The Club started the New Year with an evening that allowed members to share their images and engage in general discussions on photographic topics of interest.  But before that a quiz was held with 30 questions on different photographic topics ranging from the straightforward to more obscure facts and figures. No-one achieved a maximum score but the results were tightly grouped and everyone learned something new in the process.

After the quix, Adam showed some images including opportunistic shots of “retired” Boeing 747s at Kemble airfield whilst passing by along with a miscellany of local Christmas images including our photoshoot of the RWB Christmas lights. This was followed by Jim with some multistacked images of plants, Autumn themed shots and stiched panoramas of local landscapes. Dave then shared images of puffins taken on the Farne Islands both in flight and proudly displaying their catch of fish. The evening concluded with some images by Peter taken at the Longleat Light Festival and of a scatty cockerpoo off the leash. Thanks to all those who shared their images and a Happy New Year to all the Club’s members.

Our second competition of the season was judged on Zoom by Laura Pearce from Yeovil Camera Club. Laura’s critiques of the images were straight to the point and she gave an array of suggestions on how improvements could be made to enhance the final result. Her feedback was well received and attendees took away plenty of ideas to explore. Attempts at adopting different approaches, perspective and techniques were encouraged, especially where such actions contributed to and extended the context and narrative portrayed by the image. Her general comment about “bringing out the light” encapsulates the very essence of photography and served as an ongoing reminder and challenge to us all.

The winning projected image was a landscape “Storm clouds over Coniston Hills 2” by Adam Kowalczyk

with “Mutual preening” from Jim Bullock in second place

and “Organ Loft” by Nigel Bailey in third place.

Clive Greenland from Corsham Camera Club gave a Zoom talk entitled  ” What the judges are looking for, ” which is a topic that intrigues us all and invokes a range of opinions and discussions.

After introducing himself and describing his photographic experience, Clive outlined some of the general challenges faced when judging images. Open subject competitions in particular tend to be more difficult to judge than themed competitions where a closer agreement can be reached and less subjectivity exists.  He then described the 10 key elements that he considered to be the systematic basis for assesing an image and forming a rational judgement on its photographic merits. Each element was illustrated with images to reinforce the importance and contribution that it made.

Some questions were raised around consistency in judging approaches and how the judge’s personal preferences could be controlled. The evening concluded with Clive showing a series of  wildlife and aviation images to further reinforce the points made previously. Plenty of food for thought as our next competition submission deadline was imminent.

A dozen or so members joined the call and were able to see a selection of the WCPF Digital Projected Competition images that had been judged in the early part of the year and assembled into a slide show. Nearly 50 clubs across the region had entered and each club had submitted 18 images for judging. Unfortunately a transgression of one of the rules meant that our Club’s score had been reduced and our position affected accordingly.

Following this, a selection of the winning images at the 2020 Southampton International Exhibition of Photography were shown. This event was in its 107^th year and attracted 1200 entries from 45 countries. Firstly the three print sections of mono, colour and nature were viewed. The evening concluded with around 90 projected images in open, nature and landscape categories. There were many stunning images which hopefully have encouraged and provided new subjects and techniques for members to experiment with.

Several members took this opportunity to show and discuss some of their work. Adam got the ball rolling by sharing his collection of “photo-a-day” images which he started at the beginning of the year. Unfortunately some health issues intervened during the summer so he was disappointingly not able to maintain the project. Thereafter Dave G highlighted the usefulness of a couple of Topaz software programmes – deNoise and Mask which he found particularly useful to speedily edit his bird images without the need to spend long periods at the computer.

After a break Tony gave a presentation on his lockdown walks around the Wootton Bassett countryside area and the images he had been able to capture in the process. This was followed by  some images from a recent visit to Salisbury cathedral by Peter. Jim rounded off the evening with three sets of images featuring some humorous cutlery shots, carefully captured images of an agility dog traversing a see-saw and a creative composition, courtesy of Photoshop. All contributers were thanked and it proved to be a full and informative evening.

Our first Open competition of the new season was conducted on Zoom Meetings and judged by Ian Hosker from the Sidmouth Photographic Club.

Ian primarily looked for both technical execution and impact of the images and the balance and interaction between the two. He gave a detailed critique of each image which was accompanied by some suggestions on what effect and contribution might have been achieved by adopting a different viewpoint, framing and cropping to further enhance the image. He had a sharp eye for detail and his comments were positive and insightful, giving authors plenty of ideas to ponder and try out.

Congratulations to Jim Bullock for his inventive and well executed winning entry entitled “Shadow hatching”

Shadow hatching

Despite rather sparse attendance, a number of inventive and imaginative self portraits  were shared by the attendees on the Zoom call.

Several techniques had been used to create images including the use of props, costumes and a range of processing methods. These ranged from basic image enhancement through to more extensive image manipulation using PhotoShop.

The exercise provided a good opportunity to dust down the tripod, find the remote cable release, reacquaint with our selfie sticks and explore different lighting conditions both indoors and outdoors.

After viewing the images, Jim Bullock showed some animal portraits that he had recently taken at a local wildlife park and the evening finished with a couple of examples of a series of images that had a connecting theme. This could be a good exercise for later on in the season when members have had sufficient time to obtain 6 – 8 images with a common narrative.

We joined with Warrington Camera Club to hear Rod Sloane present his unique and engaging ideas and images of cycle racing for which he has an enduring passion. Although Rod only became fully engaged with his cycling photographic activities a couple of years ago, he had progressed a long way in a short space of time. He outlined various approaches to pursue and emphasised the importance of accreditation to gain inside access to events for enhanced image taking opportunites.

Categorising himself as an enthusiastic photographer, wherever possible Rod tries to tell a story through his images, capturing not only the action but the emotion of the occasion and the spirt of human endeavour.  He is a very active participant and advocate of Instagram as an important way to share images, engage with a wider audience and selling some images.

He started his talk by outlining that his objectives were to educate; inspire and entertain and he ticked all the boxes

Professor Paul Welham-Clarke shared details of a number of photographic projects that he had embarked upon throughout his career of over 30 years. He combines teaching photography as well as being a practicing professional photographer and had been active in many different areas ranging from Industrial, Commercial, Portrait and Photo-documentaries. His most recent work had focused on major documentary projects with  strong social and environmental themes and current UK issues and are often produced in partnership with a charity.

His work has been widely publicised through various exhibitions and he has received numerous awards. Paul has a strong desire to communicate with the public on subjects that he feels passionate about including homelessness, deaths on our highways and most recently the impact of genetic conditions upon sibling relationships.

His imaginative and thought provoking images were a pleasure to experience.

We continued our adoption of Zoom Meetings to view a medley of highly impressive monochrome and colour images that had been submitted from across the globe. The genres covered included Nature, Open and Travel and the task of identifying award winners must have been a tremendous challenge to the judging committees.

Many images prompted exchanges of views on the composition and processing techniques which had been utilised to achieve the end result. The levels of creativity and interpretation of subject matter will no doubt have stimulated many areas to explore.