Morning All

Oh dear, oh dear and oh dear! Bazball appears to be punctured! The ‘urn’ remains in Australian hands, the inquest begins and the blame will be appointed; Still, silver lining, I’m glad I didn’t spend £thousands going out there to watch!
Good news: today is the shortest day, apparently it will be at 3.03pm, don’t ask! The nights will start getting shorter and the days longer, so, time to dust down that camera and get out and about!
Huge thanks to Freda and Robin for making our Christmas bash a great success especially as we had a guest appearance of ‘Flanders and Swann’ with a rendition of “The Gasman Cometh” and “A Song of the Weather”, perhaps more in the future?
Also, many thanks to all for the raffle donations, I think we had 17 in all! Thanks to your generosity we raised £125 from the raffle and we made a small profit on the night of £60 thus giving a grand total of £185 which goes into the club’s coffers towards next season! That’s at least 1 speaker!!

Notices:

Members Photo Gallery:
I have mentioned this before – sorry!
So, attention please! Tim has suggested that we need to up-date our photographs that are on our website under Members Photo Gallery.
So, if you have some images on the website, please have a look and email Tim directly and tell him what to remove and send him some new ones.
They do need refreshing!
If you don’t have any photographs on the website PLEASE submit, up to 6, or just a couple if you want, to Tim, via email, and he will include them.
Our website is one of our main ways to advertise the club and hopefully attract new members so it is imperative we keep it up to date. Many thanks.
Tim’s email: timflesher@btinternet.com

Another repeat – sorry, again!

Summer programme! It will soon be summer!
Events Cup – 5 outings: April, May, June, July and August.
Thoughts, suggestions and ideas please for destinations.
Thanks to those members who have managed, in this busy time, to send me their ideas – but we need more!

ALSO:
Outings: May – August
Last summer we went out 6 times, mostly local, within 30 mins drive. Show and tell on 2 Wednesday evenings.
Again, thoughts, suggestions and ideas please.

Up and coming programme of events:

Wednesday 24^th December – no meeting Christmas break.

Wednesday 31^st December – no meeting Christmas break.

Wednesday 7^th January – Neil Protheroe via zoom on landscapes.
Neil writes: I thought perhaps to devote the first half of the talk to my “journey” in the world of photography, what I do and my approach to landscape photography; and the second half to a photographic tour of New Zealand’s scenic highlights.
Also, for the last three years I have also been closely involved in photographing the white horses of the Camargue in the South of France, and I would like to refer to that photography as well.

Wednesday 14^th January – Jerry Webb, ‘Urban and Street photography.’

Wednesday 21^st January – Judging of our third internal competition, ‘Creatures and Plants of the World Cup.’ This competition will be judged by Sheila Giles.

It just remains for me to wish all our members a Merry Christmas and a prosperous, happy and a great photographic New Year!

That’s all folks

Mike

Morning All

I wonder whether you’ve managed to sneak into St Thomas’ Church, Garstang? If you have, your eyes will almost certainly have been drawn (possibly involuntarily) to our Camera Club Christmas tree, boldly flashing away right at the front like it owns the place.
Each year the church hosts a Christmas Tree Festival, and this year Freda has once again heroically sacrificed her eyesight, sanity, and sewing kit to create a set of camera-club-themed decorations. After many hours of intense concentration (and probably some muttering), she produced a tree that is not only impressively festive but also subtly shouting, “JOIN THE CAMERA CLUB!” from every branch.
So, enormous thanks to Freda for the time, effort, sweat, toil — and possibly a bit of seasonal madness — that resulted in this truly magnificent creation.
There’s still time to see it in person this Sunday afternoon before the tree is unceremoniously dismantled on Monday morning. And if you can’t make it along, fear not—I’ve attached three photographs for your viewing pleasure.
THANK YOU, FREDA! 📸🎄

Notices:

Competitions:
Dicentra; DPIs, entered correctly!
For all info, go to the Club website – click on Information – scroll to Club competition information – click on Competition Rules
Basic information:
Digital images in JPEG format and in sRGB colour space. OR may have: sRGB IEC61966-2.1
The maximum dimensions of the image must be 1600 pixels x 1200 pixels.
Digital images should be submitted on a USB stick (which will be returned) and members should create a new folder for each competition, that is one for colour and one for monochrome, with the folder name being your name followed by the competition name and date.
E.g. Mike Jenner Anything Goes 2025 colour
E.g. Mike Jenner Anything Goes 2025 monochrome
Filenames must be a maximum of 40 characters and contain a title and your competition number.
Please use a capital letter at the start of each title word and insert an underscore between the title and your competition number.
Thanks very much and if you need ANY help just email me or ring me on 07340 314408 – ta!

