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FOCUS April 2003 |
The Print & Slide Competition with Chapel Camera Club The battle with Chapel came close upon the end of the NCPS Annual Exhibition. We were only able to announce the competition the night before, and not surprisingly only four NCPS members were available to represent NCPS at the George Inn, Hayfield (Chapel club's new venue). Brian Turnbull delivered our entry and Joyce Robson, Dorothy Redford and Bill Chadband arrived shortly afterwards. Jack Byatt was the judge; which immediately raised queries with our selection team. We had not stuck to the Exhibition judges order in choosing our best prints and slides. Would he notice? Jack asked to look through the images first. He then went through them making his comments on each, and finally went through again giving his marks. Jack's comments are always to the point, but also sympathetic to what he believes the author is trying to achieve, with suggestions on how the image might be improved. After the print battle NCPS led comfortably, 179 points to 157. Chapel always do better with slides and after the interval the slide battle was close with NCPS 176 to Chapel's 174. Results Prints 1. Sugar Cane Store 17 Slides 1. Signpost to Industry 17 Bill thanked Chapel for their invitation to battle and their hospitality. We always enjoy our competitions with them, and look forward to the next one. |
The Views of a 'newbie'. A 'newbie', for those not familiar with the language of internet chat rooms, is someone who is new to a subject/activity. Self-explanatory really! I'm Stella and I'm very much a NCPS newbie, and proud to be so! I was persuaded to join the club in September 2002 by an existing member. Having never even picked up an SLR camera before August of that year (never mind knowing what apertures, depth of field or hyper-focal distances were) I was somewhat nervous of turning up for that first meeting. My fears were unfounded and I was made very welcome by the club and the members. I've plunged into the wonderful world of photography headfirst and, after reading a few books about how to use the aforementioned SLR (the 'on' switch was a good start!) I'm now able to head out into the land of f-stops, lens flare, vignetting and unlevel horizons with perfect happiness. Perfect. Now this, as I have come to discover, is a word widely disputed in photographic circles. The perfect picture, I have decided, just doesn't exist. One judge will love a certain picture and rave about it; the next will dismiss it out of hand. The perfect format will never be agreed upon, being hotly disputed between the wide chasms of traditional film masters and digital wizards. I've decided to abstain from the arguments and allow others to continue those debates for the many years to come, instead focusing on the basics of trying to get a decent picture from a roll of film (which, incidentally is a major achievement for me at the moment!). I've just entered double figures. (No, I'm not referring to my age, although at 28 I think I am the youngest member of the club). Following a day spent on the Isle of Anglesey this weekend I've just loaded my 11th roll of film into my camera and dropped the completed one into the shop for processing. I've crossed my fingers and prayed to the mythical god of great pictures, so I'm hoping for some good results! Thank you to everyone at NCPS for making a new (and very inexperienced member) feel welcome. I'm now going to return to the pages of a popular photography magazine that I have been reading. I'm still wondering how on earth a certain photographer has managed to get that 'perfect' picture! Estelle Broomhall |
"Who are the Champions" Southport P.S. organised a new style of inter-club competition last year which they called "Who are the Champions". A number of clubs, selected on the basis of their being advanced in the field of digital imaging, were invited to Southport to do battle, and although North Cheshire didn't win the Championship outright, we put in a good performance. We are invited back this season and their organiser-in-chief, Keith Suddaby expects there to be even stronger competition from a greater number of clubs from throughout the Northwest. He has obtained the services of two leading judges from the Midlands for the event. There are a number of innovative features. For instance, the Championship will be contested on a high spec. Digital Projector, and entries will be on CD in j-peg format. Each club will field a team of eleven images from eleven different members. Subject matter is "Open" - not necessarily "creative" - with no more than two nature images per team. It promises to be a fascinating evening! North Cheshire P.S. has accepted the invitation to take part. And the date in question is Monday, 6th October 2003, kick-off 7.45 prompt. Spectators are welcome, it's free, and great trophies and prestige are up for grabs. Make a note in your diary. |
Lake District Weekend Another major competition has been organised by Jack Bamford, our friend and contact with the northern clubs, to be held on the evening of Saturday, 8th November at Portinscale near Keswick. The expectation is that eight clubs - two from Scotland (including Dumfries and Carluke who finished first and second in the inter-club print competition during Exhibition week at Poynton!), two from the North-East, two from Cumbria and two from Cheshire will submit 10 prints each to be judged on the night. This event will form a great focal point for the weekend, which at the beginning of November, will coincide with the best autumn colours in Lakeland. A special rate has been negotiated at the impressive Derwentwater Hotel in Portinscale for those able to escape for the weekend. Eight double rooms have been provisionally reserved for N.C.P.S. members on Friday and Saturday, 7th & 8th November at £45.00 pppn., incl dinner, bed and breakfast. More accommodation may be available but it is sure to be in great demand. A list of those able to make it from North Cheshire has already been started. Please add your name to it urgently if you wish to join us on this special weekend. Tony Redford (Competition Sec) |
