Club news
Resizing not required for PDI images
Ian Winship 11 January 2012
The Committee has decided that it is no longer necessary to resize PDI images for club competitions. Images chosen for inter club competitions will be resized if the competition requires this.
Print panel (enprint), Panorama and Beginners competitions: changes to entry dates
Ian Winship 6 December 2011
It has been decided that there is no need for entries to these competitions to be so far in advance of the competition day, as publicised in the programme.
Enprint and panorama images can be brought in on the night of the competition: 3 January
Beginners digital images should be brought in on 10 January, one week before the competition
Defeat in the North Tyne print competition
Ian Winship 29 November 2011
Despite some high scores we lost out by a few points to Tynemouth in this competition tonight. Tynemouth also had the best image - indeed they had two with the maximum 30 points.
Scores:
Highland cascade - Peter Buckton - 29
Everyone hurts - sometime - Joan Hall -28
Serenity - Joan Hall -28
Ouseburn demolition - Gerry Davidson - 27
Snowy owl - Peter Buckton - 27
Mysterious lady - Joan Hall - 25
Celarium - Peter Buckton - 23
Evening light Ullswater - Ian Whiillis - 23
Poor performance in the 4way competition
Ian Winship 23 November 2011
Our defence of the 4way trophy began badly in the PDI leg last week. Usually we do well in this leg, but a weaker collection of images than usual led to a 3rd place 14 points behind Gateshead and Morpeth and only a point ahead of Cramlington. Its a big gap to make up in the print leg in February.
Our best image was Peter Buckton's Dinner with 29 points.
Other scores:
Highland cascade - Peter Buckton - 28
Stretching to infinity - Ian Allon - 26
Blea Tarn - Jonathan McBurney - 24
Eagle eyed - Lesley Hughes - 24
Four spot chaser - David Brown - 22
Killhope Wheel - Allan Beeton - 22
Street art - Jonathan McBurney - 22
Knockout entries needed for Tuesday 15 November
Ian Winship 9 November 2011
Entries for the competition on Tuesday 22 November are needed on the 15th.
New members should note that this is an informal competition where you enter up to 3 digital images. Images are projected in random pairs and members vote on which they prefer. The successful images go to the next round and the process is repeated until there is a winner.
Images must be in JPEG format with a maximum size of 1024 pixels horizontal x768 pixels vertical and be submitted on a CD-ROM or USB memory stick.
Each image must have a file name in the format:
DKO1 AB 25 The winner 01.jpg
Where
DKO1 is the particular competition
AB is the member’s initials
25 is the membership number
The winner is the title
01 (and 02, 03) denotes the 3 images in that competition.
(This format is required so the projection software works correctly)
The image title and member’s name should be added to the Photoshop information box: File info from the File menu.
4way Interclub at Cramlington 17 November
Ian Winship 9 November 2011
The PDI leg of the 4way competition with Cramlington, Gateshead and Morpeth is on Thursday 17 November at Cramlington (Methodist Church Hall, Doxford Place, Cramlington NE23 6DY) starting at 7.30. We hold the trophy so hope to do well in this and the later print leg. Come along and support the club.
Flickr Group
Ian Winship 22 September 2011
There's a new page on the site that explains and links to the Club's Flickr group page.
New links about photographers' rights
Ian Winship 3 April 2011
I've added a section in the Links part of the site about law and photographers - what you can and can't take, copyright, etc.
Gosforth just loses - twice!
Ian Winship 1 April 2011
At the North Tyne Area PDI competition at Cramlington last night a close competition ended with Tynemouth winning from Gosforth and Whitley Bay by 2 points. Peter Buckton's Dinner scored 29, though naturally the Gosforth contingent agreed it was better than the one that got 30!
Other scores:
Climbing in the Alps - Idse Herrema -27
Going home - Lesley Hughes - 25
Snowy owl - Peter Buckton -25
Vamp - Cliff Sheardown - 25
Dawn light - Jonathan McBurney - 24
Tern and dive - Idse Herrema -22
Whitby - Cliff Sheardown - 22
Early Doors Tuesday 29 March 2011
For the devotees of the Early Doors sessions this is a reminder that we will be holding what could be the final session of the season next Tuesday.
Some months ago I promised to run through the templates for BLURB and BOB BOOKS and we seem to have been diverted from this task. So, this coming week, that’s what I intend to do. These self-publishing books are really good for recording holiday pictures and stories, weddings, and anniversaries or just keeping your best pictures together. They’re also fun to make, relatively inexpensive to produce and they look very professional.
Why not come along and see for yourself, Tuesday 29 March 6:00 pm until 7:00pm
No Gosforth success this time!
Ian Winship 1 March 2011
Friday's triumph wasn't repeated at the North Tyne Area Print Competition at Ponteland last night. Things were fairly even between ourselves, Tynemouth and Whitley Bay for most of the competition, but the judge's marking let us down and we finished third, with Whitley Bay winning. And despite some high scores there was no consolation of a best image this time either!
Our scores:
Its been a hard life - Ian Whillis - 29
Escape - Joan Hall - 28
All about light - Peter Buckton - 27
Overgrown barrier - Peter Buckton - 27
Racer - Peter Buckton - 27
Radiance - Joan Hall - 27
Pure elegance - Joan Hall - 25
Rannoch Moor - Fred Lowes - 22
Gosforth retain 4 way trophy - Ian Winship
24 February 2011
In tonight's print competition at Gateshead the Club retained the ProLab Challenge Trophy in the 4 way competition with Cramlington, Gateshead and Morpeth. We were second in this leg of the competition one point behind Gateshead, but the substantial lead we had in the PDI leg last November gave us overall victory 12 points ahead of Morpeth.
The judge Alan Porrett gave the maximum mark of 30 for the best image of the night to, yes, Peter Buckton for Celarium.
Other marks were:
Serenity - Joan Hall - 29
Going home - Lesley Hughes - 27
Reflections of a golden city - Ian Whillis - 26
Pasque flower - Idse Herrema - 26
Burning sun - Peter Buckton - 26
Mysterious lady - Joan Hall - 25
Big wave breaking - Fred Lowes - 23
NCPF Club Championships: Peter misses out! - Ian Winship
13 February 2011
A number of members attended the championships at Washington today. This year we entered just the PDI section. I thought we had a good range of quality images in our entry, but the judges thought otherwise and we managed only 12th= out of 19 clubs in the first round, so didn't make the final. In the Memento Trophy for runners up - that we won last year - we came 3rd= a few points behind the winner, Gateshead. However, we must congratulate Peter Buckton for gaining a maximum of 15 for his picture Dinner. Six other images gained 15 also, but unfortunately it was not Peter's that was adjudged best PDI image in the competition.
Photographer's ephemeris - Ian Winship
13 February 2011
Last Tuesday during his talk Ian Britton mentioned the Photographer's ephemeris - a program that combines the times of sunrise/sunset or twilight, or when the moon is in a particular place in a particular phase with a topographical map allowing the photographer to match the astronomical to the location. A typical use might be to determine when the sun will set along the axis of a mountain valley, or when a full moon will rise across a lake.
Idse has identified the web location for this - so you can download it free from here.
President’s Prattle - Ron Henry
5 February 2011
I’m here to remind you that Peter and I will be steering an Early Doors session at 6 pm on Tuesday 8 February for Gosforth Camera Club members.
We need a prompt start and a seven o’clock finish because our guest speaker this week is Ian Britton from Gateshead and he will need time to set up his equipment.
Idse has sent an e-mail to the participants of last week’s Members’ Night thanking them for their contribution. It was a good show and I’m sure that everyone who did participate benefited from the ‘exposure’. I would also like to thank Idse and Ian Allon for making the evening such a success. We’ll have more nights like this. Congratulation also go to Peter for ‘sweeping the board’ in the Knockout competition
Don’t forget to consider the club outing to Focus on Imaging at the Birmingham NEC on Sunday 6 March 2011; it’ll be a great day out.
