Morning All

I see that more rain greets us this morning and for the coming week, though the daffs are beginning to poke through, roll on spring.

Thanks, John, for booking Carmen for last Wednesday’s presentation; I realise many of us know the Lake District, but what fantastic images were shown and delivered in a professional manner – magic!

• En Plein Air competition; Many thanks to all those members who left prints from last summer’s En Plein Air competition; the artist’s exhibition will be displayed from Tues 10th January (until Thursday 9^th February) together with our images in the Arts Centre, so pop along if you have time. I believe this competition will be repeated this year – details will follow when we have them.
• BMX – Preston Pirates. If you recall Sarah (Keast) organised a photo shoot at their base in Preston which proved to be a great couple of hours and was really enjoyable. Well, we have been in touch again to organise an evening shoot. This will take place on a Thursday evening from 6pm – 8pm; all are welcome to try out their photographic skills, not their cycling skills! The actual date has yet to be decided because the club schedule is subject to change due to adverse weather conditions but we will keep you posted.
• Tom Peck – Questphoto.co.uk. We had an email from Tom advertising his current list of club talks – we get a few of these throughout the year. As well as telling us about his talks and various 2023 workshops he has also written about ‘The Safari of a Lifetime’ for Feb/March 2024 in 2 locations, each in private game sanctuaries. This Safari is not advertised on the website. If you are interested, we can forward you the details.

Reminders

• Wednesday January 11^th: A presentation by Antony Zacharias titled “Long Exposure Photography”. This will be available via zoom so if you wish to have a zoom invite, please send an email to Mike.
• Wednesday January 18^th: Judging of our 3^rd internal competition – Creatures of the World and arbitrated by Paul King CPAGB. We had the following entries: print Mono – 9; print Colour – 29; DPI Mono – 24; DPI Colour – 46. That gives a grand total number entered of 108! Should be a busy and hopefully an enlightening good evening!
• Wednesday January 25^th: Members evening; Stan giving a talk titled ‘Is it a photograph?’. Further details about the evening to follow.
• Thursday January 26^th: Morecambe ‘Battle’ – 7.30pm, Heysham Library, 396 Heysham Road, Heysham, LA3 2BJ; takes about 30 mins by car. Will be available via zoom, so if you wish to have an invite, please send an email to Mike. Judge for the evening is: Alfred Brown CPAGB. Hon L&CPU.
• Wednesday 1^st February: Workshop – Robin has very kindly offered to give a presentation on ‘Rajasthan and Kashmir’ in India. Other details for the evening will follow shortly.

2 Challenges! – Time to get that camera out, despite the weather!

• Following on from the talk by Antony Zacharias (this Wednesday coming, 11^th Jan), members are invited to submit up to 6 ‘Long Exposure’ images; these to be shown, along with, if poss, a commentary of where, why and how. We would like as many members to have a go to practice their skills even if things go a little/lot pear-shaped! All images to be sent to Mike, via Wetransfer or email, by Tuesday 31^st January. Mike will put together a PowerPoint presentation and he will present them (anonymously if required)!

          It’s an opportunity to show your images and possibly receive constructive criticism – all, of course, in the best possible taste!

• We have received a request from Muriel Burnham-Airy, Chair of the Executive Committee of Garstang & District Arts Society, to help with the creation of a calendar for 2024. This calendar will be sold, from possibly August onwards, to raise much needed funds for the Arts Centre. Lewis, Sue, Michael, Mike, Muriel and Anne-Marie had a meeting the other day to ascertain our (the camera club’s) responsibilities. We have agreed the following:

