Thanks to all who made it to Skippool Creek yesterday – windy? Almost blowing a gale! C’est la vie! At least it didn’t rain.
The next Events Cup date is May 19th at Brock Bottoms.
A reminder of future dates for the diary:
April 27th: Software editing session; please bring along some, preferably RAW, images to process. Bracketing shots?
May 4th: NEW – Live in the Arts Centre; Paul Williamson will give a digital slide presentation on “The Islands of the Caribbean”. Huge thanks to John for being extremely proactive in finding a replacement speaker!
May 11th: AGM
May 14th: Coffee morning
May 18th: Presentation Evening; places still available – speak to Mike or Freda – please support the club!
Light stands and light
A lady very kindly donated 7 light stands and they are like new.
HPUSN B5 Collapsible 210cm Light Stand 6.9ft Metal Portable Foldable Tripod 5 section Boom Arm for Studio Flash Light Load 3KG
Plus: A Blackbezt Luxpando P120D – see image
Blackbezt Luxpando P120D bi-colour studio LED video light
90W output, 3000K-6000K colour temperature; and a soft box.
If you want to know more: go to Youtube; BlackBezt P120DT Bi-Colour LED Light Review: Is This $700 Light Worth It? By Eric Rossi. All fully explained.Cost today is $500!
These items are available to all members to borrow; just let us know.
What a cracking weekend, so far, and I’ve been privileged to see 4 ‘local’ hares; far too quick, however, for a photograph!
A reminder of some up-and-coming dates:
April 20th. Steve Proctor, presentation entitled “Talk to Me”.
April 23rd The first Events Cup outing to Skippool Creek – see below
April 27th. Software editing session; please bring along some, preferably RAW, images to process. Bracketing?
May 4th George Franks, presentation on ‘Flash Photography’
May 11th AGM
May 14th Coffee morning
May 18th Presentation Evening; places still available.
Details
Arrive at 7.00pm for the meal at 7.15pm
Menu: Ham, Turkey and vegetarian quiches; Green salad, tomato salad, eggs, coleslaw and hot potatoes.
Desserts: Choice of Meringue Pavlova – Raspberry, Coffee Renoir or Fresh Fruit Salad; all with pouring cream.
Quiz and a raffle; any raffle prizes to donate? Most welcome!
Garstang mayor will be joining us and has promised to ‘do’ the presentations.
All for the princely sum of just £12 per member. If you wish to bring a guest that will be great.
Please book your tickets either via the usual email address or speak to Freda, Mike or Lewis at the next meeting on Wednesday. All reservations will be on a first come first booked basis ‘cos the Arts Centre will only hold so many.
Deadline will be the 1st May ‘cos we will have to notify the caterers.
By the way, no washing up – all sorted! Also, bring your own drinks.
They are donating £30,000 to 3 small animal welfare charities, one for cats, one for dogs and one for all rescue animals.
Entry is via the website, for both images and videos. Closing date is 1st July 2022
The winning photo entry receives £2000 cash, plus a trophy and they get to choose a charity to donate £5000. The winning video entry receives £1000 cash and all category winners will receive a fabulous goodie bag!
There are 7 categories – Dog, Cat, Horse, All Other Animals, Pets who look like someone famous or owners, Video and Junior (16 or under)
Entry fee – £1.95 for 1 entry, £5 for 5 and £10 for 15 entries.
Sorry, but the Zoom invite for Wednesday will follow in a later email
For hundreds of years Skippool Creek was a major trading port, along with Wardleys Creek at the other side of the river Wyre. It was in constant use by sea going vessels from the end of the Medieval period, well before the 1600’s.
Goods arrived here from all around the world. Traders plied their goods further inland at Poulton, with goods unloaded at Skippool.
It had been the location of a small port for Poulton for centuries. But in 1590 it began to grow. Brothers William and James Blackburne, along with William Jenkinson – all from Thistleton – began landing their trade goods of flax and tallow from Russia.
