Our traditional portrait evening, co-ordinated by Bob Hoare is always a popular meeting, where members can hone their portraiture skills, try out different equipment, and experiment with lighting.

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This year, we had Niamh as our main model, as well as two dogs as special guests for the first half. We had three stage set ups, each with different lighting and backdrops, and one had a special wifi flash set-up, brought in by Pony LRPS. This is a device that connects to your camera hot-shoe, and automatically fires the lash when you press the shutter, making for perfect lighting every time.

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Compared to the lovely and co-operative Niamh, the fidgety dogs were a little more tricky to photograph- they definitely led credence to the saying of never working with animals or children!  That said, Little Poppy, a 6 month old guide dog puppy-in-training, eventually demonstrated her good manners and held some beautiful poses.

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We look forward to seeing the results from the evening at our photo sharing evening next Monday, 19th February.

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Our first meet of the new year was a fun new activity for a somewhat cold and dreary January evening. The Guess the Subject concept had members submit photos of objects or places from unusual angles, and have the club try and guess what they are.

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While some things were easy, others were a complete mystery! The club had a good time calling out possible answers- both silly and serious- and frequently the subjects lead to interesting conversation about the places or photographic equipment used.

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All in all, it was a pleasant way to start the year, and will probably become a staple meeting in future seasons.

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The club’s second field trip took place on December 3rd to photograph the Christmas lights of Chichester. The weather wasn’t ideal however the recent rain provided the evening with extra opportunities to capture reflections of the lights on the wet pavement, cobbles and in the puddles. Members used both traditional cameras and camera phones with good success and everyone decided to “hand hold” rather than be hampered by tripods as they sought out interesting angles and viewpoints as they walked around.  

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A good variety of subjects could be found on the streets, side alleyways and shop windows around the town centre. Members found the evening very informative as they practiced what they already learned, but also explored new things and features such as exposure compensation which to helped control the highlights of the lights. It was great to see the effects of trying different white balance settings to bring out the different colours and warmth in the variety of lights on display. 

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Practical events like this are a great opportunity to push both the limits of your camera and skill. It's also a great way to work together with other photographers, whether that's getting help with your camera settings, or getting inspiration to try something new.

The next field trip is planned for February 2024 but as yet a firm date and topic is yet to be decided upon. It will once again provide another occasion to practice and perhaps learn or try something new with your camera or camera phone.

The club annual tabletop evening is a great chance to try something a bit different. With thanks to Dave Johnson and his vast collection of bits and pieces, and a variety of backgrounds and light sources, we had a huge array of items to get creative with!

We set up a number of tables around the hall for people to work from, and extra tables with more items to choose from.

With so many little things to play with it was difficult to know where to start! The black reflective tiles- which Dave has used in a number of winning league entries- were popular, providing a deep, clean background and capturing beautiful reflections. Reflections were also a theme with the number of interesting glass objects- with shapes that captured and inverted the coloured backgrounds in different ways. Joan brought in a very nifty light box, which could light things up from below, leading to all sorts of creative effects, including an interesting almost under-the-microscope look. 'Mediative stone stacking' is quite the in thing at the moment, and a number of people tried to capture this in photographic form, stacking up pebbles and shells in piles or towers. Adding little people to these stacks made for some cute dioramas!

Relaxed, practical evenings like this are a great opportunity to focus on one idea, expanding upon it as you reorganise and adjust your layout, or they can be perfect those the indecisive types, who want to try out a lot of different concepts in one evening. It's also a fun chance to work together with other photographers, whether that's getting help with your camera settings, or lowkey stealing their ideas! 

At our next evening, having had a chance to fiddle around with post-processing, we shared our results, which you can see some of below. Many thanks to Dave Johnson for lending his brilliant collection of little things, and for those who sent in images to share. Much appreciated as always, and if you have more to share, please drop them in our Facebook group.

Our next meeting will be a night walk around Selsey on the 13th November - assuming it is not flooded! We will be in touch with further details, so keep an eye on your emails.

