Morning All

4 Way Battle

Many thanks to all who were able to get to Poulton – we counted 13 members there; a grand turnout!

Result? Well, at least we took part!

Final Scores

Between Garstang, Lytham, North Fylde and Poulton

Club	Scores	Difference between Garstang and others	Average
Poulton	357	+43	17.9
North Fylde	344	+30	17.2
Lytham	329	+15	16.5
Garstang	314		15.7

2 consolation prizes:

1. Our average score last year, 2022, was 15.4, this year it was 15.7; so, an improvement there!
2. We did very well in the raffle, scooping many prizes!

We’ve attached the table showing all the images with the committee’s score, the members score and the judge’s score. Makes interesting reading, in the sense that we weren’t far off.

Next Battles?

• 3 way Battle – Wednesday 10^th January, in the Arts Centre, between us, J36 and Morecambe.
• 2 way Battle – Wednesday 28^th February, in the Arts Centre, between us and The Rangiora Photographic Society, Christchurch, New Zealand.

Looking forward to winning these!

Notices

Environment Competition

Description: Landscapes, architecture, dereliction, sculptures, street art, environmental issues and transport. People and animals must show scale or add to; not focal point.

Prints: If you are using Fine Arts, Garstang, for mounting, to Sharon please by 29^th November.

Last date for entry: Wednesday 13^th December – prints and DPI’s.

Coffee morning

Saturday December 2^nd – we are hosting the coffee morning at the Arts Centre, 10am until 12.15. Please come along and support us as monies raised go towards the club funds. Also, please, we are open to accepting ‘food’ donations to sell; anything edible! Cakes, pastries, biscuits, etc – all welcome! Many thanks.

Garstang Victorian Christmas festival

As per last year 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 4th and Tuesday 5th December, 6pm – 9pm.

So, if we take images, edit them accordingly, then send them to me, Mike, (I would suggest 6/8 ish 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!

Christmas get-together

Christmas get-together is on Wednesday 13th December. This is getting to the ‘last call’ stage, ‘cos we will need to tell Betty our final numbers soon. So, please speak to Freda/Mike/Lewis as coordination is well under way.

Open to all members and their respective wives/husbands/partners etc! I think we have over 25 so far – please support the club in this social occasion AND there will be quizzes and prizes!

The menu will be a Hot Pot or an equivalent vegetarian Hot Pot plus a choice of 3 sweets, all cooked and served, as usual, by the excellent Betty and her team; all for the princely sum of £13 pp.

Also, we will need, please, some prizes for the raffle – any donations will be very gratefully received!

Calendars for 2025

The Arts Centre Committee said: “Provisionally, it was decided to repeat the exercise next year and we need to contact the Camera club. (That’s us!). It was agreed to keep the photographs within the Garstang area as there were plenty of sales outlets in the town.

Lewis and I have sent them an email asking for clarification; we await a reply.

Up and coming programme of events

• November 22nd – Gordon Watson – ‘Iceland in winter’.
• November 29th – Creatures and Plants of the World Competition – judged by Sheila Giles DPAGB AV-AFIAP.
• December 2^nd, Saturday – we are hosting the coffee morning at the Arts Centre.
• December 6th – Kevin Pigney – Passion for wildlife
• December 13^th – Christmas get-together
• December 13^th – Last date for entry in the Environment Competition

That’s all folks

Mike and Lewis

Morning All

Notices

3 Way Battle (us, J36 and Morecambe) PLUS  2 Way Battle (us and The Rangiora Photographic Society of New Zealand.)

Stan and his team will shortly be selecting images for the above 2 Battles.

Already included in possible selections are:

• Images sent in for the 4 Way Battle
• Winning images from last year’s competitions
• Winning images from this year’s competitions held so far.

If any member wishes to submit any other images for possible selection (up to 3 or 4 images) please send them directly to Stan by Sunday 3^rd December. Stan’s email address is stanley.pearson@talktalk.net Many thanks.

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. 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
5. Submit a maximum of 4 images
6. Send to Stan by email stanley.pearson@talktalk.net
7. Include your name in the email
8. Do not send by WeTransfer

Environment Competition

Description: Landscapes, architecture, dereliction, sculptures, street art, environmental issues and transport. People and animals must show scale or add to; not focal point.

Prints: If you are using Fine Arts, Garstang, for mounting, to Sharon please by 29th November.

Last date for entry: Wednesday 13th December – prints and DPI’s.

Coffee morning

Saturday December 2nd – we are hosting the coffee morning at the Arts Centre, 10am until 12.15. Please come along and support us as monies raised go towards the club funds. Also, please, we are open to accepting ‘food’ donations to sell; anything edible! Cakes, pastries, biscuits, etc – all welcome! Many thanks.