Round the World Trade
Once a bustling port, ships arriving from as far away as Russia, Barbados and North America would unload their cargoes. Timber came from across the Atlantic, sugar and tobacco from the Americas and tallow from Russia. Flax arrived here, imported from Ireland and the Baltic. Stone was imported from the Lake District, along with other cargos of imported wine, rum, sugar, cotton and tobacco.
1806-08 records show limestone and oats being imported from Ulverston, and coal which arrived via Preston. By return, salt and locally made cheese was exported to other coastal ports via Skippool. Regular markets were being held in nearby Poulton by the 18th century.
After Marton Moss was drained from 1731, the river inlet at Skippool was widened and deepened. With the banks strengthened it provided better wharfage.
Tides Times and Depth
Skippool Creek
Tides
Times
Depth
High tide
04.57
7.4m
Low tide
11.20
1.8m
High tide
17.41
7.0m
Low tide
23.54
2.4m
Sun rise: 05.52
Sun set: 20.29
The nearest postcode to Skippool Creek to use with Satnav is FY5 5LF – which is Wyre Road.
Turn off the A585 at the River Wyre pub at Skippool Road, and head as if to Thornton.
Not very many yards along the road, turn right onto Wyre Road, before you reach the Thornton Lodge pub. Be careful, it’s very narrow at the beginning.
Wyre Road follows the creeks and widens out slightly.
There is a free car park a little further along where you can leave your car to explore on foot. The car park can hold about 20 cars.
I will probably be going there for mid-morning so I suggest that if you are there, we could socialise and have a sandwich get together in the car park.
April 13th. “Wildlife – Sea shore to mountain top” a talk by Peter Smith
April 20th. Steve Proctor, presentation entitled “Talk to Me”.
April 27th. Software editing session; please bring along some, preferably RAW, images to process.
Events Cup
Aide-memoire!
The first Events Cup destination is on Saturday 23rd April at Skippool Creek; 2 weeks yesterday! Details will be sent out nearer the date, but this is just to make sure you don’t forget!
Exhibition
67 images carefully assembled on the walls of the Arts Centre on Friday. Big thanks to all involved, especially Maurice, and completed in 45 minutes.
Obviously, you can view on club evenings but if you can’t wait the Arts centre is open on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.
Presentation evening – May 18th
Please support the club and book your place with Freda, Mike or Lewis. Details were sent out last week and repeated on Wednesday’s club night, but, if you have forgotten or lost the specifics just ask or email in – no problem!
Garstang Agricultural Show
Garstang show this year is on Saturday 6th August and the club will be having a stand on the day. If you are visiting the show please pop in and have a chat!
Zoom invite for those who can’t attend next week:
Lewis Thompson is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: Garstang Camera Club. Wildlife-Seashore to mountain top with Peter Smith Time: Apr 13, 2022 07:00 PM London
Coffee morning: A very busy morning at the Arts Centre on Saturday so a huge thank you to everyone who managed to supply some very edible edibles, helped out in the café and popped in to spend some dosh! We took, by the way, £137.70; after a small deduction to the Arts Centre; this money goes straight into our coffers! Robin looked pleased!
So, thank you, (in no particular order), to Elaine, Brenda, Terry, Robin, Maurice, Stan, Sue, Rhona, Barry, Jenny, Michael and Freda. This is what we call a team effort! If we’ve missed anyone out – many apologies. Also, it was really nice to see Lucienne, as sprightly as ever and Vernon and his wife making a visit to Garstang! Even Bob Sapey popped in!
Humanity Competition. Many thanks, also, to all members who managed to enter prints and digital images into the competition to be judged. We thought that Carol Watson did an excellent job spending time on each photograph and giving her thoughts, her positives and her constructive criticism to them all. Attached are the full results for you to look at.
