2025 Monthly News

Newsletter 13/10/24

Morning All
Autumn colours appearing – get out with that camera!

Notices
Owls:
Stan and I visited Steve and the following is on offer:
Optimum group size per visit – 4/5
Weekdays and/or weekends visits available.
Cost £45 per person; cash is preferred but will accept cheque or pay by banker’s order.
Up to 90 mins
It will be very much last-minute.com! the weather has to play ball! Preferably no rain and little wind and fairly bright – not easy weather to forecast!
Steve has 7 owls, all of which will be sitting on posts and 3 or 4 will be flying; moulting has just about finished so should be in good nick! The Snowy Owl looked particularly splendid!
The sitting owls will be in his large back garden for us to photograph but the flying will take place in a large field adjoining his house. He will put up very realistic fences/posts and the owls will fly FREE of tassels and jesses – so no awkward photoshop editing. The background isn’t too bad and the owls tend to fly at head height or below.
Steve seems a genuine guy and will do his very best to ensure all have the images they want – well in theory!
The following members have expressed an interest – if your name is not listed below, please contact me asap so that I can organise trips. If you have changed your mind just let me know, it’s no problem. If you didn’t put your name forward but would like to please get in touch, again asap. Ta.
– Anne, Stan, Michael, Freda, Sharon, Dave, Elaine A. Sue, Adrian, Robin, Paul H. Mike.

When I firm up bookings, I will send out maps. Steve lives almost opposite Billy Bobs on the A6 – 10 mins from Garstang.

Exhibition Prints:
We will be taking down the prints on this Wednesday, 16th, so if you have had any prints on display, please bring in something to take them home – ta.

Anyone help? A message from Dianne:
I received the following email the other day.

Hello,
I’m still using film – have a Minolta dynax 500SI bought 25 years ago usually with a 28-105mm lens.I’ve had some great pix over the years.
but… just got back from a trip to Central Asia the pix were universally terrible. Was using Fuji and Kodak films, the Fuji ones were all sepia, the kodak ones were less sepia, but with a bluish / greenish tinge.
They all were in date, but had been through multiple hand luggage airport screenings, possibly occasional exposure to higher temperatures (but nothing extreme). Nothing different to how previous trips.
Any suggestions? I can’t see how this could be due to the camera – the films were developed and printed at the same time.
Dianne

If you have any thoughts/suggestions or could help please email in to me – info@garstangcameraclub.co.uk – and I will forward them on – cheers.

Battles voting:
All the 1st, 2nd and 3rd placed images, from our 5 internal competitions, will be put forward automatically for selection. Any member can submit up to 3 further image(s) to be included. Many thanks to those who already have.
The deadline for this is Sunday the 13th October – that’s today, midnight!
Voting takes place next Wednesday, 16th October. This voting will be anonymous and voting slips will be provided – please bring along a pen/pencil, it will help – cheers.
The top 20 will cover the first 2 Battles and the top 30 will cover the NZ Battle.

Environment Cup:
Description of images: Landscapes, architecture, dereliction, sculptures, street art, environmental issues and transport. People and animals must show scale or add to; not focal point.
If you are submitting prints and need them mounting, the ideal deadline for Sharon, Fine Arts, Garstang is 16th October. However, as I have said before if you are ‘behind schedule’ I’m sure she will do her best!
Last date for entry is Wednesday 30th October.
If any member needs help/advice on anything to do with competition entries please email me on the usual address – info@garstangcameraclub.co.uk – it’s no problem, honest!

Members Evening – 30th October:
Members showing macro and/or close-up images using techniques, if poss, from Justin’s practical macro workshop last week. Please take part showing the good, bad and the average.

Up and coming programme of events

Wednesday 16th October: Events Cup judging, ‘Live’. Our first internal competition, The Events Cup, judged by Harry Emmet. We have 44 entries in total. Plus, voting on the images submitted for the 4 Way Battles and the 2 Way Battle – see above.

Wednesday 23rd October: Bernard Rose: ‘Live.’ “1970’s and beyond”.

