Our 5th competition of the 2021-22 season took place on 14 April; a physical meeting with additional Covid precautions, instead of being a virtual meeting on Zoom. The judge was David Hughes ARPS CPAGB BPE2*, based in Surrey. David’s primary interests are photographing wildlife and landscapes, though he has also photographed many other genres – quite fitting for reviewing our images!
If you want something different in photography, go to Ian McGowan FRPS, a professional photographer since 1993. Never one to have been bogged down in the technical aspects of photography, he has always believed in keeping equipment simple and thoroughly understanding all of its uses. At present he is using a series of digital compact cameras small enough to keep in a coat pocket and which Iain finds gives him a delicious sense of freedom in taking his photographs. The camera, a trusty printer, matte paper and an extensive knowledge of locations are his tools. No computer is in sight.
Diane Seddon provided a fascinating presentation via Zoom Illustrating her activity largely begun during lockdown to create images that were different and even odd. She was not out to please the judges although she has had much success with her images and is herself a judge. She had been a professional photographer often making images of celebrities but is also an active member of a camera club and often uses club members in her projects.
Our 4th competition of the 2021-22 season took place on 3 March; a physical meeting with additional Covid precautions, instead of being a virtual meeting on Zoom. The judge was David Eastley LRPS. From Sussex, David describes himself as having a wide range of photographic interests, from portraits to landscapes, from travel to flower photography – quite fitting for reviewing our images! David is well known to Storrington camera club; having judged for us many times.
Beyond the club photographic circuit are numerous inter-club, county level competitions and on this occasion we were hosting the sixth round of the Southern Counties Photographic Federation digital image league. Seven clubs from Gibraltar, Isle of White, Southampton, Andover, Fareham, Sandhurst and Basingstoke joined us with each providing eight images that are judged over eight rounds.
Paul Mitchell FRPS gained his distinction with a set of pinhole camera images and visited the club to show us his panel and to talk about woodland photography. This was only his second face to face presentation in two years. Paul is a graphic designer by profession but has always also been a photographer plying his craft in many genres.
Our 3rd competition of the 2021-22 season took place on 20 January. Like the earlier meetings it was a physical meeting with additional Covid precautions, instead of being a virtual meeting on Zoom. The judge, Ken Scott ARPS, describes himself as a photographer, adventurer, speaker, coach and trainer from Sussex. He is well known to the club, is a member of Steyning Camera Club and runs training sessions for photographic judges.
Our first meeting of 2022 saw three members' presentations on their RPS distinction experience for two of them and images of the Masai Mara's big cats for the third.
Our 2nd competition of the 2021-22 season took place on 9 December. Like the first meeting it was a physical meeting with additional Covid precautions, instead of being a virtual meeting on Zoom. The judge, Paul O’Toole from Worthing Camera Club, is well known to Storrington club members. His good-humoured commentary, anecdotes and helpful hints were enjoyed by all!
As usual the standard of both prints and PDIs was high; most images winning welcome compliments.
Ruari Cumming ARPS has been photographing the Hebrides for more than 20 years and presented the first of his Hebridean Trilogy with a series of audio-visual journeys on four roads to the isles and journey round the Western Isles. Hundreds of photographs of the routes and the islands were included with an accompaniment of suitable music of wide variety.
E J Lazenby BA LRPS ASEA DPAGB AFIAP BPE3 QTFE(2) AMPA
An eloquent speaker with impressive distinctions graced our Zoom meeting with the largest collection of equine photographs we have ever seen. Jane Lazenby was obsessed by horses and photography and combined them brilliantly. She dedicated the presentation to her ginger horse that she cherished for 26 years until it died.
Members' interests and members' achievements were the theme of this meeting. Kicking off was Dean Sephton who explained his expertise in making photobooks. He could, of course, have shown us how Blurb works with Lightroom but, whilst that received a brief mention he concentrated on creating photobooks from scratch beginning with the photo album approach where images were affixed to paper and secured in a four ring binder. Concertina bindings followed and we also saw how softback booklets, hardback booklets with sewn pages were constructed.
Our 1st competition of the 2021-22 season took place on 14 October. It was also the first competition for some period of time where members were physically present, as was the judge, Tim Clarke LRPS from Godalming Photographic Club. This was a welcome change from meeting over Zoom!
Whilst judging, Tim gave us the benefit of his wide experience, suggesting possible improvements in composition and technique. The standard of both prints and PDIs was high; many images winning welcome compliments.
Returning to the club Rob de Ruiter ARPS gave us an insight into his interests and approach to photography over a lifetime. Fundamentally it had to be FUN! His talk contained examples of six genres:
For our second meeting of the season the Chairman of Bognor Regis Camera Club, Bill Brooks LRPS was invited to review our images, make an appraisal and give advice but not to score them as in a competition. Bill expressed himself as impressed by the range of subjects and the quality of the images in such a small club. He made a number of suggestions as to how the image might best be used in settings other than competitions.
In the first face to face meeting for many months the new season was opened in the traditional football club venue complete with hand washing, hand gel, wipes and face masks. The Chairman, Martin Tomes, facing a live audience for the first time, having been Chairman for over a year outlined the season's programme that included a couple of Zoom presentations to take advantage of distant presenters, regular photoshoots and hints and tips sessions, the latter in the new Thakeham Village Hall.
