Blog archive - November 2008
The Blog was created during November 2008. The September, October, and early November Blog archives were constructed retrospectively.
27 November, by Roger Dye. (Interclub competition results)
L&CPU Digital Knock-Out, November 2008
L&CPU held the Digital KO competition, which replaces their slide KO, on Saturday 22nd November at Chorley. We entered but could not be represented at the event apart from Jon Allanson who was there as an L&CPU Committee Member.
34 clubs entered and the competition was judged by Ray Brightman FRPS DPAGB HonPAGB AFIAP. Five images were judged with a sixth available as a tiebreaker.
According to the information presently available NCPS were 8th equal, ie 7 clubs scored more that us although 4 of these shared one score. Wigan 10 Foto Club won the competition from Wigan PS on the tiebreak.
An apparent computer glitch in the printout supplied to us results in our individual scores not being clear.
26 November, by Roger Dye. (Interclub competition results)
Martin Avery Trophy, 2008
The digital print competition in memory of Martin Avery was hosted this year by St Helens PS on Monday 24th November. The NCPS delegation attending were Lynda and David Hockin, Jon Allanson, Joyce Streets and myself. We returned the splendid trophy won when we hosted the competition last year.
The judge was David Butler. Prints (12 from each club) were judged on the lightbox whilst the equivalent digital image was projected for all to see although there was often a marked difference in the image appearance. David set a high standard, with the average level image receiving 16, in order to adequately separate the marks for what he described as a very high quality entry. As always his comments were well founded with many indications of how the image could be improved. He was familiar with many of the images, particularly as a subset had appeared two days ago at the L&CPU Digital KO competition and he had judged our first printworker competition of the year.
Southport PS were the eventual victors by a clear margin and we were third. An image from South Liverpool won the silver plate trophy for the best image. Slic unfortunately failed to submit their entry this year.
St Helens PS organised the event very well and provided excellent half time refreshments including sandwiches and cakes, and a bar was available in a neighbouring room. A raffle was also organised with a number of good prizes. Seeing that the organisation of the technology was proving demanding to our hosts, Joyce Streets volunteered to organise the sale of tickets and preparation of the draw. Despite her efforts, we were no more successful in the raffle than in the competition!
Southport PS agreed to organise the competition next year.
25 November, by Barry Pearson. (Interclub competition results)
PDI Interclub Competition with Wilmslow Guild, November 2008
25 November 2008, hosted by NCPS at Poynton Civic Hall. Judge: Brian Lomas
Total for North Cheshire: 519.5
Total for Wilmslow Guild: 508.5
The following table lists the images in order of projection. Each club's images were shown in their chosen order, with a degree of randomness about which club's images were shown next.
24 November, by Barry Pearson. (Notices and news)
Autumn Trees on the Home Page
In mid-September we saw a redesign of our website, using modern implementation standards. The promise was "it will make it much easier to change the page design in future". Now is the time to test that promise!
For a short period, the Home page has a theme based on an image by Dorothy Redford: Autumn Trees. The background uses a specially faded version of this image, (mainly to make it a smaller file, and so faster to download), and the buttons and headers use colours picked out from it. (Any flaws arise from this treatment, not from Dorothy's original version!) The effect looks best with a large browser window - some browsers can expand to full screen size using F11.
By default, changes like this would apply throughout the website. However, we also have the ability (with a bit more effort) to apply different changes to the Home page versus all the other pages. This particular change is confined to the Home page, partly because we have no experience yet of the impact of such changes on our viewers. Feedback is welcome.
Apart from having a bit of fun showing what we can do with our website, there are more practical uses. For example, we expect to transform the Home page after Christmas to promote our Exhibition in February. Other suggestions have been to change the whole website theme each season of the year, (so Dorothy's image would be a good choice for Autumn), or even have a new theme each month.
Changes could be much more extensive than this one. We are constrained more by limited imagination than by the technology. (At least, I am). So I welcome suggestions for exploiting this capability.
24 November, by Roger Dye. (Notices and news)
Refinement of the website navigation
At the end of October, the "Members area" button at the top of each page was changed to say "Resources". The reasons were given by Barry here: Where has the Members' area gone?