Summer programme! It will soon be summer!

Events Cup – 5 outings: April, May, June, July and August.
Thoughts, suggestions and ideas please for destinations. Last year we went to:

Stanley Park and Marton Mere
Coniston and Coniston Water
Pennington Flash Nature Reserve
RHS Garden Bridgewater
Downham Village and Clitheroe

Outings: May – August

Last summer we went out 6 times, mostly local, within 30 mins drive. Show and tell on 2 Wednesday evenings. Destinations below from last year:

Heysham
Kirkby Lonsdale
Sunderland Point
Brockholes Nature Reserve
Morecambe promenade
St Annes

Again, thoughts, suggestions and ideas please.

Cameras – I’ve been given 3 cameras lately:
1. Digital SLR Olympus E-400 complete with 2 lenses; 17.5 – 45mm and a 40 – 150mm. Plus batteries, charger, case, batteries and lots of instructions.
2. Panasonic Digital camera – Lumix DMC-TZ10. With a basic operating instructions booklet, battery charger.
3. Nikon D5000 with an 18 – 200 lens, batteries, charger, user’s manual and a Nikon D5000 for dummies book.

I’m setting these up as a ‘Camera Library’ so these are available to any member to borrow/use to see if they would like to ‘test-out’ one of them. Obviously, they are not up-to-date cameras but would give an idea about the possibilities of.
If you would like to take up the offer, just get in touch.

Members Photo Gallery:
I have mentioned this before – sorry!
So, attention please! Tim has suggested that we need to up-date our photographs that are on our website under Members Photo Gallery.
So, if you have some images on the website, please have a look and email Tim directly and tell him what to remove and send him some new ones.
They do need refreshing!
If you don’t have any photographs on the website PLEASE submit, up to 6, or just a couple if you want, to Tim, via email, and he will include them.
Our website is one of our main ways to advertise the club and hopefully attract new members so it is imperative we keep it up to date. Many thanks.
Tim’s email: timflesher@btinternet.com

Raffle:
We will be running a raffle on Wednesday 17^th during our Christmas bash – so any donations will be very kindly accepted!

Our 3^rd internal competition: Creatures and Plants of the World
Description of images: Any real creature or plant that was alive or was once alive, NO toys, sculptures, nothing artificial and NO people.
Last date for entry– 17^th December 2025 – that’s in 3 days’ time!
Date of competition– 21^st January 2026
If you have ANY questions or need ANY help, just get in touch – it is no problem – honest!

Up and coming programme of events:
Wednesday 17^th December – our Christmas bash – PPP!Plus, entertainment of the highest quality!
Wednesday 24^th December – no meeting Christmas break.
Wednesday 31^st December – no meeting Christmas break.
Wednesday 7^th January – Neil Protheroe via zoom on landscapes.
Neil writes: I thought perhaps to devote the first half of the talk to my “journey” in the world of photography, what I do and my approach to landscape photography; and the second half to a photographic tour of New Zealand’s scenic highlights.
Also, for the last three years I have also been closely involved in photographing the white horses of the Camargue in the South of France, and I would like to refer to that photography as well.
Wednesday 14^th January – Jerry Webb, via zoom, ‘Urban and Street photography.’

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

Mike

Morning All

AA Milne: It rained and it rained and it rained – description of the deluge which flooded the 100 Acre Wood in Winnie-the-Pooh is, I think, an accurate assessment of the current weather!
As Owl solemnly reports to Christopher Robin when the flood waters are rising, “the atmospheric conditions have been very unfavourable lately.”
But, hey-ho, we have just had a talk, by Daniel, on ‘water,’ very apt and very timely!