Garstang Victorian Christmas festival

The event is being held on Monday 4th and Tuesday 5th December, 6pm – 9pm.

Please edit images accordingly, then send them to me, Mike, (I would suggest 6/8 ish as a maximum each), I’ll forward them on to Julie, the organiser. 

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

Christmas get-together

Christmas get-together is on Wednesday 13th December. This is getting to the ‘last call’ stage, ‘cos we will need to tell Betty our final numbers soon. So, please speak to Freda/Mike/Lewis if you haven’t booked already!  

The menu will be a Hot Pot or an equivalent vegetarian Hot Pot plus a choice of 3 sweets, all cooked and served, as usual, by the excellent Betty and her team; all for the princely sum of £13 pp.

Please pay this coming Wednesday 29th November – cash or cheque

Also, we will need, please, some prizes for the raffle – any donations will be very gratefully received!

Up and coming programme of events

• November 29th – Creatures and Plants of the World Competition – judged by Sheila Giles DPAGB AV-AFIAP.
• Saturday December 2^nd – we are hosting the coffee morning at the Arts Centre.
• Monday December 4^th and Tuesday December 5^th – Garstang Victorian Christmas festival.
• December 6th – Kevin Pigney, delivered on Zoom – Passion for wildlife.
• December 13^th – Christmas get-together.
• December 13^th – Last date for entry in the Environment Competition
• December 20^th – no meeting
• December 27^th – no meeting

That’s all folks

Mike and Lewis

Morning All

Many thanks to all members for their entries of prints and DPIs for the Creatures and Plants of the World Competition; it would appear to be a considerable amount to choose from! Good luck to all and to the judge!

Notices

Lens for sale

From: Mr Wayne Collins

I have a Sigma AF 150 – 500mm EOS F/5-6.3 APO-DG-OS-HSM lens with Canon mount that I wish to sell. A case and hood is included with the lens.

I bought it 8 years ago but have not used it very much: it is in very good condition.

If anyone wishes to test it in my garden on their camera, they are welcome to come along.

Given its condition I believe £300 is reasonable for it but open to negotiation. (MPB £449).

Email: wsmcollins@sky.com

My mobile number is 07811300975

If you are interested, please contact Wayne directly.

Programme for 2024/25 season

We are currently planning the 24/25 season and if any member has any suggestions, ideas and/or thoughts please get in touch; don’t forget it’s your club and you may want a talk/presentation on a particular topic – so now is the time to say!

From Michael Orr

If anyone is interested in Local History, please check out: http://www.chorleyhistorysociety.co.uk/

4 Way Battle

The results for the 5 Way Battle Last Year were:

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

As you will remember Bispham have pulled out, this year, due to various reasons so we will be battling against some odds! Still, we have some excellent photographs so good luck to all!

Reminder: 7.30pm start; venue – Methodist Church Hall on Queensway, Poulton FY6 7ST. So, no meeting scheduled in the Arts Centre. We would suggest you get there by 7.15 to ensure a seat; parking in Booths Car Park, which, we believe, is free from 6pm or 7pm, but please check that out when parking!

Garstang Victorian Christmas festival

As per last year 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 4th and Tuesday 5th December, 6pm – 9pm.

Julie says “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 6/8 ish 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 8th November during our next meeting.

Christmas get-together

Just a reminder that our Christmas get-together is on Wednesday 13th December. Freda is now coordinating and beginning to collect names! Open to all members and their respective wives/husbands/partners etc! I think we have over 20 so far – please support the club and there will be quizzes and prizes!

The menu will be a Hot Pot or an equivalent vegetarian Hot Pot plus a choice of 3 sweets, all cooked and served, as usual, by the excellent Betty and her team; all for the princely sum of £13 pp.

Also, we will need, please, some prizes for the raffle – any donations will be very gratefully received!

Calendars for 2025

The Arts Centre Committee said: “Provisionally, it was decided to repeat the exercise next year and we need to contact the Camera club. (That’s us!). It was agreed to keep the photographs within the Garstang area as there were plenty of sales outlets in the town.

Lewis and I have sent the following email to them.

“In principle we agree but will need to discuss it with our members.

However, we note you wanted photos of Garstang again. The issue here may be getting sufficient photos of the right quality and composition within the relatively small area of Garstang. Can we suggest you expand the area to cover Garstang and District (Arts Society) Our suggestion would be South of Lancaster to the North of Preston, as far East as Trough of Bowland and West to the coast.

We are happy to discuss this with you after you have a chance to consider this suggestion.”

