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

Hello to all readers, our last two presentations have been excellent. Boyd Harris talked of his climbing and trekking adventures in the Himalayas over the past few years alongside his photographic skills of his visits. Justin Garner gave an insight to how he lights his subjects in great depth. When we look at his images he showed us that much of what we see doesn’t just happen, it was an eye opener ! His last visit was by way of ZOOM but this one was live and very well presented.

December’s calendar shows only one presentation on DEC. 6^TH. that of Kevin Pigney who will give us his Passion for Wildlife. The following week, we hold our Christmas Social which includes Quizzes, a raffle accompanied by a Hot Pot Supper. We break for Christmas and re-start on JAN 3^rd. with Justin Mimms on ZOOM  on Nature Landscapes and Wildlife .

As we say goodbye to 2023, may I wish everyone Season’s Greetings and a Happy  and Healthy New Year in 2024.

Maurice  Barker

garstangcameraclub.co.uk

Welcome to the Club’s report , I hope it makes interesting reading.

During the early part of our new season in which we welcome a small number of “new recruits”, worthy of note are two of the presentations. The first one gave Harry Emmett the floor to give us his experiences in gaining the entry level of the Credit award of the Photographic Alliance of Great Britain. Quite a lengthy and intricate process in which one of our members decided to follow him and have a go…..maybe ! Very good luck.

Garry Cook gave us, in soccer parlance, an evening in two halves. The first half gave us his interesting view on street photography and some of it’s difficulties one can encounter. He followed on after the break giving us a Journalistic Tour of Israel. Quite an eye opener given it’s  closeness to the previous Saturday’s world news.

November’s programme is as follows:  :-

Nov. 1^st.  Failure and Success in the Himalayas

   ..   8^th  Justin Garner  shows  the Lighting Behind the Image                                           

   ..   15^th.   Inter Club Competition between Garstang/Poulton.N. Fylde and Lytham. This takes place at Poulton.

   ..   22nd.  Iceland in Winter  by  Gordon Watson.

Dec, 6^th Kevin  Pigney shows his Passion for Wildlife.

I do hope that since my last report there have been ample opportunities in capturing the Autumn Colours.  Don’t let the camera hibernate for the next few months, keep it “well oiled”

Maurice Barker

http://www.garstangcameraclub.co.uk

Hello readers, here we are at the start of our new year. During the summer, the weather has been very mixed with more rain that shine. We completed our Events programme with the Garstang ashow, again half and half, rain am and shine pm.

Our first meeting on Sept 6^th was a very busy one with various presentations but no new members ! Happily, we have had a sprinkling of new blood in the past few weeks, but we still have room for more. Do come along and see what we are about, We have every level of competence within the club, all we ask is a modicum of enthusiasm, skills will come later to whatever level you want. We are a very friendly club whose members will gladly pass on their expertise.

During this month our programme is as follows, and at this point, I have to mention that our Photographer of the Year, John Moxham has let go of the reins of Programme Secretary and we have to thank him for his splendid efforts over the past years. Thank you John.    Michael Orr has now gripped the reins and this augurs well for the future. Thank you Michael, we are n safe hands again.

October   4^th.   Harry Emmett……….Towards gaining a photographic qualification.

    ..          11^th.  Garry Cook………………Street photography and a project in Israel

    ..          18^th. Judging of our first competition, the Events Cup  by  Nicki Greenwood.

    ..          25^th. Member’s Evening. ( various activities )

and in case of a late Focus:

November 1^st. Boyd Harris …………….Failure and Success in the Himalayas.(some of our members may remember Sir. John Hunts expedition  in ’53 when Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tensing topped out in early June )

Let’s hope for a colourful Autumn, after all,  our area can be beautiful given the right conditions.

Maurice Barker

http://www.garstangcameraclub.co.uk

A very good read to one and all. Firstly, I must apologise for the lack of a report in August’s copy, this was missing due to circumstances unknown, it may well appear from the ether at some future date just as the Phoenix !

August 5^th brought us the annual Garstang Show at which we were present promoting our Club. It was manned by our usual “sales people” meeting and greeting the public and included a display of member’s prints alongside all details of our future meetings. Club members did well in claiming the two cups awarded in the Photography Class and a handful of certificates !

A visit to Rheged (Penrith) in mid August took place to see the exhibition of the top 100 images from the Wildlife Photographer of the Year and finally we hope to visit Heysham to link up with Morecambe Camera Club at the end of August for photographic opportunities, just as they did when visiting Garstang earlier in May.

I will now list our meetings taking place during the month of September.

We start with our open night on September 6^th.  An informal and varied evening where we welcome back existing members along with, we hope, new ones. This will include various presentations along with a theme set to members last summer of a “view” taken at the same position each month entitled  12 in 12. Do come and give us “a coat of looking at“ you will be made most welcome. Our meetings are held in the Arts Centre on Wednesday evenings and begin at 7.30pm.

Sept. 13^th.   Brian Law   Live  (ie.  not a Zoom meeting)  presents  Realising your Potential

…………20^th   Geoff Reader  Live, on  Snowdonia and the Peak District.

………..27^th   Member’s Evening………..various activities.

October 4^th Harry Emmett.   Live, Towards  CPAGB  Prints. (Credit award of the Photographic Alliance of Great Britain) and if awarded , you can write this after your signature ! !

Well folks , that’s all for this month, I wish you good shooting, we don’t seem to be having too much sun to contend with!

MAURICE  BARKER

www,garstangcameraclub.co.uk