President’s Prattle – Ron Henry
26 January 2011
COMPLIMENTS TO CRAMLINGTON
You know what it’s like; you’ve had one of those days. You’ve been busy and you’ve left important work until the last minute. You switch on the computer and something peculiar happens. In my case it was the cursor which just wouldn’t be guided by the mouse. I remembered some keyboard-shortcuts but not enough to correct the problem and I wasted valuable time before I decided to swap over to my laptop and get on with the job of preparing my contribution to our ‘Early Doors’ session. I just couldn’t resist another attempt at fixing the mouse problem which eventually I did but by now I’m well behind time and I have to set out for the club at five o’clock.
Fortunately, George has beaten me to it and the club room is well laid out when I get there (you can always rely on some members). We have a well-attended and successful training session and Peter is almost finished his section when our guests arrive. It’s Cramlington Camera Club who are entertaining and informing us this evening.
Straight away the stress of the day subsides as their President, Paul Murphy, launches into an excellent presentation of his HDR and early morning meanderings. Jeff proceeded to enlighten us on how he designed his website, before Dave delivered a very funny talk about his ‘failures’ with judges and how he keeps submitting images until the judge gets it right; a topic which hit home with our members. Then Chris delighted us with lovely pictures of the Lakes in winter and beautiful bird photographs. These short talks were interlaced with stunning pictures set to music by Margaret and the evening culminated in a rousing talk by Bill on a subject we should all take heed of - that his pictures are for his enjoyment. He also introduced his new-found friends – filters.
So, what had started out as a frustratingly bad day, ended on a high. Albeit a short-lived high as we began to realise that Cramlington members had put a huge amount of work into their presentations for us – what on earth are we going to do to entertain Cramlington CC on our return visit to them?
GCC Flickr Group - Ian Winship
28 December 2010
The Club has had a group on the Flickr photo sharing site for some time, but primarily as an advert. Following comments from members we now want to make it more active as a place for members to display images and get feedback from others. We are not sure quite how its going to work, but that's part of the fun!
To join the group you need to sign up to Flickr first and then request to join the group. As administrator I have to approve your request, so when requesting please include your name so I know you are a member of the club.
You upload photos to your account and then add them to the group.
If you are unfamilar with Flickr you could look at A Beginner’s Guide to Flickr, A Simple Guide To Flickr or the Flickr FAQs.
President's Prattle - Ron Henry
26 December 2010
I'd like to say a big thank you to all our members who attended last Tuesday's Christmas Event and helped make it such a successful evening. It could hardly be described as a party but there was certainly a party atmosphere and - at least according to Gerry and Ian - the buffet was plentiful. These nights really help the cameraderie which makes our club just that bit special.
We're due to return to the second part of the season on the 4th January and we begin with one of our own. Ron Henderson and friends will be presenting an evening of audio visual programmes which they have produced for our entertainment.
Because of the setting up of Ron Henderson's night, our first 'Early Doors' session will be on 11th January so Peter and I will see interested members at 6pm on the second week of the season.
Finally for this year, it only remains for me to thank you for your support during the season; either by entering the competitions, understanding the situation when we needed to move to temporary accommodation or even by just turning-up in some of the worst weather we have had in years. I hope you've had a wonderful Christmas and have a happy, prosperous and photographically successful 2011 - in fact let's make that totally successful 2011. Happy New Year
President’s Prattle - Ron Henry
15 December 2010
CONGRATULATIONS
Competitions are an integral part of most camera clubs yet they can cause more aggravation than any other activity. Judges often don't 'perform' the way the club expect yet it's difficult to run competitions without judges. From the judge's point of view, well, they can't possibly please everyone and I know from experience, it's not an easy job - often it's a thankless task. This is partly down to us. We submit over eighty prints and this time, delivery was delayed by the impossible weather. Then we asked the judge to mark them out of 30 and make constructive and encouraging remarks - oh! And you only have 90 minutes so keep it brief. Last night's judge rose to the occasion but I do know that he was up until two in the morning to accomplish his task so many thanks to John Smith.
As President, I was delighted with the result. Our regular competition winners Joan and Peter as well as our Secretary Idse were rightfully placed in the top positions with Joan taking both first places; but I was especially pleased that two of our newer members were within the top three, Alan in the Black and White section and Lesley in the Colour. Just goes to show - it's always worth entering club competitions. Well done to everybody who entered (and to Gerry who thinks he entered!)
If you didn't win the competition, look at this video and cheer yourself up!
NEXT TUESDAY
Well that was the last serious evening of 2010. Next week we're partying. At least we're relaxing with a nice buffet. It's our Christmas meeting which is designed to highlight the social aspect of Gosforth Camera Club and possibly kick off the holiday season. We're hoping that all our members can attend but if you are one of our members who can't come next week, on behalf of the committee, can I wish you a snappy Christmas and a healthy and prosperous New Year.
North Tyne Area Print Competition - New date
The North Tyne print competition due to be held on 29 November was postponed because of the weather and will now take place on Monday 28 February. Venue details in the programme section of this website.
President’s Prattle - Ron Henry
5 December 2010
THIS TUESDAY’S MEETING
Well, our neighbours have just about dug themselves out and life is getting back to what passes for ‘normal’. Idse has spoken to the Duke of Wellington (the pub not the person) and they say that the car park is useable with care so we intend to be at the club on Tuesday in time for the six o’clock ‘Early Doors’ session as well as the normal meeting time. Sorry about the short notice but we needed the very latest information
You’ll remember that we said we would transfer the Beginner’s Competition to this Tuesday night so please bring your pictures for comments.
Would the committee please note that there will be a short meeting after the club programme?
Triple success for Gosforth - Ian Winship
26 November 2010
Last night in the PDI leg of the 4way competition with Cramlington, Gateshead and Morpeth we came away with a good lead of 10 points over Cramlington. Providing we do reasonably well in the print leg of the competition on 24 February this gives us an excellent chance of retaining the trophy.
Judge Malcolm Kus gave a maximum score of 30 for the best images in the competition to Peter Buckton’s All about light and Joan Hall’s Entrancing. Peter also won a raffle prize!
Other marks:
Short eared owl - Idse Herrema -28
Isle of Skye - Jon McBurney - 27
Whitby 09 - Cliff Sheardown - 27
Cold sunrise - Peter Buckton - 25
Cyber biker - Joan Hall - 24
Last lap - Ian Winship - 24
Well done to all.
President’s Prattle - Ron Henry
24 November 2010
PDI COMPETITION
If it wasn’t for photography I wouldn’t even know what a kingfisher looked like. Of course I’ve seen pictures in books; I’ve even seen them in the wild, they fly like a rocket – a blue streak rocket – but it was a real pleasure to see Peter’s close-up image of a kingfisher with a stickleback in its beak as the winner of last night’s digital projected image competition. There were many lovely pictures in the competition but our judge got it spot on with his winning selection.
Personally, I’m experiencing some indecision with the method of marking club competitions. We seem to be being eased towards a none-marking system, simply three places and a few highly commended; this, of course, restricts our three-leg competition. Our preference for awarding each picture a definite ‘score’, combined with the judges’ reluctance to offend by bestowing on most images a ‘middle-of-the-road’ mark, means that the majority of members ended up with a score of 24 to 26 out of 30 almost without regard for the quality of the photography. Albeit my personal opinion but I don’t think this helps improve the quality of photography. In this case our judge did give full and constructive comments but with the advent of digital generating over 80 entries into our competitions, there’s a limit to the time a judge can spend making comments. Perhaps we should reduce the number of images an individual can enter to two instead of three.