And, a big well done to Tim for not only winning 2 of the 4 sections (digital monochrome and digital colour) but his image – Spinning with Grandma – winning the overall prize – ‘best in show’! Congratulations Tim! Attached to this newsletter is an image from our club member Ted – from South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. He says: In preparation for the talk on the 20th of March … “Shackleton & South Georgia” a picture from Grytviken July 2023…Thanks Ted, so glad you are still receiving and reading the newsletters!
Notices
Events Cup.
Thanks to all members who have voted for the top 8 destinations; if you haven’t cast your selection yet, there is still time – but only just.
Member’s Evening 3rd April – Show and Tell.
Please take part, this is a great opportunity for everyone to take part and a great chance to show recent work, talk about their images and possibly receive constructive comments from members.
· Perhaps show any images or maybe those that are often very different from those entered in competitions.
· Include those that went wrong or you weren’t happy about and why, or just didn’t work out!
· Number of images: as many, within reason, as you want to show.
· Open theme, colour and/or mono.
Calendar images
Following on from last weeks newsletter, and from various discussions, the deadline of April 21st has now been extended to Sunday May 5th.
· When all the images are in Mike will present them on Wednesday 8th May (that’s also AGM evening), in a random order, with no names, and all members present will have a chance to vote.
· Each image can be scored out of a maximum of 20.
· The top 36 will be sent to the Arts Centre committee and they will pick the 12 they want for the 2025 calendar.
Lancashire & Cheshire Photographic Union
Attached is the Annual Individuals Competition 2024 for Saturday 18th May & Sunday 19th May.
A full rules & guidelines for both competitions will follow but the attached is a summary of key dates.
When the rules appear, we will send them out. Any questions? Speak to Mike or Lewis on Wednesday.
Up and coming programme of events:
· March 20th – Keith Snell PhD EFIAP MPSA LRPS* – ‘Live’; Shackleton & South Georgia. Featuring landscape and wildlife photography during an expedition to South Georgia and Antarctica, following Shackleton’s renowned journey.
· March 20th – Anything Goes Competition – last date for entry.
· March 27th – No meeting – Committee meeting.
· April 3rd – Members evening – various announcements and discussions plus show and tell; see above.
Another sunny and warm day; the garden beckons and the camera is looking at me!
Make the most of it as the weather appears to go downhill mid-week onwards; Oh, the ups and downs of our climate!
A reminder of some up-and-coming dates:
March 30th. Beginners ‘software editing’ session. Looking at Lightroom again and/or some Photoshop tools or you could bring in some images (preferably RAW), to be processed or process them yourself!
April 6th. 3 presentations: First by Stan on “My Journey to Sports Photography”; second by Mike on “Aurora HDR” and third by Lewis – “Wildlife in South Africa”. All unmissable!
April 9th. Camera club exhibition begins!
April 13th. “Wildlife – Sea shore to mountain top” a talk by Peter Smith
April 20th. Steve Proctor, presentation entitled “Talk to Me”.
(L&CPU) Annual Individual Print & Projected Image Competition 7th and 8th May
Online Entry opens Saturday 19th March
Online Entry closes Saturday 23rd April
PDI: (Projected Digital Images); there are two categories in this section:
Open (which includes colour and monochrome) x 8
Nature x 4
PDI’s
Image files must be in sRGB colour space, jpg format and at maximum quality. This includes monochrome images.
The image dimensions should be 1600 pixels (horizontal) x 1200 pixels (vertical) and a file size of up to 2mb.
Individual authors can upload their own entry.
Rules and regulations were attached last week; quite happy to re-send if you have lost them!
As mentioned last week, John has decided to step down as Programme Secretary after 5 years and step down from the committee.
John will be more than happy to pass on all the relevant information at the appropriate time.
So, volunteers please for John’s role and for the committee!
Please don’t forget, we need new blood for the committee; if you feel you could contribute in any way, you will be made most welcome! Just get in touch if you want via email or phone – it’s no problem!