Wednesday 30th October: Members evening; The selected images for the 4 Way Battles and the 2 Way Battle revealed, and, show and tell your macro shots, plus other items!

Wednesday 6th November: Alan Cameron: ‘Live.’ Talk titled ‘‘Travels in Southern India.’

That’s all folks, see you Wednesday

Mike

Newsletter 06/10/24

Afternoon All
The images attached are from Steve Walker, our next speaker, to give you a flavour of his talk.

Notices:
Programme 2025 – 2026:
We have formed a sub-committee to discuss the next seasons programme to start to put together a plan.
Interested?
Meetings? Yes, there will be some, usually in Booth’s café! It will involve chatting about the content and the types and subjects of talks and presentations. It will not involve email and organising speakers, but it will give you the opportunity to voice your opinion.
If you are interested, please email in on info@garstangcameraclub.co.uk thanks.

Battles:
The first (4 Way) Battle is being organised; between Lytham, North Fylde and Poulton and us. For this first Battle, our entry must consist of 20 images with no more than 3 images from any one member.

How the selection process works.
All the 1st, 2nd and 3rd placed images, from our 5 internal competitions, will be put forward automatically for selection. Any member can further submit image(s) to be included.
When submitting images for the Battles please: –
1. Give the image a title
2. Do not include your competition number
3. Do not include the image number
4. Do not include any images used in previous Battles
5. Images to be jpeg, in sRGB colour space with a maximum image size of 1600 pixels (wide) x 1200 pixels (high), maximum file size 2 MB
6. Submit a maximum of 3 images
7. Send by email to info@gcccamera8.Include your name in the email
8 .Do not send by WeTransfer
9. The deadline for this is Sunday the 13th October

If any member needs any help just get in contact via email or speak to us during next Wednesday’s meeting – it’s no problem.
On Wednesday 16th October, after the Events Cup judging, all images will be shown and all members present will have the opportunity to vote on each image – scoring between 12 – 20 marks. Voting will be anonymous. The top 20 chosen will be submitted as our entry into the Battles.
The 20 chosen selected images will be shown on Wednesday 30th October.

30th October – members evening:
Members showing macro and/or close-up images using techniques, if poss, from Justin’s practical macro workshop last week. Please take part showing the good, bad and the average.

Coffee/tea duty:
Michael and John G. are on the rota for next Wednesday – thanks in advance!

Up and coming programme of events:
Wednesday 9th October: Steve Walker: ‘Live.’ My personal account and experiences of paid photoshoots. It covers a number of genres including nature, portraiture, steam trains, dance, architecture and others.

Wednesday 16th October: Events Cup judging, ‘Live’. Our first internal competition, The Events Cup, judged by Harry Emmet. We have 44 entries in total. Plus, voting on the images submitted for the 4 Way Battles and the 2 Way Battle.

Wednesday 23rd October: Bernard Rose: ‘Live.’ “1970’s and beyond”.

Wednesday 30th October: Members evening; The selected images for the 4 Way Battle revealed, show and tell that is your macro shots, plus other items!

That’s all folks, see you Wednesday

Cheers

Mike

Newsletter 29/09/24

Afternoon All

Coffee morning – what happened!
Well, sometimes you don’t know what you don’t know! I assumed, naively, that because we had our print exhibition up and running and we were running the coffee morning that the main room was ours – not so, not so fast, we should have booked it!
And, unknown to me, until Thursday, there was a craft fair running which meant we couldn’t even show our slideshow! Then, Saturday morning Elaine and I turned up at 9am to run the coffee morning and somebody else was there running it! Double booked!
The upshot is that Elaine (thanks Elaine!), managed to WhatsApp everyone and I managed to phone others.
The main disappointing and very frustrating outcome is that the club missed out on swelling our coffers to help with our finance and a lot of members had put time and effort into making some excellent edible products.
So, a big thanks to all who baked/cooked and a positive outcome is that we will have cake for the next few Wednesday meetings!
The future of our coffee mornings is now under discussion!

Notices:
Critiquing:
Huge thanks to John for last Wednesday’s critiquing session and all the time and effort you put in which made for a very successful evening, I’m sure we all learnt something. And, thanks to all members for sending in their images, without which the evening wouldn’t have happened!

