Club News

The 3rd Print competition was judged last Thursday by Rob de Ruiter ARPS from Bognor Regis Camera Club. Working to the set subject of Monochrome it was not a huge entry, but the standard was exceedingly high, and it was a tough one for Rob to assess. He started out by saying that he was interested in the attitude to BW photography, and recommended a couple of books on the subject (perhaps someone could tell me what they were?). Throughout the evening he gave tips on which images lend themselves to monochrome.

Tonight, we were treated to a visit by Roger Crocombe ARPS, who  is the current Chairman of Bognor CC. He gave us a very in depth and very interesting talk on the basics of understanding the requirements for taking properly exposed and sharply focused images with a DSLR camera.

Last Thursday we welcomed Catherine Jolley LRPS LBIPP to our 3rd PI competition. Hailing from Littlehampton Camera Club, Catherine is a Wedding, Portrait and Fashion photographer. She described her role on the evening not as judging us, but that she was there to help coach us. She certainly provided some excellent and useful comments throughout the evening, often about how the image could be brought to life more with a slight crop, or a little work in the post-production.

It is 5am and I am awake from natural causes. I try to go to sleep again, but I start to mentally do my report on last night’s meeting; and so I decide to get up, arm myself with paper and pen, and start to write this!!

Last night it was our turn to hold our round of the Southern Fed. P.I. competition. We appointed the judge who was Carol Speight ARPS from Chichester CC, who lives in Billingshurst. Carol has been a judge for us in the past and was favoured by Chairman Chris as he got his first 20 from her.

To start 2015 we welcomed John Read, Managing Director ofMarrutt Ltd., to talk to us about all aspects of printing. John started the evening as a session of “Photographers Anonymous”. He held an amusing (but alarming) group therapy session which asked us to reveal how much we had invested in camera equipment to feed our habit. On the basis of this he conjectured that a £500 investment in an ink jet printer of photographic quality was something of a bargain.

As I said as I started the report on our last year’s meeting, this last meeting before Christmas was always called 'The Chairman’s Evening’ until recently, and tonight was very definitely Chris’s evening. He had prepared a very good quiz, which was very informative to those of us who did not know some of the answers. It was about local ‘celebs’ and in addition to this, he made the most delicious fruit cake so far known to man. It was magnificent. Is there no end to our Chairman’s talents?

My fellow 365-er Malcolm Bull stepped into the breach when our booked judge developed a sore throat and was concerned his voice might not hold out, indeed he subsequently needed 2 days off work, so I guess we have to let him off!

It was nice for SCC members to meet Malcolm without the moustache he was growing for Movember when he last judged for us.

Arriving early after a couple of photo-a-day opportunities in the clear frosty dawn, I was glad I had picked up a free coffee at Waitrose, as the tea and coffee volunteers weren't ready to start selling, although to be fair it was before “doors open time”. I stayed out of the way chatting to a 365 friend. Proceedings got under way fairly promptly with an introduction from Ken Scott of what is the first exhibition style inter-club competition in Sussex with the entries grouped into two divisions, the Development and Open categories (probably the first in the UK).

We welcomed Tony Baverstock LRPS last Thursday. His background is in landscape, still life and infrared BW photography. Having spent 25 years on the Surrey judging circuit, this was his first in Sussex. He reminded us that there was only one person we had to please, and that was not him, it was ourself. Overall, he commented that we had so many gorgeous prints, and he was impressed with the way they were mounted, saying that this was the window through which you look at the images. He often suggested a slight crop of parts of the image that weren't adding to the overall effect.

An amateur photographer from Portsmouth, Barry Day started out working in colour slides, becoming an ARPS in 1987. Establishing a darkroom over 15 years ago, he began making monochrome prints for club competitions and exhibitions, gaining a Credit distinction with the PAGB in 2001. At this time he switched to digital monochrome, and adding colour in 2009. His main interest is “Faces and Places”. We were privileged to see many of those faces, he knew the name of every one of them, and each image came with a story.