‘EARLY DOORS’ AND BEGINNERS’ NIGHT
Next Tuesday 30th November is our fourth early night beginning at 6:00 pm. We’ll be offering some training for less experienced photographers. Our normal meeting that night is also dedicated to those members less familiar with club photography. Our ‘Beginner’s Night’ invites all members to bring in pictures – any size, shape or format for comments, not criticism, by a panel and perhaps other more experienced members. We have a lot of new members and we’re very keen to ‘ease’ them into entering competitions. This will be a relaxed evening which we hope will help our newer members become more a part of the club.
FORTHCOMING INTERCLUB COMPETITIONS
There will be two interclub competitions during the next week. The first at 7:30pm on Thursday 25th at Gateshead CC and the second on Monday 29th November at Ponteland PS. Please make an effort to represent Gosforth Camera Club at these free events.
President’s Prattle
18 November 2010
It’s been a week of alliterations
* Successful Sunday
* Mournful Monday
* Tremendous Tuesday
* Waterfall Wednesday
Sunday was a really enjoyable day; five members attended the NCPF Annual Awards held in the Novotel at Kenton Bar, a really super venue which I hope they use again next year. Gosforth Camera Club received five Highly Commended certificates and an Alliance acceptance - or more precisely, Joan received five awards. All of Gosforth’s success was for her prints. We’re all tremendously proud of Joan and her achievements during the past two years. She joined the club in 2007 and has gone on to become one of our best workers. Congratulations to Joan.
Monday was a very sad day as six of our members attended the funeral of Mike Hardy. Mike joined Gosforth Camera Club in 1994 and was soon elected to the committee where he spent some time as Secretary. He then served two years as President before returning to the post of Secretary. He was always willing to do anything he could for the club, even taking on the jobs nobody else would do. He organised our trips and outing for a number of years taking a lot of ‘flack’ from the more cantankerous members who thought we should have been elsewhere. Mike was a Gentleman of the first order and will be sadly missed. We send our deepest sympathies to Helen and his family.
Tuesday was the first ‘Early Doors’ session since our return to the Duke of Wellington. We had intended to split the talk between Peter and myself but hey – what can you do in just one hour? Peter reciprocated my over-run last time and I can always talk about PS masks some other time. The main thing was that everybody learned from the event. We then listened intently to a talk by Paul Murphy of Cramlington CC which was illustrated by his excellent pictures which inspired us all, because they were taken mainly within a few miles of home.
Wednesday was the day that two carloads of Gosforth members went to North Yorkshire in search of waterfalls. I can’t say that the weather was kind; in fact it was decidedly unkind but what an enjoyable day. We discovered a ‘secret’ waterfall and with the rivers in full spate the water was thundering over the falls. We had lunch in a pub at Aysgarth then photographed all three falls before drying off and enjoying a lovely tea at the cheese factory in Hawes. After buying our Wensleydale in more flavours than Wallace and Gromit knew existed, we returned home. No doubt Peter’s car was first back – he always is.
By all accounts our normal venue reopened yesterday after its three week redecoration programme which means that, as far as Gosforth Camera Club is concerned, it’s back to our normal meeting place (the Duke of Wellington) for 7:30 pm, Tuesday 9th November which, coincidentally, is Jane Black ARPS Hon PAGB presenting ‘Back to the Beginning’.
The relocation to Gosforth Library at short notice worked out very well; mainly because the judges and presenters were exceptional, Terri and Ron Henderson coped with the arrangements magnificently, the library staff were accommodating, Frank was prepared to lug the print stand for us and you, our members, were understanding and helpful. From the committee and from me personally, thank you.
EARLY DOORS
Peter and I intend to hold our next ‘early doors’ session at 6:00pm on 16th November. I know we’ve missed a couple but that’s unavoidable due to the upheaval and it’s important next week to make sure that our normal club activities haven’t been jeopardised by the closure.
I was talking to a couple of members in the pub after last week’s meeting and they suggest that, although they want to continue the two part teaching, there should be some cohesion between the camera part and the computer part. Peter and I will discuss this on Tuesday and we’ll come up with a solution. These teach-ins are for you and we rely on you telling us what you want so please let us know.
We have two members recovering from illness at the moment and we all wish them well.
President’s Prattle
30 October 2010
NOT SO SILENT IN THIS LIBRARY
Despite the temporary upheaval caused by our relocation to Gosforth Library, last Tuesday was an excellent night both from the lecture point of view - Malcolm Kus was a terrific presenter – as well as the audience; we had a tremendous turnout with a number of new members. Our temporary venue is absolutely fine and we’re very grateful to have it but with over fifty people in the room, it’s difficult to circulate properly. One more week back in the library on 2nd November for Guy and Paula Davies’ ‘Double Vision’ then we’re back in our old haunt.
Please remember, this coming Tuesday we’re still in the Gosforth Library on Regents Farm Road for ‘Double Vision’ and it’s the last date to hand in your digital projected images which will be sent to Jack Telford to be judged for the first round of that competition which takes place on 23rd November. The Library do have another meeting in the same room immediately before ours so we won’t be able to get into the library until prompt 7:30pm which means that our meeting will not start until about 7:45pm. Because of this late start and likely late finish, Terri will not be organising coffee for this one week only. Sorry but we have to be clear of the library by 10:00pm latest.
HARLE'S HALLOWEEN HALTED
It was a great pity that Alan Harle had to cancel the club trip to the Goth weekend in Whitby. Apart from the work which Alan puts into organising these outings, I also feel that they are a great opportunity to chat with other members as well as to take some great pictures. Perhaps next year, everyone will be in a better position to book on more of Alan’s outings. I thought I would try and brighten up this blog by adding an image from our last trip to Whitby!
President’s Prattle
23 October 2010
IT NEVER RAINS BUT...
They say it never rains but it pours, well it’s starting to piddle down right now. Idse heard just yesterday that the refurbishment at our regular venue, the Duke of Wellington pub, which was due to be completed in time for our meeting on the 2nd November (Guy and Paula Davies – Double Vision), will not now be finished in time. Terri and Ron Henderson hot-footed it to Gosforth Library this morning to see if they could extend our temporary residency but, of course, it’s Saturday and no one could give them an answer until Monday. We are definitely at Gosforth Library this coming week 26th October. We’ll know by then where we are the following week. But the Duke of Wellington is definitely closed on 2nd November.
OUT AND ABOUT
On a brighter note, the two club outings during October both went very well indeed. Peter Buckton organised the Thorpe Perrow car trip and apparently everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves; we should be seeing Peter’s Owl in flight in a competition near you shortly. Alan Harle made a splendid job of organising the trip to Pickering and the NYMR War Weekend. Unfortunately some members dropped out at the last minute but the fifteen who did go really enjoyed the day. It was almost a war-time experience from the start, on the way down, the bus had to retrace its tracks twice due to unexpected road closures.
President’s Prattle - Ron Henry
6 October 2010
A GOOD NIGHT
We’ve had some really good club nights during the years but last Tuesday must rank amongst the best. It began with the first of our early-doors sessions. Fifteen members turned up at six o’clock, some with an order of beer and sandwiches having come straight from work (one advantage of holding our meetings in a pub with grub) I spent half an hour talking about and discussing cameras, lenses and exposure before Peter took everybody though the basic set-up for Photoshop. These sessions, it would appear, are going to be very popular. Everybody agree that they had benefited from the information passed on and were very enthusiastic about repeating the experience once more next week before we make our temporary move to Gosforth Library.
The main event of the evening was billed as ‘Practical Night – Portraiture’,which, of course, it was. In addition we were, treated to a talk by Phil Ryott. Phil has his own studio in Newcastle which he ‘robbed’ to bring an interesting array of professional flash gear with soft boxes. With the help of his model, Brooke, Phil demonstrated how to place lights for best effect. We all got to take some pictures and to use his professional ring flash system before he concluded by showing some of his own prints.
It was a very full evening which meant that the growing numbers who join us downstairs were late for our drink and chat. Not too late it seems for the younger members to be checking out Brooke’s website (our more mature members just didn’t have the technology!)