Lancashire and Cheshire Photographic Society (LACPU).
Please find attached rules for the above competition. It’s The Annual Club Knockout Competition. Would anyone like to organise?

Programme 2025/26:
Believe it or not we are now at the beginning of the process of compiling next year’s programme. We need to start now to ensure we get the speakers, either ‘live’ of via Zoom, that we want.
So, if any members wish to contribute any ideas for content, PLEASE get in touch as soon as possible on info@garstangcameraclub.co.uk  Don’t forget this is your club and talks/speakers represent about 50% of the programme and if you would like a particular topic/theme/subject NOW is the time to voice your opinion!
If you would like a particular topic/theme/subject NOW is the time to voice your opinion! Everything considered!

30th October – members evening:
Members showing macro and/or close-up images using techniques, if poss, from Justin’s practical macro workshop last week. Please take part showing the good, bad and the average.

Coffee/tea duty:
Paul C. and Elaine A. are on the rota for next Wednesday – thanks in advance!

Up and coming programme of events:

Wednesday 2nd October: Eddie Leach: ‘Live.’ The talk is titled “If you do it differently don’t ever change”. The first half is composites and portraits and the second half is sport.

Wednesday 9th October: Steve Walker: ‘Live.’ My personal account and experiences of paid photoshoots. It covers a number of genres including nature, portraiture, steam trains, dance, architecture and others.
I appreciate that not everyone is willing to pay for such opportunities and it is only something I might do two or three times a year. I will look at the pros and cons and give my view on how to make the most of these opportunities.

Wednesday 16th October: Events Cup judging, ‘Live’. Our first internal competition, The Events Cup, judged by Harry Emmet. We have 44 entries in total.

Wednesday 23rd October: Bernard Rose: ‘Live.’ “1970s & beyond”

That’s all for now folks, see you Wednesday

Cheers

Mike

Newsletter 15/09/24

Morning All

Great news: if you remember a few weeks ago we sent, to Peter Frankish, 19 Lake District images, taken by some of our members, for him to mount and frame and sell on to raise money for the St Catherines Hospice Care.
Well, Peter has very recently, sent me 2 emails, see below. Well done to Stan and Lewis!

Email 1 – You will be pleased to know we enjoyed early success yesterday at the Ladies Friendship group in Garstang.
We held a raffle for the winner to be able to pick any picture on display. The winner chose Stan’s Ashness Jetty, from about 50 options to choose from. The raffle raised £67 but the winner then donated a further £5. So effectively our records show a contribution of £72 from Stan’s kind donation. Please let him know and thank him from the team.

Email 2 – You may remember I was at Calder Vale WI on Thursday. A lovely little lady thought she wanted a Lakes photo but wasn’t sure about size for her wall. So, I went round to see her today and she has just bought Lewis’s Blea Tarn. It is hanging beautifully above her fireplace and a photo of her late husband.

Both images are attached for you – who says you can’t make money from photography!

Notices:

Plein Air Competition:
Many thanks to members who managed to get out and about with their cameras. We selected 24 images which are now at the printers and will be delivered to Sheila next week and these will then be shown, together with the actual paintings, in the Arts Centre in due course.

Coffee morning:
The camera club is hosting a coffee morning, in the Arts Centre, on Saturday 28th September. This will coincide with our print exhibition, the ‘The Garstang Photographic Competition,’ a slide show of our latest digital images and the ‘Plein Air Competition’ (see above). So, lots going on!
As usual, we are looking for cakes etc to sell on the morning, it’s going to be busy, so, please contribute something edible and let Mike know so we can organise accordingly – ta!

Message from John G.
As he mentioned at the last meeting, if anyone has an old 8mm cine projector capable of playing films with sound, I would be very keen to borrow it to digitise a film I am currently working on. If you have or you know someone who has please contact Mike on info@garstangcameraclub.co.uk and I’ll pass the message on or speak to John next time you see him – thanks for any help.

