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Sadly, Mary Hartley, the scheduled judge for Alnwick and District Camera Club’s second open print competition, was indisposed but club member Malcolm Kus stepped into the breach at short notice. Fortunately Malcolm is a very experienced and well-regarded competition Judge, although he had little time to assess the 43 monochrome prints and 42 colour prints submitted before the meeting took place. Open competitions are always the most challenging because the subject matter of the prints is so varied but Malcolm made the task look easy as he commented in detail on each entry in his usual relaxed and good humoured style.
In the monochrome competition, Underpass by Alastair Cochrane, Pilgrims in the Mist by Jane Coltman and Duddo Stones by Dave Dixon were all commended while The Horse Dealer by Jane Coltman, Lines by Alastair Cochrane and Desolate Deckchairs by Ian Atkinson were highly commended. Fourth place went to Laine Baker for War Memorial Whitehall, a fine close-up of sculptural detail, and third place to Michael Mundy for Black Beach Reynisfjara, an atmospheric, graphic landscape. Michael also took first and second places, the latter with Lost Love, an excellent, symbolic studio shot and first place with Ivan, a beautifully lit and well posed portrait of the highest quality.
In the colour competition, commended entries were Cheers Darling by Jane Coltman, King’s Cross Underpass by Laine Baker and Political Decline by Jane Coltman while those highly commended were Leaf by Alastair Cochrane, Spirit Island by Margaret Whittaker and The Other Roughting Linn by David Burn. David also took fourth place with The Black Hole, a dramatic coastal landscape while Jane Coltman was awarded third place for Rough and Tumble, a well-timed, colourful horse racing image. David Burn again succeeded with second place for Low Newton Rocks, a lovely picture of rocks, sea and sky with beautiful, subtle colours but Margaret Whittaker won first place with Schizostylis (Zeal salmon), an extremely striking studio flower portrait against a black background with digitally created reflections.
Report by David Carter
"Finding My Mojo" was the title of Mark Petherbridge’s presentation to Alnwick & District Camera Club on Wednesday evening. His presentation covered both colour and monochrome images, all delivered with an entertaining commentary and good humour.
Mark explained how he had been taking photographs for a number of years, and this selection of images covered work he had done over the past few years, in particular trying to take types of images that he had not previously done.
The first section of the presentation covered street images, beginning with some candid shots taken on the streets of York and Newcastle. As well as just the visual aspect, Mark invited us to consider the stories behind the images; what were the people thinking and saying as they went about their business, largely unaware of being in the photographer’s lens. Next he showed some photographs taken at local events, such as the Durham Miners’ Gala and the Newcastle Pride Parade, capturing the atmosphere of these occasions.
Next up was a selection of close-up photographs of fungi, taken with a macro lens. Mark admitted that he had initially found the macro lens difficult to work with, but now it is a key part of his photographic kit.
A series of infrared photographs, taken with a specially-converted digital SLR camera demonstrated how effective this technique can be. The monochrome images reveal scenes in a way that the human eye can’t see naturally, with bright white foliage and dark contrasted skies.
A section entitled "The Joy Of Sets" explored series of images taken on connected themes, such as hands and benches.
Lastly came a series of "scapes" – land, sea and skyscapes captured at various locations in the UK and overseas. In some ways this was a return to the style of photography that Mark had started with in his photographic life, but he explained how he was keen to find new views and not to simply "follow in other photographers’ tripod holes".
Report by Dave Dixon
Alnwick & District Camera club members Laine Baker and Jane Coltman entertained fellow members with a selection of photographs taken on their travels.
The main part of the presentation covered a trip to Morocco, starting in Casablanca with a varied set architectural images taken in the main mosque. These included some wider angle shots which conveyed the sheer size of the building, plus some closer shots highlighting specific details.
Moving out into the city, images of streets, markets and people at work and leisure helped to give a feel for the place.
Interestingly, the pair took their own camera and set of lenses to share. This meant that at any given location, each would be using a different lens to the other – this meant that often the same view could be captured in two very different ways even though the two photographers were literally standing side-by-side.
Other highlights of the tour included Fes, Volubilis (site of a former Roman city) and various points on a journey through the Atlas Mountains.
The tour ended in Marrakech, where Laine and Jane captured some more fine images of the markets, and then finally the Majorelle Garden – a tranquil spot in the city with some buildings featuring striking blue paintwork.
The second half of the presentation was of photographs that Laine and Jane had taken on a recent trip to London.
The pair had dome some research beforehand for photogenic locations. Consequently, some less familiar places were captured by their cameras, including the impressive interior of Heal’s store and the graffiti and street art around Brick Lane.
Of course, no visit to London would be complete without some photographs of the more iconic sights, and these are also included in the presentation. In particular, some views across the City were very impressive, capturing as they did the subtle colours in the evening light.
The evening was completed by a series of colour and monochrome prints form Laine and Jane, many taken on travels overseas, but a few somewhat closer to home.
