Christmas Dinner

Forty people enjoyed the meal provided by The Honey Pot Caterers at the British Legion, Poynton, on Tuesday 17th December. This year we had the Function Room to ourselves. Members were pleased to see that President Joyce Streets donned the Red Bowler before making her welcoming remarks.

Organiser Gerald Hallworth had been incapacitated in Stepping Hill Hospital prior to the event so Bill, Brian, Hilary and Alan had set out the tables at mid-day according to Gerald's written instructions. To demonstrate his return to form Gerald delighted the assembly with a recitation. Some malicious person was heard to murmur that Gerald only did this because he was unable to answer any but the first clue in the Cryptic Clues competition, which followed coffee. And how did he manage to answer the first question? Why because he had suggested the cryptic clue to Bill in the first place!

Update

Update is Brian Bower's preferred title when he updates us on his thinking regarding films to use in photography. Prova and Velvia were compared and contrasted in various situations, and there were occasions where Brian thought the emphasised greens of the Velvia actually helped the slide picture. For relaxation for his second half Brian took us on a tour of Spain - an eye-opener to those of us who have yet to visit the area.

Alan Bromage & Colin Pickles then shared an evening; brought forward in a swap with Ted Wilson. Alan began with a masterly display of prints. He showed his delight and expertise at working into the light for a variety of back-lit subjects and provided a feast of natural history images; many from locations very near home (though he refused to disclose these locations!). By contrast Colin gave us a slide show of his several visits to Italy, from the Dolomites and Lake Garda in the north to Florence, Rome and Sorrento in the south. Overall an enjoyable evening of contrasting styles by two of our assiduous members.

On 21 January Jon Allanson introduced us to manipulation with genuine digits. Jon referred to early work with Sepia tinting and Bromoil techniques before moving to his main topic of colour tinting of black and white prints. In the days before reliable colour film this was the method used to produce coloured prints (and this author well remembers the family portrait produced by our local photographer at Corley Moor using coloured inks). Apparently this photographer made cryptic notes to accompany his photograph -" the wife had a pasty face; the husband's was florid with a red nose; grey suits but wife had blue and white dress " etc. Having spoken of the various colouring media and appropriate papers for best results Jon showed a variety of examples of his own efforts before proceeding to hand-colour a print before our very eyes. Jon quite rightly ignored the jibe about painting with numbers from a wag in the audience - part of the art was to choose the appropriate colours, and apply them at a suitable density. Following the interval we were all invited to try our hand at the hand-colouring of sample pictures using either oil paints or coloured pencils, all provided by Jon. This quickly separated the artists from the photographic snappers. On reflection, the more perspicacious of the gathering reflected that the wheel had come full circle; that some members were considering acquiring the Corel Painter program with which they could hand tint their own images so that they could do with their computer what the early colourists had done with cotton buds, brushes and swabs. And was there any advantage in the old methods? Well at least the oil tints were likely to last a lot longer than the inks of many of the present ink-jet printers. The artistic input remained the same.

On 28th January Harry Bosworth made his annual visit to help improve our knowledge and use of Photoshop. Harry has a quiet easy-going manner which members find appealing. Even so it is hard to concentrate for what is an intensive two hours and we are grateful that Harry is as obliging with his notes as he is with his time. He emails the said notes to a club member, for distribution to all who are interested.

Notice of proposal for Ann Exhibition Rule change re AGM 2003

Dear Secretary,

Please note the following proposed changes to the Rules of the Annual Exhibition which I would like to give you notice of, in accordance with the rules governing the AGM. I apologise for the early notification but we will be out of the country soon and I do not want to have a Senior Citizen Moment and forget it on our return. The proposal is:

To DELETE
"Prints and Slides: The same image cannot be entered both as a print and a slide."
"Entries must not have been entered in a previous Annual Exhibition"

And REPLACE THEM WITH
"Images entered in a previous NCPS Annual Exhibition, whether as a print or slide or any images significantly similar to them are not eleigible. Significantly similar images are defined as being those with only minor alterations to the image or viewpoint and where the basic impression of that image remains constant and would normally be interpreted as being the same or similar without detailed examination"

Proposer : D.J. Clack Seconded : S.J.M. Clack

A Photographic Challenge

Should you be feeling a bit jaded and not knowing what next to point your camera at let me remind you that the forthcoming set themes provide some quite challenging photography!

In the popular Members Choice evenings which will appear in next Year's syllabus the following themes will be proposed:
Ancient and Modern (in the same picture),
Red White & Blue (in the same picture),
Shadows, Reflections, Lamps, Chimneys, Gates, Bridges.