Owls:
I’ve been in touch with Steve (Owls), again, and said the consensus of the members is to photograph the owls in flight, not just on a perch. He has replied that maybe in 3 or 4 weeks’ time, 2 maybe be ready and he will be back in touch to give us an update.

Badgers:
The link, below, looks good (plenty of info) re Badger photography from hide in Haweswater for small groups run by RSPB – https://events.rspb.org.uk/browse?filter[schedule]=3160
Looks like this will be next year – April? So, if you are interested just register that with me – cheers.

Calendar:
The Art Centre calendar is now on sale and Adrian will have some ready for you to buy, on Wednesday, at only £8.50.

Events Cup:
A reminder! The last date for entry is Wednesday 18th September – 3 days! Please bring in any prints and your digital image on a USB ‘stick’ this Wednesday.

Up and coming programme of events:

Wednesday September 18th: Justin Garner: ‘Live.’ Macro workshop; set ups include watches, flowers and others! Plus, focus stacking. This session/talk is linked to the Members Evening on 30th October – ‘Show and Tell’. I’ve been in touch with Justin and it looks like an exciting evening, not too be missed!

Wednesday 25th September: Members Evening with John Moxham, on image critiques. Many thanks to all members who have sent some images in.

Saturday 28th September: Camera Club coffee morning – see above!

Wednesday 2nd October: Eddie Leach: ‘Live.’ I do portraits, sports and composites. My talks are generally a mix of all three or on the creative side of my photography.

That’s all for now folks,
Cheers

Mike

October 2024 News

Hello to all, members, and a hearty welcome to new members along with non- members. First of all. I would like to apologise for the incorrect title in  some copies of last months magazine. The aircraft is a Lightning/ F-35 and does not “do” regular air shows as yet. I shot this at a Family Day at R.A.F. Marham in July. Within an hour, the pilot had parked up and went on to play lead guitar at the evening gig ( he reminded me of one of my sixth form pupils ! )

Now, down to business. The summer period has seen the club involved in two new ventures. The first one invited non members /beginners, to a series of five  presentation evenings followed by practice sessions under the tuition of one of our members, Stan Pearson . I should like to thank the members who joined in on the nights to assist , the common denominator in both ventures was Stan , so a big thanks to him for the hard work and efforts ! The second was a competition for “outsiders “ to enter one digital image for judging.

Our first evening of the new year was, a very busy, but well organized one, in which the digital winners were presented with their prizes. Their efforts and success will be displayed along with our club winners for ’23-’24 which runs in the Arts Centre from September 21st. through October.  Our first presentation the following week saw Alan Walker showing us how to get the best out of our holiday images, ably accompanied by his wife Julie.

October’s programme is as follows ;-

Oct. 2nd.  Eddie Leach live  on a mixture of Sports, Portraits and Composites.  ( live, means not zoom )

Oct. 9th.    Steve Walker live . My personal experiences of paid photoshoots.

Oct.16th.    First internal competition being judged. ( Amen )

Oct. 23rd.  Bernard Rose live  on  1970s and beyond .

All meetings take place in the Arts Centre and begin at 7.30 prompt.

If you are new to the area or are the recipient of a new or oldish camera, come down to test, the water’s great ! You will be made very welcome.  ( Image title…….” don’t ask “ ! )

Maurice Barker

info@garstangcameraclub

Newsletter 08/09/24

Afternoon All
 A huge thank you to Stan for organising, running and giving a short talk and presentation to the winners of the ‘The Garstang Photographic Competition;’ it was very well received and we had the top 5 winners at last Wednesday’s meeting – so thanks again Stan! 
Also, thanks to the 19 members who managed to enter the inaugural ‘Opening Night Competition’; the votes have been counted and the average scores calculated and the winner, with image, will be announced during next Wednesday’s meeting. 
Finally, many thanks to those members who managed a few minutes/hours photographing the ‘Plein Air Competition;’ there were 24 artists dotted around Garstang, and the weather was warm bordering on hot, that’s nice change, though one or two of the artists complained their paint was drying too quick, can’t please everyone! 
Images? Well, I’m collating them all and then first of all they will then get sent to Adrian, who, together with Sue, is producing an Audio Video (AV) production for the Arts Centre. 
Secondly, following a chat with Shiela, who is the main organiser, I may select, say, 20 images, get them printed and mounted and these will then be shown in an exhibition, together with the artist’s work, from 21st September in the Arts Centre café. Our contribution has yet to be confirmed.
 