Report by Dave Dixon
Alnwick and District Camera Club’s latest meeting started with the good news that they had just won the Interclub Shield for the Category Competition. The marks awarded to the competing clubs were: Alnwick 257, Blyth 250, Morpeth 249, Cambois 247, Ashington 244 and Amble 240.
The main event of the evening was judging of the second open projected image competition. The judge for the evening was David Ord from Ryton Camera Club. With more than fifty entries covering a multitude of subjects, David was presented with a considerable task. However, he rose to the challenge admirably, commenting in detail on every entry. From his well-considered remarks, it was very clear that he had spent a great amount of time assessing all of the pictures.
Entries commended by David were Neost Point Lighthouse, Isle of Skye by Andrew Mackie, Cologne Reflections by Stanley Trafford and Specimen (fe) by Micheal Mundy, while those highly commended were Ural Owl by Chris Goddard, Morning Coffee by Alastair Cochrane and The Upper Fairey Pool, Skye by Andrew Mackie. Fourth place went to Gerry Simpson for Waiting, a fine partial-silhouette, monochrome image of passengers at an airport, and third place was awarded to Andrew Mackie for The Lonely Tree on the Isle of Skye, a beautiful, well composed landscape. Ian Atkinson’s stunning image of Louise at Lake Louise was a worthy winner of second place but first place was taken by Laine Baker’s entry entitled Me and My Camel, a superb image of a camel and its owner which was not only amusing but also technically superb.
The evening was completed by a gallery of prints by Ian Atkinson and Malcolm Kus.
Ian’s excellent prints featured people and places in Kazakhstan and Kurdistan while Malcolms’ impressive selection of prints included subtly coloured pictures of memorial sculptures in a Milan cemetery and imaginative images of a tiled swimming pool.
Report by David Carter
An interesting evening at Alnwick and District Camera Club started with its annual Progress Award competition judged by three experienced club members. There were only two entries this year but both were of a good standard. The entrants each submitted three images and these were commented on individually by the judges who awarded up to five points for each picture. Chris Goddard’s entry of three images of automobile headlights was awarded a total of 59 points while Christine Grey’s more varied entry, featuring a landscape, an animal portrait and an unusual garden picture, was awarded 66 points making her this year’s winner.
Next came a new venture for the club under the title ‘Give it Your Best Shot’. Members’ digital files of thirty one images were sent to three judges outside the Northern Counties Photographic Federation. They were Paul Keene of Chilterns Association of Camera Clubs, Walter Benzie of Surrey Photographic Federation and Russell (Rusty) Lindsay of East Anglian Federation of Photographic Societies.
All three judges provided comments on each picture and awarded points out of five. The results were quite surprising at times with judges occasionally giving widely varying scores for the same picture, although it is true to say that the majority of scores were within a point of each other.
It was probably the judges remarks that caused most controversy as in some cases it was difficult to believe that they were commenting on the same image. While we always hope that judges will be as objective as possible, there is always a certain amount of subjectivity that creeps in. Images that presented any sort of challenge seemed to fare particularly badly.
Perhaps what we should all take from this is to realise that judges are only human and not to take it to heart when our pictures do not always fare quite as well as we hope.
Although this was not a competition, the following pictures achieved the highest scores. Carol Mackay’s At Glen Etive was the only picture to score the full 15, Alastair Cochrane’s The Calatrava and the Cloud scored 14 and Richard Stent’s Venetian Glass scored 13. A Hundred Years and More by John Thompson, Where is my Food? by Pat Wood and Navigation Posts by Peter Downs all scored 12.5.
Despite misgivings regarding some scores and comments, this was an interesting exercise and one that the club will almost certainly repeat in future years.
Report by David Carter
Steve McDonald from Morpeth Camera Club was the judge for Alnwick and District Camera Club’s set subject print competition. The subject was H2O and this was interpreted in many different ways, some quite ingenious.
Steve proved to be an excellent judge giving a detailed analysis of each picture, particularly regarding how well it fitted the brief of the set subject. Including water in the picture was not enough on its own to impress the judge but his comments were both constructive and encouraging. Steve invited the audience to give their feedback as the evening progressed and this resulted in some interesting discussion as well as some light hearted banter.
Prints that Steve commended were Big Wave Amble by John Strong, Icy Windscreen by Jim Kirkpatrick and Water Beds by Malcolm Kus. Those highly commended were H to O now I can’t go (involving letters on a Scrabble board!) by Richard Stent, No sitting out in the rain today by Margaret Whittaker and Water Music by Micheal Mundy. In fourth place was Roughting Linn, a quite magical landscape by Dave Dixon while third place went to Hydrant, a very clever and well presented image of a fire hydrant sign by Micheal Mundy. Dave Dixon also took second place with Blakehope Burn, a beautifully captured picture of moving water but Steve awarded first place to Gerry Simpson for Splashdown, a superb high speed flash shot of moving water droplets.