President’s Prattle - Ron Henry
3 October 2010
A GRAND DAY OUT
Get the pies Gromit – well, actually it was Peter who volunteered to stop off at Ripon’s Pork Butcher and collect twenty pies on the way to the club members’ outing to Fountains Abbey. Fourteen members (some ate more than one pie) met up at the Duke of Wellington car park yesterday for an afternoon and evening trip to North Yorkshire to photograph the ancient abbey which is being floodlit every Saturday this month.
After the terrible weather we’ve had this week, we all feared the worst but they say you need a little luck in your photography and that’s exactly what we got. It was a beautifully calm, almost balmy evening as we pitched our tripods at various choice locations. Just before dark the lights came on but it was that magic 20 minutes just as the twilight faded that the shutters started clicking. After that the floodlighting really came into its own, with the Abbey guides dressed in the white Benedictine monks habits pleased to pose for our cameras. All of this, topped off with a Hog Roast, made it one of the best club mini outings of the year. Thanks to the drivers and to Peter for the pies and for the idea in the first place.
PRINTING WITHOUT A PRINTER
Last Tuesday Ed came up to Ian and myself and said he’d like to enter the club competitions but he didn’t have the facility for printing and mounting pictures. All of our competition rules allow the entry of commercially printed images and there are many commercial printers who will supply reasonably priced prints from your own images. Ian has begun to add these to the ‘links’ page of this website starting with ProAm Images.
I have also obtained samples of 40 X 50 mounting board with A4 aperture pre-cut and complete with backing card which, if sufficient people are interested, the club will purchase in bulk and sell on to members. I wouldn’t like to see this idea completely replace the home printing and mounting because I think this is part of our hobby but where members don’t have the facility, it does help them to enter competitions where otherwise it might be impossible.
President’s Prattle – Ron Henry
22 September 2010
TEMPORARY RELOCATION
If you’ve been reading this news page you’ll know that our regular venue, the Duke of Wellington, will be closed refurbishment and we need to relocate for two weeks. Well I’m pleased to report that, through the good services of our Membership Secretary Terri, we have been able to rent a room in Gosforth Library for both Tuesdays, so please make a note – Gosforth Camera Club will temporarily relocate to Gosforth Library, Regent Farm Road, 7:15pm on 19th and 26th October 2010. We may have to postpone our early hour teach-ins to start in November.
CONGRATULATIONS LESLEY
Last night was our ‘Outings Competition; the first competition of the season and judged by Ian Winship. I am delighted to report that it was won by a relatively new member who only became seriously interested in photography last year. It was a delightful print called Hattie and Queenie by Lesley Hughes. Well done, I’m sure this is only the beginning of many competition successes.
FIRST KNOCKOUT COMPETITION
The first knockout of the season was well supported. There was some light hearted (I think) comments about Film Free Projection; that’s the software we use to project two pictures side by side on the screen. The beta version of the new release which we were trying, worked extremely well except that some members were convinced that pictures which had been eliminated returned in a subsequent round as successful. I couldn’t possibly comment but I don’t know another way of projecting this sort of competition with the equipment we have. Anyway knockout competitions have always been a bit of fun. It must have worked OK because Peter won as he often does.
OUTING TO FOUNTAINS ABBEY
The outing for the illuminated Abbey Saturday evening on 2nd October seems as if it will be by car. We’ll discuss this thumbnail= next Tuesday.
Temporary change of venue in October - Ron Henry ARPS, President
16 September 2010
This is to advise members and potential members that our regular club premises will not be available on the evenings of 19th and 26th October 2010. A temporary relocation is being sought for those two Tuesday evenings and we’ll let you know as soon as we have an alternative venue.
The Duke of Wellington public house in Kenton Lane was originally built to the same plan as the Wheatsheaf in Woolsington, both hostelries at the time being owned by Newcastle Breweries. This was brought to my attention by an Uncle who worked for a Company which held the contract to refurbish these pubs for ‘the Breweries’. They would plan the redecoration like a military operation, closing one room at a time and working a nightshift so that the bar was never closed. Out went Newcastle Breweries and in came health and safety. Now pubs are forced to close the whole building to both staff and clientele for the two weeks it takes to complete redecoration. I’m sure it will be spotlessly clean and all look lovely and we’ll be even more comfortable than we are now so it’ll probably be worth it.
We only found out about this after our meeting on Tuesday so the Committee are in the early stages of finding an alternative venue for two meetings which include the results of the first leg of the print competition and the discussion on colour printing by Malcolm Kus. We’ll let you know how this is progressing on Tuesday night and we’ll e-mail the final decision in due course. We’re sorry for this hiccup in the season but its temporary and totally out of our hands.
A good night out - Ron Henry ARPS, President
14 September 2010
What a brilliant night we had last Tuesday. Not because it was President’s Night; not because there was a scintillating speaker – there certainly wasn’t, although Peter and Idse helped me out by showing some inspiring pictures they’d taken over the summer. No, it was brilliant because we had so many new faces in our midst. It’s always encouraging to see new members in the club as they have new ideas which we can adopt and adapt to keep the club fresh and vibrant. We’ve been a camera club for over sixty years, with some of our original members still taking their place in the front row, but we always try to keep up-to-date and as lively as we possibly can.
Our programme for the coming season looks really exciting, topped up with the proposed how-to discussions groups prior to some of the evenings and the possibility of another couple of outings so we’re expecting another bumper season. Judging by the number of members who have already submitted entries for the early competitions, I also expect a very healthy interest in the print competitions, with the digital not far behind. It’s surprising that our print entries always outnumber the digital entries - given the ease of digital you would think it would be the other way round, but it seldom is.
We still have a few members on holiday: Harry for instance, chose to fly off to Seattle rather than collect his trophy for best newcomer. It just goes to show where some people’s loyalty rests! Joking aside, this trophy is new to the competitions and we have such a good influx of new members that ownership of this trophy will be keenly challenged.
Gosforth Camera Club is not all about cups, medals and crowns nor is it purely about taking pictures. I always look upon the club as a place where we can talk about and practice all aspects of our hobby with people who have similar interests or sometimes obsessions. It’s as much about the friendships as the photography. I wish all our members a great season ahead and if there’s anything the Committee can do to enhance your enjoyment, please let me know – after all, it’s your club.
Competition winners 2009-2010
Ray Cole Memorial Trophy - Photographer of the Year: Joan Hall
Competitor of the Year: Peter Buckton
Newcomer of the Year: Harry McAtominey
Sony Award - Colour prints: Joan Hall
(2nd Fred Lowes; 3rd Peter Buckton)
YMCA Trophy - Monochrome prints: Joan Hall
(2nd Peter Buckton; 3rd Ann Stoddard)
Projected digital images: Peter Buckton
(2nd Joan Hall; 3rd Idse Herrema)
Louis Moore Tankard - Set subject (Speed): Peter Buckton
(2nd Gerry Davidson; 3rd Margaret Daley)
Ron Lovesey Salver - Nature: Peter Buckton
(2nd Terri Henderson; 3rd Allan Beaton)
Print panel: Margaret Daley
Panorama: Arron Storey
Club outing: George Simpson
(2nd Ron Henry; 3rd Peter Buckton)
NCPF Annual Championships 2010
Only a few members entered, but Joan Hall was particularly successful with Highly Commendeds for mono prints Radiance and Escape. Radiance is selected for the NCPF entry in the inter Federation Competition with colour print Mystery a reserve selection.
Well done to Joan.
Narrow defeat for the club - success for Peter
Despite some high scoring images Gosforth lost by two points to Tynemouth in the North Tyne area projected image competition on 26 March. However, Peter Buckton's All about light was adjudged the best image in the competition.
