Hello to all, the club has had a good and varied start to this year’s programmes including a workshop on macro photography ( close ups ), another on portraits and sports shoots, and by the time this goes to print,the first of our club competitions “ the Events Cup ” will have been judged.  The Public Exhibition of prints by members , inclusive of winners and those given commendation awards has been well attended. Thanks to all who displayed their images.

Our programme for November is as follows :-
Oct.30^th.    Member’s evening showing techniques acquired from the macro evening in September.
Nov. 6^th.     Alan Cameron  presents  “ Travels in Southern India.”
Nov.14^th. THURSDAY    Inter clubs 4/5 way battle, this time to be held at Lytham Camera Club.
Nov. 20^th.   Muriel Binnie presents ICM and Me. ( intentional camera movement )
Nov.27^th.   The second of our club competitions, the Environment Cup, will be judged.   All meetings on Wednesday evenings starting at 7.30 prompt.

Looking around the meetings this year, I am finding many new faces who have joined us so we must be doing something right ! Do come and join us, all details are on our website below.  Good shooting !

Maurice Barker

www.garstangcameraclub.co.uk

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 21^st. 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. 9^th.    Steve Walker live . My personal experiences of paid photoshoots.

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

Oct. 23^rd.  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

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

Here we are in what should be the middle of summer, certainly the climate change seems to be with us. Camera manufacturers ought to be paying more attention to making all cameras, and not just the more expensive ones more waterproof to combat the ever increasing deluges we seem to be getting more of.

By the time you take delivery of the next magazine we will nearly be at the start of our next season of meetings which kick off with first on Wednesday  September 4th at 7.30 in the Arts Centre. This will be a mixture of a welcome and various activities. If you are interested in joining us, then come and see who we are and what we do. You will be made very welcome, of that I can assure you,

Two reminders.  One is the last of our meetings for newcomers to photography entitled Getting off Auto ( sometimes known as the Green Square ) and takes place on August 7th 7.30 in the Arts Centre. . Also the open competition for anyone (other than professionals and members of other camera clubs ) closes on Sunday August 11th. Rules digital images only along with title, any theme or subject e mailed to  stanley.pearson@talktalk.net 

A few members of the club recently visited Chester Zoo as part of the Events Cup Challenge . Well worth a visit with all the animals having been bred there over many years. Best to visit  before the end of school term to avoid large school parties.

Finally, the last of our summer outings takes place on Sunday August 4th, or Tuesday August 6th.  The venue is Skipton and Settle.

That’s all folks, enjoy the summer if we get one !

Maurice Barker
info@garstangcameraclub

Hello to everyone and welcome to Summer, or so I’m told.

The club is in what I would term the dormant period in years past, but not now.  We had a very successful evening with our first offering of a free course for non members which attracted double figures of interested parties.

The next two will be held on Wed, July 17th. and Wed. August 7th. both start at 7.30. in the Arts Centre. We invite you to give it a try no matter how little or how much you know, just come along, all you need to accompany you is your camera. I can assure you that you will be made most welcome. If you would like to join us, please e mail our Chairman at info@garstangcameraclub.co.uk or phone on 07340 314408.  Nothing ventured….nothing gained.

We are also running a  FREE PHOTOGRAPHIC COMPETITION   open to anyone who is resident in the Garstang area

It’s an open competition on any theme or subject.  Only one digital image along with it’s title can be entered and should be e mailed to   stanley.pearson@talktalk.net 

The closing date is Sunday August 11th. 2024.  Prizes will be awarded for  !st. 2cnd. 3rd.  Highly Commended and Commended. Winners will be put on display in our September Exhibition .

Please, no professional photographers or photographers from other photographic clubs, thank you.                              

Maurice Barker.

info@garstangcameraclub

Wednesday evenings for me are always a treat, whether for our presentations or simply for the social aspect. The downside occurs at both ends of the meeting when making careful negotiations of the numerous potholes . I know that this is a nationwide problem, but……if you don’t ask , you don’t get !

One of our joint Chairs is stepping down from this role but not leaving the club. As he mentioned recently, he has been on the Club’s Committee for 40 years , that must be a record . He will however retain the unenviable position as Competitions Secretary. Thank you Lewis for your long service.

A couple of minor changes will take place in the new year (’24-’25) Many of you who have visited our bi-annual exhibitions will be aware of rewarding entries with 1st, 2nd,and 3rd. etc.  From now on each entry will receive a points score of between 12 and 20, this is the norm in other clubs and National Competitions.  The other change will limit the number of entries for each member from 9 to 7.

I did mention in the last magazine that there would be 3 sessions of “Back to Basics”. These sessions are open to non-members and to our members. To join in, just bring your camera along on any or all of the following dates

June 12th.

July 17th.

August 7th.   

All dates are Wednesdays and start at 7.30pm  in the Arts Centre, Do come and join us, you will be made most welcome.

………….and so for now, that’s all folks.

