Afternoon All

I think our opening night proved to be a success thanks to the 4 talks! So big thank you to Freda (Badgers), Paul (dog agility), Stan (Mike photos, equipment for loan/sale and John’s Garden) and John (printing).
Also, thanks to all 19 members who submitted an image each to the Opening Night Competition! The results, as they say, are in and the winner will be revealed during next Wednesday’s meeting!

Plein Air Painting Competition
Garstang woke up to the smell of linseed oil, wild ambition, and a suspicious number of folding easels on Saturday, as the annual Plein Air Painting Competition descended upon our cobbled streets and sheep/cow-studded fields. Over 30 artists from around the area arrived, brushes in hand and egos neatly packed in canvas bags.
Garstang was awash with colour, creativity, and questionable hat choices as more than 30 artists descended on the town for the fourth annual “Paint Garstang” event and many locals watched in awe (and occasionally confusion) as painters captured everything from the town centre to Greenhalgh Castle, via the river Wyre.
Artists spent the day thoughtfully squinting at buildings, holding their thumbs in the air for mysterious reasons, and attempting to avoid painting directly into the sun. Once complete, they marched their masterpieces to Garstang Arts Centre, resisting the urge to “accidentally” smudge each other’s work on the way.
Adding to the creative chaos, ukulele band Buzz Cadillac and the Lightning Rods (yes, really) provided courtyard entertainment. Front man Andy Stuart led the musical charge with a set that had toes tapping and hips swaying.
Judge Hazel Booth had the unenviable task of picking a winner, but praised the high standard of entries, even the one that looked suspiciously like a sandwich. The event was rounded off with a prize ceremony hosted by Sheila Tearle of the Arts Centre, who heroically kept things moving despite one attendee loudly claiming their painting had been robbed of a prize and was, in fact, “better than Monet.”
Taking the top prize — for the second time running — was the unstoppable Lori Shaw, whose stunning depiction of Garstang’s old Town Hall and Market House reminded judges what good perspective actually looks like. Rumours of her using magical paintbrushes remain unconfirmed.
The weather stayed fair for the competition and I managed to get a few photos of most of the artists except for a few outliers though I’m sure they were visited by others! I was accompanied for a very short period by no other than Andy Stuart, of ‘hare’ and musicality fame, who proceeded to take a photo of me photographing an artist – I returned the ‘favour’ later!
I did here that Frank and Mike (Pattern) were also out-and-about but accidentally evaded them!
Anyone who took photos and wants to share them please send them to me and I’ll forward them on to whomever.

Notices:

Advance notice!
The camera club is hosting a coffee morning, in the Arts Centre, on Saturday 27th September. This will coincide with our print exhibition, a slide show of our latest digital images and, I think, 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!

Events Cup:
A reminder! The last date for entry, digital images and prints, is Wednesday 17th September – 10 days!

Liverpool trip:
As mentioned at last Wednesday’s meeting this expedition will now be planned for the latter part of October; further details will be forthcoming in a later newsletter.

LAST CALL! – Knowle Top Studios, workshops:
Below, if you are interested, are the details. Freda is co-ordinating this and she will book accordingly early next week!
Car sharing can be organised!

Thursday, September 18th, 7pm – 9pm
Beginners’ session – understand aperture, shutter speed and ISO and how they work together. Learn how to change settings on your camera.

Thursday, October 2nd, 7pm – 9pm
All about composition, framing and leading lines.

Thursday, October 16th, 7pm – 9pm
Wildlife photography – how to expose your image in the field, how to prepare and how to find your target species.

Thursday, November 6th 7pm – 9pm
Black and white photography in landscapes, portraits and architecture

£30 per session or £95 for all 4 sessions
If you are interested, please get in touch via info@garstangcameraclub.co.uk so that we can co-ordinate the response and book accordingly! – Ta!

Coffee duty:
Coffee/tea duty for Wednesday 10^th September is Mike and Stan – thank you gentlemen!

Up and coming programme of events:

Wednesday 10^th September – Lee Metcalf, all the way from Galgate!
Lee says, “Tonight I’m going to chat about my landscape images I’ve taken for my Fotovue book, ‘Explore and discover the North West,’ which still hasn’t gone to print!! – and why I took them. Plus, various landscape images, I took, in the Lake District and on recent trips to Harris and Lewis and to the Uist’s in Scotland.

Wednesday 17^th September – Sue Freeman: Artificial Intelligence; the latest overview. 
Artificial Intelligence is a hot and controversial subject at the moment. In this presentation I give a simple overview of where recent technological advances have been made in AI and how this impacts on us as photographers now, and could do in the future. 

Wednesday 24^th September – Members Evening: 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.” 
This talk is a follow-up on a previous presentation from John, last August (2024), and it proved to be very interesting! Make a note in your diary!
Plus: we will be voting on the images to be submitted for the 3 ‘Battles’ in 2025/26. Thanks here to Stan for organising and co-ordinating the images.

Wednesday 1^st October – Colin Balls: Sri Lanka by rail, details to follow.

That’s all folks, and see you on Wednesday!

Mike