There will also be a "Panel Print" competition when a set of related pictures of your own chosen subject can be presented on one A2 sized board. In Bramhall's Print Panel competition at their Annual Exhibition we believe we came 2nd last year, and hope to be back to our winning form next time.

P.S. Don't forget that the Set Theme "Water" is coming up on April 22nd , this session. So Happy shooting!!

Sheila Edwards

Annual Exhibition 2003-02-06

L&CPU President John Doherty officially opened the Exhibition on Wednesday 5th February and presented Trophies or Certificates to the winners of the various section competitions (as listed below).
29 Members entered prints and / or slides for exhibition.

Best Intermediate Print (Plaque) Mags English
Best Pictorial Print (Charles Bowker Trophy) Geoff Robinson
Best Monochrome Print (Bernard Sellers Trophy) Geoff Robinson

Best Portrait Print (Joyce Whitehead Cup) George Beaumont
Best Record Print (The Presidents Trophy) Gerald Hallworth
Best Natural History Print (Nature Cup) Gordon Robson
Best Photojournalism Print (The Fallows Cup) Brian Turnbull
Best Creative Print (Certificate) (2001 onwards) Dorothy Redford
Best Colour Print (Certificate) Gordon Robson

Best Pictorial Slide (Joan Allen Cup) Jonathan Bawden Best Portrait Slide (Stanley Cooper Memorial Trophy) George Beaumont
Best Record Slide ("21" Trophy (1952 -1973) Jonathan Bawden
Best Natural History Slide (Natural History Cup) Stephanie Clack
Best Photojournalism Slide (The 80`s Cup) George Beaumont
Best Creative Slide (Certificate) (2001 onwards) Not Awarded
Best Intermediate Slide (Certificate) Mags English

Best Print in the Exhibition (The Founding Committee Cup) Gordon Robson
Best Slide in the Exhibition (Cedric Hepple Memorial Trophy) Jonathan Bawden
Best Performance in the Exhibition (The Prism Trophy) George Beaumont

Results Table.....

Interclub Digital Print Competition

20 clubs entered the digital print competition held on the Wednesday. Having been randomly numbered, the prints were laid out on tables at the back of the hall for visitors to peruse at their leisure. In particular this gave time for our judges Gwen and Phil Charnock to consider their verdicts. The prints were then exhibited on the print display box and marked by our judges. A useful feature, continued from last year was to project enlarged images of the prints (using video camera and electonic projector) onto the large screen on the stage. This ensured that all of the audience had a good view of the print under consideration. All prints with 19 marks were then reviewed and the judges awarded the honour of "best digital print" to Martin Reece of South Liverpool PS for his print "The Curtain Hanger" .
Dumfries CC won the club competition.

Results Table.....

Interclub Slide Knockout Competition

Thursday 6th February was the occasion of the Interclub slide competition. 21 clubs competed and our judge was Keith Brown FRPS of Sheffield PS. The award for the Best Slide went to Chris J Evans of Wilmslow Guild PS for his image entitled "All Alone". Wigan 10 won the club competition.

Results Table.....

Very Special Places

This was the title of the 3-projector slide-sound spectacular presented by our very own Tony Redford. Tony is well-known in photographic circles for his impressive slide shows, apart from his reputation as a judge. Our only fear was that our wider audience might conclude that they had seen his work before and fail to attend despite Tony re-jigging his presentation of memorable Landscapes, Seascapes and Cityscapes to counter this possibility. In the event our fears were unfounded, the hall was full, and an appreciative audience rose to thank Tony for a superb show, modestly introduced but masterfully presented.

Having proposed the vote of thanks to Tony for his endeavours, President Joyce Streets introduced Exhibition Secretary Gordon Robson to the audience and thanked him for his work and planning which had resulted in yet another most successful event. Gordon's tasks had begun in the summer when invitations to clubs and to judges had to be considered. His final task for that evening was to draw the first raffle ticket, but the dismantling of the exhibition and the letters of thanks to clubs and judges were still to be done.

From the Exhibition Secretary

The success of the Annual Exhibition is due to the enthusiasm and the team effort of the many committed members of the Society. I would like to thank you all for your support. Members rallied round during the second half of January whilst my wife Joyce was in hospital having her knee replacement operation and I am grateful for all the extra help received. Our President, Joyce, took on the onerous task of typing in all the entries to our programme. Bill Chadband chased up our sponsors and arranged the printing of the catalogue. Rodney Simpson produced the tickets, the print labels, and the presentation award tickets. Peter and Tony Redford organised the team of members taking in the prints or slides for the two interclub competitions and computerized all the club entries. Prominent in ensuring that the competitions ran like clockwork (no doubt to the envy of onlooking clubs in the L&CPU) were Frank Hutchinson on microphone and Alan Wild and Dave Akers handling the slides and Dorothy Redford and Geoff Robinson handling the digital print entries.