Report by David Carter
Alnwick and District Camera Club’s Reportage competition is traditionally judged by the last winner of the prize and so it fell to Micheal Mundy to choose between the three entries submitted. These were a photographic book recording the development and history of the Alnwick Garden by Margaret Whittaker, a photo album containing the story of the appearance of the Hale Bop comet in the 1990s by Stanley Trafford, and a lip-sync video tribute to Mrs Blythe, retiring deputy head of Holy Trinity First School, submitted by Dawn Groves. Micheal talked about all three entries commending the quality of Margaret Whittaker’s photography and presentation, and Dawn Grove’s highly entertaining and well-made video but chose Stanley Trafford’s unique combination of drawings, photographs and personal observations as the reportage winner.
The evening continued with a superb gallery of colour and monochrome prints of architecture and people photographs taken mainly in and around Newcastle by Carol McKay. Carol talked about her pictures, selecting her favourites and commenting on how much Newcastle has changed over recent years.
Finally Laine Baker and Jane Coltman showed a pot-pourri of pictures taken on a holiday to Thailand and Myanmar, a taster of a presentation they will be giving next month.
Report by David Carter
Members of Alnwick and District Camera Club enjoyed a fine display of photography when they were visited by members of Whickham Photographic Club. The evening was ably compered by Whickham’s Alan Wilson.
First to show his work was Alan Fowler with an impressive selection of prints. Alan is a master of digital manipulation, adding or changing figures, replacing skies or placing objects in different backgrounds. Many of his techniques have required a great deal of work and thought before achieving the results he was looking for. With Alan’s pictures it is certainly the case that “things aren’t always what they seem”.
Next came Alan Wilson with a superb collection of wildlife pictures, mostly taken in Africa.
These included a wonderful image of a leopard with its prey and action shots of wildebeest crossing a river. His colourful pictures of birds were equally fine, including those photographed in his garden, proving that it is not necessary to travel to achieve rewarding results.
Kath Dodds is a relatively new member of Whickham but her selection of projected images demonstrated the benefits of club membership. These included flower close-ups, garden birds and some excellent pictures of the Tyne bridges. She has made good use of her tripod to achieve fine pictures of sunsets and moving water.
Peter Strassheim next entertained us with a range of pictures taken at a Whitby Goth weekend. He made the point, that while it is easy to find willing subjects to portray, it is often difficult to succeed in club competitions unless you can find something new to say. Many of his pictures demonstrated a fine sense of humour but his most impressive images were those rendered in monochrome.
Last but by no means least was Paul Hattam with an excellent selection of his favourite images. His work, both in colour and monochrome, demonstrated a fine mastery of the use of light. Amongst a range of images, he showed some outstanding landscapes. A number of his pictures effectively employed a selective soft focus effect, achieved by minimal digital manipulation.
An enjoyable evening was completed by an extensive gallery of Alan Fowler’s intriguing prints.
Report by David Carter
Alan Porrett of Whitley Bay Photographic Society was the judge for Alnwick and District Camera Club’s set of three print competition. This competition for pictures either in colour or monochrome, had no fixed subject so the eighteen entries covered a wide range of genres.
Alan talked about the challenges of this competition and the difficulty in finding that elusive third image to complete a set. The pictures should stand together as a balanced panel with each image forming an integral part of the whole.
When talking about each entry, Alan first commented on the overall success of the pictures as a panel before praising some individual images which he felt might stand alone in a different competition. Unusually, several sets of smaller prints were presented on single mounts but Alan made it clear that this was not detrimental in any way.
Commended were Tattoo Triptych by Micheal Mundy, Human Interaction by Carol McKay and Broken Combines by Richard Stent while highly commended were Vintage Cars by John Strong, Rajasthanis by Valerie Atkinson and Autumn in the Mountains by Margaret Whittaker.
In Fourth place was Dance Troop, a painterly evocation of the subject by Malcolm Kus and in third place, Early Morning Venice, an unusual and effective set of fish eye views by Laine Baker. Jim Kirkpatrick’s three fine ornithological images entitled Birds of Centre Display was awarded second place but in first place was Jane Coltman’s Alnwick Garden Abstracts, an imaginative triptych of small but perfectly formed colour prints.
Report by David Carter
Simon Williams of Crest Photography was the guest of Alnwick & District Camera Club, where he delivered a fascinating presentation about his life and work as a commercial photographer.
A typical working day for Simon could see him travelling hundreds of miles between photo shoots. Working days of 12 hours or more are not uncommon, and he often works late into the night dispatching images to clients.
Simon compared how he used to work when he first started, shooting to film and using photographic lab services for processing and printing of his negatives. Modern digital photography has allowed him to work in a much more streamlined way, but he said that this has greatly reduced the amount of face-to-face interaction that he has with his end customers.