With the sun hanging low in the hazy October sky, six club members ventured out into the wilds of Petworth Park to track down some deer. No stalking skills necessary here- they were immediately right in front of us! For the first club field trip of the year, field trip secretary David Richardson led us out for a seasonal photographic favourite- the annual deer rut. 

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At Petworth Park there are between 700 and 800 fallow deer, and being well habituated they make excellent photographic subjects. During the annual rut, the bucks show off their prowess to the does by bellowing, pawing the ground, and fighting. Not only is this a dramatic sight to witness, with potential for lots of action and fierce antler combat, but it is a great opportunity to practice a variety of camera skills.

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Our first bucks appeared shortly after we arrived, in the area of denser trees just beside the car park. Being in shadow, this offered a chance for our newer members to practice using their cameras in lower light, trying out different ISO settings and manual focusing.

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We then followed the distant bellows down the valley, to find a large herd grazing, resting, and getting up to mischief in the shade of several oak trees. Amid the does and younger bucks, several huge bucks were marking out their harems with bellows that echoed over the parklands. Some members approached with the sun behind them, to get some beautiful shots lit by the soft, early morning light, while others made their way into the light, seeking dramatic antler silhouttes. I was fortunate enough to catch a couple of bucks sparring, sizing each other up and repeatedly locking antlers in battle.

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Eventually, we all met up under some large trees, which offered a good spot from which to capture the action. With our silhouettes masked by the trees, we could watch and photograph the deer without disturbing them, which led to some some behaviour shots of buck-doe interactions, including my favourite shot of the day- a flemen response (a specific gurn performed by many male animals when courting females.)  

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As the sun rose higher and the deer began to settle down to rest, some members went for a short walk down to one of the lakes, capturing many seasonal delights such as mushrooms, sweet chestnuts, and turning leaves. A nice sit down, cup of tea, and biscuits provided by Sue rounded the trip off nicely.

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Thank you to all the members that joined us, I hope you enjoyed all it as much as I did and we would love to see your trip photos on our next photo sharing evening on 30th October.
 

This week we had a new style of meeting, drawing on the expertise from three of our most experienced members.

First, David Richardson shared some of his editing secrets with a varied selection of Original and Final shots. We learned how he decides what he wants from a photo, and how he draws this out the best with judicious editing, even when taken in less than ideal conditions. With thorough information on the settings used for each shot, this was a great presentation for those of us just getting into manual photography and editing. It's amazing how removing a blade of grass or a subtle vignette can make so much difference to the impact of a subject. Although some of the more complex edits may take some practice, some simple things like the vignettes can easily be added on most editing software and is definitely worth having a go!

Second up, Tony Storey took us on a 60 year journey through his love of train photography, from the earliest shot at Crewe station in 1963, to people having a good time re-enacting the war years in more recent times. He showed us some historic engines, like the Flying Scotsman, and occasions such as the 'farewell party' of a steam train heading off on its last journey before being transported to Australia. He also described how he tries to capture the human side of train infrastructure, with intimate interactions between rail staff. Finally, we saw some classic, beautiful scenic train photos, with steam and smoke rising through sunbeams and frost, and my favourite photo of the evening, a magnificently detailed silhouette.

After the interval, Pony Moore LRPS took us on a different kind of journey, as he charted his progression to his dream job as a sports photographer. As well as showing us how his style and skill developed over the years, he shared the ups and downs of making contacts in the industry, never letting uncooperative gate-keepers stop him pursuing his dream. He also shared some tips on how to find the best spot to capture the action pitch side, and how to tidy up the often 'messy' shots to make them palatable from competition judges! (Mostly toning down the inevitable pitch-side whites and getting faces in shot- unless they are in the crowd!) Not being a sports fan, it was enlightening to hear the stories behind some of his competition shots, and how much of a challenge it can be to capture just the right moment!

No matter your photographic interest, there was something for everyone to take away from the evening, whether it was how to set an editing goal, how to maintain a passion over decades, or how to never give up in the face of an obstacle!

Our next meeting is on the 16th October, and it is a club favourite- the table top session, kindly supplied by Dave Johnson, an extremely talented and creative still life photographer. I hope to see you there!

