egrets that live there.
Roy was originally booked to talk to us last season but as he was experiencing broadband problems and we were only meeting via Zoom, the evening had to be cancelled. We have had to wait twelve months for the rescheduled meeting, but it was well worth the wait as his images and chat made the evening most enjoyable.
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THURSDAY 27th JANUARY
Through the Years
WARREN ALANI ARPS DPAGB AFIAP ABPE
Smethwick Photographic Society is one of the leading camera clubs in the country and our speaker Warren Alani has been a member of this prestigious group for over ten years. His work has been recognised around the world by many photographic societies, he has received various honours and distinctions and has been published in several prominent photography magazines. Knowing this, we knew that the images accompanying his talk ‘Through the Years’ would be something we would remember for quite some time.
His presentation was split into two completely different halves. The images in part one were photographs Warren had taken for his own personal pleasure, they were taken without having to please any judge or comply to any restrictions a competition or exhibition may require. Every picture displayed in was of square aspect ratio, a format Warren has used for many years as he feels his images seem to ‘come to life’ when cropped to this size. He explained that with square format the eye was encouraged to move in a circle and not from side to side or up and down as it does in landscape and portrait modes. He feels that he gets more impact, better concentration on the subject and is able to make a busy photograph less complex when cropping to square. His images, on a variety of subjects, displayed balance, simplicity and good use of monochrome and space, as we took in the beauty of each one he talked about why and how he was feeling when he took the photograph.
The images Warren shared with us in part two were, in many cases, heavily post processed, brightly coloured composites which Warren had worked on specifically for competition and exhibition. The photographs that he cleverly merged together may have been taken from many places around the world, but to the onlooker it was a true representation of what was in front of the lens at the time ‘it was shot’.
With his attention to detail Warren has produced beautiful, dramatic and compelling images in which his passion for photography clearly shows through.
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THURSDAY 20th JANUARY
PDI OPEN COMPETITION judged by ROB HESLOP LRPS
The second open projected digital images competition of the 2021-2022 season was judged by Rob Heslop LRPS. Before the judging began Rob, who is a member of The Forest of Dean Camera Club, told us a little about himself saying he has over 30 years of experience and although he likes to keep an open mind he does tend towards landscape photography. He stated that he liked an image to tell a story and felt that the title also played a part in the narrative. As he progressed through the entries he took time to explain how he had come to his decision for the mark awarded, he was fair with his comments and gave good advice where ‘he’ felt an image ‘might’ be improved. After announcing the commended and highly commended images the final results were
Division 1
1st place – Elizabeth Restall ARPS – Tourists at Karnak
2nd place – Diana Baker – Sailing with mother
3rd place – Elizabeth Restall ARPS – Trees in the mist
Division 2
1st place – Kerrin Malone – Orca Family Pod
2nd place – Peter Whitfield – Roll on by
3rd place – Peter Whitfield – Cut and run
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THURSDAY 13th JANUARY
A Project Based Approach to Photography
DAVID KEEP ARPS MPAGB FBPE EFIAP
Chesterfield based amateur photographer David Keep belongs to Rolls Royce Camera Club of Derby and approaches his photography in a very different way to many club members. He tackles it with military precision and in his talk he described how he attacks each project in order to build an image with the WOW factor.
David is passionate about photography and sees it an an art form. He considers himself to be an image maker, not a photographer, and feels that the photograph that comes out of his camera is just the starting point to creating the image he had set out to achieve, he calls the process he uses ‘reverse engineering’. He does not, like many of us, rely on luck, so takes control by setting up a project and following it rigidly until he has his end result. He openly admits that sometimes this can take a couple of years, but he is happy to go with that in order to produce something that creates impact and shows not only emotion but also tells a story.
David often gets his ideas from other photographers, not wanting to copy them but just get a thought on where to start, at this point he can visualise his final image. From here he has to plan how to get an ‘in’ into the venues that will allow him to take his photographs. Once ‘in’ he builds up a relationship with his subjects and gets a ‘one to one’ for the shoot. With something ‘in the bag’ the post processing can then begin.
He walked us through three of his projects detailing where he had the idea for his image from, how he got his ‘in’ to take his photographs and then demonstrated the post processing he used on the image he had chosen from the many he had taken. His final works of art were stunning and it was extremely interesting to see how he could make an image really stand out head and shoulders above the rest. He left us with just four words – visualise : plan : shoot : process.