Feedback suggests that "Resources" is too remote, is unnecessarily all-embracing, and its business-oriented title is really not appropriate for the informal and club-related items which traditionally appeared in our "Members Area".
Therefore, the right-hand button at the top of each page has changed to say "News & info". This more accurately reflects the contents of this page, which has "News, reports, and results" in the left column and "Useful information" on the right. As with the previous change, all the same sorts of material will continue to be published there in future, and Bookmarks (Favourites) will still work.
We are confident that this will keep the great majority of us happy!
21 November. (Awards and acceptances)
5th German Mega Circuit
The 5th German Mega Circuit, approved by PSA and by ISF, comprised 6 salons: 7th Laupheim International, 5th Veitshoechheimer Foto Salon, 5th Swabian International, 4th Main Spessart International, 2nd BSW Wuerzburg Salon and Filderstadt Photo Competition.
Awards and acceptancesMartin Currie: Swannery was awarded a PSA Gold Medal in the Nature Section + 5 Acceptances. |
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AcceptancesMartin Currie: Puffin with Sandeels received 6 Acceptances. |
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20 November, by Roger Dye. (Meeting and event reports)
Second Printworker Competition 18th November
A rather unusual scene confronted those members who arrived early to lay out the Council Chamber in the Civic Hall on 18th November with the tables piled two-high at the front and the Parish Councils luxury padded chairs available for our use. There were also three electric radiators and two large calor gas heaters - it appeared the Civic Hall heating had failed. The gas heaters were rapidly turned off leading to a marked improvement in the atmosphere in the room. Tables were rearranged and, after a hunt, their protective covers found hidden in the store room, and so the room was prepared for a print competition. In the absence of Bill Chadband (due to indisposition) members managed, at the third attempt, to assemble one of his print stands.
Everything was more or less ready when we noticed another problem - no judge, and we knew he intended to arrive by 7-15pm to go through the prints. The President tried to look unconcerned but recalled that meeting last year when the judge never did arrive. Ironically, that meeting was a match against Chapel CC and tonight’s judge was from that club. At 7-57pm, just as my blood pressure reached the ceiling, Tony Pioli walked in looking quite unconcerned - it appeared he had chosen to come by the scenic route and had been delayed by fog.
Six beginner/Intermediate prints were judged, with extensive comments on each, and Tony Pioli noted that almost all would not have been out of place in the Advanced section.
Moving on, Tony worked through the main group of prints holding some back without scoring to reassess later. He commented helpfully on each, drawing attention in many cases to how the composition matched the way a picture was ‘read’ or otherwise. He pointed out the importance of distracting elements near the edge of the frame and on the size of the main subject in the image demonstrating in many cases how further cropping could improve the impact of the print. Overall he stated he was impressed by the high standard of the work presented.
Having awarded marks up to 18 in the first run through, and having held back 18 images for a further look, Tony Pioli found himself having to award half marks to adequately rank these prints. He finally awarded 20 marks to four prints and declared “Buono Gioro (Good Morning)” by Geoff Robinson the overall winner.
Jonathan Bawden proposed a Vote of Thanks to the Judge and the President commented that it was a pity so many of the authors of the highly marked work were unable to be present.
20 November, by Bill Chadband. (Committee reports)
Committee meeting Wed 19th November
Bill arrived 10 minutes late to the Bowling and Tennis Club, to join 10 more members listening to a report by Phil Riley, the Competition secretary. Bill then reported on progress with the Annual Exhibition. The judges and L&CPU President had all been booked. The Friday Music at an Exhibition night would feature members of the Romiley Operatic Society and a welcome return of Hawk Green Brass Band. Ticket prices would remain as last year. Handing-in was on 6th January 2009. Once John Smith had judged and returned the entries Hawk Green Reading Room would be booked for the day to sort out the arrangement of Prints on the panels.
Jill Hargreaves produced specimen A4 Adverts for the Annual Exhibition Friday. She argued that, having looked around at the multitude of Ads she had seen Black Print on a Yellow Background appeared to stand out best. We would be producing a variety of Ads and we hoped Members would help in distributing them to maximum effect.
The membership Secretary reported (in his absence) that we had 12 new members, though not all our previous members had yet rejoined.
