There was a very good turnout at Devizes Camera Club to welcome back Andy Beel and to hear his latest presentation. Andy brought several boxes of, predominantly, monochrome prints and announced that we should not expect a smoothly scripted talk as he had no fixed plan for his presentation. However he said he would include prints made from slides that he took in the 1980’s when he started his photographic journey, and come up to date with some of his latest work using a range of digital cameras.
His first print, taken in 1985, showed a street of wet cobbles taken on a 400 ASA (ISO) film which provided a pleasing level of grain. He said, that he is still having difficulty getting the same level of graininess from digital images. Along with this image came his first tip for moving to great photography - recognise and develop a personal style.
He said that his own style tended to be dark and moody monochrome photography. He demonstrated this with many images during the evening, including one of Stonehenge with a stormy evening sky to which he had added contrast, clarity and curves in post-processing.
Improving one’s photography is a series of stages, Andy suggested. Firstly you need to learn how the camera works and what different settings can achieve. He said it is worth practicing a range of different individual skills, such as focusing; exposure; depth of field; and so on, so that setting the camera for a shot becomes second nature and can be done quickly. Then, he said, it is worth trying different effects, such as including movement in a shot or even intentionally having everything out-of-focus.
Andy also showed how post-processing can greatly enhance the impact and atmosphere of an image. He recommended starting with global adjustment to effect the overall exposure and contrast, followed by local adjustments to bring out specific details. He suggested lightening what you want people to look at and darkening the rest. And he showed how a sense of depth can be enhanced by increasing the clarity and contrast of the foreground and decreasing it in the background.
Another way to develop your photography, Andy pointed out, is to think about taking sets of photos and developing panels that tell a story. To illustrate this, Andy showed us several sets of images that he had created.
Of particular note were a series of images taken from the auditorium at the Ballet. These demonstrated how movement in images can be effective as they were taken hand-held at 1/20th second, so the dancers were blurs of movement. A split-tone effect in post-processing enhanced the whole effect.
He also showed us several sets of images taken in Ethiopia. There was a set on Worship showing the movement of women clapping, taken in dull lighting, hand-held at 1/20th with a f1.4 lens to create depth of field. There were two sets on Work in Ethiopia. The first showed images of artisans in a print shop, a barbers booth at the market and a sickle maker engulfed in steam and smoke. The other set captured the dusty atmosphere at a stone crushing plant in the Symian mountains.

In conclusion, Andy pointed out that the journey from good to great photography will not be a straight line. As one tries different techniques and effects, some things will work and others won’t, but they will all add to your experience.
Andy pointed out that camera clubs tend to encourage people to take images that will do well in competitions. But he said that you should try to move beyond a purely competition style and start to develop your own. Look at other photographers’ work, accept influences from them and work out how to develop them in your own images. Have confidence in your own vision, but accept advice and criticism from others. Above all, keep taking photographs, even when you think you are in a rut and don’t feel much inspiration.

Our Chairman thanked Andy for sharing some inspirational images and for giving us all some very useful insights into developing our photography. DF
Images © Andy Beel FRPS