The last of our competitions of the 2020-21 season took place via Zoom on 13 May to choose the best print and best projected image (PDI) of the season. The prints and projected images were forwarded to our judge, Peter Rocchiccioli, ahead of the meeting. Peter is a very experienced judge from Chichester Camera Club. Whilst scoring the entries he gave copious suggestions for improvement.
Our 2nd and 3rd print competitions both took place on 6 May, having been delayed from earlier in the year due to covid restrictions. The prints were forwarded to our judge, Malcolm Bull, ahead of the meeting which took place via Zoom. Malcolm is well known to the club and is very experienced in a wide range of genres. He was very pleased to be judging prints which he described as a rarity this season! Whilst scoring he gave some well-considered tips for improvements.
Our 4th competition took place on 22 April and was judged by Rob White; best known for his underwater photography but with wide experience of other genres. The competition took place over zoom and included both prints, previously forwarded to Rob, and projected images (PDIs). As well as a score, he gave well considered comments on each image, together with useful hints for improvement. Rob was impressed by the standard of photography, as shown by the high scores.
Rebecca Hitchcock DPAGB from Havant Camera Club who specialises in wildlife and landscape shared her experiences of three winter journeys, two in Iceland and one in Yellowstone National Park. The first trip involved a flight to Reykjavik, a bus journey in the rain and a damaged windscreen along the south coast of Iceland. She showed us beautiful photos of a glacier feeding large lumps of ice into a pool that eventually flowed out to sea. Where there is vegetation lupins grow extensively as an invasive species along with mosses and willow trees.
The set-subject competition was judged 16 April 2021 with members attending via Zoom. The set-subjects were ‘Narrative’ (they tell a story) for the projected images and ‘Pictorial’ (an attractive picture) for the prints. Both the PDIs and prints were made available to our judge, David Smith, before-hand. David praised the standard of the images and the quality of the prints. He was particularly pleased to be given prints to judge, as most clubs have given-up on them for the duration of the Covid pandemic.
One of the benefits of lockdown is that speakers can be invited even if they live way beyond any generous interpretation of “local”. We were very fortunate to be able to have a virtual presentation by Phil Savoie BS MS MFA a former BBC Natural History Unit photographer who has worked on many of David Attenborough’s classic programmes. Originating in New York State Paul began as a photo editor for National Geographic in New York City when photographers were given 750 rolls of film for an assignment.
The 2021 League competition came to an end in March with Storrington heading its group of 9 camera clubs, each of whom submitted 8 images that were viewed by 9 different judges over the season. The expectation is that we shall be promoted to group 5 and join 6 new clubs.
Joining us via Zoom from his home in Hampshire Paul Mitchell FRPS introduced us to pinhole camera photography in which he has been engaged for twenty odd years. His interest began in Windsor when a friend would hire a whole room, black it out, create a small hole in the blackout and with a large format camera photograph the inverted image of Windsor Castle projected on to the wall and disappear for 24 hours. Despite the complete blackout an image was produced on the film that was subsequently developed.
The Regnum Crouch group held its annual PDI competition in a virtual format in March with seven clubs competing, each with eight images from at least six photographers. The event was hosted by Littlehampton & District Camera Club with technical support from our own Martin Tomes. The images were judged by Chris Shore FRPS MPAGB EFIAP BPE5* from the comfort of his home on the Dungeness shingle beach in Kent.
The 2nd and 3rd PDI competitions of the 2020-21 season both took place on 3 December 2020, the print competitions having been postponed because of Covid 19. The competitions were held via ‘Zoom’ and judged by Keith Gibson; a very experienced judge, well known to most club members. Throughout the evening, whilst reviewing our images, Keith gave welcome and well considered suggestions for improvement. He had been sent the images beforehand enabling him to study them in detail. He praised the quality of the images.
The 1st competition of the 2020-21 season took place on 8 October 2020 and was held via ‘Zoom’. Our judge was Mike Warren from Steyning camera club. Mike is a very experienced photographer and judge, well known for his coaching of photographers new to club photography. Throughout the evening, whilst reviewing our images, he gave welcome and well considered suggestions for improvement. He started by summarising the qualities judges look for when assessing images and the weighting given to each; 50% of the mark is based on imagination, impact and expression.
The Best of Year competition was the final competition of the 2019-20 season. Delayed by the Covid19 pandemic the competition finally took place on 10 September by Zoom. Our judge was Paul O’Toole who is well known to the club. Based in West Sussex and a member of the Worthing camera club, Paul is a keen amateur photographer and a distinguished and entertaining judge. He has a special love of wildlife photography. His comments and tips were well received. Paul had been sent the prints (and PDIs) beforehand so that the actual prints were being judged, not PDI versions.
The fifth competition of the 2019-20 had been postponed from April due to the pandemic but was eventually held by zoom, on the evening of 27 August, the judge having been sent prints and PDIs for his deliberations.
The judge was Rob de Ruiter, well known to club members, a distinguished and very experienced photographer, senior judge and President of the Bognor Regis Camera Club. He was welcomed by our chairman Martin Tomes.