The selection committee had been busy with several inter-club battles looming. There was a conflict between getting a fair representation from club members and choosing our best prints in order to try and win a competition. This latter inevitably put the emphasis on just a few of our more successful members. It was agreed that we should try to negotiate say one print per member with our competing clubs. Social Secretary, Colin Pickles, reported on his efforts to arrange next year’s continental visit. Lisbon had proved to be a popular suggestion, and he was trying to keep the costs down, particularly for single rooms. He had 18 members agreeing to go. He was anxious that any other would-be travelers let him know quickly since Air Fares had a habit of increasing, as the plane filled up. To book seats in two stages would probably mean that the second stage bookings would be more expensive.
As syllabus Secretary Roger Dye was keen that members should contact him with any good ideas they might have for speakers next session.
Barry Pearson explained why he had changed one of the WEB buttons from Members Area to Resources. He was aware that some people, seeing Members Area, would assume they had to Log In. and so give it a miss, when in fact it contained News (Reports and Results) and other useful information. After a lively discussion involving all members of the committee it was agreed that the Resources tag could be changed to News & Info which would make it more explicit.
Barry also drew attention to the new Awards and Acceptances section (Under "News & info") which highlighted members successes on the National and International Scene.
It was agreed that the club should update some of its software (Lightroom and Pictures to Exe).
The next Committee meeting was set for Wednesday 14 January, when the Annual Exhibition would likely predominate.
19 November. (Awards and acceptances)
Third French Digital Tour
The 3rd French Digital Tour, approved by FIAP, PSA and ISF, comprises three salons: 7th Salon International Image Numérique de Hayange, 2nd Salon International de St Aignan de Crasménil and 11th Salon International de Bagnols Marcoule.
AcceptancesMartin Currie: Sadhu and Gannet Displaying both received three acceptances |
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| Martin Currie: Arctic Tern in Flight received two acceptances |
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| Martin Currie: Puffin with Sandeels and Test Ride at Pushkar Fair both received an acceptance |
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19 November. (Awards and acceptances)
23ème Salon d'Art Photographique de Saulgé, France
AwardsMartin Currie: Sadhu received the Médaille d'Or ISF
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18 November. (Awards and acceptances)
Yuanlin International Exhibition of Photography 2008, Taiwan
AcceptancesMartin Currie: Sadhu; Puffin with Sandeels; Red Kite |
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18 November, by Barry Pearson. (Members' competition results)
Second Clubworker Prints Competition results
- Clubworker Competition 2 - Beginner / Intermediate Prints
- Clubworker Competition 2 - Advanced Prints
- Beginner / Intermediate Worker
- Print Worker
- Club Worker
17 November. (Awards and acceptances)
76th Detroit International Salon of Photography
AwardsMartin Currie: Honorable Mentions for Pushkar Camel Fair 2007, Puffin with Sandeels. |
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AcceptancesMartin Currie for: Arctic Tern in Flight, Wild Red Kite Attacking, Gannet Landing, Gannets Feeding. |
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17 November. (Awards and acceptances)
2008 Mississippi Valley Salon of Photography
AcceptancesMartin Currie: Sadhu; At the Taj Mahal. |
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15 November. (Awards and acceptances)
12th Gran Tour delle Colline
The 12th Gran Tour delle Colline, approved by FIAP, comprised four Italian Exhibitions: 17th Trofeo Figline Valdarno, 26th Trofeo Arno, 6th Trofeo Colline del Chianti and 6th Trofeo Colline del Pratomagno.