When I first approached Tony Redford with the idea that he might give an A-V Travel presentation he agreed to "if I couldn't find anyone else". Tony designed and printed our publicity poster for the event and put in much time and effort. The enhanced reputation that NCPS must have gained from the event, and the large audience, is a tribute to Tony.

Judging of the members entries took place at Hazel Grove Bowling & Tennis Club on January 19th . Our external judges were Jack Byatt (Bredbury & Romily PS), Martin Malies (S Manchester CC) and Norman (Prints) & Rona (slides) Walker (Hyde PS). Judging took all the time from 10.30am to 4.30pm with a short break for a buffet lunch provided by Dorothy Redford & Steph Clack. Dorothy's home-made cake & mince pies were much appreciated "afters". Dave Clack recorded all the results; Bill Chadband and myself handled the prints during the judging. Treasurer David Sharp ensured the judges got their just rewards; all overseen by president Joyce Streets. Brian Turnbull helped me plan the arrangement of prints on the stands.

Many members, too numerous to list, helped set up the exhibition on the Wednesday morning, took money and sold raffle tickets at the door, staffed the kitchen for teas, coffee and biscuits at the start of the evenings and during the intervals, and helped dismantle the exhibition. I thank them all for their contributions. David Sharp did Hall bookings, was on hand to pay appropriate expenses at all times , and concerned himself with ensuring we had sufficient raffle prizes. Thanks to all those members who donated raffle prizes.

You may be interested to know that planning for the 2004 exhibition is already under way. Incoming L&CPU President Keith Suddaby has been booked to open the exhibition. There have been informal discussions on the judging and judges; and ideas are being sought for an appropriate lecture/slideshow for the Friday. Please let me have your ideas and suggestions.

How to remain a Virgin

There! I knew you couldn't resist reading on !!

Apparently there are club members who still think that the aim of the annual exhibition is to gain points, commendations and what not. The club's wiser members have got beyond that stage and it occurred to me that our newer members might welcome guidance on the proper approach to the exhibition. I hope our more mature members will forgive me for disclosing some of their hard-earned secrets.

The main aim is to exhibit good images un-despoiled by the judges "red-ink remarks" such as Highly Commended (code for could do better) or even worse - Commended (code for could do much better). Notice that the prints that provoke the Red Pencil treatment are all highly saturated. So make sure your images are true to life. In the glare of the Print Box they will then appear a little washed out, and in this way avoid more that a scant glance from the judge. If they do happen to dwell on your image remember the rule of the thirds : ie any two judges may agree but the third is bound to disagree. He (or she) is your main hope. Place the centre of interest of your image truly in the centre of the frame (why else would it be called the centre of interest??) Our third judge will exclaim "What a bold move - it breaks all the rules and therefore works for me" This will goad the other two into claiming that rules are to be adhered to and they will promptly reduce their intended marks.

Photographers enjoy recording landscapes and you may be tempted to include a big rock in the foreground. Ignoring the obvious remark as to why you didn't use the rock to rest your camera on when taking the picture, Remember that some judges will go into raptures about the big rock providing vital foreground interest (completely ignoring the fact that the rock has hidden an important distant feature). Enthusiastic new photographers (with image stabilised lens' and big cars) may even attempt to transport big (red?) rocks around with them to provide such foreground interest. The big rock becomes a virility symbol and the judge's red pencil is immediately raised on seeing it. Don't be drawn in. Remember the virtues of Abstinence!

SourPuss

Unknown Pleasures

This is the title of a new exhibition at the Museum of Photography , Film and Television in Bradford, which unwraps the Royal Photographic Society Collection, which has now been transferred from the RPS to the Museum.
It is an excellent exhibition which shows good selection of work from the collection from Fox Talbot up to present day photographers like Martin Parr. As with any exhibition of this type the number of prints from any one photographer is very limited, but it shows how the style of photography in particular portraits has developed through time and it also identifies a number of the various photographic processes that have been used.

This exhibition is on until 30th March and is well worth a visit. The museum is open Tuesday to Sunday 10.00am -6.00pm and an interesting tour takes place at 1.00pm each day which takes you behind the scenes and allows you to see some of the exhibits that are not on display. There are also a series of IMAX films to be seen (some in 3D), these are well worth seeing as the screen size is about the same as the floor size of the theatre. If you do not wish to go by car there are trains to Bradford from Victoria Station every half hour and is less than 10 minutes walk from the station to the museum.

Jon C Allanson