Coffee morning:
Huge thanks to Freda, Lewis and Robin for generously giving up their time to run yesterday’s fund-raising café operation — a heroic effort involving kettles, plates, cake, and questionable levels of caffeine. And another big thank you to all the members who somehow found time in this busy season to both bake and/or consume cake. Your delicious creations (and your willingness to spend money on them) kept the operation — and several of us — happily sugared up! And, of course, keeping the treasurer happy!
And, big thanks to Maurice for the excellent publicity. 
Robin says:
We took £101 at this morning’s coffee Morning + £5 donation.
In this Calendar year 2025 we have taken £471.60; of this 25% goes to The Arts Centre leaving £353 for the Camera club; that’s 3.5 speakers!

Notices:

Calendar!
We have been tasked, again, to produce images for the 2027 calendar!
Dates and deadlines: I’ll put them together when I have chance over Christmas.
Boundaries: Focused where possible on Garstang and immediate surroundings; however, any images considered between Lancaster in the north, Preston in the south, Blackpool in the west and Abbeystead/Bleasdale in the east. This should give us plenty of opportunity, so please start thinking and snapping!

Raffle:
We will be running a raffle on Wednesday 17^th during our Christmas bash – so any donations will be very kindly accepted!

Our 3^rd internal competition: Creatures and Plants of the World
Description of images: Any real creature or plant that was alive or was once alive, NO toys, sculptures, nothing artificial and NO people.
Last date for entry – 17^th December 2025 – that’s in 10 days’ time!
Date of competition – 21^st January 2026
If you have ANY questions or need ANY help, just get in touch – it is no problem – honest!

Up and coming programme of events:

Wednesday 10^th December – talk by Robin on The Caucasus for the first half;
In the second half Stan will be showing the 15 images chosen for the GLAM Battle, (Garstang, Lancaster, Arnside and Morecambe), and the 30 images for the New Zealand Battle; PLUS, there will be an assortment of various topics including, printing, competitions, selected images, cameras etc. plus a show-and-tell of The Victoria Festival.

Wednesday 17^th December – our Christmas bash – PPP! Plus, entertainment of the highest quality!

Wednesday 24^th December – no meeting Christmas break.

Wednesday 31^st December – no meeting Christmas break.

Wednesday 7^th January – Neil Protheroe via zoom on landscapes.
Neil writes: I thought perhaps to devote the first half of the talk to my “journey” in the world of photography, what I do and my approach to landscape photography; and the second half to a photographic tour of New Zealand’s scenic highlights.
Also, for the last three years I have been closely involved in photographing the white horses of the Camargue in the South of France, and I would like to refer to that photography as well.

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

Cheers

Mike

Morning All

Back home early so newsletter today as normal!

Can you make money from photography?
Answer – yes you can!
Huge congrats to Tim who entered his image ‘Guarding the train’ (image attached), into a competition, The Steppes Travel photo competition.
Tim says:
My photo was a runner-up in the competition and the link to the website showing the winning entries is below.

https://143290023.hs-sites-eu1.com/winners-of-the-steppes-travel-photography-competition-2025?ecid=AOKeC1a-pZkJoht7dzU9leCXf0t6oUf9hjyzFx9wMFSyEoWKAS7oPflMh4cSG9M270HWeerf7nWf&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=122088830

Steppes run the competition each year, it’s open to all and this year I think entries closed at the end of October.
Just to remind you Tim’s image also won ‘best image’ in the recent 4-Way Battle.
So well done Tim and spend that £500 carefully!

Notices:

Garstang Victorian Christmas Festival:
The above takes place on two evenings: Monday 1st and Tuesday 2nd December, 6pm – 9pm.
Julie Holden, from the committee, has asked us if the camera club would get out-and-about, on one of the evenings, or both! and take some photographs.
Cameras ready? It’s a great opportunity ‘cos it is dark, busy, loud and challenging and fun! Good for street photography – I’ve been several years and never had any problems.
Also, I thought it might be an idea to show any images on our members evening on the 10th December; the good, bad and indifferent!
Go on, have a go!
Weather update:
If you are only going to 1 of the days Tuesday, from a weather point of view, looks the much better evening!

Coffee Morning:
The camera club is hosting a coffee morning, in the Arts Centre, on Saturday 6th December.
As usual, we are looking for cakes etc. to sell on the morning, it’s going to be busy, so, please get baking/cooking and contribute something edible and let Mike know so we can organise accordingly – ta!