Tony Byram EFIAP ARPS AWPF DPAGB and his wife Jenny EFIAP/b DPAGB BPE1 made a welcome return visit to demonstrate how to make audio-visual sequences using Pictures to exe software.
Audio – Visuals or A-V’s combine still photographs and audio to create interesting sequences that can be viewed on a computer, TV or website.
Pictures to Exe is an easy to use but comprehensive software that combines still images, music, sound effects or voice overs and can add a variety effects and text. Most things are self-explanatory but there is a very good user guide.
Tony demonstrated by showing how easy it is to start a new project and add selected images. He advised starting a new folder for each project on your PC to keep all the picture and audio files together in one place and also remember to ‘Save’ frequently.By selecting ‘project options’ you can select the aspect ratio, how you want to control your AV and what transitions you would like to use. Each timing on each slide can be set together with a range of other options.
The finished A-V should ‘tell a story’ with a beginning and end, the images should be all the same aspect and flow well from one scene to the other. If you need to change from ‘landscape’ to ‘portrait’ shape, then there are ways to overlay and not jump from one aspect to the other.
Pictures to Exe has a number of transitions to choose from but beware of getting carried away and using too many, keep to simple fades with just an occasional change for effect.
The choice of music is very important as it needs to reflect the mood of the images. A licence is needed to use copyright music but there are royalty free music websites. The latest versions of the software allow you to set the length, timing and fades on the audio track. Also more audio tracks can be added for sound effects and voice overs when required.
Tony demonstrated the whole process using images he had taken of windmills, adding suitable music and previewing the sequence. Many hours can be spent perfecting a sequence but when you are satisfied that everything is how you wish it to be then you can ‘Publish’ your AV. You have many choices – publish as a file for PC or Mac, as an HD video, a DVD disc or for a website such as You Tube or Facebook.
Tony and Jenny rounded up the evening by showing two of their completed sequences – both using images taken at the Venice Festival. Members enjoyed seeing the colourful costumes and characters set against backgrounds of stunning Venetian architecture and set to suitable Italian music.
If you want to find out more about making AV’s then Waves is a local group meeting in Trowbridge where you can show your sequences, get advice and meet up with fellow AV enthusiasts.
Some sequences made by members can be viewed on their website.
Pictures to Exe software is an interesting way to create and show your images and can be downloaded from their website. A trial version is available.
Many thanks to Tony and Jenny for passing on their A-V knowledge and enthusiasm to club members. PM

The Challenge is for members to take photographs that fit the chosen subject each month and add them to the Album on Devizes Camera Club Facebook.
No points or prizes but just something that might inspire members to get out their cameras and look out for something a bit different to photograph.
The subject for March was 'Three' so it was just a case of photographing three of anything. We had photos of boats, birds, dogs, deer, flowers and even iguanas! 
The images that got the most 'likes' were 3 apples and 3 number 3's by Pam Mullings and 3 canal boats in the snow by Sue Wadman.

The subject chosen by Caroline for April is 'On the Wing' which you can interpret in any way you like. 
Try you hand at capturing images of birds in flight or anything else with wings and have fun trying something you have not tried before,
Club members can take part in the Challenge by going to Devizes Camera Club Facebook   (not a member? then first join Facebook and then apply to join)