Interclub triumph - 23 February 2010
In the 4 way colour and mono print competition with Cramlington, Gateshead and Morpeth, Gosforth won by two points from Gateshead, thanks to some high scores, including 29 for Joan Hall's Escape and 28 for Ian Whillis's Its been a hard life. Since we had won the projected digital leg by a large margin the combined scores from the two competitions gave us victory for the trophy by 16 points over Gateshead.
Success at the NCPF Club Championships, Washington 7 February 2010
In the projected digital category of this event the club won the Memento trophy competition for those clubs failing to progress from the first round to the final.
In addition Peter Buckton's All about light gained a maximum of 15 and then was adjudged Best Electronic Image from those gaining 15 in any round of the competition.
Review of the season - Ron Henry
7 December 2009
Gosh, here we are almost half way through the season with three competitions under our belt and a clear season leader - and it’s one of our newer members. Two years ago Joan joined our club with little experience and not much confidence, but now she has a clear lead and even with eight events still to be judged, we suspect she will be close to the trophy table on presentation night. But the club isn’t only about competitions and certainly not only about winning competitions. We see competitions as an outlet for our photographs and the better we do in competitions, the more we’ve learned.
The enjoyment of our hobby begins with the friends we make in the club and this couldn’t have been better demonstrated than on the club outing to Whitby in June. It was perfect weather as the thirty or so members joined the thousands of visitors on Whitby’s Lifeboat day. We split into small groups, but kept bumping into others as we toured the circuit of abbey, harbour and pier often using the hop-on hop-off bus. On the journey home Richard’s head was throbbing from the sunburn until Peter produced a cream which, for some reason, lay as a white splodge on Richard’s head, entertaining everyone for the rest of the journey.
Our meetings started in September with a talk from the police. Apart from an unforgettable if rather gruesome illustrated talk from the police photographer some years ago, this is the first time in the club’s sixty year history that the police have been involved in our programme. Our members feel that officials are challenging us more often when we’re simply pursuing our hobby in a lawful manner so information and advice was sought.
It felt rather strange to sit in our comfortable meeting room and listen to a guest speaker telling us how to clean our lens but that’s precisely how Wyn Barnes started her presentation and the effects on our images of dust on the lens was exactly what interested us. A few weeks later we were taken from to another end of our hobby as Paul Wright spent a whole session showing us the best way to colour manage our workflow. On another occasion Mandy Pattullo enthralled everyone with a talk on Memento Mori or gravestones to you and me.
As always, it’s the demonstrations by our own members which intrigue us and Peter’s delve into the innermost workings of Photoshop CS4 was one such evening which was augmented by issuing an unmodified image to everyone and comparing the modified results a few weeks later.
Soon the first part of our 2009-2010 season will come to an end with our wine and cheese night and the fun knockout competition. Our programme secretary has done us proud and that’s likely to continue next year building to the Ray Cole memorial lecture given by Rod Wheelans. We’re planning another exhibition in Gosforth Library in January where we hope to add to our compliment of over fifty members and, of course, joining for half a season means half price.
Your committee work hard to provide an interesting and informative programme but of course none of this would be enjoyable without the enthusiasm and friendship of our members. Thank you for making the job of President so worthwhile, I wish you a Merry Christmas and a snappy New Year.
Ian Winship 11 January 2012
The Committee has decided that it is no longer necessary to resize PDI images for club competitions. Images chosen for inter club competitions will be resized if the competition requires this.
Print panel (enprint), Panorama and Beginners competitions: changes to entry dates
Ian Winship 6 December 2011
It has been decided that there is no need for entries to these competitions to be so far in advance of the competition day, as publicised in the programme.
Enprint and panorama images can be brought in on the night of the competition: 3 January
Beginners digital images should be brought in on 10 January, one week before the competition
Defeat in the North Tyne print competition
Ian Winship 29 November 2011
Scores:
Highland cascade - Peter Buckton - 29
Everyone hurts - sometime - Joan Hall -28
Serenity - Joan Hall -28
Ouseburn demolition - Gerry Davidson - 27
Snowy owl - Peter Buckton - 27
Mysterious lady - Joan Hall - 25
Celarium - Peter Buckton - 23
Evening light Ullswater - Ian Whiillis - 23
Poor performance in the 4way competition
Ian Winship 23 November 2011
Our best image was Peter Buckton's Dinner with 29 points.
Other scores:
Highland cascade - Peter Buckton - 28
Stretching to infinity - Ian Allon - 26
Blea Tarn - Jonathan McBurney - 24
Eagle eyed - Lesley Hughes - 24
Four spot chaser - David Brown - 22
Killhope Wheel - Allan Beeton - 22
Street art - Jonathan McBurney - 22
Knockout entries needed for Tuesday 15 November
Ian Winship 9 November 2011
Entries for the competition on Tuesday 22 November are needed on the 15th.
New members should note that this is an informal competition where you enter up to 3 digital images. Images are projected in random pairs and members vote on which they prefer. The successful images go to the next round and the process is repeated until there is a winner.
Images must be in JPEG format with a maximum size of 1024 pixels horizontal x768 pixels vertical and be submitted on a CD-ROM or USB memory stick.
Each image must have a file name in the format:
DKO1 AB 25 The winner 01.jpg
Where
DKO1 is the particular competition
AB is the member’s initials
25 is the membership number
The winner is the title
01 (and 02, 03) denotes the 3 images in that competition.
(This format is required so the projection software works correctly)
The image title and member’s name should be added to the Photoshop information box: File info from the File menu.
4way Interclub at Cramlington 17 November
Ian Winship 9 November 2011
The PDI leg of the 4way competition with Cramlington, Gateshead and Morpeth is on Thursday 17 November at Cramlington (Methodist Church Hall, Doxford Place, Cramlington NE23 6DY) starting at 7.30. We hold the trophy so hope to do well in this and the later print leg. Come along and support the club.
Flickr Group
Ian Winship 22 September 2011
There's a new page on the site that explains and links to the Club's Flickr group page.
New links about photographers' rights
Ian Winship 3 April 2011
I've added a section in the Links part of the site about law and photographers - what you can and can't take, copyright, etc.
Gosforth just loses - twice!
Ian Winship 1 April 2011
Other scores:
Climbing in the Alps - Idse Herrema -27
Going home - Lesley Hughes - 25
Snowy owl - Peter Buckton -25
Vamp - Cliff Sheardown - 25
Dawn light - Jonathan McBurney - 24
Tern and dive - Idse Herrema -22
Whitby - Cliff Sheardown - 22
Early Doors Tuesday 29 March 2011
For the devotees of the Early Doors sessions this is a reminder that we will be holding what could be the final session of the season next Tuesday.
Some months ago I promised to run through the templates for BLURB and BOB BOOKS and we seem to have been diverted from this task. So, this coming week, that’s what I intend to do. These self-publishing books are really good for recording holiday pictures and stories, weddings, and anniversaries or just keeping your best pictures together. They’re also fun to make, relatively inexpensive to produce and they look very professional.
Why not come along and see for yourself, Tuesday 29 March 6:00 pm until 7:00pm
No Gosforth success this time!
Ian Winship 1 March 2011
Friday's triumph wasn't repeated at the North Tyne Area Print Competition at Ponteland last night. Things were fairly even between ourselves, Tynemouth and Whitley Bay for most of the competition, but the judge's marking let us down and we finished third, with Whitley Bay winning. And despite some high scores there was no consolation of a best image this time either!
Our scores:
Its been a hard life - Ian Whillis - 29
Escape - Joan Hall - 28
All about light - Peter Buckton - 27
Overgrown barrier - Peter Buckton - 27
Racer - Peter Buckton - 27
Radiance - Joan Hall - 27
Pure elegance - Joan Hall - 25
Rannoch Moor - Fred Lowes - 22
Gosforth retain 4 way trophy - Ian Winship
24 February 2011
The judge Alan Porrett gave the maximum mark of 30 for the best image of the night to, yes, Peter Buckton for Celarium.
