Presentation “My Portraiture Journey” – November 15th 2022

Terry Walters from Swindon Photographic Society gave an inspiring talk on his journey in portraiture photography with over 140 images of his work. Starting from Club photography sessions with models, he moved onto working with both amateur and professional models in a variety of locations including disused warehouses, ruined castles, reenactment events to beaches. His competitive nature and quest for different or unusual images takes him off the beaten track to find them and his work has gained wide recognition with just under 900 images accepted in international exhibitions gaining EFIAP, EPSA and BPE2 accreditation.

 

A variety of lighting set ups were covered ranging from natural light in both indoor and outdoor settings through to stroboscopic lighting to achieve the desired effects against challenging backgrounds. Guidelines and protocols for working with models were outlined along with the pros and cons of working with amateur v professional models and also being able to handle unexpected moments which were the subject of several anecdotes.

 

When Terry arranges a model shoot he takes along his “props box” which provides a never ending range of items to adorn the models and create the exact image that he is looking for.  Props ranged from clothing items, smoke grenades and imitation firearms to name but a few. 

 

A selection of prints were displayed during the interval which members could examine up close and fully appreciate their quality.

DPIC Evening – November 1st 2022

The slideshow produced by the Western Counties Photographic Federation of the top entries into their 2022 annual digital projected images competition was viewed and featured entries from the top 10 clubs across the region and the overall winning entries. Over 100 images were viewed spanning many photographic genres and as expected the quality of images was impressive with many having been taken around the globe in some exotic locations.

The travel theme was continued after the interval when we viewed a recorded lecture by Sue O’Connell entitled “Travels in Mongolia”. This described the visits Sue and her husband made to the Altay mountains in the far west of the country, where they spent time with the eagle hunters and attended the annual Eagle Hunting Festival, followed by travelling to the Gobi desert in the south. Over the 45 minutes Sue gave a great insight into the main characteristics of Mongolian culture, their way of life, cuisine, customs and particularly the strong relationship and mutual dependence upon their livestock to survive the very harsh and unforgiving environment.

Prints Exhibition – August 13th – 27th 2022

For a two week period we will exhibit the prints submitted to our Annual Competition in the Royal Wootton Bassett library. The images on display will cover three competition categories; Action; Open and Portrait. In addition the projected images for the same categories will be displayed as a slideshow.

Visitors will not only have the chance to see the work of our Club members but also vote for their favourite image and sign our Visitors Book. Members of the Club will be present during Saturdays and Wednesdays which tend to be the busiest days.

So come along, see our work and find out more about the Club’s activities. Our new season starts on September 6th and we meet in the Ballroom at The Angel Hotel, RWB.

Tuition Evening – April 19th 2022

A small group assembled at The Angel for our first tuition evening which focused on increasing familiarity and use of different camera settings to produce more creative images.  Having looked at the Exposure Triangle and the limitations that operating on auto-mode, where the camera makes all the decisions on what settings will be used, we then dived deeper into the impact of ISO; Shutter Speed and Aperture to explore when they should be used and what effect they had on the resulting image.
A wide array of cameras had been brought along with all the major brands represented and including a couple of mirrorless models. Despite the difference in nomenclatures between different manufacturers, we were able to navigate through the various programme modes and their impact.  Discussions moved onto lenses and how and when different focal length lenses are used depending upon the subject matter chosen. I think it’s fair to say that we all learned a little more about the functionality of our cameras and hopefully have gone away with some areas and concepts to explore further.

Summer Photoshoot #3 – July 20th 2021

Our third summer photoshoot took place at The Lawns in the old town area of Swindon. The Lawns is a large park area of 50 acres and was formerly part of the Goddard estate. It was also the site of Swindon’s original parish church – Holy Rood – which nowadays just has a couple of arches remaining. It also features two lakes, woodland, the remains of an Italian sunken garden and a small part of the original house has a number of trails. The woodlands in particular have some very impressive, mature trees.

The park has a relaxing atmosphere and this combined with the early evening heat probably explained the lethargy that some members felt as they searched out new and interesting viewpoints for images. Whilst no-one felt they had managed to capture any competition worthy images, nevertheless acquaintances were renewed and we managed some exercise in the process.