Our 3rd internal competition: Creatures and Plants of the World
Description of images: Any real creature or plant that was alive or was once alive, NO toys, sculptures, nothing artificial and NO people.
Mounting, if using Fine Arts in Garstang– deadline to Sharon is 3rd December.
Last date for entry – 17th December 2025
Date of competition – 21st January 2026
ALL competition rules are on our website; look under ‘INFORMATION’ and then scroll down to ‘Club competition information’ and then COMPETITION RULES.
If you have ANY questions or need ANY help, just get in touch – it is no problem – honest!

Up and coming programme of events:

Wednesday 3rd December – A ‘Zoom’ talk by Daniel Bridge on ‘Water.’
Daniel writes: I present an illustrated talk on water in its many varied forms, from the liquid stuff at the seaside and in the rivers, to clouds, rain and rainbows, fog, ice, and more. There are also shots of wildlife associated with water, so something for everyone!

Wednesday 10th December – talk by Robin on The Caucasus for the first half;
In the second half Stan will be showing the 15 images chosen for the GLAM Battle, (Garstang, Lancaster, Arnside and Morecambe), and the 30 images for the New Zealand Battle; PLUS there will be an assortment of various topics including, printing, competitions, selected images, cameras etc. plus a show-and-tell of The Victoria Festival – see above.

Wednesday 17th December – our Christmas bash – PPP! Plus, entertainment of the highest quality is planned!

Wednesday 24th December – no meeting Christmas break.

Wednesday 31st December – no meeting Christmas break.

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

Cheers

Mike

Morning All

Welcome to today’s newsletter – just to let you know next week’s newsletter will be sent out on Monday 1^st December ‘cos I’m away next weekend.

Notices:
4 Way Battle:
In the light of the judge’s comments on the evening, if you wish to modify any image please do so and send your image to Stan by next Sunday 30^th November. Please send to stanley.pearson@talktalk.net – thanks.

Garstang Victorian Christmas Festival:
The above takes place on two evenings: Monday 1^st and Tuesday 2^nd December, 6pm – 9pm.
Julie Holden, from the committee, has asked us if the camera club would get out-and-about, on one of the evenings, or both! and take some photographs.
Cameras ready? It’s a great opportunity ‘cos it is dark, busy, loud and challenging and fun! Good for street photography – I’ve been several years and never had any problems.
Also, I thought it might be an idea to show any images on our members evening on the 10th December; the good, bad and indifferent!
Go on, have a go!

Coffee Morning: Advance notice:
The camera club is hosting a coffee morning, in the Arts Centre, on Saturday 6^th December.
As usual, we are looking for cakes etc. to sell on the morning, it’s going to be busy, so, please get baking/cooking and contribute something edible and let Mike know so we can organise accordingly – ta!

Our 3^rd internal competition: Creatures and Plants of the World
Description of images: Any real creature or plant that was alive or was once alive, NO toys, sculptures, nothing artificial and NO people.
Mounting, if using Fine Arts in Garstang – deadline to Sharon is 3^rd December.
~Last date for entry – 17^th December 2025
Date of competition – 21^st January 2026
ALL competition rules are on our website; look under ‘INFORMATION’ and then scroll down to ‘Club competition information’ and then COMPETITION RULES.
If you have ANY questions or need ANY help, just get in touch – it is no problem – honest!

Reminder!
For the next competition – Creatures & Plants of the World.
Print? Send them to me and I will send them all together to DS Colour Labs.
I will need, from you, size of print you want, enough pixels for quality, lustre (not gloss). So, say I get 10 prints the delivery is .60p each.
By the way, the maximum mount size is 50cm x 40cm – in old money = 20 inches x 16 inches.
So, costs are now: £1.90 + .60 + 6.50 = £9
The deadline is now Tuesday 25^th November NOT Wednesday 26^th.
Sharon, of Garstang Fine Arts will want them in for mounting ASAP – 03.12.25 absolute latest.
You can, of course, ‘mount’ them yourself saving more money!

Up and coming programme of events:

Wednesday 26^th November – Environment Cup Judging: This is our second internal competition judged by Jonny Gios. We have had a big entry so another busy evening.