Other marks were:
Serenity - Joan Hall - 29
Going home - Lesley Hughes - 27
Reflections of a golden city - Ian Whillis - 26
Pasque flower - Idse Herrema - 26
Burning sun - Peter Buckton - 26
Mysterious lady - Joan Hall - 25
Big wave breaking - Fred Lowes - 23
NCPF Club Championships: Peter misses out! - Ian Winship
13 February 2011
Photographer's ephemeris - Ian Winship
13 February 2011
Last Tuesday during his talk Ian Britton mentioned the Photographer's ephemeris - a program that combines the times of sunrise/sunset or twilight, or when the moon is in a particular place in a particular phase with a topographical map allowing the photographer to match the astronomical to the location. A typical use might be to determine when the sun will set along the axis of a mountain valley, or when a full moon will rise across a lake.
Idse has identified the web location for this - so you can download it free from here.
President’s Prattle - Ron Henry
5 February 2011
I’m here to remind you that Peter and I will be steering an Early Doors session at 6 pm on Tuesday 8 February for Gosforth Camera Club members.
We need a prompt start and a seven o’clock finish because our guest speaker this week is Ian Britton from Gateshead and he will need time to set up his equipment.
Idse has sent an e-mail to the participants of last week’s Members’ Night thanking them for their contribution. It was a good show and I’m sure that everyone who did participate benefited from the ‘exposure’. I would also like to thank Idse and Ian Allon for making the evening such a success. We’ll have more nights like this. Congratulation also go to Peter for ‘sweeping the board’ in the Knockout competition
Don’t forget to consider the club outing to Focus on Imaging at the Birmingham NEC on Sunday 6 March 2011; it’ll be a great day out.
President’s Prattle – Ron Henry
26 January 2011
COMPLIMENTS TO CRAMLINGTON
You know what it’s like; you’ve had one of those days. You’ve been busy and you’ve left important work until the last minute. You switch on the computer and something peculiar happens. In my case it was the cursor which just wouldn’t be guided by the mouse. I remembered some keyboard-shortcuts but not enough to correct the problem and I wasted valuable time before I decided to swap over to my laptop and get on with the job of preparing my contribution to our ‘Early Doors’ session. I just couldn’t resist another attempt at fixing the mouse problem which eventually I did but by now I’m well behind time and I have to set out for the club at five o’clock.
Fortunately, George has beaten me to it and the club room is well laid out when I get there (you can always rely on some members). We have a well-attended and successful training session and Peter is almost finished his section when our guests arrive. It’s Cramlington Camera Club who are entertaining and informing us this evening.
Straight away the stress of the day subsides as their President, Paul Murphy, launches into an excellent presentation of his HDR and early morning meanderings. Jeff proceeded to enlighten us on how he designed his website, before Dave delivered a very funny talk about his ‘failures’ with judges and how he keeps submitting images until the judge gets it right; a topic which hit home with our members. Then Chris delighted us with lovely pictures of the Lakes in winter and beautiful bird photographs. These short talks were interlaced with stunning pictures set to music by Margaret and the evening culminated in a rousing talk by Bill on a subject we should all take heed of - that his pictures are for his enjoyment. He also introduced his new-found friends – filters.
So, what had started out as a frustratingly bad day, ended on a high. Albeit a short-lived high as we began to realise that Cramlington members had put a huge amount of work into their presentations for us – what on earth are we going to do to entertain Cramlington CC on our return visit to them?
GCC Flickr Group - Ian Winship
28 December 2010
To join the group you need to sign up to Flickr first and then request to join the group. As administrator I have to approve your request, so when requesting please include your name so I know you are a member of the club.
You upload photos to your account and then add them to the group.
If you are unfamilar with Flickr you could look at A Beginner’s Guide to Flickr, A Simple Guide To Flickr or the Flickr FAQs.
President's Prattle - Ron Henry
26 December 2010
We're due to return to the second part of the season on the 4th January and we begin with one of our own. Ron Henderson and friends will be presenting an evening of audio visual programmes which they have produced for our entertainment.
Because of the setting up of Ron Henderson's night, our first 'Early Doors' session will be on 11th January so Peter and I will see interested members at 6pm on the second week of the season.
Finally for this year, it only remains for me to thank you for your support during the season; either by entering the competitions, understanding the situation when we needed to move to temporary accommodation or even by just turning-up in some of the worst weather we have had in years. I hope you've had a wonderful Christmas and have a happy, prosperous and photographically successful 2011 - in fact let's make that totally successful 2011. Happy New Year
President’s Prattle - Ron Henry
15 December 2010
CONGRATULATIONS
Joan
Allan
Lesley
As President, I was delighted with the result. Our regular competition winners Joan and Peter as well as our Secretary Idse were rightfully placed in the top positions with Joan taking both first places; but I was especially pleased that two of our newer members were within the top three, Alan in the Black and White section and Lesley in the Colour. Just goes to show - it's always worth entering club competitions. Well done to everybody who entered (and to Gerry who thinks he entered!)
If you didn't win the competition, look at this video and cheer yourself up!
NEXT TUESDAY
Well that was the last serious evening of 2010. Next week we're partying. At least we're relaxing with a nice buffet. It's our Christmas meeting which is designed to highlight the social aspect of Gosforth Camera Club and possibly kick off the holiday season. We're hoping that all our members can attend but if you are one of our members who can't come next week, on behalf of the committee, can I wish you a snappy Christmas and a healthy and prosperous New Year.
North Tyne Area Print Competition - New date
The North Tyne print competition due to be held on 29 November was postponed because of the weather and will now take place on Monday 28 February. Venue details in the programme section of this website.
President’s Prattle - Ron Henry
5 December 2010
THIS TUESDAY’S MEETING
You’ll remember that we said we would transfer the Beginner’s Competition to this Tuesday night so please bring your pictures for comments.
Would the committee please note that there will be a short meeting after the club programme?
Triple success for Gosforth - Ian Winship
26 November 2010
Judge Malcolm Kus gave a maximum score of 30 for the best images in the competition to Peter Buckton’s All about light and Joan Hall’s Entrancing. Peter also won a raffle prize!
Other marks:
Short eared owl - Idse Herrema -28
Isle of Skye - Jon McBurney - 27
Whitby 09 - Cliff Sheardown - 27
Cold sunrise - Peter Buckton - 25
Cyber biker - Joan Hall - 24
Last lap - Ian Winship - 24
Well done to all.
President’s Prattle - Ron Henry
24 November 2010
PDI COMPETITION
Personally, I’m experiencing some indecision with the method of marking club competitions. We seem to be being eased towards a none-marking system, simply three places and a few highly commended; this, of course, restricts our three-leg competition. Our preference for awarding each picture a definite ‘score’, combined with the judges’ reluctance to offend by bestowing on most images a ‘middle-of-the-road’ mark, means that the majority of members ended up with a score of 24 to 26 out of 30 almost without regard for the quality of the photography. Albeit my personal opinion but I don’t think this helps improve the quality of photography. In this case our judge did give full and constructive comments but with the advent of digital generating over 80 entries into our competitions, there’s a limit to the time a judge can spend making comments. Perhaps we should reduce the number of images an individual can enter to two instead of three.
‘EARLY DOORS’ AND BEGINNERS’ NIGHT
Next Tuesday 30th November is our fourth early night beginning at 6:00 pm. We’ll be offering some training for less experienced photographers. Our normal meeting that night is also dedicated to those members less familiar with club photography. Our ‘Beginner’s Night’ invites all members to bring in pictures – any size, shape or format for comments, not criticism, by a panel and perhaps other more experienced members. We have a lot of new members and we’re very keen to ‘ease’ them into entering competitions. This will be a relaxed evening which we hope will help our newer members become more a part of the club.
FORTHCOMING INTERCLUB COMPETITIONS
There will be two interclub competitions during the next week. The first at 7:30pm on Thursday 25th at Gateshead CC and the second on Monday 29th November at Ponteland PS. Please make an effort to represent Gosforth Camera Club at these free events.
