Newsletter 04/12/22

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 28th December during members evening. Please send them, (up to a maximum of 6 really), soon (by Monday 26th 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 5th and 6th 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 7th – Environment Cup Competition; 12 mono and 18 colour prints and 23 mono and 39 colour DPIs. That’s 92 images.
  • Wednesday December 14th – Our Christmas social get-together. If we could please arrive by 7.15pm ‘cos the food will be served at 7.30.
  • Wednesday December 14th – Last date for entry for the Creatures and Plants of the World Cup; prints and DPIs.
  • Wednesday 21st December – no meeting
  • Wednesday 28th 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 – 5th and 6th 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 21st December and be shown during the members evening on Wednesday 28th December.

That’s all folks

Mike and Lewis

December 2022 News

Hello to everyone. It seems only minutes since I was drafting the last copy for November’s Issue and here I am almost in the festive season ! We are now nearing the half way mark in our 2022/’23 year. Where does the time disappear to ?

About the time you may be reading this,we will have had two of our internal competitions judged ie. Events Cup and Environment Cup , the latter taking place on Dec. 7th.  November gave us a very interesting presentation by Justin Garner on Macro Photography. We were also involved in the Annual 5 Way Battle between the clubs of Bispham/ Lytham/ North Fylde and Poulton le Fylde in which we came a creditable 4th. Although winning is quite prestigious, it is also about taking part……how often do we repeat this to our littlies in school ? However I think that this is true, and  as an ex marathon runner of many years, I always held on to that adage …….there is always that chance !  Looking forward, we have our Christmas Party on December 14th. which should be a good night ! Our Environment Cup will be judged on Wed. Dec 7th by Ken Geddes LRPS.  January 4th. gives us Carmen Norman who will talk to us on Lake District Moods, this will be by ZOOM.

It remains only for me to wish all readers a very Happy Christmas and all best wishes for 2023 and with grateful thanks to the producers of these magazines, Focus and In Focus. You do a splendid job !

Maurice Barker

www.garstangcameraclub.co.uk

Newsletter 20/11/22

Afternoon All

Just to say, first of all, there will be no newsletter next weekend so the next one will be weekending 3rd/4th 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 30th November during our members evening.

A few reminders of dates:

  • Wednesday November 23rd – 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 30th – 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 3rd 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 7th – Environment Cup Competition; 12 mono and 18 colour prints and 23 mono and 39 colour DPIs. That’s 92 images in all!
  • Wednesday December 14th – 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 14th – 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 26th January and,

1 against The Rangiora Photographic Society, New Zealand, on Wednesday 8th 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 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, 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 21st December and be shown during the members evening on Wednesday 28th
  • The 30 images selected for the ‘Battles’ will be sent to the respective clubs by 1st 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

Newsletter 13/11/22

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 4th – at least not last!

We have a copy of all the entries (75) and will show them, with their scores, on Wednesday 30th 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 16th – 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 23rd – 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 30th – 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 14th – 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

Newsletter 06/11/22

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 9th – 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 10th5-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 16th – 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 23rd – 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 30th – 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 30th x 2

December 7th dec x 1

That’s all folks

Mike and Lewis

Newsletter 30/10/22

Morning All

Hope you all remembered to put the clock back one hour!

5-Way Battle

Many thanks to Stan and his team for selecting the 15 images we have entered into this ‘Battle’ and for showing the selected ones last Wednesday.

Just to remind everyone this ‘Battle’ is between the following Camera clubs/photographic Societies of Garstang, North Fylde, Poulton, Lytham and Bispham.

The date is Thursday 10th November starting at 19.30

It will be held in Poulton at the following address: Poulton PS, Methodist Church Hall, Queensway, Poulton-le-Fylde, FY6 7ST.

The judge will be Nick Hilton EFIAP DPAGB BPE5.

We have had the following message from Christine Storey Hon Sec Poulton PS:

“To assist us with our arrangements for seating and catering we are asking our local clubs if they can give us a rough idea of how many members are likely to attend the 5 Way Battle on November 10th”. So, if you are planning to go, PLEASE email in to Mike or Lewis ASAP or speak to us at the next meeting on this coming Wednesday 2nd November.

It would be really good to support the club and have a great opportunity to meet other photographers and we are sure a car sharing system and/or lifts can be arranged.

A few reminders

  • Wednesday 2nd November, we have a presentation by Lilliana Alani titled ‘People, Places and Faces. This will be available via zoom so if you wish to have a zoom invite please email to Mike or Lewis.
  • Wednesday 9th November is the last date for entry, prints and DPIs – Environment Cup – Landscapes, architecture, dereliction, sculptures, street art, environmental issues, and transport. People and animals must show scale or add to; not focal point.
  • Wednesday November 9th – Justin Garner – we have a presentation on Macro photography – This will be available via zoom so if you wish to have a zoom invite please email to Mike or Lewis.