News Headlines:
I (Derek) awoke this morning thinking about two dear members of SCC who passed away recently. They were not just members of our club but dear friends as well. This is one of the advantages of being a small club where everybody knows everybody else. They will be sorely missed and we send our sincere condolences to all their relatives.
The fourth competition night of the 2019-20 season took place on 20 February with Andrew Mills as our judge. He was warmly welcomed to our club by Janet Brown, our chair.
Ian Brash did a great job judging the Southdown 2020 competition. He reviewed all of the images and then marked them at the end.
Steyning came out on top this time and Storrington came fourth out of the five clubs which took part.
The third competition night of the 2019-20 season took place on 23 January with Paul Graber as our judge. He was warmly welcomed to our club by Janet Brown, our chair.
First meeting of the new year started with Janet's Parish notes and then on with Martin’s talk about colour management.
This is something that I used to do before I got my iMac but since then I have not found it necessary for the standard of printing that I do these days, but my standards would not suit the likes of Liz and Janet and other very good photographers.
Our Chairman Janet did us all proud this evening. After a very few Parish notices, Norman announced the results of last months Flickr competition. Our top photographer, Liz (she has several very close contenders for the title, so she must ‘keep up’), took the top spot again, well done Liz.
Tables of four were set out and we sat ourselves down with whoever would have us, and there we found two sheets of paper for us to record answers to Janet’s quiz questions.
That all done and dusted, Janet started the first of her dastardly competitions.
The second competition night of the 2019-20 season took place on 5 December with David Eastley as our judge. He was warmly welcomed back to our club by Janet Brown, our chair.
We were pleased to welcome David Smith from Woking Camera Club to tell all about his experiences of and expertise in "Safari Photography". We also welcomed a fair number of visitors from Steyning Camera Club - proving just how popular nature photography is now.
David started by mentioning his camera kit - just one camera, a mirrorless Sony full frame job, and one lens, 150-400mm telephoto zoom. He had swopped from a Canon DSLR and lenses when the weight of his camera bag exceeded the luggage allowance on internal flights around the safari camps!
Sussex Photographic Federation PDI Championships was held on Saturday 16th November.
The first competition night of the 2019-20 season took place on 7 November with Royston Williamson as the judge. He was warmly introduced by our chair, Janet Brown.
"Inspire" - just as a model railway and going to primary school alongside the Great Western mainline led me to a career as a Civil Engineer so a model railway and Kodak Instamatic camera led Neil Cave to a career in photography with a strong railway content. Neil now owns Timeline Events (TLE) the company which arranges over a 100 photshoots a year mostly with an engineering and heritage slant.
Keith Gibson returned to pass comment on our images, without marks, which was a breath of fresh air as I am sick to death of judges saying what a lovely image he has just appraised and then gives it 16 marks! Soul destroying! Keith has been to see us before to judge one of our competitions.
This evening we had a visit from Ian Brash and Pat Couder who call themselves PIMS which stands for Pat Ian and Mike Show. Except that Mike is no longer part of the act and it should now be called PIS! ( They said that_not me)
Here we are again with a good turn out for a first night back.
Janet welcomed everyone including one new member Kristina Byng and one visitor. She then went on to relay her usual messages about future stuff.
The weather forecast was a bit uncertain, but in the event it turned out to be perfect for our summer tea party This year it was held at Chairman Janet and her lovely husband Dave’s beautiful garden. On one occasion when visiting, maybe a few years back, I looked out of the back of their house and their garden, which is average in width, but very long, looked a touch wild (very good for wildlife!).
The attendance was not huge for our last meeting of the season and two important members who were awarded cups were sadly absent.
The cups were awarded early in the meeting and the recipients were as follows:
Club chair Janet Brown welcomed back Andrew Mills ARPS who had talked to us in February about “What makes a good picture”, so the night would be really interesting, would he live up to his own criteria? Janet explained that we were particularly grateful as Andrew had stepped in due to the unavailability of Walter Benzie through ill health and we wished Walter well.
Our chairman Janet Brown welcomed Rob White LRPS on his revisit to the club, highlighting his interest in underwater and astrophotography.
Yesterday afternoon seven members of SCC went to Burgess Hill for the Sussex Federation Print competition.
Ken Scott was in charge and ran the whole event like clockwork. Crawley CC assisted the Federation officials on the day before, and on the day itself, providing the refreshments amongst other jobs. Ken is firstly a very dedicated family man and secondly he is ‘Mr Sussex Photography’.
When Viveca Koh FRPS was last at Storrington in February 2018 she enthralled us with tales of Urban Exploration and enlightened us with the possibilities of using previously gathered photographic material to build new images. She also displayed her ARPS panel to general acclaim.
Viveca is definitely on the creative wing of photography but even stuck in the mud Photoshop refuseniks like me were impressed so we were all very pleased to welcome her again for the next talk in her series.
On Monday, a group of us went to the Southdown Trophy at Steyning CC’s usual venue.
The well-run competition was soon under way, and it was a complete mixture of the images from the five competing clubs, so no round-by-round tallies were available.