Notices
 
From Adrian 
If anyone has a ‘sunrise-over-the canal’ image, not necessarily a competition winner, could they please send it to him on adrianwhitaker@btinternet.com he needs it for the AV, thanks.
 
From Peter Frankish
 This is the chap who organised ‘In the Frame,’ the collection of Lake District images we sent to him for him to mount and frame and sell on behalf of St Catherines Hospice Care. He has been in touch and is very happy with the images we sent. He is asking if anyone would like to help next Thursday, 12th September at Calder Vale WI. If you are interested, please email him on peter.frankish@outlook.com for further details.
 
Advance notice! 
The camera club is hosting a coffee morning, in the Arts Centre, on Saturday 28th September. This will coincide with our print exhibition, the ‘The Garstang Photographic Competition,’ a slide show of our latest digital images and the ‘Plein Air Competition’ (see above). So, lots going on! 
As usual, we are looking for cakes etc to sell on the morning, it’s going to be busy, so, please contribute something edible and let Mike know so we can organise accordingly – ta! 
Also, if anyone would like to help out, please contact Mike, we could do with 1 or 2 members to help serve – it’s really easy – honest!
 
Owls 
I’ve been in touch with Steve (Owls) and said the consensus of the members is to photograph the owls in flight, not just on a perch. I’m awaiting a reply but I think this will probably be in a few months’ time – I’ll keep everyone updated.
 
Badgers, from Dave 
The link, below, looks good (plenty of info) re Badger photography from hide in Haweswater for small groups run by RSPB – https://events.rspb.org.uk/browse?filter%5Bschedule%5D=3160 
I would definitely be interested. The only dates left for this year are Thursday 12th and Wednesday 13th September and in October 22nd and 24th. 
Event scheduled to run between 18.00 and 2300 but says in info generally active after sunset which I have found is 19.30 in September and 17.56 in October. 
Doesn’t run November through to March but hopefully will restart in April as they have in previous years if this is all too short notice. 
They let you know best time to arrive when you book and I think it would make a good group outing. 
I appreciate people may think badger on some grass is a bit like bird on a stick so may not be many if any takers but I certainly fancy going as I think Badgers are beautiful creatures and have never seen a real one in the wild. 
Thanks, Dave, for this info and I think, maybe, in October but April sounds promising. If anyone is interested get in touch with me on our usual address, info@garstangcameraclub.co.uk and I’ll start a list!
 
Club Exhibition: 
I think Maurice has all the prints, so thanks to all members for bringing them in.

 
Calendar
The Art Centre calendar is now on sale and Adrian will have some ready for you to buy, on Wednesday, at only £8.50.
 
Events Cup: 
A reminder! The last date for entry is Wednesday 18th September – 10 days!
 
Wednesday 25th September, image critique session by John. 
Again, thanks to members who have already sent images in but don’t forget the closing date for images is Saturday 14th September. 
So, please send in up to 4 images, one or two would be ok, anytime from now onwards to avoid disappointment. 
Just to remind: 
All images to be sent to Mike on info@garstangcameraclub.co.uk   
ALL images will be sent to John anonymously, so no names shown!
 
Up and coming programme of events 
Wednesday September 11th: Our first ‘live’ talk: Alan and Julie Walker: ‘Getting the best photographically from your Travels’: 
An illustrated talk about the planning and execution of successful photographic trips. How to come back with competition images rather than holiday snaps!

 
Wednesday September 18th: Justin Garner: ‘Live.’ Macro workshop; set ups include watches, flowers and others! Plus, focus stacking. This session/talk is linked to the Members Evening on 30th October – ‘Show and Tell’. 
I’ve been in touch with Justin and it looks like an exciting evening, not too be missed!
 