It was with deep regret that we announced the death of Ken on Wednesday evening.
Ken was a life member of the club with a long service record on the committee; he held the office of treasurer and was Club Chairman for 5 years, from 2013 – 2017, having taken over from Barry.
Ken was a keen wildlife photographer, especially birds and did many hours volunteering at Leighton Moss. He also travelled widely only recently returning from Zambia in November.
With Ken’s untimely death I’m sure he will be very sadly missed by many.
When the funeral arrangements are confirmed, I’ll email everyone.
Many thanks to all who helped out with the coffee morning yesterday; we had lots of happy customers who all left contented and full of cake!
Next one is in May – watch this space.
Many thanks to all members who have submitted prints for our first exhibition starting on Saturday, April 9th. We now have sufficient members to help pin them up!
A reminder of some up-and-coming dates:
TODAY! March 20th. Last submission for the L&CPU Annual Club Competition. We are only entering the PDI sections, not prints. We are entering the ‘Open’ and ‘Nature’ sections. Details in previous newsletters – any questions? Just email us, no problem!
March 30th. Beginners ‘software editing’ session. Looking at Lightroom again and/or some Photoshop tools or you could bring in some images (preferably RAW), to be processed or process them yourself!
April 6th. Presentations by: Stan on “My Journey to Sports Photography”; by Mike on “Aurora HDR” and by Lewis – yet to be revealed!
April 13th. “Wildlife – Sea shore to mountain top” a talk by Peter Smith
April 20th. Steve Proctor, presentation entitled “Talk to Me”.
(L&CPU) Annual Individual Print & Projected Image Competition 7th and 8th May
Overview:
Online Entry opens Saturday 19th March
Online Entry closes Saturday 23rd April
PDI: (Projected Digital Images); there are two categories in this section:
Open (which includes colour and monochrome) x 8, is the maximum entry per member.
Nature x 4, is the maximum entry per member.
PDI’s
Image files must be in sRGB colour space, jpg format and at maximum quality. This includes monochrome images.
The image dimensions should be 1600 pixels (horizontal) x 1200 pixels (vertical) and a file size of up to 2mb.
Individual authors can upload their own entry.
Attached to this newsletter are the full Rules and Guidelines. If you do decide to enter, PLEASE read them very carefully, they are quite comprehensive in places, especially the ‘Category Definitions’!
If you do need help, email us and we will do our very best!
Programme Secretary
John has decided to step down as Programme Secretary after 5 years and also step down from the committee. Lewis and I and all club members would like to take this opportunity to thank you very much, John, for the work you have put in as programme secretary over the past 5 years and especially for so ably amending and re arranging the programme during the Covid situation.
That was a difficult time with Lewis and I finding our feet as chairmen at the same time that lockdown etc happened, so your handling of the situation was greatly appreciated; and very successful!
So, volunteers please for John’s role and also a plea for future members for the committee! John will, by the way, be more than happy to pass on all the relevant information at the appropriate time.
Many thanks to the members who managed to take 7 (or 6 images) in 7 days and for presenting them; it was great to see the good response and all the different images on show.
Next time we should perhaps set the challenge when it’s warmer!
Thanks also to all members who submitted prints for our first exhibition on 9th April. If anyone wishes to bring any prints in, PLEASE do so by next Wednesday, March 16th. We still need 1 more volunteer, by the way, for Friday 8th April for a couple of hours. Please help!
I hope everyone has now received the Events Cup destination list and the dates are now in your diaries! We are looking forward to members taking part in some, if not all, the visits.
A reminder of some March dates:
March 16th. As we mentioned last Wednesday David Bibby was booked to give a presentation entitled ‘My way with AV’ but he had caught Covid. Dave has confirmed that he is still testing positive and therefore he has cancelled for Wednesday.
So, in his place, John has booked Ric Gillams and his talk is ‘Self Drive in Namibia’. Zoom invite below if you need it.