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THURSDAY 6th JANUARY
THE DRAGON IN MONOCHROME
MARGARET SALISBURY FRPS MFIAP FIPF FSITTP FSINWP APAGB AWPF
Our first meeting of 2022 was something different, Margaret Salisbury’s talk was accompanied for the most part by monochrome images. She began the evening by telling everyone attending the zoom meeting how she started her photography journey and stated she ‘got hooked’ after printing her first darkroom image of Welsh ponies.
Margaret spoke quite openly about the choices she made when taking a photograph and explained the techniques she had used in post processing to make her final image. Her preference is to print all her images and she explained that choosing the correct paper plays a huge part in the presentation of the subject.
Margaret likes texture to show in her images and feels that this really comes to the fore in monochrome. Images of the Welsh slate valleys and their long gone industries in a single colour really showed the rawness of this harsh landscape. She also demonstrated the difference just a single colour makes by displaying three different final images (colour, sepia and monochrome) of the same photograph of the Taj Mahal. Although ninety nine percent of Margaret’s presentation was monochrome she explained that she always shoots in colour and converts to monochrome, occasionally leaving just one colour in the image to give real impact.
Light plays a huge part in Margaret’s landscape photography and she is prepared, and has the patience, to wait for the right moment in order to grab her shot. She will also just pick up her camera and ‘shoot’ when the opportunity arises, even if it means stopping the car at the side of the road or getting the driver to slow down on the motorway.
Over the past twenty or so years Margaret and her husband have travelled far and wide and her portraits of the people, especially children, of Ethiopia were stunning as were the charming landscapes of New Zealand.
For Margaret it’s not just composing, taking and printing her picture it’s more about the story behind each image and in her own words ‘ your photography should always remind you or your experience and bring back wonderful memories’.
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THURSDAY 16th DECEMBER 2021
CHRISTMAS KNOCKOUT COMPETITION
Twelve months ago we held our first virtual Christmas social – who would have thought that a year on we would be having to do the same again? Again, as last year, there was no setting out of tables and chairs, no arranging food and drinks and no face to face chatter. But despite that, there was an excellent ‘turn out’ of members, some dressed in festive jumpers, others with a glass of Christmas cheer to hand and everyone ready to take on the roll of judge for the annual Christmas Knockout Competition.
Chairman David Brookes ARPS, presented the entries one at a time and then in pairs giving everyone a couple of minutes to mull over each image before Steve Stone then asked for an on-line vote. As with every other year, members were invited to submit up to three images and this year twenty one members entered between them sixty two photographs. The subjects of the images were varied, still life, landscapes, portraits and wildlife were all included which made for most enjoyable evening, however, it was sometimes rather difficult to choose your favourite of the two displayed, it certainly makes you realise how difficult it is for judges in camera club competitions.
One by one and round by round entries were eliminated until the final four were left to battle it out. Even though this was a virtual meeting you could feel the tension building up as the task of choosing which image you preferred got harder and harder as the evening went by.
After the final three votes were submitted Steve Daniell announced the winners in reverse order. Steve Varman LRPS with his entry ‘ Poppies in the Sun’ and Brian Wetton with his entry ‘Fishing in the Storm!’ took equal third place whilst Steve Varman LRPS also took second place with his entry ‘A Nice Place to Graze’. The outright winner though was Elizabeth Restall ARPS with her entry ‘A Murmuration’. Both Elizabeth and Steve won a Christmas cake baked, beautifully decorated and donated by Gloria Pritchard.
A huge thank you to everyone who took part and a massive congratulations to the worthy winners.
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THURSDAY 9th DECEMBER
FOLIO FIVE COMPETITION
judged by
Sandie Cox ARPS DPAGB
Sandie is a familiar face to the members of Tyndale Photography Club having visited many times before, both as a speaker and a judge. Her Zoom visit this month was to judge our annual Folio Five competition.
Entries into this competition are made up of five digital images which form a set with a common theme, a sixth image must be generated where the five individual images are presented as a panel.
Before appraising the twenty one panels, Sandie explained what she looks for when taking on the role of a judge. She likes to be able to see texture in a picture, she likes to be able to ‘feel’ an image with her eyes whilst not forgetting technical ability, quality and composition.
Sandie spoke at great length about each image within the panel, she displayed great sensitivity on giving advice where she felt an image could be improved in both the taking of the photograph and/or the subsequent post processing. She also gave advice on how the panel itself had been presented. It was quite clear that Sandie had given up a lot of her time and had worked really hard on the task she had taken on.