1. Michael, due to his skills in graphic design, will put together an example of a calendar. In fairness to Michael, he has already designed 4 samples which were presented to the meeting and one design was accepted. MANY thanks go to Michael for his time and efforts here already.
2. The camera club has been tasked to provide the images to be on the calendar.
3. Images of? Well, restricted to Garstang and the town boundary. We just need to use our common sense and judgment on the extent of the boundary!
4. Images to be in colour, sRGB, within or maximum of 1600 x 1200, ratio of 3:2, and landscape.
5. We are asking each member to submit a maximum of 4 images (DPI’s) for possible selection by Monday April 24^th. These images can be historical, of say The Children’s Festival or any other Garstang event or you can get out and about and take up to date pictures, it’s up to you!
6. Images to be sent to Mike, via Wetransfer or email.
7. Mike will then put all the images (say approx. 60ish) into a slide show; all images will be shown anonymously.
8. On Wednesday April 26^th (members evening) all images will be first shown as a slideshow then each image swill be shown separately.
9. Each member will be given a score sheet so that when the images are shown separately you will be asked to score each image up to a maximum 20 points. You will not need to put your name on this score sheet.
10. Mike will collect all the marked score sheets in and average out the scores.
11. At the end of this process, we will have the ‘top’ 36 images.
12. These images will then be given to the Executive Committee of Garstang & District Arts Society and they will choose the 12 selected for each month.
13. The image for the actual front of the calendar will be one all ready selected of the Arts Centre itself.
14. Each of the final selected images will have the name of the author on it.

Wow – I hope you all have grasped the above and will take part – PLEASE! We think that this is a great opportunity to show the club’s individual skills and great opportunity to advertise our club.

Coffee duty on this coming Wednesday is Stan and Mike – many thanks!

I’ve attached 3 images of a bird. Sorry about the quality, but taken through a window and in the rain. I think it could be a Thrush or female Blackbird. Any ideas? I’ve seen a few with white on before but not quite as strange as that one!

That’s all folks

Mike and Lewis

Morning All

Lewis and Mike would like to wish all members a happy, healthy and prosperous 2023!

4 + 1 quotes I always like:

• William E. Vaughan – an optimist stays up until midnight to see the new year in. A pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves.
• Billy Vaughan – Youth is when you’re allowed to stay up late on New Year’s Eve. Middle Age is when you’re forced to.
• Nia Vardalos – “My New Year’s resolution list usually starts with the desire to lose between 10 and 3,000 pounds.”
• Charlie Brown – “You know how I always dread the whole year? Well, this time I’m only going to dread one day at a time.”
• My own – 10pm is the new midnight!

Message from Robin

A Journey Through Central America

Robin Shorrock will be giving a show on his trip through Central America on Friday 27th January 2023 starting at 7.00pm with hotpot supper in KIRKLAND and CATTERALL MEMORIAL HALL.

The Journey starts in Panama City visiting 3 very different parts of the city and then a sail on the Panama Canal.

Flying onto Costa Rica we first visit a coffee farm, then a quick overnight stay in the capital San Jose, then into the cloud forest to see some wildlife.

Other countries visited are Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala.

In Honduras we visit the Mayan site of Copan with its fine stone carvings, and in Guatemala the larger Mayan site of Tikal with its tall temples piercing through the jungle canopy. Other things to look out for are the Bananas crossing the road and the volcano saying goodbye at the end of the trip.

Tickets cost £10 and are available from Robin Shorrock on 01995 602238

Proceeds to St Helen’s Church Churchtown.

I know this show is proving to be very popular and there are limited tickets available so to avoid disappointment please get in touch with Robin ASAP!

A few reminders of up and coming dates

• En Plein Air competition; if you any prints which you may wish to be displayed in the artist’s exhibition from Tues 10th January, please bring them in on Wednesday January 4^th so that I can hand them over to Sheila.
• Wednesday January 4^th: A presentation by Carmen Norman titled ‘Lake District Moods’. This will be available via zoom so if you wish to have a zoom invite, please send an email to Mike or Lewis.
• Wednesday January 11^th: A presentation by Antony Zacharias titled “Long Exposure Photography”. This will be available via zoom so if you wish to have a zoom invite, please send an email to Mike or Lewis.
• Wednesday January 18^th: Judging of our 3^rd internal competition – Creatures of the World and arbitrated by Paul King CPAGB. We had the following entries: print Mono – 9; print Colour – 29; DPI Mono – 24; DPI Colour – 46. That gives a grand total number entered of 108! Should be a busy and hopefully an enlightening good evening!
• Wednesday January 25^th: Members evening; details to follow
• Thursday January 26^th: Morecambe ‘Battle’ – 7.30pm, Heysham Library, 396 Heysham Road, Heysham, LA3 2BJ; takes about 30 mins by car. Will be available via zoom, Judge: Alfred Brown CPAGB. Hon L&CPU.