AcceptancesMartin Currie: Sadhu had four acceptances. |
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Martin Currie: Door, At the Taj Mahal, Through the Jali Screen and Gannet Displaying each had two acceptances. |
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Martin Currie: Arctic Tern in Flight and Puffin with Sandeels both had one acceptance. |
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15 November. (Awards and acceptances)
The Golden Spurs 2008, Belgium, (June)
AwardsMartin Currie: PSA Gold Medal for Best of Show in the PhotoTravel section for Sadhu |
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AcceptancesMartin Currie: for Puffin Landing; |
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15 November. (Awards and acceptances)
29th Northern Counties International Salon Of Photography 2008
AwardsAlan Saunders was awarded a FIAP GOLD MEDAL for a Best Set of 4 Images: Wild Red Kite; Wild Red Kite 1; Gannet in Flight; Fighting Ruff |
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Martin Currie was awarded a PSA GOLD MEDAL for Sadhu |
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Jon C Allanson was awarded a NCPF CERTIFICATE OF MERIT for White Pelicans |
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AcceptancesMartin Currie for Arctic Tern in Flight; Gannets Feeding; Puffin in Flight; Jaipur Jali Screen |
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Jon C Allanson for Victorian Tea Time |
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Philip Riley for Anglers on Misty Waters; The Pink Buoy; Tranquillity; Walking by the Canal; Moored Gondolas; Male Redstart |
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PostscriptWe note that Christine Widdall, our recent speaker, was awarded a PSA Bronze Medal and two Certificates of Merit. |
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13 November, by Bill Chadband. (Notices and news)
Annual Exhibition 11-13th February 2009
The Annual Exhibition rapidly approaches. The Judges have been confirmed and L&CPU President Norman Thompson has agreed to open the exhibition and present the Club Trophies.
The Exhibition is costly to run and we rely upon the Raffle and Adverts to help avoid a loss. Several of our regular sponsors have disappeared or declined to advertize this time. Thus we are in need of new sponsors and members with ideas are urged to speak to Bill Chadband.
The Raffle is a valuable source of income and relies upon the goodwill of members in providing suitable prizes for each of the three evenings. Please keep the Raffle in mind before you give away your second camera, the bottle of wine, or the spare USB Pen Drives!
We will be collecting the Raffle Prizes after Christmas, but we need to chase up suitable adverts for our program before Christmas.
The Friday "Music at an Exhibition" will feature members of Romiley Operatic Society plus a welcome return of the Hawk Green Brass Band.
13 November, by Bill Chadband. (Meeting and event reports)
2nd Digital Meeting of the Session 4th November 08
Barry Pearson presented our second Digital Workshop. He proposed to talk under three headings:
- PhotoShop Layers
- Colour Management
- Integrating PhotoShop with LightRoom
Barry emphasised the importance of not losing any initial data, suggesting that changes should always be made via the non-destructive adjustment layers and layer masks. This built upon the introductory talk by Norman Piper in the 1st Digital meeting. To demonstrate, Barry produced a three layer image, and by selecting a layer mask over part of the top image could see the layer beneath. A similar process applied to the middle layer allowed the bottom layer to be seen. The layer mask worked on a grey scale, whereby White allowed maximum effect and Black minimum (zero) effect.
Accurately selecting part of a complex image could be time-consuming and Barry suggested one should always save one’s selections so that one need not complete a time consuming exercise twice.
Under Colour Management Barry demonstrated the effect of using different colour regimes on the appearance of the image when projected by our Digital projector. Images may have been recorded using, say Adobe RGB, but should be saved as sRGB before using in the projector (which assumes sRGB). Barry has put a page of notes on the WEB (under News & info/Downloads) concerning colour management for the convenience of members.
Barry emphasised the value of the latest version of Adobe LightRoom to Photographers. He found that all his basic manipulations were adequately covered by LightRoom. If need be Adobe PhotoShop could easily be called from within LightRoom to perform those extras manipulations one might require. Though he often invited his audience to interrupt with any questions they might have, it was clear that most folk wished to retire and think more about the many suggestions Barry had made.
13 November, by Brian Turnbull. (Interclub competition results)
Anglo- Scottish Interclub Battle 2008
On a day of mixed weather and some delay suffered by several people due to a motorway accident, nine couples and four singles duly arrived at the Derwentwater Hotel. Having successfully claimed one of the few remaining car parking spaces, we booked in. The Hotel is under new management and we were interested to know what changes were being made. The four course menu has now shrunk to three courses plus coffee. And the fudge, previously served with coffee, has been withdrawn. No doubt the management were concerned for our waistlines!
Saturday morning dawned overcast and raining. However, by 9.30, occasional breaks in the cloud persuaded some stalwarts to set off to follow Richard on his walk to Ashness Bridge. Others, less stalwart, followed their own devices.