After announcing the winners, Sandie said how she had enjoyed viewing and judging all one hundred and five images and very much appreciated the amount of effort that goes into preparing a folio of several images.
The winning panels were :
First Place – Turbans – Christine Ryske
Second Place – Dog Retrieval – Barry Wilson
Third Place – Twirled Flowers – Elizabeth Restall ARPS
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THURSDAY 2nd DECEMBER
THE WILDLIFE OF FINLAND
CATE BARROW
Cate Barrow’s first visit to the club was back in March 2019 when she gave a talk entitled ‘Photographing UK Wildlife’. It was with great pleasure that we welcomed her back to be enthralled with her images and talk on ‘The Wildlife of Finland.
Cate has made several visits to Finland in each of the seasons and has travelled solo over vast areas of the wilderness in order to capture the wonderful images she quite happily shared with us.
The evening was split into two halves and at the beginning of each half, Cate showed a map of Finland highlighting the areas where she had taken her photographs. She gave a list of the equipment she had used, showed images of the stunning countryside she had driven and walked through and jaw dropping shots of the extremely basic conditions she had ‘lived’ in for the duration of her trip.
Cate explained that depending on the time of year you make your visit, the country itself throws out different challenges to photographers – the length of the day, the extremes of cold and heat, but most of all mosquitoes! However, it seemed that Cate coped with everything that was thrown at her and seized every available moment to capture the most wonderful images of birds, butterflies and animals in their natural habitat that the majority of us only see in books or on TV.
During her Spring and Summer visits, Cate has captured images of Osprey parents feeding their chicks in the eerie, beautiful clean sharp shots of European brown bears in cottongrass fields and the comely colours and patterns of the butterflies, all in different regions of Northern Finland. In the extreme weathers of the Autumn and Winter seasons, images of the woodland birds, especially the pretty pale orange colour of the wings and tail in flight of the Siberian jays, stood out magnificently against the dull winter sky. Cate was particularly pleased with the stoat in ermine images taken on her visit to a remote farmhouse near to the Russian boarder.
All in all it was a unique and captivating evening, the presentation was given with enthusiasm and each and every subject was beautifully photographed.
I am sure that all our members admire Cate’s courage, stamina and personal commitment to her adventures.
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THURSDAY 25th November 2021
Mainly Creative, Mostly for Fun
John Perriam ARPS DPHGB AFIAP
John Perriam, who is a member of both Exmouth Photo Group and Exeter Camera Club, joined us on our most recent Zoom meeting to give his presentation ‘Mainly Creative, Mostly for Fun’. It is the first time that we have had the pleasure of John’s company but I am sure it won’t be the last.
He began the evening by saying he has been having fun with creative photography for many years and this was backed up by him showing several images that had been taken way back in the days of film. By sandwiching two slide images together John achieved what we would now call an in camera double exposure and a current day composite image was attained by cutting out parts of a printed images and re-photographing them.
Moving forward in time to digital photography, John’s creative thinking is done both as he presses the shutter button and in post processing, by what seems like magic, he is able to include himself in an image, create a spaceship from a leisure centre and concoct small images in what look like water droplets using florists aqua beads, cooking oil and margarine. He explained how he managed to create the twirled background for an image of an eagle by using the image of the eagle itself and how to transform a rectangular landscape into a sphere.
After sharing hundreds of still photographs with us, the second part of John’s presentation was taken up with some of his audio visual productions. The sequence of images taken of Whitby Goths complemented the song ‘Human’ by Rag ‘n’ Bone Man perfectly and the calming ‘Tranquillity’ by Llewllyn was an ideal choice of music for the composite images of landscapes and birds.
John very generously shared his ‘tricks’ with us and explained that you really don’t need much to create an outstanding abstract work of art. He hoped that not only had he entertained us for a couple of hours but that he had also inspired us have a go at and have fun with creative photography ourselves.
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THURSDAY 18th NOVEMBER
PDI LANDSCAPE COMPETITION
judged by
PETER WEAVER APAGB, CPAGB, LRPS
Peter has visited Tyndale Photography Club, both as a speaker and a judge, many times, over several years and at quite a few different venues, so it was good to welcome him back, this time into our own homes over Zoom, to judge our annual projected digital image landscape competition.
Entries for this particular competition must be a landscape in the British Isles and must show the landscape as it exists, composite images are not allowed. Although it is a challenging subject there were, in total, 43 entries and as each of the images was displayed Peter spoke about the composition, light, mood and colours of every photograph in great depth.