Good quality camera equipment is a vital tool of the trade, but it was clear that good quality images come from a combination of equipment and photographer. Simon’s images demonstrated not only his technical ability, but also his skill at working with people to get the best images possible.
Drawing on an archive from literally thousands of assignments, Simon showed a selection of images he has taken “all in a days work”. A number of these featured people, many of the household names including members of the royal family, and Simon related anecdotes of working as a host photographer which often allows him to get closer to the subject and capture more interesting and engaging images than the regular press photographers.
Simon concluded the evening with a selection of pictures that he had taken for himself, rather than for paying clients. These demonstrated that his love of photography extends beyond just being a way of making a living, and he has a keen eye for landscape and wildlife images.
In all, a very engaging and entertaining presentation, which was thoroughly enjoyed by the club members present.
Report by Dave Dixon
Alnwick and District Camera Club’s president John Thompson was in the driving seat for the club’s latest meeting. John has an enviable reputation for the quality and variety of his photographs so it was no surprise that we were treated to a feast of fine pictures. John’s first love is for landscapes and he started the evening with some superb colour prints of the Northumberland countryside taken last autumn.
However, John is constantly looking for new approaches to his work and one of his latest moves has been to modify one of his cameras to take exclusively infra-red images. In the right hands, this radical approach can produce impressive results and John has clearly mastered the art as demonstrated by a remarkable series of monochrome prints taken in localities throughout Northumberland. Outstanding features of these images were dramatic skies and sparkling foregrounds, which often looked as though covered with snow due the fact that green foliage is usually rendered white. While not to everyone’s taste, there is no doubt that the results are spectacular. John is still experimenting with this approach and some of his landscapes had a delicate beauty that was quite breathtaking.
John is using this as an opportunity to take a new look at familiar places, approaching his subjects from different viewpoints and using lenses of different focal lengths. Unusually, many of his finest landscapes were taken in square format.
John has also been experimenting with photographing interiors, exposing for highlights to produce deep shadows. Images taken in Belsay Castle showed how this approach creates a palpable sense of mystery.
Street photography has been a subject that John has seldom worked with in the past but he has now taken the plunge with rewarding results. Most of the images, all taken in Newcastle, were in monochrome which helped to remove distractions and concentrate on the people who were the main subject of his pictures.
Finally, John showed a series of night time photographs taken close to his home. This is an ongoing project experimenting with the pools of light and areas of dark shadow created by street lighting under various weather conditions.
President’s Night is a relatively new feature of the club’s programme but, with work of this calibre on show, it is to be hoped that it will remain for future years.
Report by David Carter
Alnwick and District Camera Club member Malcolm Kus was the judge for the projected digital image competition for sets of three. Malcolm is an experienced judge noted for his engaging humour and down-to-earth advice. These were well in evidence as he spoke about each entry, first appraising the images for their individual merits before commenting on how well they worked as sets. This year, the overall standard was very high with all entrants taking pains in selecting their pictures to ensure that they worked well together.
Commended sets were Circles of Confusion by Alastair Cochrane, Luskentyre Horses by Dawn Groves and Through a Car Window by Gerry Simpson, while highly commended were Terrier Racing, Alwinton by Jane Coltman, Going Underground by Micheal Mundy and Ashington Leisure Centre by Pat Wood. Fourth place went to Dave Dixon for Dawn on the Tyne, three beautiful images of the iconic buildings of the riverside, and third place to Margaret Whittaker for The Stumps, a lovely set of well seen and composed pictures of tree stumps. Valerie Atkinson took second place with Invisible, a clever set showing people ignoring a busker in the Central Arcade, Newcastle, but first place, and the Nellie Bache Award, went to David Burn for Midnight Sun Offshore, three spectacular marine images of an oil rig.
An enjoyable evening was completed by a fine gallery of colour and monochrome portraits taken at Whitby by Dennis Hall.
Report by David Carter
Kevin Murray, a club member gave a packed audience an outstanding show of wildlife photography which in the words of Club Chairman Dave Dixon “all his images could be winners”
Kevin is not your average photographer admitting to spending several hours, often lying on the ground in his quest to get the perfect picture. Sometimes in very cold and damp conditions. He always likes to get a ‘different shot’ to the normal portrait ones, hence he spent many hours photographing red squirrels jumping off a log in search of food, having set up a specialist area for them to enjoy and providing a regular, if expensive food source for them. His exquisite pictures showcased these elusive creatures in all their glory.
He began by showing images he felt many members could get by a visit to the Farne Islands. But rather than the usual ‘bird in flight’ he preferred to be at the same level as the birds, making for some more unusual and interesting shots. But he never gets too close or invades any space of the birds.
We saw puffins, shags, razorbills, cormorants and terns all in superb detail. A count of fish in a puffins beak was recorded as ten Other images taken elsewhere in Northumberland featured kingfishers - a difficult subject at best and roe deer – one image in particular backlit by the setting sun was Kevin’s favourite and one he had been trying to capture for a very long time.