By four o’clock we had all gathered in the Portinscale Hall for the main event of the weekend, the interclub print competition. The judge was John Gravitt, whose style, I was warned, took a bit of getting used to. I looked forward with interest to his remarks when judging. There were 80 prints in the competition and John started off by saying that, marking out of 30, he allowed 10 points each for composition, mood and technique. He also said that he had looked through and marked the prints 5 times so he could be sure that justice had been done. His comments were all constructive and to the point and sprinkled with humour. He alluded to the meanness of several entrants in submitting snow scenes which didn’t use much coloured ink; and used phrases like “on the wonk” i.e. not quite straight. He further commented on the use of appropriate paper to suite the subject, the over-sharpening of a number of prints and his search for prints with visual power and dynamic impact. Despite being troubled by a persistent cough he managed to hold out for just over two hours, and showed himself to be an excellent judge.
Now for the results: of the two prints scoring thirty, one was Geoff Robinson’s “Road Rage 2” which John said appeared to be bursting out the frame. Our second highest scorer was Tony Redford with twenty nine for his print “Cause and Effect”
Our overall position in the competition was third behind Carluke and Keswick, a very creditable result considering the strength of the opposition.
13 November, by Bill Chadband. (Meeting and event reports)
Scotland Around the Edges
This was the title of the slide presentation by Duncan McEwan to a packed room (55 attendees) on Tuesday 11th November.
Duncan spoke to each slide explaining his motivation and the considerations involved each time he produced an image. The presentation was a masterclass in the art of composition, in the importance of light to the scene, and in the value of simplicity in an image to produce a strong emotional effect. The setting Sun was often used to great effect to turn a scene golden. A ribbon of light (for example, illuminating the top of a wall) would take the eye in the direction the photographer wanted. Sea spray captured at say 1/8th of a second exposure contrasted with Scotland’s rocky shore line to evoke the wild ruggedness of the coast. The Edge generally involved sand, sea and rocks, with mountains often in the background. Snow on the mountains of Rum highlighted the contours. The combination of sand and snow produced unusual, but intriguing, compositions. Duncan wasn’t afraid to use dark outlines to give sombre effects to castles built sturdily on rocks adjacent to loch or sea, emphasizing the impregnable nature of the construction.
The audience warmed to Duncan’s unassuming style. Phil Riley, a fellow slide worker, proposed the vote of thanks. He felt that the presentation could best be summed up by the single word Inspirational.
It was clear that the audience felt the same way and gave Duncan enthusiastic applause.
Duncan runs Courses and holidays on Landscape Photography. His WEB page is at http://www.dmcewanphotography.co.uk/
13 November, by Frank Hutchinson. (Meeting and event reports)
Optimism Wins the Day
For this year’s walk on the Keswick Trip Richard had arranged a stroll to Ashness Bridge from the car park under Walla Crag. The weather was not looking good but Richard said that it would clear up after 10pm so about 9.30 we set off.
The intrepid party comprised Richard & Penny, Frank & Margery, Hilary Turnbull (Brian had a bad knee so couldn’t walk), Colin Pickles and Jon Allanson. Frank had climbed Walla Crag in 1976 from the other side, consulted his Wainright and thought that now as an old man, he could manage the planned route. Colin photographed the party at the start and we did have about two minutes when it didn’t rain!!
We followed what Wainwright described as “the narrow trod” under Falcon Crag and encountered some viewpoints which in normal times would have had great views of Derwentwater etc We were just about able to see across the lake to Catbells but Skiddaw was invisible in the murk. The path was very wet but not difficult and involved crossing a few streams but all were safely negotiated.
We arrived at Ashness Bridge to find a few more hardy souls with cameras but it was still impossible to see as far as Skiddaw. We posed for a picture to prove we had done it and tried to return via the lake shore as the map showed a path along the shore below the road. Unfortunately, the water was just too high so we were forced to scramble up the bank to the road but didn’t have to walk very far on the road until we found the path back to the car park.
We were very pleased to find that the hotel has a drying room – boy was it needed!
12 November.
New galleries uploaded
There are 2 new galleries by Jon Allanson in our galleries page: "General panel" and "Nature panel". |
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9 November. (Awards and acceptances)
2008 Shrewsbury Open Photography Exhibition
AcceptanceAlan Saunders for Gannet in Flight
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5 November, by Barry Pearson. (Notices and news)
The new "Awards and acceptances" section
There is a new button link on the News & info page - "Awards and acceptances". This explains why.