Wednesday 25th September: Members Evening with John Moxham, on image critiques.
 
Saturday 28th September: Camera Club coffee morning – see above!
 
Phew, that’s all for now folks,
 
Cheers
 
Mike

Newsletter 01/09/24

Morning All
 
The first of September today, where does the year go, it’s now autumn and it’ll soon be C……..! Aghhhhhhhhhhhh! 
Huge thanks to John for an extremely interesting and very nostalgic talk last Wednesday – very entertaining. John has promised more but on a slightly different approach in another talk sometime in the future. 
We had a great photo-shoot at Garsdale Railway Station last Wednesday taking photographs of the Sir Nigel Gresley locomotive. Very, very wet going up the M6 but the clouds parted and the sun put its hat on just as the steam loco arrived – great day out – more to follow hopefully soon, but not necessarily the above engine – watch this space.
 
Notices:
 
Fees: 
Sorry folks but it’s that time of year! The subscriptions this year, just to remind you, are £58. Robin will be on the ‘door’ this Wednesday to begin collection!
 
Calendar: 
The Art Centre calendar is now on sale and Adrian will have some ready for you to buy, on Wednesday, at only £8.50. 
Please don’t forget the net money raised goes into the Centre’s ‘coffers’ which helps with the running costs and really benefits us, as a club, together with other societies that use the centre.
 
Events Cup: 
A quick reminder! The last date for entry is Wednesday 18th September – 17 days! And, if you are having any prints ‘mounted’ at the Fine Arts in Garstang they need to be with Sharon, if possible, by 4th September.
 
Owls: 
I’ve had an email from Steve from The Lancashire Owl Experience. 
He says: Hope you don’t mind me contacting you, just to see if any of your members would be interested in a group session to take Photographs of my small Owl collection; 7 in total. I have started doing Photographing sessions, and thought it might be of interest especially as I’m only based in Barton. 
I can do bespoke sessions to suit of an hour or 90 minutes depending on how many people etc, and would be a Static Display of the Birds set out on a large lawn at first and then if interested I could do another visit when the Birds are through moult and Flying for Photos in Flight etc. 
I am very flexible with days and times and can fit around you to organise a group session, during the week or weekends as this may suit some people? 
The price starts at £45 for an hour per person but goes down to £40 or even £35 for larger groups, also the time goes up as the groups get larger but price doesn’t go up for the extra time. 
If you are interested, please email me on info@garstangcameraclub.co.uk and I will contact Steve and get precise details and what we would what to photograph specifically. I’m thinking of owls in flight, mainly for practise, though I might get a decent image occasionally! Anyway, please let me know your thoughts – if any!

 
Paint in and around Garstang, The ‘Plein Air Competition’: 
Saturday 7th September: It starts at 9am and finishes at 4pm; Judging is at 4.30pm and prize giving at 5pm. As I have mentioned before we have been asked to take some photographs of the artists as they paint. These images could be straightforward or a little quirkier, it’s up to you! You don’t have to be there all day, just spare what time you can! It doesn’t really get going until about 10ish. 
Our images could/may be shown alongside some of the artists finished paintings in an exhibition – date to be arranged.
 
Club Exhibition: 
PLEASE bring in your winning prints on Wednesday 4th September and big thanks to those who have already! Maurice needs them in so that he can organise the display ready for the exhibition, many thanks.
 
Up and coming programme of events
 
Wednesday September 4th: Our first meeting of the season! – including our NEW ‘Opening Night Competition’, Garstang Camera Club Photographic Competition results and various projects, amongst other things!
 
Saturday 7th September: Paint Garstang ‘Plein Air Competition’ We have be tasked to take photographs of the artists painting! See under ‘Notices.’
 
Wednesday September 11th: Our first ‘live’ talk: Alan and Julie Walker: ‘Getting the best photographically from your Travels’:
 
An illustrated talk about the planning and execution of successful photographic trips. How to come back with competition images rather than holiday snaps!
 
Wednesday September 18th: Justin Garner: ‘Live.’ Macro workshop; set ups include watches, flowers and others! Plus, focus stacking. This session/talk is linked to the Members Evening on 30th October – ‘Show and Tell’.
 