Kevin loves the rich and varied landscape of Northumberland but also photographs in Scotland. In particular his red deer in the rut captured over many hours not only showcased the animals themselves but the beautiful surrounding countryside.
We then moved on to the Cairngorms where we witnessed hares hiding in the snow, and the glorious ptarmigan showcasing their plumage.
Every image was beautifully captured showing not only Kevin’s skill as a photographer, but his passion for the outdoors and the long and warm applause said it all at the end of a captivating evening.
Report by Margaret Whittaker
David Hall from Gateshead Camera Club is always a welcome visitor to Alnwick and District Camera Club, not only for his skills as a competition judge but also for his lively personality.
On this occasion, he judged the first open monochrome print competition of the season, commenting on the thirty nine entries in detail. David’s comments, whilst liberally spiced with good humour, showed a deep understanding and love for photography. He offered plenty of constructive criticism and helpful advice over framing, composition, choice of printing papers, use of light and much more. David’s enthusiasm, coupled with good natured banter with his audience, made for an entertaining and inspirational evening.
Prints commended by David were Moonlit Trees by Valerie Atkinson, Overhead a Fulmar Soars by Micheal Mundy and Walk On By, by Jane Coltman. Those highly commended were Delores the Driver, by Alastair Cochrane, Isaac’s Birthday by Margaret Whittaker and Tailor’s Dummies by Valerie Atkinson. In fourth place was Ian Atkinson with Madame Loupe, a richly toned, dramatic portrait of orchids that pushed the boundaries of monochrome printing, while in third place was Alastair Cochrane with Three Crows, a small but wonderfully composed, graphic landscape. Second place went to Jane Coltman for Beach Run, a superb action shot of two greyhounds that captured movement wonderfully but first place went to Dave Dixon for Brinkburn Manor, a beautifully toned, superb architectural image.
Report by David Carter
There was a change of venue for Alnwick Camera Club, from the usual club room to Alnwick Playhouse. Each year the club organises a special event at the Playhouse, and this year – the club’s 21st anniversary of Playhouse events - played host to Peter Brisley and Sue O’Connell, with a presentation entitled “Travel Towards The Edge”.
Peter and Sue are a husband-and-wife team of travel photographers, with a preference for travelling to slightly less usual locations.
The evening opened with Sue talking about some of the countries that they had visited, before showing photographs from their travels.
The first location was Libya, beginning Ghadames with photographs illustrating the architecture of the city, moving out to a desert festival, and then some detailed photographs of ancient rock art. Moving east, the next set of images were taken in Syria, showing scenes in Damascus, Aleppo and the ancient city of Palmyra. It was noted that some of the buildings that they had photographed have since been sadly destroyed, making their images items of historical record. The next country visited was Oman, with some fine architectural shots of castles and mosques, and also of camel racing in the desert.
Further east, there were photographs from Indonesia, including some breathtaking dawn images of a volcano and some images showing the harsh reality of workers who gather sulphur from volcanic sites. Staying in the far east, Myanmar yielded many images illustrating not only the country but also its people, with shots of fishermen and also of monks and nuns. The next destination was Mongolia, where Peter and Sue had spent time with a team of eagle hunters, who spend their days training eagles to hunt.
The final set of images in the first half were taken in Iran, showing people and architecture. These gave some insights into the country, its people and also its views towards westerners – the latter being something which Sue explained travel photographers had to be mindful of when working amongst peoples of different cultures.
Peter hosted the second half of the evening. He observed that whilst he and Sue travel together and work together, they always seem to take different photographs. Building on the scenes set during the first half, Peter’s photography allowed a more in-depth exploration of the countries visited. He showed sequences of images focusing in more detail on different subjects that he and Sue had encountered on their travels. Whereas Sue tends to work in colour, Peter showed a mix of colour and monochrome images, including some very effective monochrome images taken using infrared film.
It was an evening of quality photography, interesting stories and insights into the working life and experiences of two accomplished travel photographers – a fine way to mark Alnwick Camera Club’s 21st Playhouse anniversary.
Report by Dave Dixon
The Members’ night at Alnwick Camera Club gave members an opportunity to share their work with the rest of the club, in an informal series of presentations.
John Thompson kicked the evening off with a series of high quality monochrome images, taken along the coast around Dunstanburgh Castle. These included wider views of the castle, as well as more abstract close-up views of rocks.
There then followed a series of digital image presentations, beginning with a selection of pictures from Peter Sutcliffe, taken on a recent trip to Cumbria.
During the summer, Laine Baker took spent some time in London, and brought back some photographs showing a celebratory birthday tea at The Shard, as well as some pictures taken during a visit to the British Museum. Continuing the birthday theme, John Strong showed photographs that he took during a holiday in Northern Ireland to mark his 70th birthday. These included coastal views, as well as more urban views from Belfast city.