Our second club meeting of the season was a critique evening. Critiquing looks at the different elements of a photo, and how to make editing or compositional changes to get the best out of it. For those new to photography or looking to win competitions, this sort of exercise is very useful as it allows you to take a step back from your favourite shots and see it from another point of view. Maybe you won't immediately see those white spots on the edges, but judges certainly do!

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We had eight members submit photos for critique, so we were able to look at three images for each. Our expert panel consisted of Pony Moore LRPS, (Tryptich winner 2023)  David Richardson (Print of the Year winner 2023), and Andrew Kendon (Club PDI League winner 2023.)

One recurring theme was the joys of cropping, which has come up repeatedly in judged competitions. Frequently, we get attached to a particular bit of sky or beach, without considering whether it actually adds to the image as a whole.  One tip shared was to take these areas of a photo in isolation, and see if it is an interesting shot in it's own right. If not, get rid of it! Sometimes just cropping these parts out will immediately improve an image.

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We learnt about how to deal with the challenge of white birds like swans, by exposing for the highlights to retain detail in those beautiful white feathers. After the expert opinions, we took to the audience for comments, 'crowdsourcing' creative ideas that otherwise may have not occurred in the original instance. Although I personally cannot get behind having a 'stock red coat' to paste willy nilly into images, there were certainly some interesting ideas to work on, and sometimes it is fun to just try something different! 

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It was also just a pleasure to see everyone's photos. I know many people join a club in order to share photos with each other, and this is something you can do at any time in our club facebook group. If you haven't yet joined, look us up at www.facebook.com/groups/selseycameraclub, and feel free to post for more critique, or just to share.

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As this was hoped to be an educational event, we were pleased that several members went home and worked on their images to reflect the feedback, as you can see in our before and after slideshow below. Fantastic work everyone!

Our next meeting on Monday 2nd October will consist of three talks from members on their different photography styles. Whether you are into landscapes, wildlife, or action portraits, you'll be able to learn a lot from their experience! Hope to see you all there!

With a warm welcome to both our returning members, and plenty of new faces, this meeting kicked of the season with a series of delightful photo presentations from several of our members. 

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Andrew took us around Portsmouth historic docks, and displayed his eclectic collection of 'mix and match' shots. Tony took us to Aberystwyth and shared his passion for trains with some shots of different steam trains. Sue showed us a few beautiful landscapes and cloudscapes, and Helen took us on a quest to find zebras in the Namibian desert.

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After a short break and some tea and biscuits, Vicky took us back to our spring season with her photos from our field trip to Westdean Gardens, and Bob showed us what he captures as the official photographer for the local bowls club, with a couple of his famous foxes thrown in for good measure. To round up the evening, Martin shared many things he had seen in his garden over the summer, including some fabulous closeups of the 'super blue moon', and Pony displayed some of his sports photos, and shared some tips on how to get the best out of them for competitions.

I hope you will all agree that the presentations demonstrated the huge range of photographic styles we have represented in our club, and have inspired you to go out and photographe the things you love!  We are all looking forward to seeing our potential new members back at our next evening, for three fascinating in-depth talks from our members on their different photography styles and subjects.

Our final meeting of the season was the AGM, in which we discussed how the past year went and the future of the club. Although it has been a difficult year for membership, thanks to everyone’s support, it looks like we'll be heading for another full programme next season.

Having conducted a member’s survey for the first time this year, we feel that the new programme will have plenty to interest new and old members alike. After the formalities came the pleasure of awarding the club trophies to the winners of the various competitions over the year.

(The awarding of the club trophies by Club President Joan Taylor can be viewed in the slideshow below). 

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Finally, we came to the last competition of the year- the triptych competition. In contrast to previous years, it was a DPI only competition this year, so members were treated to a slide show of different triptychs. If you don’t know, a triptych is a set of three linked images, either by theme or subject.  We had sixteen entries, and votes were cast by each member for their first, second and third preference. With such a variety of subjects and styles, it was difficult to choose!