Below is from his website:
About me: When I first started shooting my emphasis was always on finding new places and things to photograph. More recently I am interested in capturing moments in time. Through my 365 projects from 2015 and 2016 I have started to appreciate the beauty in the everyday things I walk past and at the same time have developed the technical ability to capture moments and to get creative in both my choice of shutter speeds and my composition.
The ability to quickly adapt to new situations and to feel completely at one with your equipment is absolutely necessary when shooting weddings, which I thoroughly enjoy. The interaction with people and the opportunity to capture that once in a lifetime occasion and to preserve those memories forever is a real honour and has to be the best reason for getting out of bed in the morning!
I have been fortunate enough to travel to many fantastic places and meet lots of great people. As a result, my photography spans a range of genres, whether I’m shooting a wedding in a sleepy village in England, wildlife in Africa, racing cars at Goodwood or street photography in Tokyo. It is all great practice for being able to get the shot when the moment comes.
March 19th – Saturday. The club is running a coffee morning at the Arts Centre. If anyone is willing to help out, they would be very welcome! From approx. 9.30 – 12.30. Also, we will need some cakes/biscuits/or anything edible to sell!Please have a word with Mike or Lewis when we next meet.
March 20th. Last submission for the L&CPU Annual Club Competition. We would only enter the PDI sections, not prints. We are entering the ‘Open’ and ‘Nature’ sections. Details in previous newsletters – any questions? Just email us, no problem!
March 23rd. Committee meeting.
March 30th. Beginners ‘software editing’ session. Looking at Lightroom again and/or some Photoshop tools or you could bring in some images (preferably RAW), to be processed or process them yourself!
Zoom invite:
Mike Jenner is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
The newsletter is a little late today ‘cos I’ve been out taking the 7th of 7! All done now.
A reminder of March dates:
March 9th. First Exhibition: 9th April to 7th May.We need the prints in by March 9th PLEASE!
March 9th. Workshop – members challenged to taking one photograph each day for seven consecutive days.
March 16th. Presentation by David Bibby entitled ‘My way with AV’.
March 19th – Saturday. The club is running a coffee morning at the Arts Centre. If anyone is willing to help out, they would be very welcome! Also, we will need some cakes/biscuits/or anything edible to sell! Please have a word with Mike or Lewis when we next meet.
March 20th. Last submission for the L&CPU Annual Club Competition. We would only enter the PDI sections, not prints. We are entering the ‘Open’ and ‘Nature’ sections. Details in last week’s newsletter – any questions? Just email us, no problem!
March 23rd. Committee meeting.
March 30th. Beginners ‘software editing’ session. Looking at Lightroom again and/or some Photoshop tools or you could bring in some images (preferably RAW), to be processed or process them yourself!
Zoom invite
Lewis Thompson is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: Camera Club Workshop Time: Mar 9, 2022 07:00 PM London
Fine weather today – ready for (or started) the 7 in 7?
A few dates: March is a busy month!
March 2nd. Judging of the ‘Anything Goes Cup Competition’ by Will Stead, live in the Arts Centre.
March 9th. Workshop – members challenged to taking one photograph each day for seven consecutive days. It would be great if members could email us or chat this Wednesday, to say whether they are taking part so that we can judge the numbers involved. Like we have mentioned before you don’t have to stand up at the front you can ‘talk’ from your seat!
March 16th. Presentation by David Bibby entitled ‘My way with AV’.
March 19th– Saturday. The club is running a coffee morning at the Arts Centre. If anyone is willing to help out, they would be very welcome! Also, we will need some cakes/biscuits/or anything edible to sell! Please have a word with Mike or Lewis when we next meet.
March 23rd. Committee meeting
March 30th. Beginners ‘software editing’ session. Looking at Lightroom again and/or some Photoshop tools or you could bring in some images (preferably RAW), to be processed or process them yourself!