.The Lawns 4 The Lawns 3 The Lawns 5

Summer Competition – September 7th 2021

As part of our 40th Anniversary celebrations held over from last year, we are holding a digital image competition which is open to the public. Entry is free and the winning image will receive a £25 gift voucher. Both the winning entry and runner up will qualify for a year’s free membership of the Club

SUMMER COMPETITION RULES

General

  1. A maximum of 3 entries per photographer will be accepted.
  2. The deadline for submission is midnight on August 24th 2021
  3. Only those entries submitted by the published deadline will be eligible for entry into the competition.
  4. There are no time limits regarding the age of a photograph for the competition.
  5. ​In all cases, the original image(s) must have been taken using a photographic process and be the sole copyright of the entrant. Any modification of the original image must be made by the author or under his/her personal direction.
  6. ​The use of clip-art, downloaded textures, or elements from any other photographer’s images is not permitted
  7. The Judge’s decision is final.

Submission

  1. The preferred method of submission is by email to the address competitions@WoottonBassettCameraClub.org.uk.
  2. The images should be file attachments to an email, not inline or embedded in the email.
  3. A confirmation email will be sent to confirm receipt of each member’s entries. If no response is received within 24 hours, please contact Robert Slade at robertsladeuk@gmail.com.
  4. Emails must not be larger than 10MB total size.
  5. Entries larger than 10MB may be submitted via Dropbox (www.dropbox.com) sent to the above email address.

Format

  1. Images should be submitted as a file in JPEG format with a maximum size of 1920px wide and 1080 px high, so portrait images should be no more than 1080px high.

Identification

  1. Entries should be identified by naming each file with your submission number (1,2,3) followed by an underscore “_” (NOT a hyphen “-“), your name, another underscore, followed by the title of the image. Please do not use underscores in the name of the competition or the title.

For example: 1_John Smith_A Nice Picture.jpg

  1. File names which do not conform to this format will be rejected.

 

Summer Outing – July 11th 2021

This year’s annual summer trip was to the Severn Valley Railway (SVR) and was lightly attended with the numbers not justifying the hire of a coach, as had been the case in previous years.

We are usually blessed with fine sunny weather for our annual outing but with a leaden sky we journeyed to Kidderminster more in hope than expectation. However, the day remained dry with sunny spells but quite high humidity. The SVR train timetables had been reduced due to covid measures and attendees were allocated a dedicated carriage seat for the day. This meant that journey planning became more important as it was not possible to hop-on and hop-off at each station.  So we boarded the 11 am Explorer service heading to Bridgnorth with firm plans in mind.

The riverside walk along the Severn pathway from Arley to the next station at Highly sounded attractive but proved to take much longer than expected and therefore missing the onward connecting train to Bridgnorth. So much for the firm plans in place and in desperation a taxi was summoned to complete the outbound journey.

Bridgnorth offered a number of photographic and refreshment opportunities before boarding the 4.20 pm train back to Kidderminster. As we walked back to the car park, the heavens opened but once again we had been fortunate with the weather.

20210711_170345 F 20210711_160447 F Taw Valley Loco

Annual Prints Exhibition – August 17th to 31st 2019

In what has become a long established event, we will hold our annual exhibition of prints in the Royal Wootton Bassett library during the last two weeks of August . Over 30 prints will be on display showcasing the variety of images that Club members produce.

Admission is free and there is an opportunity to vote for your favourite print and also record any comments in the Visitors Book.

The exhibition will be open during library hours and members will be on hand to provide further information on the display and the activities of the Club during weekend opening.

Annual Prints Exhibition – August 11th – 25th 2018

Our annual Exhibition of prints is underway in the Royal Wootton Bassett library and runs for a two week period. A small display is positioned in the library foyer with the main display in the open space area near the desk top pcs.

Foyer display

Foyer display

The display features entries into the Annual Competition and spans three categories; Action; Open and Portrait. There is a Visitors Book in which people can record their comments on the display and also some voting slips where members of the public can vote for their favourite picture.

Main Display

Main Display

The Town Crier, Owen Collier, gave us a resounding verbal announcement to start the exhibition and will repeat his ‘cries’ on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

The Town Crier

The Town Crier

In addition to the display of images, there is further information about the Camera Club and its programme for the forthcoming season. Also Club members will periodically be on hand to answers questions and provide further information as required.

Entrance is free and please take the opportunity to see our work and learn more about the Club and what it offers.

Chairman’s BBQ – August 5th 2018

In what is becoming an annual event, the Chairman invited Club members to his residence in leafy Gloucestershire for a barbecue. The sun beat down throughout the afternoon and those attending were able to enjoy a very pleasant combination of great food and lively conversation. The Chairman donned his apron and cooked the food to perfection, although a rather blackened sausage ended up as afternoon treat for one of the dogs.

Everyone relaxed, enjoyed the view of the garden and did their best to consume most of the extensive spread on offer, thus helping to avoid the Chairman dining on barbecued food for the following week.

Many thanks to Adam and Anne for their kindness and excellent hospitality.