President’s Prattle
18 November 2010
It’s been a week of alliterations
* Successful Sunday
* Mournful Monday
* Tremendous Tuesday
* Waterfall Wednesday
Sunday was a really enjoyable day; five members attended the NCPF Annual Awards held in the Novotel at Kenton Bar, a really super venue which I hope they use again next year. Gosforth Camera Club received five Highly Commended certificates and an Alliance acceptance - or more precisely, Joan received five awards. All of Gosforth’s success was for her prints. We’re all tremendously proud of Joan and her achievements during the past two years. She joined the club in 2007 and has gone on to become one of our best workers. Congratulations to Joan.
Tuesday was the first ‘Early Doors’ session since our return to the Duke of Wellington. We had intended to split the talk between Peter and myself but hey – what can you do in just one hour? Peter reciprocated my over-run last time and I can always talk about PS masks some other time. The main thing was that everybody learned from the event. We then listened intently to a talk by Paul Murphy of Cramlington CC which was illustrated by his excellent pictures which inspired us all, because they were taken mainly within a few miles of home.
Next week it’s our first PDI competition and we’re all looking forward to that.
President’s Prattle
4 November 2010
BACK TO THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON THIS TUESDAY
The relocation to Gosforth Library at short notice worked out very well; mainly because the judges and presenters were exceptional, Terri and Ron Henderson coped with the arrangements magnificently, the library staff were accommodating, Frank was prepared to lug the print stand for us and you, our members, were understanding and helpful. From the committee and from me personally, thank you.
EARLY DOORS
Peter and I intend to hold our next ‘early doors’ session at 6:00pm on 16th November. I know we’ve missed a couple but that’s unavoidable due to the upheaval and it’s important next week to make sure that our normal club activities haven’t been jeopardised by the closure.
I was talking to a couple of members in the pub after last week’s meeting and they suggest that, although they want to continue the two part teaching, there should be some cohesion between the camera part and the computer part. Peter and I will discuss this on Tuesday and we’ll come up with a solution. These teach-ins are for you and we rely on you telling us what you want so please let us know.
We have two members recovering from illness at the moment and we all wish them well.
President’s Prattle
30 October 2010
NOT SO SILENT IN THIS LIBRARY
Despite the temporary upheaval caused by our relocation to Gosforth Library, last Tuesday was an excellent night both from the lecture point of view - Malcolm Kus was a terrific presenter – as well as the audience; we had a tremendous turnout with a number of new members. Our temporary venue is absolutely fine and we’re very grateful to have it but with over fifty people in the room, it’s difficult to circulate properly. One more week back in the library on 2nd November for Guy and Paula Davies’ ‘Double Vision’ then we’re back in our old haunt.
Please remember, this coming Tuesday we’re still in the Gosforth Library on Regents Farm Road for ‘Double Vision’ and it’s the last date to hand in your digital projected images which will be sent to Jack Telford to be judged for the first round of that competition which takes place on 23rd November. The Library do have another meeting in the same room immediately before ours so we won’t be able to get into the library until prompt 7:30pm which means that our meeting will not start until about 7:45pm. Because of this late start and likely late finish, Terri will not be organising coffee for this one week only. Sorry but we have to be clear of the library by 10:00pm latest.
HARLE'S HALLOWEEN HALTED
It was a great pity that Alan Harle had to cancel the club trip to the Goth weekend in Whitby. Apart from the work which Alan puts into organising these outings, I also feel that they are a great opportunity to chat with other members as well as to take some great pictures. Perhaps next year, everyone will be in a better position to book on more of Alan’s outings. I thought I would try and brighten up this blog by adding an image from our last trip to Whitby!
President’s Prattle
23 October 2010
IT NEVER RAINS BUT...
They say it never rains but it pours, well it’s starting to piddle down right now. Idse heard just yesterday that the refurbishment at our regular venue, the Duke of Wellington pub, which was due to be completed in time for our meeting on the 2nd November (Guy and Paula Davies – Double Vision), will not now be finished in time. Terri and Ron Henderson hot-footed it to Gosforth Library this morning to see if they could extend our temporary residency but, of course, it’s Saturday and no one could give them an answer until Monday. We are definitely at Gosforth Library this coming week 26th October. We’ll know by then where we are the following week. But the Duke of Wellington is definitely closed on 2nd November.
OUT AND ABOUT
On a brighter note, the two club outings during October both went very well indeed. Peter Buckton organised the Thorpe Perrow car trip and apparently everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves; we should be seeing Peter’s Owl in flight in a competition near you shortly. Alan Harle made a splendid job of organising the trip to Pickering and the NYMR War Weekend. Unfortunately some members dropped out at the last minute but the fifteen who did go really enjoyed the day. It was almost a war-time experience from the start, on the way down, the bus had to retrace its tracks twice due to unexpected road closures.
President’s Prattle - Ron Henry
6 October 2010
A GOOD NIGHT
We’ve had some really good club nights during the years but last Tuesday must rank amongst the best. It began with the first of our early-doors sessions. Fifteen members turned up at six o’clock, some with an order of beer and sandwiches having come straight from work (one advantage of holding our meetings in a pub with grub) I spent half an hour talking about and discussing cameras, lenses and exposure before Peter took everybody though the basic set-up for Photoshop. These sessions, it would appear, are going to be very popular. Everybody agree that they had benefited from the information passed on and were very enthusiastic about repeating the experience once more next week before we make our temporary move to Gosforth Library.
The main event of the evening was billed as ‘Practical Night – Portraiture’,which, of course, it was. In addition we were, treated to a talk by Phil Ryott. Phil has his own studio in Newcastle which he ‘robbed’ to bring an interesting array of professional flash gear with soft boxes. With the help of his model, Brooke, Phil demonstrated how to place lights for best effect. We all got to take some pictures and to use his professional ring flash system before he concluded by showing some of his own prints.
It was a very full evening which meant that the growing numbers who join us downstairs were late for our drink and chat. Not too late it seems for the younger members to be checking out Brooke’s website (our more mature members just didn’t have the technology!)
President’s Prattle - Ron Henry
3 October 2010
A GRAND DAY OUT
After the terrible weather we’ve had this week, we all feared the worst but they say you need a little luck in your photography and that’s exactly what we got. It was a beautifully calm, almost balmy evening as we pitched our tripods at various choice locations. Just before dark the lights came on but it was that magic 20 minutes just as the twilight faded that the shutters started clicking. After that the floodlighting really came into its own, with the Abbey guides dressed in the white Benedictine monks habits pleased to pose for our cameras. All of this, topped off with a Hog Roast, made it one of the best club mini outings of the year. Thanks to the drivers and to Peter for the pies and for the idea in the first place.
PRINTING WITHOUT A PRINTER
Last Tuesday Ed came up to Ian and myself and said he’d like to enter the club competitions but he didn’t have the facility for printing and mounting pictures. All of our competition rules allow the entry of commercially printed images and there are many commercial printers who will supply reasonably priced prints from your own images. Ian has begun to add these to the ‘links’ page of this website starting with ProAm Images.
I have also obtained samples of 40 X 50 mounting board with A4 aperture pre-cut and complete with backing card which, if sufficient people are interested, the club will purchase in bulk and sell on to members. I wouldn’t like to see this idea completely replace the home printing and mounting because I think this is part of our hobby but where members don’t have the facility, it does help them to enter competitions where otherwise it might be impossible.
President’s Prattle – Ron Henry
22 September 2010
TEMPORARY RELOCATION
If you’ve been reading this news page you’ll know that our regular venue, the Duke of Wellington, will be closed refurbishment and we need to relocate for two weeks. Well I’m pleased to report that, through the good services of our Membership Secretary Terri, we have been able to rent a room in Gosforth Library for both Tuesdays, so please make a note – Gosforth Camera Club will temporarily relocate to Gosforth Library, Regent Farm Road, 7:15pm on 19th and 26th October 2010. We may have to postpone our early hour teach-ins to start in November.