After completing and submitting the score sheets from each member the scores were entered and totalled on the Chairman's laptop and the following results announced :-

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Triptych Results  

Winner      NIGHT SKY by Pony Moore LRPS

2nd Place EXPERT DELIVERY by Tony Storey

3rd Place  A400 UP AND AWAY by Dick Read

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For first place, Pony was awarded the beautiful Peter Clark Trophy.  Well done Pony.

It was a lovely relaxed end to the season, with plenty of time for members to chat and hopefully make plans for their photography goals over the summer. We hope to see you all in September, refreshed and ready for the new league competition and much more!

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Just a "Baker's Dozen" (including 2 visitors) attended the end of season Print and PDI of the Year competition to review and choose their top three favourites from the 27 prints (awarded 9, 9.5 or 10 points in the club league competitions) and 55 PDIs (awarded 9.5 or 10 in the club league and themed competitions). 

They were rewarded with appraising a top selection of the members' work and spent their time before the beverage break reviewing the prints and a rather longer time time after the break reviewing the PDIs displayed on a television.

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After completing and submitting the score sheets for each section the scores were entered and totalled on the Chairman's laptop and the following results announced :-

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Print Results

Winner        SPEEDY SPANIEL by David Richardson                         

2nd Place   RED SQUIRREL RUNNING by David Richardson           

3rd Place    DAMESELFLY ON SEED HEAD by David Richardson     

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PDI Results

Joint Winner  DRAWING PINS IN DROP OF WATER by Dave Johnson

Joint Winner  PUFFIN by Marc Read

3rd Place       KINGFISHER ARRIVAL by David Richardson

Congratulations to Dave Johnson, Marc Read - ooh and of course David Richardson!

The 4th and final round of our club league competition was judged by Steve Kirkby with club members from both "Advanced" and "Intermediate" leagues in attendance.

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Prints and PDI entries from both leagues were carefully reviewed by Steve and given scores to provide the final league totals for the season and thus revealing the winners of the 4 leagues as follows:-

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ADVANCED LEAGUE

PDI      David Richardson

Print    David Richardson

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INTERMEDIATE LEAGUE

PDI     Andrew Kendon

Print   Bob Hoare

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All of the competition scores and a gallery of all PDI images entered can be viewed HERE.

Perhaps, due to the need to a late change of date for this photo shoot (due to the Coronation), we should not have been surprised that only 6 members plus 1 guest turned up for this event. Those who did attend were rewarded with a glorious Spring day and a very interesting and varied experience whilst exploring the delights of the West Dean Gardens estate. 

Major attractions include West Dean College, Victorian Glasshouses, a Walled Kitchen Garden, an Edwardian Pergola, an Arboretum & Orchard plus a large area of Parkland containing many ewes and lambs - what else would a photographer need?  With so many photo opportunities available we were really looking forward to reviewing 6 sets of photos in the event's follow-up club meeting due in 16 days time.  

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Moving forward 16 days to the club review night - we hit further snags - only photo contributions from 3 of the event attendees were available mostly due to sickness.  In a last minute rescue act two club members, Helen & Angela Burton, arrived with photos taken during a visit made that day to West Dean Gardens - meeting saved!  We had a really good evening enjoying a varied set of images and spotting the changes at the venue between the 2 trip days such as the flowering of the worm-like cactus and the different state of various plant beds.  We were also treated to images from other events from Tony Storey (showing 2 Watercress Line events) and Dave Johnson (showing some of his still life and observation images). 

A selection of these images is shown below:- 

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Club members who gathered to witness the judging of our third themed competition of the season "Nature & Wildlife" were treated to a most interesting evening viewing of the 60 entries from 12 members.  Our judge for the competition, an old friend - Jon Mitchell, gave his usual balanced critique for each image and offered suggestions on how some of them might be improved - regularly commenting on unfortunate midday lighting which causes less than ideal shadows. As usual with wildlife images he was looking for demonstrations of animal behaviour and rewarded that with high scores. He held back more than a dozen of his favourite entries for further examination before awarding marks for each.

The 3 images that were awarded the maximum score showed a variety of subjects - a pair of herons in flight, a low level golden hour portrait of a little stint and a charming image of a pair of fox cubs.  He chose the last of these to be the competition winner.