Heading somewhat further afield was Ian Atkinson, with a set of photographs taken during a holiday to Canada and Alaska, showing the towns visited, and some glorious lakes, mountains and glaciers.
Denise Metcalf shared a series of taken recently in Kew Gardens. Her timing was perfect, as she had caught the trees in a burst of warm autumnal colour.
Doug Ross in well-known in the club for his street photography and he presented some recent images taken in Newcastle, including scenes around the newly-revealed Fenwick’s Christmas window. Dave Dixon also spends a lot of time photographing in Newcastle, and he showed a number of urban landscape images featuring some less-glamorous scenes around the city.
There as an audio/visual interlude with two A/V sequences from Raymond Beston, showing his photographs to a musical soundtrack. The first of these featured boats around Beadnell and further afield at La Rochelle. The second included a fine selection of flower photographs taken at various formal gardens around the country, as well as in Raymond’s own garden at home.
Sue Aynsley is a new face to the club. She showed a varied selection of images including landscapes, skyscapes and wildlife.
Val Atkinson showed a series of photographs that she had taken during the summer, including trips to York, Tynemouth, Blagdon, and a holiday to Italy. She even managed to capture one or two celebrity faces.
Finally, Vanessa Hornsby and Geordie Groom showed photographs that they had taken whilst hill-walking up Ben Nevis and Scafell Pike. These really showcased the landscape, and allowed club members to enjoy the views without the effort of climbing the peaks themselves.
In all, a varied and entertaining evening, which demonstrated that the club has some excellent photographers in its membership.
Report by Dave Dixon
The judge for Alnwick and District Camera Club’s first open colour print competition of the season was Mike Allport from Wooler and District Camera Club. With fifty five prints covering a very wide range of subjects and approaches, Mike was faced with quite a challenge but he commented on every entry before choosing those deserving awards. He then provided additional remarks on his reasons for selecting the winning prints.
Commended entries were as follows: Stand Out was by Micheal Mundy while Reflections and Blue on Yellow were both by Alastair Cochrane. In the highly commended category were Arctic Islands by David Burn and With Her Went Life’s Colour and Cracked Earth, both by Micheal Mundy. In fourth place was Waiting for Spring, a beautiful understated image of grasses and trees in subtle colours, by Alastair Cochrane and in third place was Broken, a superb dawn seascape with driftwood in the foreground, by David Burn. Second place was awarded to Dave Dixon for Forth Bridge, a sparkling image of this iconic structure, unusually pictured in portrait format, but first place went to Margaret Whittaker for The Mistress Tulip, a spectacular flower portrait set against a black background.
Report by David Carter
Street photography was the subject of Dave Mason’s presentation when he visited Alnwick and District Camera Club. Now living in the Canterbury area, Dave has spent most of his life in South London which has provided him with plenty of opportunity to photograph the people around him. In his own words his aim has been “finding the extraordinary in the ordinary in documenting the surreal happenings on city streets”.
Dave’s first sequence of pictures, under the title ‘Borrowed Art’, were of people photographed against backgrounds of posters and graffiti. Many of these were very humorous while others offered social comment but all of them were incredibly well seen and composed. Dave likes all of his pictures to tell a story. None of them are posed and he does not add or remove details digitally as he wishes to preserve the integrity of his images. Many of his most successful pictures are in monochrome as he only believes in using colour where it adds something to the overall effect.
His next series of pictures under the title ‘The Moment’, in homage to Henri Cartier-Bresson, resulted from Dave’s close observation of people, enabling him to capture telling postures and facial expressions in a very natural way. He seldom engages directly with his subjects, taking his pictures with a small inconspicuous camera, but nevertheless he demonstrates a clear empathy with the people he photographs. Even in his most amusing images you do not feel that he is mocking his subjects but simply enjoying the humour of the situation.
He explained that, in order to achieve good results, he often observes people at a distance and waits until they are quite near him before seizing the moment to get the picture he has envisaged. Different viewpoints provide different opportunities as he demonstrated with pictures taken through shop windows and from the top of a bus.
A series of pictures under the title ‘galleries’ recorded people in relation to works of art. This included a most intriguing set showing people who matched in some way the pictures they were looking at, a good example of Dave’s ability to see something quite extraordinary where most of us would have passed it by.
Dave continued with a wide selection of pictures taken both in the UK and abroad. All of them shared his unique ability to seek out something unusual, engaging and often extremely amusing.
He concluded his highly entertaining and inspiring presentation with a final sequence, entitled ‘the main event’, dealing with taking pictures at festivals and parades. Here he finds that the best pictures can be found at the beginning or the end of an event where the crowds disperse and the main participants become more relaxed. The events he covered ranged from the Lord Mayor’s Show to Gay Pride processions and zombie gatherings, a good reflection of the wonderful diversity of humanity that provides Dave with his subject matter.