We await a reply, but will, of course, keep you all updated.

Up and coming programme of events

• November 8^th – Justin Garner – ‘The lighting behind the image.’
• November 15^th – 4 Way Battle – 7.30pm start; venue – Methodist Church Hall on Queensway, Poulton FY6 7ST. So, no meeting scheduled in the Arts Centre.
• November 22^nd – Gordon Watson – ‘Iceland in winter’.
• November 29^th – Creatures and Plants of the World Competition – judged by Sheila Giles DPAGB AV-AFIAP.

That’s all folks

Mike and Lewis

Morning All

Many thanks to Stan for his time and trouble in putting together a cracking image critiquing presentation. We’re sure everyone got something from it.

Notices

Website and Facebook – many thanks to Tim and Rhona, respectively, for keeping these sites updated with the winning images from the Events Cup.

4 way battle: attached is the scoring sheet for our images that we have sent in.

The first column is the image title, followed by the author’s name. The third column represents the average committee score for each image and the next column represents the average score from the club ‘judging’ from Wednesday evening.

We’ve left the final column for the score from the actual judge on the night. It will be very interesting to compare the scores.  

Unfortunately, it’s been confirmed that the competition will not be zoomed so therefore we’ll need to chat about who’s going and car sharing; we can discuss this over our next couple of meetings. So, there will be no actual meeting in the Arts Centre on that Wednesday, 15^th November.

Extracts from the Minutes of the Meeting of the Executive Committee of Garstang & District Arts Society held on Tuesday 17th October 2023

• The Plein Air painting competition will be held on Saturday 7th September 2024.

• The Calendars are selling well and the remaining stock should go during the Craft fair. Provisionally, it was decided to repeat the exercise next year and Muriel was hopeful that many of this year’s sponsors would be happy to do so again. We need to contact the Camera club. (That’s us!). It was agreed to keep the photographs within the Garstang area as there were plenty of sales outlets in the town.
• Victorian Evenings. It was decided to open on both evenings and to  only serve mulled wine and mince pies.

Christmas

Just a gentle reminder that our Christmas get-together is on Wednesday 13^th December – all details yet to be finalised but Freda is now coordinating and beginning to collect names! Open to all members and their respective wives/husbands/partners etc!

Creatures and Plants of the World Competition

• Last date for entry is Wednesday 1st November, prints and digital images.

Up and coming programme of events

• November 1^st – Boyd Harris – ‘Failure & success in the Himalayas.’
• November 8^th – Justin Garner – ‘The lighting behind the image.’
• November 15^th – 4 Way Battle – 7.30pm start; venue – Methodist Church Hall on Queensway, Poulton FY6 7ST. So, no meeting scheduled in the Arts Centre.
• November 22^nd – Gordon Watson – ‘Iceland in winter’.
• November 29^th – Creatures and Plants of the World Competition – judged by Sheila Giles DPAGB AV-AFIAP

That’s all folks

Mike and Lewis

Afternoon All

Events Cup: we thought the judge, Nicki Greenwood, provided lots of very good constructive criticisms of the images submitted and many encouraging comments so, all in all, lots of very good decisions. Congratulations to those who were in the top echelons and we hope that the overall process has given inspiration to everyone.

Notices

Alteration to the programme

January 31st 2024 – we did have Trevor Davenport (Ainsdale Sand Dunes) on ‘Insects & Nature Photography’ booked for that date, however and very sadly Trevor has cancer so Michael has booked Richard Davis for that spot and he will be covering a variety of topics in mostly Mono style.

Website

Don’t forget, to submit your images to be shown under the ‘members galleries.’

You can submit up to 6 images and please send them directly to Tim at timflesher@btinternet.com

4 Way Battle

The 4 Way Battle (between us, North Fylde Photographic Society, Lytham St. Annes PS and Poulton PS) is on Wednesday 15^th November starting at 7.30pm. The venue is the Methodist Church Hall on Queensway in Poulton.

This is obviously a ‘club’ night so we originally asked if it will be available via zoom, then we could watch the battle from the Arts Centre. However, they are now saying “doubt if we will have the technical capability to support a Zoom broadcast” but we still await a definitive answer!

So, plan B! – this will be car-sharing; we will let you all know the proposal if and when it becomes a necessity.

If we don’t have a zoom connection and travel there by car then there will be no meeting at the Arts Centre that evening.

Creatures and Plants of the World Competition

Last date for entry is Wednesday 1^st November, prints and digital images.