Throughout the evening we saw representations of both ‘land and sea’ and ‘urban and nature’ in monochrome, colour and infra-red and we were taken the whole length of this island from Scotland to the Isles of Scilly.
Peter awarded 3 images with a commended and another 3 with highly commended but the winning images were:
First Place – Tintern – Steve Varman LRPS
Second Place – Misty Morning – Diana Baker
Third Place – Early Morning Shopper – David Gamm
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THURSDAY 11th November 2021
Photographing the Diversity of Mammals
Robert Harvey BA ARPS EFIAP CSci CEnv MCIWEM
Wiltshire based professional photographer Robert Harvey last visited the club in October 2016, so it was a joy to find that he accepted our request for a return visit. Little did we know at the time that his illustrated talk would take us all around the world!
As Robert displayed images of the numerous variety of mammals, he spoke with a great depth of knowledge about the size, form, relationship and habits of each creature photographed. Who knew that a whale was related to a hippopotamus?
Although Robert began the evening by showing a complete list of all the mammals in the world, the time restriction meant that we were only able to see a selection of about one hundred and fifty images of certain types of mammals.
Of all the photographic subjects, wild mammals must be one of the most challenging, not only for the remote regions they inhabit but also the time needed to capture ‘that image’. Robert showed that he has a bountiful amount of skill and patience and kept us enthralled for a full two hours with superb shots from many of the top wildlife destinations across the world.
Not all images were taken in far flung places, The Cairngorms in the Highlands of Scotland provided the setting for the outstanding shots of the mountain hare, wearing both its winter and summer coat, whilst further away Sri Lanka, Malawi and Zambia were the areas Robert visited to take stunning photographs of the Asian and African elephants. The stripes of the zebra made for some really interesting abstract type images.
The quality of each image shone through and we saw some very unusual and offbeat photographs of animals such as giant anteaters, wolves and gorillas that the majority of us will never see in the flesh.
Our chairman, David Brookes, gave the vote of thanks and the club members showed their appreciation by unmuting themselves on the zoom meeting and giving Robert a round of applause.
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THURSDAY 4th November
A visit from Gloucester Camera Club
It was almost two years ago that several members of our club made the journey up the A38 to Gloucester where they showed their work to Gloucester Camera Club. March 2020 had been scheduled for a return visit, but the covid-19 pandemic put paid to that and lockdown meant the meeting was cancelled. A new date was set and it was with great pleasure that we were able to welcome the members of Gloucester Camera Club to our recent Zoom meeting.
Dave Whittle opened the evening by saying it was a pity we couldn’t actually meet in person to chat face to face, but a virtual meet was better than nothing at all. He then handed over to Mike Watson who introduced each person in turn.
Kevin Daws was first up and he showed some of the many images he had taken on several safaris in such places as Kenya, Botswana and India. His images of lions, tigers, zebras and elephants certainly gave a feel of the enjoyment he had whilst on these far flung adventures.
Rob Thomas has always taken an interest in photography but didn’t take the hobby seriously until he retired. Almost all the images he showed were taken locally, Westonbirt, Gloucester Cathedral and his back garden featured heavily and all displayed how his interest has grown.
Bob Harding split his presentation into two halves, the first took us on a journey through his original digital cameras starting with a 6 megapixel camera in 2003 through to a 12 megapixel camera in 2008. A short audio visual ‘The Colours of Morocco’ concluded Bob’s presentation.
Mark Kemp’s love of steam trains certainly showed through in the images taken at several meets of his Railway Charter Group. Belonging to such a group enables Mark to ride the train to photogenic locations, jump off to get passing shots and make use of the re-enactors to give each image a story.
Angela Danby took us through her photographic journey from a child to the present day. She entered her first competition at around the age of eight and is still entering her images into competitions and salons now. She entertained us with images of the many ‘visitors’ she gets in her garden.
Dave Houston shared his competition images through the levels of beginner, intermediate and advanced and commented on the remarks given by the judges. He said that ‘giving an image a helping hand with post processing can really improve a shot’ and showed us before and after images to prove his point.
Mike Watson concluded Gloucester’s presentation by talking us through the processes he had made to several of his images. He said he finds that using techniques such as dodging, burning and blending help to make the colours and textures in a photograph stand out more.
Many thanks to all the exhibitors for an entertaining and varied evening.