Wednesday 3^rd December – A ‘Zoom’ talk by Daniel Bridge on ‘Water.’
Daniel writes: I present an illustrated talk on water in its many varied forms, from the liquid stuff at the seaside and in the rivers, to clouds, rain and rainbows, fog, ice, and more. There are also shots of wildlife associated with water, so something for everyone!

Wednesday 10^th December – talk by Robin on The Caucasusfor the first half; the second half will be an assortment of various topics including, printing, competitions, selected images, cameras etc plus a show-and-tell of The Victoria Festival – see above.

Wednesday 17^th December – our Christmas bash – PPP! Plus, entertainment of the highest quality!

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

Cheers

Mike

Evening All

The results are in…..however, it’s the taking part that counts!

Garstang – 335 points
Lytham St. Annes – 347 points
North Fylde – 349 points
Poulton – 369 points

But a HUGE well done to Tim ‘cos his image ‘Guarding the Train’ was awarded 20 points AND won best in show!
Many thanks to all who helped out – very much appreciated.

Message from Michael Orr:
Editing software Affinity is advertising as FREE! Not looked at or downloaded and I’ve never used it – might be of interest.

Cheers

Mike

Morning All

Following on from Will’s talk last week I hope you all are scanning the bands locally and also which festivals to attend during those long summer months, to put into practice his teaching! Perhaps one could be an Events Cup destination!

Notices:
There will be no newsletter next weekend ‘cos I’m away on grandparent duty and then off to Devon wildlife watching and hopefully doing some wildlife photography, if anything turns up! I’m back in Lancashire Thursday 20^th November.
So, Freda is in charge so if you have concerns, please email her on our usual email address of: info@garstangcameraclub.co.uk Ta.

Website:
A great suggestion from Tim:
On our website we have a section called ‘Members Photo Gallery’ which as it says shows various images from members.
Now, would any member that has images already posted like to update them?
OR
Would any member like to post up to 6 images for our website – it’s a great way to show your images and helps promote the club.
If so, please send your images to me on info@garstangcameraclub.co.uk and I’ll send them on to Tim – PLEASE send any images after Wednesday 19^th November ‘cos like I say above I’m away – cheers!

Coffee Morning: Advance notice:
The camera club is hosting a coffee morning, in the Arts Centre, on Saturday 6^th December.
As usual, we are looking for cakes etc. to sell on the morning, it’s going to be busy, so, please get baking/cooking and contribute something edible and let Mike know so we can organise accordingly – ta!

LAST reminder!
‘The Alphabet’ challenge:
All new members please note and please have a go!
The idea is to take photographs depicting all the letters of the alphabet.
This runs from now until the ‘show-and-tell’ which will be on the members evening on 19th November 2025; so, time is literally running out!
Please bring your images to the club meeting on a USB ‘stick’ to show your endeavours!

Printing for competitions:
Further on from my thoughts last week on printing and their associated costs – see newsletter from 02.11.25 – Claire has sent the following:
I’ve been thinking about your idea to encourage people to print more images, which I think is great.
I also wonder about reducing the cost of mounting.
I have bought mounts with precut standard size aperture from Paper Spectrum, which I reuse. They come in multiples of 5. I know this is only appropriate if people don’t crop to a custom size but could be a big saving for people.
Either to buy their own or the club to buy some and people buying off the club, thus sharing delivery costs etc. Just a thought!
Thanks very much Claire and I’ll have a look into this and report back!
Just to repeat, from last week:
A thought! For the next competition – Creatures & Plants of the World.
Print? Send them to me and I will send them all together to DS Colour Labs.
I will need, from you, size of print you want, enough pixels for quality, lustre (not gloss). So, say I get 10 prints the delivery is 60p each.
By the way, the maximum mount size is 50cm x 40cm – in old money = 20 inches x 16 inches.
Wednesday 26th November is the deadline, so get them to me. Sharon, of Garstang Fine Arts will want them in for mounting ASAP – so, to her the 03.12.25 is the absolute latest.
You can, of course, ‘mount’ them yourself saving more money! See above from Claire.

Coffee duty: Coffee/tea duty for Wednesday 12^th November is lots of us! – thanks to all you, in advance.