Coffee duty on this coming Wednesday is Ian and Freda – many thanks!

That’s all folks

Mike and Lewis

Afternoon All

Many thanks to all members who we able to get to the Arts Centre for our Christmas get-together last Wednesday – that is despite the very cold weather! Driving home to Forton later, the temperature gauge on the car registered -6.

We all thought we had another cracking meal from ‘Betty and friends’ – now booked for the presentation evening in May – tickets available soon!

We hoped you all enjoyed the evening, the quizzes and especially the Irish raffle!

A few reminders

• Garstang Christmas lights; please send in your images shortly so that we can compile them into a presentation for the 28^th
• En plein air competition; if you any prints which you may wish to be displayed in the artist’s exhibition from Tues 10th January, please bring them in either on Wednesday December 28^th or Wednesday January 4^th so that I can hand them over to Sheila.
• Wednesday 21st December – no meeting
• Wednesday 28th December – Michael will show, with commentary, the 30 images, chosen by Stan and his team, to be submitted to the two up-and-coming Battles. We will also show the Christmas lights images and also any images taken on the Monday/Tuesday – 5th and 6th December – of the Victorian Festival. If we have time, we also have some wildlife images, with commentary!
• Wednesday January 4^th – A presentation by Carmen Norman titled ‘Lake District Moods’. This will be available via zoom so if you wish to have a zoom invite, please send an email to Mike or Lewis.

Well, that’s all folks, and it just remains for Lewis and Mike to wish you all a very happy Christmas and thank you all for supporting the camera club through 2022.

Cheers

Mike and Lewis

Morning All

Oh dear, England 1 France 2. Well, the silver lining is that France has brought an end to our world cup run so that now there is no clash with Wednesday night’s Christmas social! If you are not up to the football schedule, had England won they would have been playing Morocco on Wednesday evening, in the semi-final, so loyalties may have been stretched! But, hey-ho, no need to worry.

Many thanks to all who have sent images in to us for the Garstang Christmas lights and the Victoria Festival.

We have sent the Victoria Festival lights to the organising committee, so if you haven’t sent yours in yet, please do so as soon as poss.

For the Garstang Christmas lights, which we took as part of the members evening, we have started to compile them into a presentation for the 28^th December.

En plein air competition

If you remember the club, as part of the Events Cup, took images on the day when local artists painted their choice of scene in and around Garstang.

Well, the following is a message from Sheila, at the Arts Centre:

A thought; Images taken by the Camera Club members on the day of the en plein air competition and the possibility of displaying them at the Open Competition/Exhibition.

The exhibition will be open to the public from Tues 10th January to Thurs. 9th February with the handing in date on Saturday 7th January.

I wonder if your members would be interested in having their prints displayed. At the moment I don’t know how much hanging space will be available – we usually get around 100 entries and that tends to fill the School Room and the Music Room but we could always use the A frames for the photographs.

What do you think – would your members be interested in showing/selling their pictures albeit if only displayed in an A frame or any other suggestions you may have?

So, if you would like your prints displayed or if you have any thoughts or questions on the above please email in or chat to us at the next meeting.

A few reminders:

Wednesday December 14th – Our Christmas social get-together. Please arrive at about 7.15 ‘cos the food will be served from 7.30, cheers.

Wednesday December 14th – Last date for entry for the Creatures and Plants of the World Cup.

Wednesday 21st December – no meeting

Wednesday 28th December – Stan will show, with commentary, the chosen 30 images to be submitted to the two up-and-coming Battles. I’ll show the Christmas lights images and also any images taken on the Monday/Tuesday – 5th and 6th December – of the Victorian Festival.

Wednesday January 4^th – A presentation by Carmen Norman titled ‘Lake District Moods’. This will be available via zoom so if you wish to have a zoom invite, please send an email to Mike or Lewis.

That’s all folks

Mike and Lewis

Morning All

Well, here we are in December already, frost in the air next week, 3 weeks to the big day and no cards written or posted! Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose!

Many thanks to all members who managed to attend last Wednesday’s meeting and took images of the Garstang Christmas lights. I would like to show your images on Wednesday 28^th December during members evening. Please send them, (up to a maximum of 6 really), soon (by Monday 26^th December), then I’ll have time to put them on a PowerPoint presentation. I have 6, not the best, but my efforts with my thoughts! Have a go please and send them in!