Maurice  Barker.

garstangcameraclub.co.uk

Hello to all. 

By the time this edition reaches you, we will have had the last of our usual Wednesday meetings and presentations. During the month of May, we have our AGM and our Presentation Evening and Social bringing to an end what has been a very successful year. It is at this point, that on behalf of the members, I should like to thank everyone who has supported the club in any way, and especially our stalwart committee and of course the two Captains of the ship who shoulder a tremendous amount of work, much of it unseen, like the swan, peaceful in what you see but the engine beneath on full revs ! A very big thank you.

And so….another year passes. I have been a member for a number of years and can remember when we reached this point, things quietened down for the summer apart from Events Cup outings……….. NOT SO NOW !

Times, along with ideas change and we have what I would describe  as quite a busy summer. We have our Events Cup schedule running from April through August with a varied selection of outings planned

During June to August our intention is to hold a series of  “club nights” to refresh our approach to our cameras.  .We would take a topic one week e.g. Apertures…Shutter Speeds ,,,I S O etc. We would use the session to go out and put it into practice showing our results the following week. These sessions are open to anyone , non- club members most welcome. Details in June’s copy.

Finally , I wish you all a great summer and hope the weather is kind to us.

Maurice  Barker.

garstangcameraclub.co.uk

As Emily Dickinson put to paper “ Wild Nights “ , so I will put down “ Light Nights “. Here they come, and about time I hear you say. A few more hours daylight in which to use our equipment.

The following dates show our remaining presentation evenings.

APRIL 3rd       Member’s Evening , various contributors.

..      . 10th      Alan Cameron presents  COSTA RICA  This is live in the Arts Centre.

..      . 17th      Our final Club Competition,  ANYTHING GOES,  which should be an eclectic mix of both prints and projected images, will be judged by Alan Walker an extremely qualified photographer.

                     At this point, I should like to thank all of the members who have taken part over the year submitting prints and also images for projection. This is the filling in the sandwich and I would encourage other members to “have a go Joe “

..      . 24th     A member’s evening, again various presenters.

MAY 1st        Two of our members Stan Pearson and Robin Shorrock will give a presentation.  Robin will talk on his excursion to Chile.

APRIL will be the first of our outdoor days out. These take place each month during our “lay off”  and contribute to our first competition of next season, the EVENTS CUP.

Maurice  Barker

garstangcameraclub.co.uk

March 6th.      We start the last half of our year with a visit from Paul Slater who will present  SOUL TO SOUL/CREATIVE PHOTOGRAPHY. This is Live in the Arts Centre.

March 13th.    Our fourth competition  HUMANITY  will be judged by Carol Watson DPAGB. Always an interesting night when we see the results of much hard work over the previous year.

March 20th.   SHACKLETON AND SOUTH GEORGIA  will be presented Live by Keith Snell.

March 27th.   This evening is given over to the club’s Committee Meeting.

Point of information : The above meetings all take place in the Arts Centre and are presented either LIVE or by ZOOM.

At the moment, a visit to Media City in Salford is being prepared to make good use of the Blue Hour.

By the end of February we will have held our annual battle with our club and the Riangora Club of New Zealand. Both clubs submit 20 digital photographic images ( DPI ) and are judged by an independent judge and is done via Zoom. We will meet early morning to accommodate the time difference.

Our committee will be discussing and deciding upon the locations for this summer’s outings. Visits to these days out can be used for the Events Cup, one of our 5 competitions, the others being Creatures and Plants / Environment / Humanity and Anything Goes. Entries can be either in the form of prints or DPIs and in colour or mono.

As I am writing this , a harbinger of spring is evident outside the window i.e. a Magnolia tree in full bud, maybe this augurs well for a good year ! Let us hope so.

Maurice  Barker

garstangcameraclub.co.uk

A New Year welcome to all readers. We brought 2023 to a close with a well attended splendid social evening and now as the days are lengthening, albeit slowly, snowdrops and crocii are becoming evident and cameras which have had enforced hibernation thrust upon them, can be dusted off for yet another year’s enjoyment. There were very few photographic opportunities around the festive season unless someone was lucky enough to discover a waterproof cover hiding at the bottom of their stocking ! …………………..so !  As I write this I can see a partial disc shaded yellow alongside some blue sky ( as someone once remarked “just enough to make a sailor’s handkerchief” )

The first meeting of 2024 was an excellent presentation by Justin Mimms on his approach to Landscapes and should motivate us to get out and try his techniques. This was followed at the next one with a three way battle between ourselves, Morecambe and Junction 36 in which we achieved second place. Well done to all the clubs for some really good imagery.

February 7th.  Composition by Susan Clark by ZOOM.

..        ..  14th.  Graham Dean asks us  Why ?

..    .. 21st. Lee Metcalfe shows us how to  Plan for Landscapes

March  6th. Paul Slater talks about being creative  Soul to Soul

I find it difficult to believe that we are exactly half way through our meetings !

Maurice  Barker

garstangcameraclub.co.uk