Up and coming programme of events:

Wednesday 12^th November – The Fylde 4 – Way Battle.
Hosted by us. We are anticipating up to 80 people to attend, this includes members from North Fylde Photographic Society, Lytham St. Annes Photographic Society, Poulton Photographic Society and of course us! Another busy evening, get in early to grab a seat!

Wednesday 19^th November – A talk by John on an aspect of photography and for the second half, don’t forget, ‘Show-and-tell’ the Alphabet Challenge.

Wednesday 26^th November – Environment Cup Judging: This is our second internal competition judged by Jonny Gios. We have had a big entry so another busy evening.

Wednesday 3^rd December – A ‘Zoom’ talk by Daniel Bridge on ‘Water.’
Daniel writes: I present an illustrated talk on water in its many varied forms, from the liquid stuff at the seaside and in the rivers, to clouds, rain and rainbows, fog, ice, and more. There are also shots of wildlife associated with water, so something for everyone!

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

Cheers

Mike

Morning All

Many thanks to Stan for last week’s full coverage of the evening; that was the critiquing of members images, ‘Field of Dreams’ from his bedroom! The 20 4-way battle images chosen and finally ‘Zambia.’
Thanks Stan I’m sure you went home for a rest!

Notices:

Our Xmas Bash! Last Call!
This year, on Wednesday 17^th December, we are repeating the ‘PPP’ – Pies, Peas and Puddings Supper at only £10 pp.
We are having Hamlets pies and puddings will be a mixture of party type desserts.
Freda is closing the book this Wednesday, 5^th November, so this will be your last chance.
Open to all members and their respective wives/husbands/partners etc. – please support the club and I’m sure there will be some kind of entertainment.

Final call from Robin as well:
Robin is giving a talk on Switzerland, summer and winter.
Where: At Kirkland Memorial Hall, Churchtown.
When: Friday 7^th November starting at 7.00pm.
Cost: Tickets cost £13 pp which also includes a Hot Pot supper.
Please speak to Robin, at the Arts Centre, if you would like to attend.

Message from Irene Amiet – wildlife speaker on Wednesday 22^nd October:
I just wanted to pass on my thanks to the Garstang Camera Club for the warm welcome I received for my talk. I also appreciated the chance to mention Wilder World and the book.
The charity website is www.wilder-world.com which has all the information about the project and I did appreciate any mention and shares of the book very much.

Printing for competitions:
I use DS Colour Labs, Manchester/Stockport based.
The cost of say a 15inch x 11inch = £1.90.
However, postage £5.99 for next day delivery = £1.90 + £5.99 = £7.89 (for 1 print!).
Add on ‘mounting’ of £6.50; and the total is 7.89 + 6.50 = £14.39
However, if we ‘pool’ the printing, costs will come down.
So, a thought! For the next competition – Creatures & Plants of the World.
Print? Send them to me and I will send them all together to DS Colour Labs.
I will need, from you, size of print you want, enough pixels for quality, lustre (not gloss). So, say I get 10 prints the delivery is 60p each.
By the way, the maximum mount size is 50cm x 40cm – in old money = 20 inches x 16 inches.
So, costs are now: £1.90 + .60 + 6.50 = £9
Wednesday 26th November is the deadline, so get them to me. Sharon, of Garstang Fine Arts will want them in for mounting ASAP – 03.12.25 absolute latest.
You can, of course, ‘mount’ them yourself saving more money!

The Newcomers Competition Cup:
This competition will be open to anyone who has not previously won a club competition or has not scored 18 or more in a club competition at the start of the season.
As Lewis pointed out at the last meeting, the cup will be award to the member who has scored the most points over the 5 internal competitions during the season.

Coffee duty:
Coffee/tea duty for Wednesday 5^th November is Freda and Elaine – thank you, in advance.

Up and coming programme of events:

Wednesday 5^th November – Will Stead, ‘live’ at the club, Concert photography.
A presentation taking a look at how to photograph music concerts. This engaging talk includes all aspects of concert photography, such as how to get started, who to contact, gear and settings and a large number of Will’s concert photographs.