We had a very productive coffee morning on Saturday; very busy! We raised £117.22, (25% of which goes to the Arts Centre), which left us a net contribution to the camera club funds of £87.82. Many thanks to all who made/bought cakes or biscuits for us to sell, and those members who popped-in, and thanks also to Rhona, Sue and Robin for their hard work and time.

An extract below from the minutes of a meeting of the Garstang & District Arts Society:

• Woodcocks, Haworth & Nuttall, Solicitors informing us of a bequest of £5000 from the estate of the late Ken Harrison. A thank-you letter has been sent, from the Arts Society, to the solicitors.

Message from Stan:

I have a Nikon D70 camera and a Nikon 18-70mm lens plus a Nikon 70 – 300mm lens. Bag included!!

The camera has one fault but there is an easy ‘work around’

Free to any member.

Thanks Stan.

Report from Lewis about the recent ‘Knockout Competition:’

We had to enter 8 photos with the first 7 being for possible use in the rounds and number 8 as a tie break. The number of entries to be used was dependent on the number of entries received. There were 33 clubs entered and it appears the L&CPU only used the first 4 entries from each club. Scoring was 1 point if knocked out in the first round, 2 if knocked out in the second etc.

Poulton won with 21 points, Chorley second with 19. The overall winning entry was the greenfinch dispute, seen in the Fylde 5 way, by Poulton.

We scored 4 points as did quite a few other clubs, meaning all our used entries were knocked out in round one and we were equal bottom. Still, we entered and tried and know the system better for another year.

A few reminders of future events and dates:

• Monday and/or Tuesday 5^th and 6^th December respectively – Garstang Victorian Festival; Take images, edit them accordingly, then send them to me (I would suggest that roughly 6 as a maximum each). I’ll then send them to Julie who is on the organising committee. There is no particular deadline for these images but I would suggest within the next couple of weeks or so please? I will show the images during the members evening on Wednesday 28th December.
• Wednesday December 7^th – Environment Cup Competition; 12 mono and 18 colour prints and 23 mono and 39 colour DPIs. That’s 92 images.
• Wednesday December 14^th – Our Christmas social get-together. If we could please arrive by 7.15pm ‘cos the food will be served at 7.30.
• Wednesday December 14^th – Last date for entry for the Creatures and Plants of the World Cup; prints and DPIs.
• Wednesday 21^st December – no meeting
• Wednesday 28^th December – Stan will show, with commentary, the chosen 30 images to be submitted to the 2 up-and-coming Battles – see below. I’ll show the Christmas lights images and also any images taken on the Monday/Tuesday – 5^th and 6^th December – of the Victorian Festival.

Battles (Morecambe and New Zealand)

Stan’s email address: stanley.pearson@talktalk.net

Please ensure any images sent have a title!

We are asking any members to submit up to 6 images for possible selection by the team by Wednesday 7th December. But, please bear in mind the following:

Please do NOT resubmit images that you may have sent for the 5 Way Battle – Stan will be including these images.

Any image that won an award in the Events Cup has been submitted.

Any image that wins an award in the up and coming Environment Cup will be included.

• If you have reached the 6 images (or more) you may submit a few more because these ‘Battles’ have not been fought before so historical images can be allowed.
• The maximum images allowed per member is 3. Please make sure any image has a title.
• Members should submit their images at a maximum or within 1600 pixels x 1200 pixels and must be supplied in jpeg format and in sRGB colour space.
• The images submitted will be selected by Wednesday 21^st December and be shown during the members evening on Wednesday 28^th December.

That’s all folks

Mike and Lewis

Afternoon All

Just to say, first of all, there will be no newsletter next weekend so the next one will be weekending 3^rd/4^th December. If you have any comments or questions though just email as normal – it’s no problem.

Garstang Victorian Festival

We have had an email from Julie from the Garstang Victoria Festival committee asking if anyone in the camera club would be interested in taking voluntary pictures throughout the evening for them?

The event is being held on Monday 5th and Tuesday 6th December, 6pm – 9pm.

After discussing this in the last meeting I forwarded onto Julie a few questions.