Derek Gale was welcomed back to Devizes Camera Club to deliver his presentation entitled Movement in Photography. He jokingly hoped his comments as a judge last season had been forgiven and forgotten!
Derek introduced himself as a professional photographer and trainer based in a remote village in Oxfordshire that Shrivenham is near! He explained that this presentation started out as a 20 minute talk to his local camera club which has since developed into a workshop that he presents to RPS (he also presents Introduction to the Creative Eye). And it has now become the basis for a 4-day photography holiday with HF Holidays, for whom he has become a photography leader.
Firstly, Derek stated that there are 2 types of movement - Camera movement and Subject movement - and sometimes you can do both together.
Starting with Camera movement, Derek explained that you can either deliberately use camera shake creatively, or you can use long exposures and move the camera during the exposure. Either way, the effect is to make the image more abstract as is the case when taking an image of woodland and panning vertically. He showed how the details in the opposite plain (i.e. horizontal) became blurred. Contrast will also be lost and may need to be tweaked in post-processing.
He also showed examples of long exposure images in which he had “clicked, held, then moved” to provide an area in the image that was in focus, as with the OXO Tower apparently moving across the night sky. There was an image of a decorated Christmas tree for which he had opened the shutter and walked towards the tree, creating wobbly light trails.
Derek also talked about Rolling Shutter Effect which can happen with cameras that have a relatively slow sensor reading time. The result will show bent lines in reasonable focus instead of being blurred. An image of a brick wall demonstrated this effect.
Further images showed the use of other techniques, including combining flash with a long exposure to provide some sharpness amongst the blur. This technique can also be used to provide a sense of movement, as in an image of the statue of Cabot in Bristol which looked as though Cabot was walking through a storm on the dockside.
Derek then moved on to talk about Subject movement and spent some time considering how to freeze this movement with short shutter speeds. But what constitutes a short shutter speed? He demonstrated that 1/2000th of a second was not enough to prevent blur of the primary feathers of a pigeon as it took off, but 1/640th was plenty to freeze waves crashing on rocks in Hermanus, South Africa. As he said, it depends on the distance to the subject, the speed the subject is moving - and the “photographic intent”.
Flash can also be used to freeze movement. Turning the power down to 1/128th on a Speedlight will provide a flash duration of just 1/41600th - but not much light. With the right setup and supplementary lights, this can be used to freeze water droplets. Derek also showed us a number of images of a white glove which he dropped towards a white table top.
After the interval, Derek talked about showing the movement in subjects. Generally, a longer shutter speed is needed for this, but, again, the duration depends on distance, speed of movement and photographic intent. To illustrate this he showed comparative images of the same waterfall taken at 1/6th and 3.2 seconds. The longer the exposure, the more blurry the water appears, giving an impression of movement. The photographer needs to decide how much blur best reflects the feel of the image.
In sunshine, filters will be needed to slow the shutter speed. Derek had a fascinating image of sparky light trails which had been taken of a small area of moving water with a polarising filter and several ND filters which slowed the shutter speed to 1/10th at f32. He had also had some fun spinning a blue mixing bowl on a kitchen surface taking an image at 1sec. And he demonstrated how people can disappear in long exposures at tourism attractions.
Derek uses Olympus Micro 4/3 cameras which have a feature called Live Composite. This enables the photographer to build up and image over time in live mode. He showed how he had used this feature to build interesting images using Pixel Sticks and Light Blades to light-paint shapes over some of his garden furniture. He also talked about Harris Shutter which uses different colour filters to record movement in different colours. Multiple exposures using different colours superimposed on each other provides a surreal effect.
He also showed how camera movement and subject movement can be used together to provide more excitement. Panning at a different speed to the subject provides blur to both the subject and the background, as in his exciting shot of a racing car.
Derek brought his talk to a conclusion by saying that “Movement brings fun to your photography”. You can present images with a fun content and have enormous fun trying different approaches. In thanking Derek for a fascinating presentation, our Chairman endorsed this view, suggesting that many of us will have been inspired to try something different in our photography. DF                            Images © Derek Gale - Top: Reeds, right: Wrapping Paper, bottom: Crown of Water

Martin Cooper LRPS was welcomed on his first visit to the club by club chairman Richard Watson LRPS. Martin explained the intriguing title of his presentation – in the first half the images shown will be more traditional and in the second half rather more experimental – that is images that have been altered in the camera using a variety of techniques.
A range of subjects’ interest Martin including modern cityscapes and we were shown unusual views of such iconic buildings as the Gherkin and its surrounding glass sided skyscrapers. Some monochrome images taken in derelict buildings including the now closed Gloucester Prison and even an image taken in a run down toilet which had gained many Salon acceptances!.
Trees and woodlands are subjects often photographed and Martin explained that he tries when possible to take his photographs when it is misty as it gives a nice soft background such as 'Breaking Through the Mist' left.
Several colour images were shown together with a monochrome version and members were asked their opinion.  The colour versions were very pleasing but in the mono versions the textures and shapes were greatly enhanced but it is a matter of opinion which is the better image. Martin uses curves and other techniques on his images to increase the contrast which brings out the texture and adds drama to stormy skies.
Members were shown some interesting land and seascapes, often with stunning lighting and cloud formations. There were several stunning scenes of snowy Scottish mountains.
Martin has given some imaginative titles to his images such as the beach scene aptly named  ‘Molten Lead' right
A visit to Auschwitz produced some very moving monochrome images of both the interior and exterior and Martin spoke of some of the atrocities that took place there.
Martin had on display a selection of his excellent prints including those from his LRPS panel and remarked that ‘he feels that images need to be printed in order to complete the process’.
Many of Martin’s images have gained acceptances and medals in International Salons and also awards had been gained in National Landscape competitions

For the second part of his presentation Martin showed how he uses his camera as a tool and projected a selection of his images taken using ICM (Intentional Camera Movement) which often produces very impressionistic results. The camera is moved horizontally, vertically or even shaken during a 1 or 2 second exposure. Another method often used is taking multiple layers of varying opacity in camera of a variety of subjects giving almost abstract results such as that seen in Martin's image ‘Second Severn Crossing’ left
The results of images produced using these various techniques in camera cannot be predicted and no two images are ever the same so it is always interesting to experiment and see the results.