Competition; Interested? Just a thought….

In November’s issue of the ‘Focus Magazine’ there is a photograph competition titled ‘Bowland Through the Seasons’ that “captures the beauty and opportunities this outstanding area has to offer year-round”.

These may include landscapes or wildlife images, or people enjoying activities in the area – whatever captures Bowland at its best through every season.

First prize is a two-night stay at Laythams (low season).

Closing date: Monday 21st November.

For further information visit www.forestofbowland.com and click on Forest of Bowland AONB Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Then click on ‘News’ and scroll down ‘Beautiful Bowland Photo Competition.’ All the details are there.

Audio system!

The other day a friend of Robin’s came out to the Arts Centre to look at the audio system.

Having spent some time looking at what we had, the end result was that the amplifier we had wasn’t working and basically was beyond repair.

He promised to get in touch with a person called Martin, who he very highly recommends, and was certain would be able to fix the system.

Well, Martin spoke to Robin on Thursday and has given us the following quote:

New amplifier £250 and labour £100 = total of £350

I’ve spoken to Hilary (who is in charge of the Arts Centre) and they would be willing to pay half (£175).

So, having contacted the committee, we have agreed to go ahead to fix the audio and so our contribution, from club funds, will be £175.

Martin is very hopeful that the ‘loop’ system will work and we will be able to use the 4 speakers that are around our meeting room. No more bringing in your speakers Adrian!

Martin is coming to the Arts Centre on Thursday 17th November to do his magic and, incidentally, he was the person who originally set the system up in the first place, so fingers crossed!

That’s all folks

Mike and Lewis

Newsletter 23/10/22

Afternoon All

Many thanks to all members who entered our first internal competition ‘The Events Cup’ and congratulations all to the winners of the various sections and well done to Freda for her overall winning entry.

Please could I remind all print winners – commended, highly commended, 3rd, 2nd, and 1st to send DPIs of their prints to Stan as he is building up a portfolio of images for various up and coming external competitions, thanks.

Maurice and Robin have taken down our exhibition from the Arts Centre – thank you both and Maurice has sorted out the prints ready for collection this Wednesday.

Email below from Jean Marvin:

To: All Arts Centre Members

From: The Trustees: Muriel Burnham-Airey, Anne Marie Whitehead, Eileen Pearson and Jean Mavin

Thank you for your continued support of Garstang Arts Centre. The Executive Committee regrets that the annual subscription will be rising from £25 to £28 from 1st January 2023 but we hope you will continue to support the activities on offer and will renew your membership subscription. Your Arts Centre Membership covers all the Groups and you are welcome to come any of the meetings as a visitor and try what is on offer. Check out the Arts Centre Website or the leaflet available. Thank you very much.

With the current cost of living crisis, the Arts Centre finances are being stretched and any additional donations or suggestions for fund raising would be gratefully received.

If you are not already a member of the 200 club, then I would urge you to join, as this is a great source of funding for the Arts Centre. The cost is £6.50 every six months and a standing order is the easy way to ensure you are in every draw, the top prize being £400. The next draw will be on Friday 18th November when entertainment will be provided by The John Towers Big Band. Tickets are free and available from the Arts Centre and are on a ‘First come First Served’ basis as numbers are limited for health and safety reasons.

The Christmas Craft Fair will be running from Saturday 25th October until Tuesday 6th December so do pop into the Arts Centre to buy some early Christmas presents.

The Arts Centre will be open on the evening of Monday 5th December as part of the Victorian Festival. Hilary will be serving her delicious hotpot and there will be hot drinks and mince pies as usual.

Thank you for your continued support of Garstang Arts Centre.

Following on from the email above, the Camera Club will absorb the £3 from our reserves. However, if any member wishes to contribute this extra £3 to our ‘coffers’ please give it to Robin, Mike or Lewis, many thanks; every little helps!

An update on Chris:

Another small step in the right direction. Today Chris has been moved from his isolated room into a bay with three other gentlemen who seem to be quiet individuals – no obvious troublemakers amongst them.

We are now waiting for a rehab bed and I am hoping that the presence of others will stimulate him. At least there are people to watch even if his conversation is limited.

Thank you all for your continuing support.

Love,

Dorothy

Newsletter 16/10/22

Morning All

Many thanks to all the members who sent in their macro images for last week’s members evening – we had 78 in all, very impressive; quantity and quality!