Details of images which were awarded the maximum score are as follows:- 

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SIBLINGS by Bob Hoare (Adjudged the winner of the competition and the Paul Ubsdell Wildlife Trophy)

LITTLE STINT by Marc Read

HERONS IN FLIGHT by David Richardson

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All of the competition scores and a gallery of all images entered can be viewed HERE.

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This week it was Selsey’s turn to host the annual DPI battle with Middleton and Witterings Camera Clubs for the MSW Shield. We hosted this special event at Selsey Town Hall, and happily we were filled to capacity with members from all three clubs.

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Our judge, Paul O’Toole, was on great form, amusing us with his commentary despite having to judge on the dreaded six to ten full range. As always, comments were insightful and instructive.

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At half time we all enjoyed a delicious spread of sandwiches, sausage rolls, quiches, and cupcakes, thoughtfully provided by Selsey club members. We also held a raffle, with lucky winners taking home an enormous cake, wine and an assortment of other prizes.

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We had a remarkable collection of photos from all three clubs - nature, landscape, portraits, and photographic art all had representation. The standard was extremely high, and the final marks saw all three clubs razor close to the win. Happily, (for us) a couple of tens awarded to held back images from Dave Johnson and David Richardson gave us the lead by just half a mark. This broke Middleton’s six year winning streak and gave us our first club win since 2003! David Richardson’s image ‘Horned Ghost Crab (Ocypode Ceratophalmus)’ was also noted as the judge’s favourite, which was quite the commendation considering the competition.

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With huge thanks to our members for contributing food, raffle prizes, images, and organisation time to pull off this great event, and we hope to see you all defending our win next year!

The third round of our 2022/23 season club league competition was judged by Michael Warren with club members from both "Advanced" and "Intermediate" leagues in attendance.

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Prints and PDI entries from both leagues were carefully reviewed by Michael, constructive criticism and advice was given for each image and scores were awarded to add to the league totals for the season. 

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Details of images which were awarded maximum points (10) are as follows:- 

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ADVANCED LEAGUE

HORNED GHOST CRAB (OCYPODE CERATOPHALMUS) by David Richardson

INDIVIDUAL FLAIR by Pony Moore LRPS

DRY LEAF by Dave Johnson

NUTHATCH by Marc Read

BLACK HEADED GULL by David Richardson

BRITANNIA by Tony Storey

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INTERMEDIATE LEAGUE

DUNE BUGGY by Helen Burton

INDONESIAN FISHING CAT by Bob Hoare

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The current league tables can be downloaded by clicking the buttons at the bottom of the website "HOME" page.

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All of the competition scores and a gallery of all images entered can be viewed HERE.

As always after our portrait evening, the subsequent meeting was for the members to show off our images.

As we reviewed the images, some photographers talked though how they achieved different edits for their photos, which offers the opportunity to discover new techniques.

We had images in black and white, with bold saturation and contrast, and classic, beautifully exposed portraits. Despite everyone having seen the same models, it seemed every member brought something of their own style to their images, which is one of the joys of being part of a photography club.

The second round of our 2022/23 season club league competition was judged by Tim West FRPS with club members from both "Advanced" and "Intermediate" leagues in attendance.

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Prints and PDI entries from both leagues were carefully reviewed by Tim, constructive criticism and advice was given for each image and scores were awarded to add to the league totals for the season. 

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Details of images which were awarded maximum points (10) are as follows:- 

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ADVANCED LEAGUE

LEAPING WARBLER by Marc Read

MUM'S BEEN PLAYING RUGBY by Pony Moore LRPS

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INTERMEDIATE LEAGUE

SUN DIAL by Andrew Kendon

CURIOUS by Bob Hoare

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The current league tables can be downloaded by clicking the buttons at the bottom of the website "HOME" page.

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All of the competition scores and a gallery of all images entered can be viewed HERE.

This week the club held their classic portraiture evening, where members can come along and have a go at studio-style photography. People can be difficult to photograph, often moving or shy, so this is a good chance to practice on some willing models!

Members had rustled up enough lights and backgrounds to set up three mini studios, and we had two lovely models to sit for us, Bob and Lynn.