Report by David Carter
There was a full house at Alnwick and District Camera Club when it hosted the Northern Interclub Print Competition. Six local clubs had entered four monochrome and four colour prints each, to be judged by Dave Philips from Hartlepool Photographic Society.
Dave is a very well respected judge who takes great pains in analysing pictures and providing constructive and encouraging comments. His love of photography was very evident as he delivered his comments, marking each picture with points up to a maximum of thirty.
Needless to say, the quality of prints both in colour and monochrome were of a very high standard with each club producing some outstanding results. Landscape, portraiture and wildlife figured strongly but there was a good variety of other subjects. The two highest scoring pictures were both awarded the full thirty points. These were Tawny Owl, a splendid monochrome image by Steve MacDonald of Morpeth Camera Club, and Breakfast, a wonderful colour portrait of a hare nibbling grass stems by George Sudlow, also from Morpeth.
The final totals for each of the participating clubs were as follows: Amble Photographic Group, 197 points, Cambois Camera Club 204 points, Ashington Camera Club 207 points, Blyth Photographic Society 208 points, Alnwick & District Camera Club 209 points and, clear winners with 219 points, Morpeth Camera Club.
This was a very enjoyable and good natured evening with plenty of opportunity to enjoy the excellent prints on show and meet members of other clubs. It was brought to a close with the presentation of the trophy shield to a member of the winning club by judge Dave Philips
Report by David Carter
'Ten Years' was the title of Iain Izatt’s presentation when he visited Alnwick and District Camera Club. Based in Scotland, Iain is a keen amateur photographer who has been honing his skills for the past ten years.
He first showed a few of his earliest efforts, taken on a basic digital camera with a low resolution lens, to give us some idea of his starting point. Moving on from straightforward holiday views of Lanzarote, he next showed a sequence of pictures taken while working in the Middle East. These included city and desert views of Qatar and even some portraits of Camels and Ostriches. Among the architectural features recorded were fine views of the magnificent Grand Mosque and the unusual Spiral Mosque, both in Doha.
Holidays in Australia have provided him with some good photographic opportunities as witnessed by excellent pictures of Uluru, the Blue Mountains and Darling Harbour in Sydney. A later visit provided the opportunity to record some fine night time images of Melbourne.
Iain has also travelled widely with his camera in Europe and showed a wide selection of pictures taken in Italy, France, Monaco, Belgium and Finland.
However, his great love is his home country of Scotland and this has provided the richest source of inspiration for his photographs. An excellent series of landscape and coastal shots ranged from Edinburgh to the Isle of Skye but his most memorable pictures were those of the bridges over the Firth of Forth. He has recorded the impressive new Queensferry Crossing from the earliest stages of its construction to its spectacular opening illuminations.
This was an entertaining evening with plenty of fine pictures to see, enlivened by interesting and amusing anecdotes.
Report by David Carter
Alnwick and District Camera Club’s latest open projected image competition was judged by George Ledger of Hexham and District Photographic Society. Despite the large entry of more than sixty images, George devoted time to every one, commenting on content, composition and technical quality. As usual, he offered plenty of encouragement and constructive criticism, pointing out some of the elements required for success in an open competition.While most of the entries were in colour, there were also some excellent monochrome images. Subject matter, as always in open competitions, covered a wide spectrum from landscape and sport to natural history and people pictures.
Commended were Four Seats in the Sun by Richard Stent, and On the Firth of Tay and Heading South, both by Carol McKay. Highly commended were Reflection by Alastair Cochrane, Graceful Flight by Margaret Whittaker and Hareshaw Linn by Dave Dixon.
Jim Kirkpatrick’s well captured colourful image of light falling through a stained glass window, entitled Reflections, took fourth place while third place went to Micheal Mundy for Last Year’s Model, a superb, enigmatic monochrome image of a broken mannequin. Second place was awarded to David Burn’s moody Norwegian landscape of Håja but Jane Coltman took first place with Having a Ball, an excellently composed monochrome picture of a happy young boy inside a zorb ball.
The evening was completed by a high quality print gallery by John Thompson. This featured two panels relating to the National Memorial Arboretum near Lichfield, one of colour pictures of the memorial and the other of poignant monochrome close up images of individual sculptures.
Report by David Carter
Alnwick and District Camera Club members were lead through a world of photography far removed from that with which they were familiar when they spent An Evening with Geoffrey Bradford. Geoffrey, who is a club member, has recently achieved an MA in photography at the University of Sunderland and took this as the subject for his presentation.
He first outlined the various elements of the course, which involved both written and practical work, pointing out that choices are largely self directed, with tutors on hand to give advice.
Amongst the written work, Geoffrey had chosen to present a critical essay on the work of acclaimed landscape photographer Fay Godwin. He showed one of her wonderful monochrome images with his own detailed analysis of the work.
His practical projects were centred around Belsay Hall and an abandoned Polytunnel in Cumbria. The first provided a rich source of architectural features and traces of former occupants in a semi-derelict building, while the second location offered less geometric, more organic images, created by light falling through polythene walls.