CONGRATULATIONS LESLEY
Last night was our ‘Outings Competition; the first competition of the season and judged by Ian Winship. I am delighted to report that it was won by a relatively new member who only became seriously interested in photography last year. It was a delightful print called Hattie and Queenie by Lesley Hughes. Well done, I’m sure this is only the beginning of many competition successes.
FIRST KNOCKOUT COMPETITION
The first knockout of the season was well supported. There was some light hearted (I think) comments about Film Free Projection; that’s the software we use to project two pictures side by side on the screen. The beta version of the new release which we were trying, worked extremely well except that some members were convinced that pictures which had been eliminated returned in a subsequent round as successful. I couldn’t possibly comment but I don’t know another way of projecting this sort of competition with the equipment we have. Anyway knockout competitions have always been a bit of fun. It must have worked OK because Peter won as he often does.
OUTING TO FOUNTAINS ABBEY
The outing for the illuminated Abbey Saturday evening on 2nd October seems as if it will be by car. We’ll discuss this thumbnail= next Tuesday.
Temporary change of venue in October - Ron Henry ARPS, President
16 September 2010
This is to advise members and potential members that our regular club premises will not be available on the evenings of 19th and 26th October 2010. A temporary relocation is being sought for those two Tuesday evenings and we’ll let you know as soon as we have an alternative venue.
The Duke of Wellington public house in Kenton Lane was originally built to the same plan as the Wheatsheaf in Woolsington, both hostelries at the time being owned by Newcastle Breweries. This was brought to my attention by an Uncle who worked for a Company which held the contract to refurbish these pubs for ‘the Breweries’. They would plan the redecoration like a military operation, closing one room at a time and working a nightshift so that the bar was never closed. Out went Newcastle Breweries and in came health and safety. Now pubs are forced to close the whole building to both staff and clientele for the two weeks it takes to complete redecoration. I’m sure it will be spotlessly clean and all look lovely and we’ll be even more comfortable than we are now so it’ll probably be worth it.
We only found out about this after our meeting on Tuesday so the Committee are in the early stages of finding an alternative venue for two meetings which include the results of the first leg of the print competition and the discussion on colour printing by Malcolm Kus. We’ll let you know how this is progressing on Tuesday night and we’ll e-mail the final decision in due course. We’re sorry for this hiccup in the season but its temporary and totally out of our hands.
A good night out - Ron Henry ARPS, President
14 September 2010
What a brilliant night we had last Tuesday. Not because it was President’s Night; not because there was a scintillating speaker – there certainly wasn’t, although Peter and Idse helped me out by showing some inspiring pictures they’d taken over the summer. No, it was brilliant because we had so many new faces in our midst. It’s always encouraging to see new members in the club as they have new ideas which we can adopt and adapt to keep the club fresh and vibrant. We’ve been a camera club for over sixty years, with some of our original members still taking their place in the front row, but we always try to keep up-to-date and as lively as we possibly can.
Our programme for the coming season looks really exciting, topped up with the proposed how-to discussions groups prior to some of the evenings and the possibility of another couple of outings so we’re expecting another bumper season. Judging by the number of members who have already submitted entries for the early competitions, I also expect a very healthy interest in the print competitions, with the digital not far behind. It’s surprising that our print entries always outnumber the digital entries - given the ease of digital you would think it would be the other way round, but it seldom is.
We still have a few members on holiday: Harry for instance, chose to fly off to Seattle rather than collect his trophy for best newcomer. It just goes to show where some people’s loyalty rests! Joking aside, this trophy is new to the competitions and we have such a good influx of new members that ownership of this trophy will be keenly challenged.
Gosforth Camera Club is not all about cups, medals and crowns nor is it purely about taking pictures. I always look upon the club as a place where we can talk about and practice all aspects of our hobby with people who have similar interests or sometimes obsessions. It’s as much about the friendships as the photography. I wish all our members a great season ahead and if there’s anything the Committee can do to enhance your enjoyment, please let me know – after all, it’s your club.
Competition winners 2009-2010
Ray Cole Memorial Trophy - Photographer of the Year: Joan Hall
Competitor of the Year: Peter Buckton
Newcomer of the Year: Harry McAtominey
Sony Award - Colour prints: Joan Hall
(2nd Fred Lowes; 3rd Peter Buckton)
YMCA Trophy - Monochrome prints: Joan Hall
(2nd Peter Buckton; 3rd Ann Stoddard)
Projected digital images: Peter Buckton
(2nd Joan Hall; 3rd Idse Herrema)
Louis Moore Tankard - Set subject (Speed): Peter Buckton
(2nd Gerry Davidson; 3rd Margaret Daley)
Ron Lovesey Salver - Nature: Peter Buckton
(2nd Terri Henderson; 3rd Allan Beaton)
Print panel: Margaret Daley
Panorama: Arron Storey
Club outing: George Simpson
(2nd Ron Henry; 3rd Peter Buckton)
NCPF Annual Championships 2010
Only a few members entered, but Joan Hall was particularly successful with Highly Commendeds for mono prints Radiance and Escape. Radiance is selected for the NCPF entry in the inter Federation Competition with colour print Mystery a reserve selection.
Well done to Joan.
Narrow defeat for the club - success for Peter
Despite some high scoring images Gosforth lost by two points to Tynemouth in the North Tyne area projected image competition on 26 March. However, Peter Buckton's All about light was adjudged the best image in the competition.
Interclub triumph - 23 February 2010
In the 4 way colour and mono print competition with Cramlington, Gateshead and Morpeth, Gosforth won by two points from Gateshead, thanks to some high scores, including 29 for Joan Hall's Escape and 28 for Ian Whillis's Its been a hard life. Since we had won the projected digital leg by a large margin the combined scores from the two competitions gave us victory for the trophy by 16 points over Gateshead.
Success at the NCPF Club Championships, Washington 7 February 2010
In the projected digital category of this event the club won the Memento trophy competition for those clubs failing to progress from the first round to the final.
In addition Peter Buckton's All about light gained a maximum of 15 and then was adjudged Best Electronic Image from those gaining 15 in any round of the competition.
Review of the season - Ron Henry
7 December 2009
The winner
George won
Our meetings started in September with a talk from the police. Apart from an unforgettable if rather gruesome illustrated talk from the police photographer some years ago, this is the first time in the club’s sixty year history that the police have been involved in our programme. Our members feel that officials are challenging us more often when we’re simply pursuing our hobby in a lawful manner so information and advice was sought.
It felt rather strange to sit in our comfortable meeting room and listen to a guest speaker telling us how to clean our lens but that’s precisely how Wyn Barnes started her presentation and the effects on our images of dust on the lens was exactly what interested us. A few weeks later we were taken from to another end of our hobby as Paul Wright spent a whole session showing us the best way to colour manage our workflow. On another occasion Mandy Pattullo enthralled everyone with a talk on Memento Mori or gravestones to you and me.
As always, it’s the demonstrations by our own members which intrigue us and Peter’s delve into the innermost workings of Photoshop CS4 was one such evening which was augmented by issuing an unmodified image to everyone and comparing the modified results a few weeks later.
Soon the first part of our 2009-2010 season will come to an end with our wine and cheese night and the fun knockout competition. Our programme secretary has done us proud and that’s likely to continue next year building to the Ray Cole memorial lecture given by Rod Wheelans. We’re planning another exhibition in Gosforth Library in January where we hope to add to our compliment of over fifty members and, of course, joining for half a season means half price.
Your committee work hard to provide an interesting and informative programme but of course none of this would be enjoyable without the enthusiasm and friendship of our members. Thank you for making the job of President so worthwhile, I wish you a Merry Christmas and a snappy New Year.