Capturing good portraits is a challenge for many photographers, so this evening is an opportunity to just snap away, and try out different settings and lighting effects. Some newer members were concetrating on getting that well-lit, perfectly exposed headshot, while others were experimenting with the light and shadow, to get those moodier art-shots.

Bob and Lynn were excellent models, taking position requests and posing patiently for us.

As always, it was a fun evening and a chance to do something a bit different. With thanks to Bob Hoare for organising and co-coordinating the event, our models Bob and Lynn, and the members who kindly lent their studios setups for the evening.

For the first club meeting of 2023, we were treated to a visual stroll through the diversity of British wildlife with Brian Helman. After telling us about his life as a naturalist, progressing from collecting butterflies to photography, he showed us photos of some of the 160 species he recorded in his garden during lockdown.

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Brian has all the hallmarks of a passionate naturalist, finding value in the simple experience of being in nature. This is reflected in his photos- beautiful captures of a vast variety of wildlife and behaviour, which demonstrate the rewards that can be earned through the quiet observation and patience. As an enthusiastic wildlife photography myself, I particularly related to his honest descriptions of the challenge to get ‘the shot’ just right, particularly with flying insects!

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After a tea break, he took us on a virtual tour of some of his favourite photography sites- Knepp Estate in Sussex, and Skomer Island in Wales. As a fairly local site, Knepp’s rewilding project is known to several of our members, and is becoming a first class place for wildlife and photography. Brian’s photos here illustrated the different merits of ‘on the hoof’ shots, and shots setup from hides installed by their resident photographer, David Plummer. From Skomer, we were treated to delightful photos of some of the islands famous avian characters- after all, who could not be charmed by puffins!

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He ended with a wonderful story about finding and photographing a purple emperor butterfly at Eartham Wood- a particularly good story for those of us who know the frustrations of trying to find a particular species, only to be constantly distracted by other unexpected rare and beautiful things!

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It was wonderful to hear from someone with so much love for their subject, and I’m sure it has added several places to the group members’ ‘must visit’ lists. As a long-term member of Manhood Wildlife and Heritage Group, the overriding message from Brian and his photography was to take care of the natural world around us. Just sitting and enjoying nature will never fail to satisfy, and of course, you never know what you might see out and about!       Thank you Brian!

Due to the inclement wintery weather and a spike of flu amongst club members the attendance at our regular pre-Christmas "It's a Knockout" print competition was sadly limited to a "Magnificent Seven". This attendance handicap did not, however, dim the spirits of the lucky few members who were tasked to vote through their favoured images to another round - the benefit of an odd number on the voting panel enabling each decision to be firmly resolved.  

As the competing pairs of images were expertly displayed by our Treasurer Andrew Kendon, many of the entries were familiar to the judges from previous competitions. When comparing fireworks against a swan family or a nativity scene against aerobatic aircraft or foxes against still life flowers, choosing a preferred image to advance to the next round could often prove difficult.

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By chance the 2 semi-final jousts pitched together a pair of still life flowers (both by Dave Johnson) and images of a fox and a cathedral (both by Bob Hoare).ensuring that each entrant would reach the final.  After a close vote of 4 to 3, Bob's fox won the competition and the winning photographer (a teetotaller!) was awarded a bottle of red wine by our Chairman Tony Storey.

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Tea, coffee and biscuits were consumed following the competition with club members wishing each other a "Merry Christmas" before returning home after a fairly short meeting.

In this somewhat bleak mid-winter, it was good to have some festive fun at our annual Mix and Match competition with the Witterings camera club, with us being the home team this year. Selsey club members showed their determination to win by bringing an arsenal of truly eccentric photos, including street photography, random still-lifes, and some rather rude vegetables!

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Our judge, Dick Saunders, is a veteran of many Mix and Match competitions, but this was his first time judging. He did a fine job, comparing colour, theme, and composition fairly over the matches, despite the good-natured heckling from both sides. Some matches were really creative, such as the Natural History Museum Earth escalator to a match and ball still life, and well deserved the points. Of course, both clubs would claim some dubious calls as well - I’m still not convinced by the seagull to the fish street art - but that just adds to the fun.