She replied answering our queries; “We don’t want an official photographer, we would just like some photos we are able to use for future posts on our Facebook page to show the evenings events and atmosphere.

We would like pictures of the stalls attending, entertainment and a few of the Christmas grotto, we expect some of the councillors and organisers to be wearing Victorian outfits so a few snaps of them would also be great. 

Ideally the type of photos would be fun, but we would be grateful of any style. Ideally just roaming around the evening snapping away.  We may use the photos to advertise the event in future years.”

So, if we take images, edit them accordingly, then send them to me, Mike, (I would suggest 6 as a maximum each), I’ll forward them on to Julie.  

I think this will give some publicity to the club, as well as a good opportunity to hone our skills!

Anyway, if anyone has any suggestions or comments, we could chat about them on 30^th November during our members evening.

A few reminders of dates:

• Wednesday November 23^rd – Carol McNiven-Young. Her talk will be focused on Creative Portraiture and how she builds composites. This will be available via zoom so if you wish to have a zoom invite please email to Mike or Lewis.
• Wednesday November 30^th – Members Evening – photographing the Christmas lights in Garstang. Please bring your camera gear! We anticipate that the first half of the evening will be getting out-and-about in Garstang photographing the Christmas lights and, after coffee/tea and biscuits, showing the 75 images from the 5-Way Battle, with scores and some feedback.
• Saturday 3^rd December – the camera club are running the coffee morning in the Arts Centre from 10am onwards. If you feel like baking or buying anything edible to sell would be very generous! The more the merrier; thanks in advance.
• Wednesday December 7^th – Environment Cup Competition; 12 mono and 18 colour prints and 23 mono and 39 colour DPIs. That’s 92 images in all!
• Wednesday December 14^th – Our Christmas social get-together. We will need, please, some prizes for the raffle – any donations will be very gratefully received! Bring them in anytime, we’ll look after them.
• Wednesday December 14^th – Last date for entry for the Creatures and Plants of the World Cup
• Images – Any real creature or plant that was alive or was once alive. No toys, sculptures, nothing artificial and no people.
• Prints to Sharon (Garstang Fine Art): by 30.11.22
• Competition date: 18.01.23

Message from Barry

Barry has a bird box with a ‘live-view’ camera attached and was wondering if any member has had an experience of setting it up for viewing purposes. If you can help, please speak to Barry at next meeting or email him on: w.barry.till@btinternet.com

Club ‘Battles’ coming up in January and February

As you may recall from previous newsletters, we have 2 ‘Battles’ involving the club soon.

1 against Morecambe Camera Club on Thursday 26^th January and,

1 against The Rangiora Photographic Society, New Zealand, on Wednesday 8^th February.

The criteria for both ‘Battles’ is 30 ‘open’ DPI images either monochrome or colour.

We need to start organising these ‘Battles.’

So, Stan has agreed, with his team that chose the 5-Way Battle, to receive, judge and select the images for these 2 ‘Battles’.

We are asking any members to submit up to 6 images for possible selection by the team by Wednesday 7^th December. But, please bear in mind the following:

• Please do NOT resubmit images that you may have sent for the 5 Way Battle – Stan will be including these images.
• Any image that won an award in the Events Cup has been submitted.
• Any image that wins an award in the up and coming Environment Cup will be included.
• If, on reading the above 3 points, you realise that you have reached the 6 images (or more) you may submit a few more because these ‘Battles’ have not been fought before so historical images can be allowed.
• Members should submit their images at a maximum or within 1600 pixels x 1200 pixels and must be supplied in jpeg format and in sRGB colour space.
• The images submitted will be selected by Wednesday 21^st December and be shown during the members evening on Wednesday 28^th
• The 30 images selected for the ‘Battles’ will be sent to the respective clubs by 1^st January 2023.
• The maximum images allowed per member is 3; so, if our maths is right for 30 images we need 10 members, at least, to take part. PLEASE have a go your club need you!

That’s all folks Mike and Lewis

Morning All

The results, as they say, are in for the 5 Way Battle held last Thursday:

See table below:

Club	Bispham	Garstang	Lytham	North Fylde	Poulton
Score	219	231	247	258	269
Position	5th	4th	3rd	2nd	1st

The images were scored out of a range between 12 – 20

So, congratulations go to Poulton.