Original idea
Martin Currie suggested: "There could be a 'page' which records members' achievements in external competitions (acceptances, ribbons, medals, publications, etc.). It would be 'normal' - not 'boasting' - for members to provide this information". (He then expanded on this summary). Tony Redford supported this idea, pointing out that Oldham PS has a "Members' Success" page. Our new section is compatible with Focus.
Is this boasting? I prefer to call it being open and honest!
How can we find out about these events?
There doesn't appear to be a consolidated list. But various organisations have their own list:
- FIAP: International Federation of Photographic Art | Salons Under FIAP Patronage
- PSA: Photographic Society of America | PSA Competitions and Exhibitions | PSA Exhibition Forms
- BPE: British Photographic Exhibitions | List of the British Photographic Exhibitions
What are the rules?
How "important" does an event (such as an exhibition) have to be for an award or acceptance to merit inclusion in our new section?
We don't have rules for this. If the effort of publishing these articles becomes too much, we may have to devise a threshold to limit submissions, but that isn't the case at the moment. (It becomes easier, of course, if more than one member has awards or acceptances at the same event. There will be only be one article per event).
So it is up to individual members to decide for themselves whether they want an achievement to be published in this way. As a guideline, exhibitions that are supported or sponsored by FIAP, PSA, or are recognised by BPE, have recognised respectability.
It also makes sense for this section to be used for significant recognition gained in other ways. When qualifications with the RPS (LRPS, ARPS, FRPS) or PAGB (CPAGB, DPAGB, MPAGB, etc) are gained by members, the news should be published here.
What about publishing past successes?
At the time of writing, one past success is identified by the "Awards and acceptances" list: by Geoff Robinson in a 2006 Exhibition. The reason why it is the only one case is that it was the only suitable existing website page I could find!
If I am told of other existing pages dedicated to recording successes at a particular event (rather than a piece of news buried in a larger page) I will add it to the list in reverse chronological order. If someone supplies me with suitable material for extra pages about past successes, I will publish them and add them to the list.
Galleries
Our Galleries page may appear to be unrelated to this new section. However, where an image in an "awards and acceptances" article is already in a gallery, the article will link to the image rather than duplicate it. So here is a way of displaying a photograph via two routes. Keep supplying images to Tony Redford for our Galleries section, especially when some of them have been accepted in one of these events, and they can then easily be re-exploited.
Postscript
Since writing the above, Martin Currie has provided details for an earlier event. This sort of opportunity is available to other members too.
4 November, by Barry Pearson
New download available
- Colour Management suggestions (Small PDF - notes by Barry Pearson).
- Also available on the Downloads page.
3 November, by Roger Dye. (Interclub competition results)
Bramhall Exhibition Interclub Competitions
On Thursday 30th October Bramhall PS held two interclub competitions as part of their annual exhibition and NCPS entered both. Six members including our Selection Committee Chairperson and myself attended. Both competitions were judged by Gordon Jenkins, Past President of L&CPU. He said all the submitted images were of very high quality and awarded marks in the narrow band from 16 to 20 resulting in little discrimination between club scores.
The Open Print Competition was won by Chapel Camera Club and NCPS came 4th out of the small entry although Dorothy Redford’s “Art From Decay” was one of two top scoring prints.
Stockport PS won the Projected Digital Images Battle beating NCPS and Sheffield PS by one point. There was a rather larger entry to this competition.
NCPS Scores:
Prints: |
Art From Decay |
Dorothy Redford |
20 |
Road Rage 2 |
Geoff Robinson |
17 |
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Cause And Effect |
Tony Redford |
17 |
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Bike |
Colin Pickles |
16 |
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PDI: |
Sadhu |
Martin Currie |
19 |
Cubar Edge Mist & Tree |
Gordon Robson |
19 |
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Blue Footed Boobie |
Joyce Streets |
17 |
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Underground Accelerator |
Dorothy Redford |
17 |
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Graffiti pas de deux |
John Ade |
17 |
| News and blog archives | October 2008 | ||