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As is traditional, the home club laid on a fine spread of food which everyone seemed to enjoy, so thanks to all the Selsey members who contributed. We also had good participation in the raffle, with the cash prizes going to three lucky winners.

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The two clubs were neck and neck as we went into the second half, and as the matches got increasingly inexplicable, (a dragonfly to a lightbulb still life?) we had high hopes for a home win! Sadly, with a final flurry of excellent matches, the Witterings pipped us by just three points. Well done to them!

Club members who gathered to witness the judging of our second themed competition of the season "Landscape" were treated to a most interesting evening viewing of the 56 entries from 12 members.  Our judge for the competition, an old friend - Jon Mitchell, gave his usual balanced critique for each image and offered suggestions on how some of them might be improved - regularly recommending the removal of unnecessary areas of sky to highlight the important elements of the image. He held back 12 entries for further examination before awarding marks for each.

The 3 images that were awarded the maximum score showed completely different subjects - a stunning New York cityscape, a spectacular valley landscape and a striking minimalist landscape featuring a single tree.  He chose the last of these to be the competition winner.

Details of images which were awarded the maximum score are as follows:- 

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LONE TREE by Dave Johnson  (Adjudged the winner of the competition and the John Sayer Cup)

MANHATTEN NIGHTSCAPE by David Richardson

GREEN VALLEY TO ABERYSTWYTH by Tony Storey

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All of the competition scores and a gallery of all images entered can be viewed HERE.

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Despite the torrential rain in the days leading up to the West Wittering club trip, the committee held its nerve and resisted cancelling.  Happily, we were rewarded with a beautiful sunny afternoon.

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Although the summer season is well and truly over now, the beach was still very busy. Between the surfers, walkers, dogs, gulls, boats, and soft autumn light, there were opportunities for almost every photographic style. I particularly enjoyed the many dogs having the time of their lives playing in the waves - an excellent chance to practice some action shot techniques!

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The variety of walkers offered a chance for some off-road street photography, with the characters segueing from playful families to romantic couples as the sun went down. Although the final glimpses of the sunset were slightly marred with clouds, the timing of the tide was perfect- with its retreat leaving mirror-like wet sand to reflect the colourful sky.

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Once the sun vanished, it got dark and chilly very quickly. Some members recalled a night practising some astrophotography from the beach, as it can get very dark out to sea, although I suspect this would be a far more comfortable activity in the summer!

We will all present our photos at the next meeting, and you can see a selection in the slideshow below.

Club members who attended our first themed competition of the season "Street Photography" were treated to a most interesting evening viewing the 56 entries from 12 members.  Our judge for the competition, Ken Woods LRPS, meticulously reviewed each image, offered suggestions on how some of them might be improved and held back 15 for further examination before awarding marks for each. It turned out to be a particularly successful evening for entrants named David as all of the images that were awarded a maximum score of 10 were submitted by members with that name.

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Details of images which were awarded the maximum score are as follows:- 

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CONTEMPLATION by David Richardson  (Adjudged the winner of the competition and the Gateway Cup)

MUST HAVE BEEN TIRED by Dave Johnson

FEEDING THE PIGEONS by David Richardson

SNAP by Dave Johnson

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All of the competition scores and a gallery of all images entered can be viewed HERE.

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The 1st round of our 2022/23 season club league competition was judged by Steve Kirkby with club members from both "Advanced" and "Intermediate" leagues in attendance.

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Prints and PDI entries from both leagues were carefully reviewed by Steve, constructive criticism and advice was given for each image and scores were awarded to provide the opening round league totals for the season.  The current league tables can be downloaded by clicking the buttons at the bottom of the website "Home" page.

Details of images which were awarded maximum points (10) are as follows:- 

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ADVANCED LEAGUE

KINGFISHER ARRIVAL by David Richardson

SWAN LIKE by Dave Johnson

NO PRIZE FOR 3RD PLACE by David Richardson

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INTERMEDIATE LEAGUE

MUNCH by Helen Burton

CHINESE LANTERN by Andrew Kendon 

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All of the competition scores and a gallery of all images entered can be viewed HERE.