3rd Quarterly Competition - 11th March 2003 Despite a few notable absentees, the 3rd Quarterly attracted a strong entry and once again a little culling was required to restrict the overall numbers to 100. The consensus was that the standard was even higher this time, including the slides - which is very encouraging. We are indebted to Tillman Kleinhans from St.Helens P.S. for taking on the task of judging our entry. Tillman is a widely respected exhibitor at national and international level as well as being a popular lecturer and judge, so we knew our entry was in good hands. This was confirmed on the night by his expert assessment and, particularly, his entertaining and enthusiastic delivery which made for an enjoyable as well as an enlightening evening. Thanks again, Tillman. Once again our newer members fared very well and it is great that they keep having a go. The full results are included with this report. Of course, comprehensive details are regularly updated on our website at www.ncps.org.uk. A "hard copy" for each Quarterly is maintained on file, just in case! The 4th Quarterly takes place on 29th April, with handing in on 15th April. Bill Edwards from Altrincham & Hale P.S. will be judging, and can be relied upon to give every submission a fair crack of the whip. Should be another cracker of a competition - but that depends on YOUR participation. I'm sure we'll be pulling out all the stops for this final Quarterly of the season. Tony Redford (Comp.Sec.) |
What Happened to January In Bloom? Ted and Janet Wilson were down in the syllabus to give us an evening entitled 'January in Bloom'. Perhaps they had difficulty with the flowers, because they swapped with Alan & Colin for an April Date. April in Bloom always seemed a more likely occurrence. But with Frank Hutchinson going into hospital for his hip operation during the period when he was due to give his presentation, Ted & Janet swapped again and agreed to come on 18th March. We were all agog! Was it to be March in Bloom?? No! Ted and Janet had visited daughter Lesley in Singapore during the January and Ted's title was simply 'Singapore'. He apologised for the over-colourful title slide, but need not have done so since his first batch of images showing the Chinese influence were all wonderfully colourful. We saw the many high-rise buildings of the crowded city, and had a brief tour of the famous Raffles Hotel. In contrast Janet had done a week's tour of Iran, ostensibly the Gardens, but including an over-view of the country. Apparently most formal gardens include a pavilion and a water feature. Her images of the minerets and mosques (and their internal architecture) were intriguing. To cap a delightful evening Ted gave a live demonstration of the 'digiscope system' using his expensive Leica telescope and newly acquired Nikon Coolpix 4500. The small paraqueet sat quietly at the other side of the room, quite unperturbed by the attention it was getting. Bill Chadband |
Clubman of the Year Totals to date Always available on the website - click here! |
www.ncps.org.uk Did you spot our website being re-vamped and updated during Exhibition Week? All the winning prints and slides, including VHCs, were meticulously scanned and inserted in the pages by the end of the week. The inter-club print and slide competitions were immediately reported upon, and full results were tabulated also. So far, following the appeal for new pictures for the web, Gordon Robson is in isolation in submitting a selection of his work for the Gallery section - which now appears with the earlier panels. These pages are being scrutinised by increasing numbers of "surfers" and can only be adding to the prestige of the society. Our webmaster, Peter Redford, is quite prepared to put his time and effort into keeping our website up to date and informative. To help maintain its impact we need to support him with pictures and ideas. If you're not sure how to get involved, just ask! |
The Altrincham & Hale Inter-club Slide Knock-out On Friday 2oth March, NCPS competed with five selected slides against 20 other societies from the L&CPU area. We finished equal 5th behind South M/c, Macclesfield, Chorley and Southport. South M/c CC were easy winners, with their Martin Mallies winning a prize for best individual slide with his well-known Boats in the Mist. The event was very competently judged by the amiable Grahame Johnstone from Wilmslow Guild. Despite the inevitable delay at the start, and a half time hitch when a slide went missing, his timing was spot on with a pre- 10.00pm finish. For various reasons, Mr & Mrs R. were the only representatives from North Cheshire. We were outnumbered by supporters from other clubs, but couldn't really site that as a reason for our absence of winning form. The hosts, Altrincham & Hale P.S. had all their slides eliminated in the first two rounds and finished last, despite their strength in numbers at the event! For the record, Buttermere (John Bawden), Flight of Fancy (Dorothy Redford) and Lyme Park in Winter (Brian Turnbull) reached round three. Gold Coaster (Tony Redford) made it to round four. Lions at Kill (Steph Clack) was our most successful slide, reaching round six with the final few. Not a win for us, but by no means a disgrace either. Tony Redford |
The Battle with Wigan 10 Wigan 10 are the Manchester United of the L&CPU, and consequently they are the club everyone wishes to beat. Having won the Interclub Slide competition which took place during the Annual Exhibition, as is now custom, they were invited to a print & slide battle with NCPS.on Tuesday 25th March. Keith Brown FRPS was the popular judge. During the Print battle excitement rose as NCPS seemed to be surging ahead. Gordon's 'Mountain Goats' was kept back, as was Tony's 'Contrasts, Place de Gaulle'. However 4 of the last 5 of Wigan's prints were also kept back and the final print score was a draw at 245 points each. After the interval the slide battle was equally entralling but it became clear as the competition proceeded that Wigan were drawing ahead. The final slide score was NCPS=242, Wigan 10=259. The individual NCPS scores are given below (out of 20). Prints: Bill Chadband |