Well, we came 4^th – at least not last!

We have a copy of all the entries (75) and will show them, with their scores, on Wednesday 30^th November after photographing the Christmas lights in Garstang.

We have attached an image which was sent in for the Environment Cup – if it is yours, please email us – no problems just need to sort something out – cheers.

Next internal competition:

Creatures and Plants of the World Cup

Images – Any real creature or plant that was alive or was once alive. No toys, sculptures, nothing artificial and no people.

Prints to Sharon (Fine Arts, in Garstang): by 30.11.22

Last Date for entry: 14.12.22

Competition date: 18.01.23

A few reminders

• November 16^th – Christine Widdall – Photographing Insects in the Field. This will be available via zoom so if you wish to have a zoom invite please email to Mike or Lewis.
• November 23^rd – NEW – Carol McNiven-Young. Her talk will be focused on Creative Portraiture and how she builds composites. This will be available via zoom so if you wish to have a zoom invite please email to Mike or Lewis.
• November 30^th – Members Evening – photographing the Christmas lights in Garstang. Please bring your camera gear! We anticipate that the first half of the evening will be getting out-and-about in Garstang photographing the Christmas lights.
• December 14^th – last call for our Christmas social get-together. If you haven’t booked, please see Freda, Mike or Lewis next Wednesday ‘cos we need to tell Betty the numbers. Also, we will need, please, some prizes for the raffle – any donations will be very gratefully received!

Coffee and tea duty on next Wednesday is Robin and Freda.

That’s all folks

Mike and Lewis

Morning All

I hope you are all remembering the:

Whole-Year Project; Photograph something every week/month

Possible ideas: plants, trees, view, lake, pond, child.

Show next September, but 12 max images.

So, you should now be on shoot 3 (that is Sept, Oct now Nov)! If you are behind, never mind, start now!

Message from Stan: Margaret has had an operation to remove a blockage from her bowel and she is now recovering in hospital.

Message from Dorothy: Chris is chomping at the bit to come home; we’ll have to see what this next week brings.

A few reminders

• November 9^th – Justin Garner – presentation on Macro photography. “My passion for photography has come from my love of nature, its excitement, its beauty, its unpredictability and I enjoy sharing this with others. This is an insight into my journey taking macro images. I cover the techniques I use to get high-quality images. You will see behind the scenes, images showing setups and equipment that I use. I also cover how I use focus stacking to get images sharp from front to back.”

This will be available via zoom, so if you wish to have a zoom invite please email to Mike or Lewis.

• Thursday November 10^{th –} 5-Way Battle at 19.30 start. In Poulton at the following address: Poulton PS, Methodist Church Hall, Queensway, Poulton-le-Fylde, FY6 7ST. There are 6 members currently going and if anyone else wishes to join us please get in contact ASAP please.
• November 16^th – Christine Widdall – Photographing Insects in the Field. Christine says “My aim is simple – to try to capture places, people and moments in time and make them as beautiful and interesting a possible – it’s an expression of my enjoyment of a day, an area or a subject.”

This will be available via zoom, so if you wish to have a zoom invite please email to Mike or Lewis.

• *NEW – November 23^rd – Carol McNiven-Young. (FRPS EFIAP BPE4* CPAGB is an award-winning photographer who specialises in creative and artistic portraiture) Her talk will be focused on Creative Portraiture and how she builds composites. “I am an amateur photographer who loves making images that I consider to be beautiful. However, I will readily admit that some turn out to be rather less beautiful than others! I enjoy other genres of photography but I am at heart addicted to ‘creative portraiture’; I like to share my passion for self-development with others.”

This will be available via zoom so if you wish to have a zoom invite please email to Mike or Lewis.

• November 30^th – Members Evening – photographing the Christmas lights in Garstang. Please bring your camera gear! We anticipate that the first half of the evening will be getting out-and-about in Garstang photographing the Christmas lights and, after coffee/tea and biscuits, showing some raw and unprocessed images.

Coffee/tea duty this Wednesday is Sarah and Ian.

We need volunteers for coffee/tea duty for the following:         

November 23 x 1

November 30^th x 2

December 7^th dec x 1

That’s all folks

Mike and Lewis