Our 2022-23 season opened with our usual “Welcome Evening” when we invite current and prospective members to join us to watch a number of 10 minute illustrated presentations given by club members. 8 members had prepared their presentations on widely differing subjects as outlined below: -

Andrew Kenyon showed us a collection of images taken during his recent trip to Brisbane Australia.  In addition to interesting landscape and wildlife images Andrew also showed a short video of a steam train which he dedicated to our train enthusiast Chairman Tony Storey.

Bob Hoare presented a collection of his recent images which reflected 3 of his favourite photo subjects – live music, portraits and foxes.

Dave Johnson submitted a collection of his work including a shot of his wife submerged by a big wave, a selection of his excellent desktop images and examples of his mastery of the cloning tool.

Dick Read’s presentation was dedicated to Selsey firework displays. He showed images from both the Bunn display taken from a remote site in 2013 and a collection of Lifeboat week displays from 2013 to 2019 taken from different locations.

Joan Taylor brought along some images from her recent holiday in Scotland and presented the photos and the interesting background story about The Kelpies and The Falkirk Wheel.  She also showed an image showing the aftermath of an enjoyable brewery tour.

Pony Moore showed photos illustrating the performance of his recently purchased camera upgrade moving from his previous Nikon DSLR kit to the Olympus OM-1 Mirrorless System.  He demonstrated his pleasure with his new camera with a variety of photos showing low light, wildlife and sport subjects.

Steve Abbs brought along an assortment of recent photos showing a diverse set of subjects from wildlife to experimental and lifeboats. His “baby through a tube” experiment being most appreciated.

Tony Storey submitted photos from recent trips to Christchurch, Mudeford, Corfe and a wildlife centre. Members were really surprised to find that steam trains run through Corfe!

A selection of images from all contributors is shown below..

It was a lovely sunny and very hot Sunday afternoon at the Selsey lifeboat week event, which was ideal to see the raft race and lifeboat displays. Lots of families were enjoying the beach and clear cool sea along with attractions of the funfair and other organised events.

The raft race was a challenge to photograph as the rafts were aided by the current, which meant that you had a job to keep up with them after photographing them at the start, in order to get to the finish a few hundred yards further along the beach. The lifeboats put on a good display but as sometimes happens you don’t have the right lens on the camera when the action happens, and the action happens in a place you didn’t expect it. The event was very busy and hot but it provided lots of things to photograph. A selection of photographs from the trip can be seen below.

I’m looking forward to hopefully seeing you at our next trip, which is still being planned. Watch out for emails from me giving you further details and updates.
 

David Richardson
Field Trip Secretary

It was a lovely sunny Sunday morning at Goodwood motor circuit which was ideal to see a large selection of classic and vintage cars on display. Other attractions were the Chichester City Band along with a few character actors laid on by the organisers that helped add to the enjoyable atmosphere. A children’s pedal car race provided some great facial expressions as they tried their hardest to win cheered on by the crowd.

The event was very busy and provided lots of things to photograph. Interestingly I found myself watching some of the many other photographers enjoying the day, as they often saw different things and shot them from angles that I just wouldn’t have considered. A selection of photographs from the trip can be seen below..

I’m looking forward, hopefully, to seeing you at our next planned trip, which is the firework display, held during the Selsey Lifeboat week on Friday 12th August. Watch out for emails from me giving you further details and updates.

David Richardson
Field Trip Secretary
 

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The 4th and final round of our club league competition was judged by Tony Baverstock with club members from both "Advanced" and "Intermediate" leagues in attendance.

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Prints and PDI entries from both leagues were carefully reviewed by Tony and given scores to provide the final league totals for the season and thus revealing the winners of the 4 leagues as follows:-

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ADVANCED LEAGUE

PDI      Marc Read

Print     David Richardson

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INTERMEDIATE LEAGUE

PDI     Richard Clarke-Adams

Print   Joan Taylor

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All of the competition scores and a gallery of all PDI images entered can be viewed HERE.