Talking of beginners, I’m starting to learn Photoshop! Having scoured the internet and come across some fairly good ‘tutorials’ I have finally found one that is very good. And, it’s FREE!
It’s run by a guy called Jimmy McIntyre and when you log onto the site click ‘Free Stuff’ on the strap line at the top. You will then see ‘The Ultimate FREE Photoshop Bundle for Photographers’!
When you sign up (which is free) you’ll receive three products to download:
The Easy Panel – FREE Luminosity Mask Panel for Photoshop.
Our FREE Photoshop Beginner’s Course For Photographers.
The Essential Guide to Luminosity Mask FREE download e-book.
The Photoshop beginners guide (part 2) is split into 3 parts:
Photoshop beginners’ part 1
Photoshop beginners’ part 2
Photoshop beginners’ part 3 – this part is devoted to Camera RAW
Each part is literally crammed with ‘stuff’, but it’s all, in my ‘umble opinion, cracking material! You really need to watch several times to take it in. Anyway, give it a go if you are interested.
There are loads of things on his website and obviously he is trying to sell it, but having ‘signed-up’ I have had no problems with lots of emails asking me to buy – and you can always unsubscribe at any time. Give it a go?
L&CPU Annual Club Competition.
Members! Would you like us to put an entry together for this competition?
We would only enter the PDI sections, not prints.
For the ‘Open’ section the club can enter up to 16 images in total from a minimum of 5 photographers and a maximum of 4 entries per person.
For the ‘Nature’ section we can enter up to 8 images from a minimum of 5 photographers and a maximum of 2 entries per person.
We could put an entry into the ‘Open’ section using images from the recent PAGB competition. We had 5 people entered in that and the entries would be eligible. We would need to select the entries but Lewis would do this based mainly on the scores from the last competition. If anyone else wishes to enter or anyone wants to use a different photo that is good, no problem.
For the ‘Nature’ section we would need 2 more people to submit photos to put together an entry.
If we are to do it, we need entries by March 20th.
We will need to make a decision on Wednesday evening please.
First Exhibition: 9th April to 7th May
‘Open’; this is for any print that was not among the winners of any competition. Please label the print, on the back, with your title and name – thanks.
We need the prints in by March 9th PLEASE!
We still need 1 more volunteer please for the Friday 8th April in the afternoon for a couple of hours – please see Mike or Lewis.
Zoom invite
Lewis Thompson is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: Garstang Camera Club Anything Goes Competition Judge Will Stead EFIAP CPAGB PSA3
I hope you all took advantage of the wintery weather – looking forward to seeing all the snowy images!
Big thanks to Robin for his presentations, last Wednesday, on The Falkland Islands and Bhutan.
A few dates:
February 23rd. Beginners ‘software editing’ session. Bring some RAW, if poss, images.
March 2nd. Judging of the ‘Anything Goes Cup Competition’ by Will Stead, live in the Arts Centre. Final internal competition – where does the time go eh? Good luck to all who have entered, and, don’t forget, points mean prizes!
March 9th. Workshop – members challenged to taking one photograph each day for seven consecutive days.
Consecutive days? Theme? Where? – all your choice. Time’s ticking!
March 16th. Presentation by David Bibby entitled ‘My way with Audio Visual’.
Exhibition reminder:
9th April – 7th May – this is for any print that was not among the winners of any competition. Please label the print, on the back, with your title and name – thanks. Prints in by 9th March PLEASE.
Eva polack (Impressionist Photography): idea from Anne
A talk on the artistic side of photography. She will offer an introduction to the visual language of photography to help us capture expressive and artistic images.
As mentioned at the last meeting: a possible virtual photography talk. The main aim of the talk is to encourage people to try out various approaches to image-making and to help them develop their own way of photographing.
These talks are about £100 a go, so, if enough interest is expressed by members, I’ll investigate further.
Garstang Camera Club 