An update on Chris (Helm) from his wife, Dorothy; yesterday Chris was disconnected from the monitors. His heart is now stable and he will be prepared for discharge. That means that he will be worked on by the physios and the occupational therapists. I’m expecting that he will be moved from the side ward into a bay, shortly.

A few reminders

  • October 19th – Events Cup Competition, judged by Daryl Giles, CPAGB, ‘live’ in the Arts Centre. There are roughly 20 prints and 50 DPIs to be judged. Good luck to all.

If you are unable to attend, please email in to Mike or Lewis and we will send you a zoom invite. Unfortunalty, the zoom will only ‘stretch’ to showing the DPIs in the second half of the evening; prints don’t ‘zoom’ well!

On coffee duty is Stan and Mike. We are currently 1 short for coffee duty on Wednesday 26th October and Wednesday 2nd November. Please volunteer; see Freda this Wednesday – thanks.

  • October 26th – members evening which will include, amongst other things, a presentation by Stan on the 15 images, chosen by him and his team, for the 5-Way Battle.
  • Camera club Christmas get-together is on Wednesday December 14th at £12 per person; open to all members and their partners and/or friends, and will include quizzes, with prizes, and an Irish raffle (no, I don’t know either), amongst other things!

Places are selling so please email to reserve a spot or speak to Freda, Mike or Lewis at the club meetings.

Finally, a message from Sarah – Iain, from the BMX outing, and the club sent a big thank you to all for the pics.  He has said to just let him know when we want to go on a Tuesday evening for the floodlit session.  

If anyone wants to go on an evening floodlit session, I am happy to set up and then pass Iain’s’ details onto them if much communication is needed.

Short and sweet today so…

That’s all folks and see you Wednesday.

Mike and Lewis

Newsletter 09/10/22

Morning All

Great Saturday morning at Preston Pirates BMX track; we were given a warm welcome, yellow bibs and directions where to stand. Thanks, Sarah, for organising; I took far too many images, guess what I’ll be doing the rest of today!

Thanks also to Jane Lazenby for her talk, last Wednesday, on ‘Working with Textures’. Information: on her Youtube channel, amongst other things, she has 3 lessons on Textures; Lockdown Textures 1,2 and 3, and she does start from basics, so if you are interested…………

Message from Paul at Oaklands, Garstang: He is looking for an official volunteer to be able to drive the small wheelchair access van so that Sarah can attend our camera club meetings. They would need to undertake a DBS (Disclosure and Barring Service) and, in order not to cause an issue with insurance, be under 70. If you can please contact Paul on Paul.Ferguson@valorumcare.co.uk

A few reminders

  • Camera club Christmas get-together is on Wednesday December 14th at £12 per person. Betty is providing a Hot Pot supper, (glutton free) with a vegetarian option and a choice of deserts (pavlova, coffee renoir, fruit salad); includes serving and washing-up.
  • Bearded Tit guided walk on at Leighton Moss on Monday 17th October, 9-11am. Please contact Sarah if you want further details – sarah-keast@hotmail.com
  • ‘Photographic social-outings’ – Blackpool World Firework Championship.
  • Saturday 15 October – Celtic Fireworks from Wales
  • Thursday 27 October – Fireworks Factory from Finland
  • Friday 28 October – Celebratory display with Titanium Fireworks

As mentioned last week the approach to the fireworks is going to be ‘last-minute’ ‘cos we will obviously want the weather on our side; watch this space!

  • This Wednesday, 12th October, is the workshop on Macro photography. Many thanks to all those members who have sent in their ‘close-up/macro’ images, what a great response so far – but always need more so if you haven’t sent any in, please do so.
  • October 19th – Events Cup Competition, judged by Daryl Giles, CPAGB, ‘live’ in the Arts Centre.
  • October 26th – members evening which will include a presentation by Stan on the 15 images, chosen by him and his team, for the 5-Way Battle.
  • Early warning! Environment Cup – Landscapes, architecture, dereliction, sculptures, street art, environmental issues and transport. People and animals must show scale or add to; not focal point. Last date for entry is Wednesday 9th November, that’s 4 weeks next Wednesday.  

That’s all folks

Mike and Lewis

Newsletter 02/10/22

Morning All

Many thanks to Paul who delivered an excellent presentation last Wednesday titled ‘A poor man’s macro’. Thanks, Paul, for all your time, trouble and effort, it was really appreciated by us all!

Also, many thanks to Freda, Robin and Rhona who over-saw Saturday’s successful coffee morning and thanks to all members who popped in to say hello and/or who provide some very edible cakes!