Wednesday 12^th November – The Fylde 4 – Way Battle.
Hosted by us. We are anticipating up to 80 people to attend, this includes members from North Fylde Photographic Society, Lytham St. Annes Photographic Society, Poulton Photographic Society and of course us! Another busy evening, get in early to grab a seat!
For this Battle we will be having a raffle so if anyone would like to donate a prize, please bring along on any Wednesday evening – ta!

Wednesday 19^th November – A talk by John on an aspect of photography and for the second half, don’t forget, ‘Show-and-tell’ the Alphabet Challenge.

Wednesday 26^th November – Environment Cup Judging.

This is our second internal competition judged by Jonny Gios.

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

Cheers

Mike

Afternoon All

I must admit I thought that last Wednesday’s talk by Irene Amiet, from Knowle Top Studios in Clitheroe, was perhaps the best, or one of the best, wildlife talks we have had at the club for a long time. Many thanks to Freda and Robin for discovering the studio and booking her!

Notices:

Environment Cup: Our 2^nd internal competition:
The closing date for this competition is Wednesday 29^th October; 3 days to go.
Description of images allowed:
Landscapes, architecture, dereliction, sculptures, street art, environmental issues and transport.
Please remember – people and animals must show scale or add to, NOT focal point.
If you are a new member, or indeed an existing member and you would like any help and/or guidance PLEASE ask at the next meeting or email me on info@garstangcameraclub.co.uk or phone for a chat on 07340 314408. I’m more than happy to help!
Please also remember all images show and judged are judged anonymously; it is a great way to get appraisal, evaluation and feedback on your photographs. You will learn a lot!

‘The Alphabet’ challenge:
All new members please note and please have a go!
The idea is to take photographs depicting all the letters of the alphabet.
This runs from now until the ‘show-and-tell’ which will be on the members evening on 19th November 2025; so, time is running out!
Please bring your images to the club meeting on a USB ‘stick’ to show your endeavours!

Our Xmas Bash!
Reminder!
This year, on Wednesday 17^th December, we are repeating the ‘PPP’ – Pies, Peas and Puddings Supper at only £10 pp.
We are having Hamlets pies and puddings will be a mixture of party type desserts.
Freda is coordinating and starting to collect names! Many thanks to members who have already ‘signed-up.’
If you haven’t done so already and want to come along, PLEASE see Freda ‘cos the closing date is rapidly approaching!
Open to all members and their respective wives/husbands/partners etc. – please support the club and I’m sure there will be some kind of entertainment.

Coffee duty:

Coffee/tea duty for Wednesday 29^th October is Ian and Frank – thank you, in advance.

Up and coming programme of events:

Wednesday 29^th October – Critiquing night with Stan plus, closing date for the Environment Cup.
Programme as follows: Critiquing images from members, talk titled ‘Field of Dreams’, the 20 images chosen by members for the Fylde 4 Way Battle and a talk on Zambia. Sounds like a full evening to me!

Wednesday 5^th November –Will Stead, ‘live’ at the club, Concert photography.
A presentation taking a look at how to photograph music concerts. This engaging talk includes all aspects of concert photography, such as how to get started, who to contact, gear and settings and a large number of Will’s concert photographs.

Wednesday 12^th November – The Fylde 4 – Way Battle.
Hosted by us. We are anticipating up to 75 people to attend, this includes members from North Fylde Photographic Society, Lytham St. Annes Photographic Society, Poulton Photographic Society and of course us! Another busy evening, get in early to grab a seat!
For this Battle we will be having a raffle so if anyone would like to donate a prize, please bring along on any Wednesday evening – ta!

Wednesday 19^th November – A talk by John on an aspect of photography and for the second half, don’t forget, ‘Show-and-tell’ the Alphabet Challenge.

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

Cheers

Mike

Morning All

Well, after a week of weather so grey it felt like we were trapped inside a damp wool sock, the sun has finally remembered we exist and decided to show up; but rain on the way – autumn colours appearing – get out with that camera! Perhaps good conditions for some black and white photography?

Events Cup:
Many thanks to all members who submitted prints and/or digital images for our first internal competition; as I said before we had 59 entries, up from 44 last year! And well done to those who scored well!