THURSDAY 28th OCTOBER
PDI OPEN COMPETITION judged by SIMON CAPLAN LRPS
The judge for our first Projected Digital Images competition of the season was Bristol based Simon Caplan LRPS and he was more than happy to deliver his results over the internet at our now regular Zoom meeting.
Simon explained his approach to judging saying that he liked an image to have emotional and dramatic impact as well as the ‘WOW’ factor. He wanted quality of subject matter, good use of light and great composition. He concluded his introduction by saying that his judging was subjective and that another judge would more than likely give completely different scores.
The final results were
Division 1
1st place – Steve Varman LRPS – Tyndale Dream
2nd place – Steve Stone – High key pelican
3rd place – Mike Smith – No Nuts
Division 2
1st place – David Gamm – You surprised me
2nd place – Peter Whitfield – Wizards Dance
3rd place – David Arkwell – Flying High
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THURSDAY 21st OCTOBER 2021
Members Evening
Steve Varman organised our first members evening of the season and with six volunteers willing to share their images, those attending the zoom session were, as always on such events, ready for an entertaining couple of hours.
Elizabeth Restall talked us through her ‘people on the streets’ photography which she has taken over several years. Her candid monochrome and colour photographs were taken in such places as London, Venice, Cuba and Bath and although the majority of her subjects hadn’t a clue they were being photographed, two or three of them spotted her and were looking straight into the camera!
Not so long ago, Jane Martin treated herself to a macro lens and through lockdown she spent many hours getting to know it. The images she shared with us were of flowers, both inside her house and outside in her garden. She was pleased with her results and was surprised at what the naked eye couldn’t see but the new lens managed to pick up.
Over the August Bank Holiday Joan Scott attended a Plantagenet Medieval Re-enactment at Llanthony Priory in Gloucester. She was very lucky that there weren’t many folk attending the event and had so no problem with people being in the background of her images. She managed to capture still shots of the decorative costumes worn by the ladies and the action shots of the men fighting.
Diana Baker never goes walking without her camera and she shared with us a selection of the images she has taken whilst out and about both locally and further afield. Her images were grouped by subject and included trees, water, flowers and views. Misty sunrises and carpets of bluebells were followed by images taken on both club walks and her recent holiday in Scotland.
David Brookes, who has always had an interest in certain periods of Naval History, celebrated the 216th Anniversary of The Battle of Trafalgar. Every image had something to do with Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson including a colourful image of the inlet at Burnham Overy Staithe close to where Nelson was born and monochrome images of The Victory at Portsmouth and the black Italian marble Sarcophagus in the crypt at St Pauls.
Don Grundell selected two subjects for his presentation, abstract images of rust and peeling paint around Sharpness Docks were the first set, he finds the docks a really interesting area for creating different images. These were followed with landscapes taken on a recent holiday in St Ives and told us how he plucked up the courage to ask strangers if he could take their photograph.
Steve Varman concluded the evening with a short video showing members the club entry he has submitted to this year’s WCPF Kingswood Salver Competition.
Many thanks to all who took the time to select and present their photographs.
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THURSDAY 14th October 2021
All the Gear no Idea
Roger Hance FRPS AFIAP DPAGB BPE5*
Colchester based, award winning photographer Roger Hance definitely gave us numerous hints and tips on how to use our ‘gear’ when he gave his talk ‘All the Gear no Idea’ at our second zoom talk of the season.
Roger began the evening by telling us he would be showing a mixture of images made up from landscapes, sport and natural history and he split these subjects into separate sections throughout the presentation.
In his stunning landscapes on the Northumberland Coast, we saw the muted colours of beautiful sunrises at Low Hauxley and dramatic black and white seascapes at Rumbling Kern and Bamburgh. His experiment with in-camera double exposure images taken in The Peak District produced very different but very pleasing results, whilst the differing weather conditions of Snowdonia gave him either excellent colourful reflections or moody monochrome scenes. Taking us through extremely vivid action shots of Superbikes and Jet Skis, Roger explained in detail how he had achieved such crisp, sharp images which I am sure will help members who like to take fast-motion photographs. When ‘locked in’, because of wintery conditions, Roger made the most of a home made garden hide to photograph visiting birds. Starlings and blue tits made wonderful subjects on bird feeders, whilst wood pigeons and robins stood proud on the ground in the snow. Images taken in The Farne Isles gave us the opportunity to enjoy the seabirds on our coastal cliffs and islands. Although mainly known for their comical Puffins, Roger also managed to capture images of many other birds including arctic turns attacking other photographers and a black backed gull flying away with a Guillemot chick in its mouth. Other images included in the natural history sections were of butterflies, barn owls, water voles, seals and dippers. All in all the presentation had something for everyone both in content and ideas on how to use the ‘gear’ we own.