Up and coming programme of events

• October 25th – Members Evening – Image feedback from Stan and also, he will present the 20 images chosen for the 4 Way Battle; plus, other images!
• November 1st – Boyd Harris – ‘Failure & success in the Himalayas.
• November 8th – Justin Garner – ‘The lighting behind the image’.
• November 15^th – 4 Way Battle – see above.

That’s all folks

Mike and Lewis

Evening All

Very early newsletter this week as both Lewis and I are away.

Scams

We’re sure everyone is very alert to scams but a couple of members have chatted to us about receiving emails from other members asking them to open an attachment which, it is claimed, is important. It is very likely that if you open the attachment, you will have, in all likelihood, been hacked.

We don’t supply members emails to anyone unless we are specially asked to. So, please, just delete unless you are absolutely sure.

If you are unsure and want any assistance, email in to us at our usual address and we will try to help out.

Notices

Website – Members Galleries

Don’t forget, we are now asking members to submit up to 6 images of their own that they wish to be shown under the ‘members galleries’.

You can submit up to 6 images and please send them directly to Tim at timflesher@btinternet.com

New Project

Don’t forget to give some thought to ‘your’ project for the next 11 months!

Up and coming programme of events

• October 18th – Events Cup Competition, judged by Nicki Greenwood
• October 25th – Members Evening – Image feedback from Stan and also Stan will present the 20 images chosen for the 4 Way Battle; plus, other images!
• November 1st – Boyd Harris – ‘Failure & success in the Himalayas.
• November 1st – Creatures and Plants of the World Competition – last date for entry.
• November 8th – Justin Garner – ‘The lighting behind the image’.

That’s all folks for this week!

Mike and Lewis

Morning All

A warm sunny day beckons – time to get that camera out, dust it down, charge the battery, take some photographs and then possibly send them to info@garstangcameraclub.co.uk ready for Stan to critique – see below!

Don’t forget, autumn is creeping in as well – more opportunities!

From Michael: Amazon – Tuesday 10^th and Wednesday 11^th, big prime day discounts on cameras and goods; maybe interesting!

Notices

Image Critiquing

Image critiquing for the ‘members evening’ on 25th October.

Stan is ‘in-the-chair’ this time and will look and give his thoughts and opinions.

Theme is ‘Open;’ any image taken recently if poss; if not historical ones can be submitted.

3 ish images per member.

All images submitted and shown will be anonymous.

Deadline date: Images in by Wednesday 18th October.

If the images have been edited, if possible, please send in the original unedited image – no problems if you cannot.”

Please send your images to the usual email address: info@garstangcameraclub.co.uk and the subject – Image Feedback.

Or if the images exceed the email limit, please send them via Wetransfer.

Great to see that some members have already sent in some images! But more needed; don’t be shy!

Website – Members Galleries

We are now asking members to submit up to 6 images of their own that they wish to be shown under the ‘members galleries’.

You can submit up to 6 images and please send them directly to Tim at timflesher@btinternet.com

All 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; no more than 2MB as this will help keep website storage down.

Thanks to those members who have managed to send some photographs in and many thanks to Tim for putting them on our website.

New Project

The idea is for each member to develop a photographic ‘theme’ over the next 11 months and present their ‘findings’ – good, bad or ugly (what went right and what didn’t!), – at the first meeting in 2024 which will be on September 4th.

Now, we fully appreciate that not everyone likes to present from the front and chat about their topic so you would be more than welcome to put everything on a USB stick and chat from the ‘floor’ so to speak!

Ok, so what theme? Well, that’s completely up to you! A few ideas below to get you thinking and maybe spark an idea! The idea is to pick a theme and experiment from there!

One thought could be that you team up with another member and work together and produce a joint project – only an idea.

Possible themes/ideas/suggestions – usage of a tripod and/or handheld:

• Getting to grips with your camera; shooting on automatic, then aperture priority, then shutter speed priority, then even on manual, collecting examples as you go along. Experimenting with depth of field, focus and exposure compensation.
• Flowers/Forest/Woodland – perhaps, woodland scenes (Bluebells) and detailed shots.
• Water and reflective photography – canals, rivers, sea, puddles! – using long exposure?
• Food
• Landscapes and seascapes – possibly to include sun rises and sets; again, using long exposure?
• Weather, storms, clouds, rainbows
• Travel
• Macro
• Monochrome
• Cityscapes/Urban life
• Architecture
• Sports
• Nature and wildlife
• Minimalistic
• Mobile only images

These are just a few ideas; you may, of course, develop you own theme or combine some together, your choice!

The whole idea is for everyone to have a go and develop ‘what you want to get out of photography,’ learn from the experience and hopefully learn from others!

Please have a chat with us over the next couple of meetings and ask any questions. Please don’t forget this is your club to experiment, learn and most importantly have FUN!