Notices:
Liverpool Trip: This trip is organised by Stan – so big thanks to Stan!
The date is now set for Saturday 8^th November. We will be travelling by train, from Preston, leaving about 9 ish and returning probably 4 ish – exact details to follow shortly.
Stan will take us around the iconic Liverpool sites to photograph, at our leisure, giving us, I’m sure, his professional advice and guidance. Stan claims to know Liverpool like the back-of-his-hand, what could possibly go wrong!
If you are interested PLEASE speak to me or Stan at the next couple of meetings so we get an idea of the numbers involved – ta!

Message from Vicki Bettaney:
I’m looking at getting a bird box with a camera…can anyone recommend a particular one please? Thank you.
If you have any experience of this please let me know and I’ll put you in touch with Vicki.

Garstang Victoria Festival: Message from Julie Holden:
It’s that time of year again when we start to organise the Garstang Victorian Festival for this year. The dates this year for the festival are Monday 1st & Tuesday 2nd December.
Would you maybe be kind again this year for the camera club to take some images?
So, cameras ready? This is a great opportunity to get out and about and hone your skills in a busy, loud and dark environment! This is exactly the type of photography that could be submitted for competitions, if you are inclined!
Also, I thought it might be an idea to show any images on our members evening on a members evening in the new year: the good, bad and indifferent!
Anyway, the more involved the better and images could be sent to Julie so she and her team can use them for publicity. Please give it some thought.

‘The Alphabet’ challenge:
All new members please note and please have a go!
The idea is to take photographs depicting all the letters of the alphabet.
This runs from now until the ‘show-and-tell’ which will be on the members evening on 19th November 2025; so, time is running out!
Please bring your images to the club meeting on a USB ‘stick’ to show your endeavours!

Message from Robin:
Robin is giving a talk on Switzerland, summer and winter.
Where: At Kirkland Memorial Hall, Churchtown.
When: Friday 7^th November starting at 7.00pm.
Cost: Tickets cost £13 pp which also includes a Hot Pot supper.
Please speak to Robin, at the Arts Centre, if you would like to attend.

Environment Cup: Our 2^nd internal competition:
The closing date for this competition is Wednesday 29^th October; 10 days to go.
Description of images allowed:
Landscapes, architecture, dereliction, sculptures, street art, environmental issues and transport.
Please remember – people and animals must show scale or add to, NOT focal point.
If you are a new member, or indeed an existing member and you would like any help and/or guidance PLEASE ask at the next meeting or email me on info@garstangcameraclub.co.uk or phone for a chat on 07340 314408. I’m more than happy to help!
Please also remember all images show and judged are judged anonymously; it is a great way to get appraisal, evaluation and feedback on your photographs. You will learn a lot!

Coffee duty:
Coffee/tea duty for Wednesday 22^nd October is Sharon and Shelly – thank you, in advance.

Up and coming programme of events:
Wednesday 22^nd October – Irene Amiet:
Wildlife and Habitat: Environmental images telling stories and aiding conservation in Britian and abroad.
“Positive space feeds our knowledge, negative space feeds our imagination,” is one of her doctrines.
Irene has founded the conservation fundraising platform Wilder World in January 2025 and her first book-project, Wilder Britain, will be available for purchase on the night.
Over 60 UK photographers have contributed to this 184-page coffee table book coffee table book which retails at £50 with all proceeds going to re-wilding projects in the UK.

Wednesday 29^th October – Critiquing night with Stan plus, closing date for the Environment Cup.
Programme as follows: Critiquing images from members, talk titled ‘Field of Dreams’, the 20 images chosen by members for the Fylde 4 Way Battle and a talk on Zambia. Sounds like a full evening to me!

Wednesday 5^th November – Will Stead, ‘live’ at the club, Concert photography.
A presentation taking a look at how to photograph music concerts. This engaging talk includes all aspects of concert photography, such as how to get started, who to contact, gear and settings and a large number of Will’s concert photographs.

Wednesday 12^th November – The Fylde 4 – Way Battle.
Hosted by us. We are anticipating up to 75 people to attend, this includes members from North Fylde Photographic Society, Lytham St. Annes Photographic Society, Poulton Photographic Society and of course us! Another busy evening, get in early to grab a seat! 
For this Battle we will be having a raffle so if anyone would like to donate a prize, please bring along on any Wednesday evening – ta!

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

Cheers

Mike