Well, it’s beginning to feel a lot like – sorry! Christmas has arrived, in part, to all local supermarkets so I thought it was a timely reminder to mention the camera club’s date!

So, please put in your diaries the date Wednesday December 14th. We have organised the caterers, Betty, (who served us an excellent meal last May, for the presentation evening) to provide a Hot Pot supper, (glutton free) with a vegetarian option and a choice of deserts (pavlova, coffee renoir, fruit salad) all for the princely sum of just £12pp – this includes serving and more importantly, washing up!

The evening will be open to all members and their partners and will include quizzes, with prizes, and a raffle amongst other things!

To reserve your place(s) please pay Freda. Many thanks.

A few reminders:

  • Please don’t forget the ‘Whole-Year Project’; Photograph something every week/month.
  • Last call for the BMX photographing session next Saturday, 8th Sarah needs a list of names and address of all those who wish to go.

We will meet at the car park (Preston Pirates BMX club Fishwick Recreation Ground London Road, Preston, PR2 5AN) at 10am or at 11am; either session or both! Interested? Please email her – sarah-keast@hotmail.com

  • There is a Bearded Tit guided walk on at Leighton Moss on Monday 17th October, 9-11am. Cost is £10.50 for RSPB members and £13 for non-members.  Full access to reserve [which is normally £9 for non-members] for the rest of the day afterwards. The link for the event is – https://events.rspb.org.uk/browse?filter%5bschedule%5d=1409

You will need to book yourselves on the Leighton Moss one as Sarah can’t block book. If you book, PLEASE email Sarah so that she knows how many members are going.

Both of these ‘events’ are for anyone, just bring your camera and practice but more importantly have some fun and enjoy being out and about with the camera!

  • Sharon (Garstang Fine Arts) is away on hols from Monday 17th October and re-opens Saturday 29th October; This will affect prints that need mounting for the Environment Cup. Deadline to Sharon was 26th October but is now 29th October.
  • From Michael – https://www.lightroomsummit.com/ Introducing the Lightroom Summit 2022. It’s free, 48 classes over 5 days; OCTOBER 3 – 7, 2022
  • The Wednesday afternoon art group are having a day trip to Port Sunlight on Wednesday 19th Oct and have a few spaces available on the bus. They wondered if anyone from the camera club would be interested in going as well. Cost for the bus would be £25 (or a bit less if the bus is filled.)
    If anyone is interested, they can book a seat by ringing Holly this week on
    07368 874212.
  • More ‘Photographic social-outings’ from Sarah. Blackpool World Firework Championship: will take place once again over the beach in front of The Blackpool Tower. All of them are free to access!

Saturday 1 October – Caribe Fire FX from Barbados.

Saturday 15 October – Celtic Fireworks from Wales

Thursday 27 October – Fireworks Factory from Finland

Friday 28 October – Celebratory display with Titanium Fireworks

All displays are subject to suitable weather conditions. The event will build-up from 7.30pm with an approximate firing time of 8.30pm for each display.

  • The approach to the fireworks is going to be ‘last-minute’ ‘cos we will obviously want the weather on our side. Now, it doesn’t have to be calm and clear and warm, but we don’t want gale force winds and heavy rain! So, watch this space for updates.

Macro Challenge.

Following on from Paul’s excellent macro presentation we would like to mention the macro definitions we discussed.

  • Close-up photography is a blanket term for close-ups, macro, and micro photography.
  • Close-up means you’re just shooting at a short distance from the subject. You can use virtually any lens to achieve close-up photos.
  • Macro means you’re taking super close-ups of objects at least 1:1. So the size of the image on your sensor is equal to the size of the item you’re photographing in real life.
  • Micro means the magnification is at a microscopic level. Basically, it deals with subjects you can’t see with your naked eye.

So, ready for the next workshop – 12th October:

  • Members to have a go at ‘close-up-photography’; whatever definition you choose!
  • Up to 6 images each; preferably ‘new’ images but ones taken during the last few months will be fine – just have a go! You won’t need to stand up at the front to talk through them!
  • Deadline – 12th October for the workshop meeting
  • Good preparation for the presentation of macro photography by Justin Garner on Wednesday November 9th
  • Bring them in on a USB stick or email them in or send by Wetransfer

Finally!

Last but certainly not least – Wednesday’s presentation.

We welcome, via Zoom, Jane Lazenby with a talk titled ‘Working with Textures’

The presentation will be zoomed into the Arts Centre for the meeting. However, if you are unable to attend, please email in to Mike or Lewis and we will send you a zoom invite.

That’s all folks and see you on Wednesday

Mike and Lewis