However this merely provided a starting point for Geoffrey who is not only a keen photographer but also a sculptor. He embraces the idea of photographs being not only images but objects that can be handled and manipulated. This has lead him to push the boundaries to create three dimensional works of art.
To achieve this, he has printed his images on materials that can be cut, shaped and moulded in ways that ordinary photographic papers will not withstand. Cartridge paper, newspaper, sugar paper and acetate sheet have all been employed in most ingenious ways to produce miniature, free standing sculptures that can be viewed from all sides and even picked up and examined.
The greater part of this work took place in Geoffrey’s studio where he experimented with a wide range of techniques including manipulation of pigment inks with acetone and creating texture by the use of sandpaper to abrade surfaces. In the course of his work, he created a series of sketchbooks in which he formulated his ideas and made a record of what he had achieved. These formed part of his portfolio for presentation to his tutors.
The final requirement for his qualification was to contribute to a public exhibition of students’ work. This had been meticulously planned, even to the extent of making a one tenth scale model of his exhibit which he had brought along for club members to see, together with his sketchbooks and photographic sculptures.
This unique, fine arts based approach to photography may have been out of the comfort zone for a large proportion of his audience but Geoffrey’s eloquent presentation could not fail to impress. His imagination, technical ability and artistic flair was abundantly evident and it was little surprise to learn that he was awarded his MA with distinction.
Report by David Carter
The topic for members’ night at Alnwick and District Camera Club was What I did this summer.
Doug Ross made a good start to the evening with some superb monochrome street photographs. He has an enviable talent for engaging with his subjects although even he admits that occasionally he is requested rather bluntly to move on.
Jackie Stent came next with a nice series of pictures documenting her retirement. We are fortunate that she now has the time to be our club secretary.
Jim Kirkpatrick has been visiting some stately homes in the south of England and showed us some enticing images of Hinton Ampner, Uppark and Nymans. One sad connection between these properties is that they have all suffered devastating fires in the past, although the first two have been completely renovated.
John Thompson showed a series of superb quality pictures taken using fixed focal length lenses. Making good use of colour, he showed some fine evening scenes of Newcastle and a great action shot of cyclists in the Tour of Britain.
New member Andrew Wainwright introduced himself in the best possible way with an interesting variety of pictures ranging from family portraits to an outstanding aerial photograph of fighter aircraft.
Liz Gordon’s visit to London had included a concert by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers at Hyde Park. She managed to get some souvenir pictures by photographing the large overhead screens and on the following day captured some colourful street scenes in a flower market.
Dawn Groves had visited Ireland and was taken to one of the famed deserted cottages where she captured some poignant images. A visit to the Giant’s Causeway was marred by the crowds of visitors but she still managed to produce an acceptable picture by taking multiple images and using software to eliminate people from the scene.
Paul Penman’s pictures were all taken within a short distance of his home, including images from the Alnwick Music Festival and the Tour of Britain cyclists as they passed through town.
Finally, Richard Stent showed some fine architectural photographs of Castle Howard, intending the results for a club competition until he realised that the stipulation was for images to be taken in Northumberland. This was a salutary reminder for members to check the entry requirements for forthcoming competitions this season.
Report by David Carter
Alnwick and District Camera Club’s new season commenced with Chairman’s Night, presented by current chairman Dave Dixon. Dave first talked about some of his favourite locations, including such places as the Duddo Stones, Blawearie, Harbottle Castle, Craster and other coastal spots. He then went on to favoured areas of the Cheviots, where he has sought out some impressive waterfalls. He illustrated all of these locations with some fine photographs, including a number of excellent monochrome images. Dave is finding that a monochrome approach to landscapes often pays dividends and continues to experiment with them. He visits many of the places mentioned on a number of occasions to try out different approaches to picture taking, making good use of different weather conditions.
New Northumberland locations that Dave has photographed recently include Norham Castle and the folly known as Twizel Castle, while a visit to Brinkburn resulted in some interesting images of musicians rehearsing in the Abbey.
Dave is always willing to take on new challenges and decided to produce Instagram images to promote his guitar business. He has tried to make good use of the square format, with imaginative use of close ups and unusual angles, all taken on a phone camera, and plans to extend this project using more sophisticated cameras and software in the future.
Dave has also taken himself out of his own comfort zone by attempting street photography. Despite his misgivings, he has already produced some good results but admits that he is much happier when processing the images on his PC.
He has now started to concentrate on urban landscapes, adopting a creative approach that that captures the mood of a location rather than simply recording the architecture. His images taken in and around Newcastle are already impressive but he constantly revisits locations striving to produce even better results.
Dave completed his talk with an audio visual presentation of a recent club members’ walk around lesser known parts of Newcastle. He even recorded his own accompanying soundtrack - a fitting end to an entertaining and inspirational evening.
Report by David Carter
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