We hope you will join in and, don’t forget, if everything goes pear-shaped – that’s learning!

Up and coming programme of events

• October 11th – Garry Cook – ‘Street Photography and a project in Israel.
• October 18th – Events Cup Competition, judged by Nicki Greenwood
• October 25th – Members Evening – Image feedback from Stan – see above – plus Stan will present the 20 images chosen for the 4 Way Battle; plus, other images!
• November 1^st – Boyd Harris – ‘Failure & success in the Himalayas.
• November 1^st – Creatures and Plants of the World Competition – last date for entry.
• November 8^th – Justin Garner – ‘The lighting behind the image’.

That’s all Folks

Mike and Lewis

Morning All

Thanks to all who managed to spare the time to visit the Arts Centre for our coffee morning on Saturday; we had a fairly busy time and raised nearly £100 for the club coffers!

So, many thanks to Rhona, Sue and Robin for giving up their time and for the hard work in helping to make the morning a success.  

Notices

Fylde 4 Way Battle: Last reminder!

• Give the image a title
• Do not include your competition number
• Do not include the image number
• 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
• Submit a maximum of 6 images
• Send to Stan by email stanley.pearson@talktalk.net
• Include your name in the email
• Do not send by WeTransfer

Stan and his team will then review all images submitted and choose the 20 to be entered.

Images for consideration need to be to Stan by Wednesday 4th October.

Image Critiquing

Image critiquing for the members evening on 25th October.

Stan will look, present and comment.

Theme = ‘Open;’ any image taken recently if poss.

3 ish images per member.

All images submitted and shown will be anonymous.

Deadline date: Images in by Wednesday 18th October.

If the images have been edited, if possible, please send in the original unedited image – no problems if you cannot.”

Please send your images to the usual email address: info@garstangcameraclub.co.uk and the subject – Image Feedback.

Or if the images exceed the email limit, please send them via Wetransfer.

Website – Members Galleries

As mentioned in a previous newsletter all the images have been deleted and we are now asking members to submit up to 6 images of their own that they wish to be shown under the ‘members galleries’.

You can submit up to 6 images and please send them directly to Tim at timflesher@btinternet.com

All 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; no more than 2MB as this will help keep website storage down. Thanks.

New Project

We have given considerable thought, over the last few weeks, for this ‘seasons’ project – this is to carry on from the success of 12 – in – 12 from last season.

The idea is for each member to develop a photographic ‘theme’ over the next 11 months and present their ‘findings’ – good, bad or ugly (what went right and what didn’t!), – at the first meeting in 2024 which will be on September 4th.

Now, we fully appreciate that not everyone likes to present from the front and chat about their topic so you would be more than welcome to put everything on a USB stick and chat from the ‘floor’ so to speak!

Ok, so what theme? Well, that’s completely up to you! A few ideas below to get you thinking and maybe spark an idea! The idea is to pick a theme and experiment from there!

One thought could be that you team up with another member and work together and produce a joint project – only an idea.

Possible themes/ideas/suggestions – usage of a tripod and/or handheld:

• Getting to grips with your camera; shooting on automatic, then aperture priority, then shutter speed priority, then even on manual, collecting examples as you go along. Experimenting with depth of field, focus and exposure compensation.
• Flowers/Forest/Woodland – perhaps, woodland scenes (Bluebells) and detailed shots.
• Water and reflective photography – canals, rivers, sea, puddles!
• Food
• Landscapes and seascapes – possibly to include sun rises and sets
• Weather, storms, clouds, rainbows
• Travel
• Macro
• Monochrome
• Cityscapes/Urban life
• Architecture
• Sports
• Nature and wildlife
• Minimalistic
• Mobile only images

These are just a few ideas; you may, of course, develop you own theme or combine some together, your choice!

The whole idea is for everyone to have a go and develop ‘what you want to get out of photography,’ learn from the experience and hopefully learn from others!

Please have a chat with us over the next couple of meetings and ask any questions. Please don’t forget this is your club to experiment, learn and most importantly have FUN!

We hope you will join in and, don’t forget, if everything goes pear-shaped – that’s learning!

Up and coming programme of events

• October 4th – Harry Emmett – Towards CPAGB (The Credit award of the Photographic Alliance of Great Britain) – Prints.
• October 11th – Garry Cook – ‘Street Photography and a project in Israel.
• October 18th – Events Cup Competition, judged by Nicki Greenwood
• October 25th – Members Evening – Image feedback from Stan – see above – plus Stan will present the 20 images chosen for the 4 Way Battle.

That’s all folks

Mike and Lewis