Wednesday 25th September: Members Evening with John Moxham, on image critiques.
 
That’s all for now folks; thunderstorms?
 
Cheers
 
Mike

Newsletter 25/08/24

Morning All
 
If you recall I sent out a request, from a Peter Frankish, for images of the Lake District for St Catherine’s Hospice Care. 
They were ‘running’ a theme, to raise money, called ‘In the Frame.’ This was a collaboration between St Catherine’s and local artists and photographers. 
Basically, any prints donated, they mount and sell on. 
Well, we handed over to Peter, in total, 19 prints the other day and below is an extract from an email he sent to me:

 
Thanks for the prints, Mike. 
They look stunning in the flesh and hopefully I will get chance to start looking for frames today. We’ll try and get at least four into this month’s schedule so I can showcase them at next month’s guest speaker appearances. 
So, a big thank you to those members who participated, all in a good cause!
 
Notices:
 
L&CPU “Bring a Print” competition:
 
Please find attached, a new L&CPU “Bring a Print” competition, with the rules, guidelines and awards. All the details are there if you wish to enter.
 
Paint in and around Garstang, The ‘Plein Air Competition’: 
Saturday 7th September: It starts at 9am and finishes at 4pm; Judging is at 4.30pm and prize giving at 5pm. As I have mentioned before we have been asked to take some photographs of the artists as they paint. These images could be straightforward or a little quirkier, it’s up to you! You don’t have to be there all day, just spare what time you can! It doesn’t really get going until about 10ish. 
Our images may be shown alongside some of the artists finished paintings in an exhibition – date to be arranged.
 
Club Exhibition: 
PLEASE bring in your winning prints either this coming Wednesday, 28th August, OR on Wednesday 4th September. Maurice needs them in so that he can organise the display ready for the exhibition, many thanks.
 
The Opening Night Competition; 4th September: 
Many thanks to those members who have already submitted their photographs. 
Best Projected Digital Image (PDI); Open, any subject, colour or monochrome. 
One only PDI from any member taken in the last 12 months. 
Image sent to me (Mike) at info@garstangcameraclub.co.uk  by Sunday 1st September. 
All presented, anonymously, in a PowerPoint presentation. 
On the night, each person present will vote, anonymously, on each one; maximum score of 20 points for each image, and a minimum of 12 points. 
The winner is the image with the most points! 
Brownie points only though I might have a bottle of wine/chocolates for the winner.
 
Image critiquing: 
Wednesday 25th September meeting, image critique session by John. 
The closing date for images is Saturday 14th September. 
Please don’t necessarily wait until then to send them in, John needs time to organise the evening. 
So, please send in up to 4 images anytime from now onwards to avoid disappointment and to also avoid over whelming the system! 
All images to be sent to Mike on info@garstangcameraclub.co.uk   
ALL images will be sent to John anonymously, so no names shown!
 
Up and coming programme of events
 
Wednesday August 28th: Voting on Garstang Camera Club Photographic Competition, short talk by Freda on her new camera, and some 15 professional images from the recent Olympic Games in Paris PLUS a talk by one of our members, John, on colour photos from 1950s-1970s. John says “I collect old Kodachrome slides and scan them to get an insight into social history.” 
Should be very interesting! I’ve attached a sample photograph from John.
 
Wednesday September 4th: Our first meeting of the season! – including our NEW ‘Opening Night Competition’, Garstang Camera Club Photographic Competition results and various projects, amongst other things!
 
Saturday 7th September: Paint Garstang ‘Plein Air Competition’ We have be tasked, again, to take photographs of the artists painting! See under ‘Notices.’
 
Wednesday September 11th: Our first ‘live’ talk: Alan and Julie Walker: ‘Getting the best photographically from your Travels’: An illustrated talk about the planning and execution of successful photographic trips. How to come back with competition images rather than holiday snaps!
 
Wednesday September 18th: Justin Garner: ‘Live.’ Macro workshop; set ups include watches, flowers and others! Plus, focus stacking. This session/talk is linked to the Members Evening on 30th October – ‘Show and Tell’.
 