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THURSDAY 7th October 2021
A landscape photographer and the lockdown
Oliver Herbold
‘A landscape photographer and the lockdown’ was the title of the presentation given to us by Oliver Herbold. Although he was born and bred in Germany, Oliver now lives in Mitcheldean, Gloucestershire and has the Forest of Dean on his doorstep for his main photographic passion – landscapes. He began the evening by showing us landscapes and seascapes he had taken in and around Britain, Germany and The Netherlands.
Covid19 lockdown put an abrupt end to travel and so Oliver had to rethink what sort of images he could take. In his stock of lenses he had a macro lens that he rarely used, so decided to dust it off, jump out of his comfort zone and see what sort of results he could produce with it in his home studio. After setting up the tripod and camera, Oliver spent quite some time experimenting with different backgrounds, lighting and several small items until he was satisfied with the results he was achieving. I would describe his refraction images of flowers displayed in a single drop of water on a dandelion seed as stunning digital art! With lockdown partially lifted, Oliver was now able to visit local beauty spots and, with his drone, took several aerial shots in the Forest of Dean showing us remarkable images of the countryside we live in. The second part of the evening was taken up with astrophotography. He explained in great detail how he achieved images of the Milky Way sitting over May Hill and others mirroring the bend of the River Wye at Symonds Yat.
Oliver was happy to answer questions as the talk went on and was extremely willing to share the ‘secrets’ of how he captured the impressive number of images making up the two hour presentation.
Planning, practice, patience, a PC and plenty of time are just a few of the things we need as photographers to achieve the WOW factor images shown to us tonight.
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THURSDAY 30th SEPTEMBER
Opening Evening
What did you do in the Summer months?
After a survey was taken a few weeks ago, our opening evening of the new season took the same format as the first meeting of the 2020-2021 season – ZOOM. With everyone sat comfortably in their own homes our chairman, David Brookes, opened the meeting by welcoming everyone back and introducing existing members to two new members. Even though several people had met up during the summer months on walks organised by Diana Baker, it was good to see everyone back together again.
Under normal circumstances the first meeting would be the U-Judge print competition, but as the majority of members preferred to carry on with Zoom meetings for the time being an invite was sent to all members for them to show up to ten images of what they had been doing during the Summer months. There were twenty two members who were willing to show and share, which meant we were in for a really busy evening as there were over 200 photographs to be displayed. With the covid restrictions not being so strict as they were this time last year, several members were happy to be able to go on holiday, whilst others set themselves a project for the time they spent at home.
All in all, it was a most enjoyable and successful evening and as much as I would like to give each exhibitor a lengthy write up, I really don’t have the time and I’m sure you would all get fed up reading it! I will however say a big thank you, on behalf of the club, the following people who shared images of:
Diana Baker – a Vintage Car Rally held at Newark Park
Peter Whitfield – his 2021 project – Photography and Motion
Christine Wetton – a day trip to St Martins in the Scilly Isles
Brian Wetton – the pristine seas around St Agnes in the Scilly Isles
Lionel Jones – his garden taken with his new toy – a trail cam
David King – Silverstone, Northumberland and Forest of Dean Railway
Jane Martin – her Scottish holiday and the art trail at Portishead Marina
Jenny Fryer – her time in Scotland on the club holiday
Don Grundell – various unusual items and views in his local area
Steve White – just him, his rucksack and his tent in remote areas in Wales
Kerrin Malone – the most favourite places he would like to revisit
Steve Varman – his continuing ‘teabag’ project and new passion – infrared
Bill Beere – comparing the camera on his phone vs his ‘proper’ camera
Barbara Gibbons – her day trips and holidays throughout the year
Elizabeth Oakley – photographs taken around her home and on local walks
Christine Ryske – her time away in North Devon, Rutland Water and Wales
George Ryske – his time away at Symonds Yatt, Welland Valley and Wales
Joan Scott – local bluebells and the sculpture trail in The Forest of Dean
Christine Morgan – her ‘safari’ photographs of Ospreys at Rutland Water
Elizabeth Restall – days out in and around her local area
Claire Haynes – her recent holiday to the Norfolk Broads
David Brookes – his recent visit to Norfolk and the church at Salle
Welcome Back Everyone!