Wednesday 25th September: Members Evening with John Moxham, on image critiques.
 
That’s all for now folks, don’t get too wet; weather eh!
 
Mike

Newsletter 18/08/24

A late newsletter today ‘cos we went to RHS Bridgewater for a lazy wonder round. If you haven’t been it is definitely worth going and they seem to do so much after each visit we go on!
 
Notices 
Please remember: No meeting this coming Wednesday, 21st ‘cos it’s a committee meeting. 
 
Club Exhibition: 
As you will know, we are having an exhibition at the Arts Centre from Saturday 21st September for a month and huge thanks here to Maurice for doing the sorting and organising; especially as he is moving house! 
The exhibition is for all the print winners (1st, 2nd and 3rd plus highly commended and commended for the 2023/24 season). 
I sent out, on the 4th of August, a list of the winning entries in 2 sections: 
2023 – 24: Highly commended and commended entries in the 5 internal competitions. 
AND, 2023 – 24: Winners (1st, 2nd and 3rd) in the 5 internal competitions. 
I’m quite happy to resend these lists if you have lost/deleted them! 
Please dig out those prints ‘cos Maurice will need these prints and bring them in either Wednesday 28th August OR Wednesday 4th September. Ta! 
 
Please don’t forget:
 
The Opening Night Competition; 4th September 
Many thanks to those members who have already submitted their photographs. 
Best Projected Digital Image (PDI); Open, any subject, colour or monochrome.
One only PDI from any member taken in the last 12 months. 
Image sent to me (Mike) by Sunday 1st September. 
All presented, anonymously, in a PowerPoint presentation. 
On the night, each person present will vote, anonymously, on each one; maximum score of 20 points for each image, and a minimum of 10 points. 
The winner is the image with the most points! 
Brownie points only though I might have a bottle of wine/chocolates for the winner. 
 
Wednesday 25th September, image critique session by John. 
The closing date for images is Saturday 14th September. 
Please don’t necessarily wait until then to send them in, John needs time to organise the evening. 
So, please send in up to 4 images anytime from now onwards to avoid disappointment and to also avoid over whelming the system! 
Just to remind:
All images to be sent to Mike on info@garstangcameraclub.co.uk 
ALL images will be sent to John anonymously, so no names shown! 
 
Up and coming programme of events 
Wednesday August 21st: No meeting as we are having a committee meeting.
 
Wednesday August 28th: Work in progress, still, sorry!
 
Wednesday September 4th: First meeting of the season – including projects!
 
Saturday 7th September: Paint Garstang ‘Plein Air Competition’ We have be tasked, again, to take photographs of the artists painting! More info later.
 
Wednesday September 11th: Our first ‘live’ talk: Alan and Julie Walker: ‘Getting the best photographically from your Travels’ 
An illustrated talk about the planning and execution of successful photographic trips. How to come back with competition images rather than holiday snaps!
 
That’s all folks for now, looks like another rainy week!
 
Cheers
 
Mike

September 2024 News

Since the last letter, we have, I think ,what is called Summer. Not wall to wall but some good short bursts of sun. In spite of being in July/August the club has been busy. We completed our Events Cup season with a visit to Skipton and Settle alongside our regular attendance at the Garstang Show which was blessed with an outstanding sunny day.

The “Getting off Auto” sessions throughout summer have been a huge success thanks in part to Stan Pearson  who spoke at length on the topics along with the rest of the members for giving it their support. It has been well attended with double figures on each occasion.

Also blessed with good weather has been the Blackpool Air Show, two free days of splendid photo. Opportunities

We have also seen the introduction of the new Canon R1 and this seems to have been quietly but frequently used in Paris for the Olympic Games, this is the new Flagship for the marque, and so lottery winners take note ! By the time you read the next edition, we shall have started our new programme on September 4th.  Why not turn up and see what we are about. We meet each Wednesday at 7.30pm in the Arts Centre. Come and give us a coat of looking at .

Maurice Barker

info@garstangcameraclub