An interesting evening, which members greatly enjoyed so thanks Martin for travelling from Gloucester to show your fine selection of digital images and prints. PM

5 members from Devizes Camera Club attended what, as always, was an intense if very enjoyable day at the Corn Exchange, Exeter. 57 Clubs from the Western Counties took part this year include 5 who had not entered previously, so in total we saw 1026 images.
The event uses Salon style judging, with three visiting judges each scoring each image between 2 and 5 points which are then aggregated to give the image its final score out of 15. The entire judging process took just about 3 hours – which means that from the image appearing on screen, title being read, judges scoring, score being called and the next image appearing, averaged just over 10 seconds per image. Impact therefore is vital.
 
As always, this is a highly competitive event, and the standard was particularly good this year. Congratulations go to Hilary Eagles with her sublime ‘Curlew Sandpiper’ (left) which with 13 points top scored for the Club. However, this proved to be a day when a number of our other images which have done well elsewhere did not impress the judges to the extent we had hoped.
While our final score of 195 points was 4 points higher than last years, our finishing position of 18th equal was slightly down on last year, and we were 6 points short of the top -10 finish we had hoped for.
Deserved winners were Bristol, with Dorchester an excellent second, with 223 and 219 points respectively, well clear of the rest of the field, and it is these two Clubs who will go forward to represent the WCPF at the National competition in Warwick in July.FC
Full results

Warminster Camera Club invited 5 clubs to join them in the Annual Print Battle held on the afternoon of Saturday 10 February.
The Judge for the competition was Malcolm McNaughton who is a member of Dorchester CC who started off the afternoon by showing the audience a range of his excellent monochrome prints. Malcolm explained that he prefers to produce all his images using a large format camera and unusually for 2018 he uses film and develops and prints his photographs in his own darkroom.
Malcolm said that, rather than saying he ‘shoots, captures or takes’ images he prefers to say that he ‘makes photographs’ taking time to very carefully compose the image before exposing the film. He says - enjoy your hobby and make prints for yourself – prints will probably endure for centuries whereas changes in technology might mean that digital images become obsolete in time.
However when it was time to judge the competition, he went on to say that he has no problem at all judging a competition where all of the images had been taken digitally.  Digital cameras now made it possible for anyone to take photographs and enjoy photography.

Malcolm gave very helpful comments on each of the 60 prints – pointing out where a crop might have improved the image or any distractions removed. He said he had spent a lot of time looking closely at all the entries from the six clubs and that he had changed his mind several times over the winning prints.
Two prints from the Devizes entry were awarded the maximum 20 points ‘Kingfisher Surfacing’ by Robert Harvey ARPS EFIAP and ‘Golden Eagle in Winter’ by Gill Cardy FRPS EFIAP DPAGB - many congratulations to both.
Caddisfly by Peter Ely did well gaining 19 points and ‘Randolf’ by Pam Mullings was awarded 18 points - see the full Devizes CC results below.
Malcolm awarded 20 points to 9 of the prints entered in the competition and then finally chose his favourite which was a print from the Frome Wessex CC entry.
After winning the Trophy four times over the last five years, this year we had to settle for 4th place
Salisbury CC won the Battle this year with Frome Wessex CC second and Calne CC third.

Many thanks to Warminster CC for organising the battle and for their hospitality – not forgetting the large spread of excellent food laid out for the visitors to enjoy. Thanks to Battle Secretary Frank Collins and those who selected our entry and also those members who travelled to Warminster to support the club. PM
Full results

Club Chairman Richard Watson welcomed Beryl Heaton ARPS EFIAP CPAGB who judged the competition and was visiting Devizes CC for the first time. This was the first time the club had a competition for portraits for many years so it was interesting to see what images members would enter.  Although not a huge number of members entered - each competition section managed to have some excellent images.

Starting with the Beginners section Martin Stokes captured an image of an attractive singer dressed in 40’s style titled ‘Boogie Woogie Madeline’(left). The judge said that the photographer caught the moment well with an uncluttered background. Another 40’s style image by Martin of a singer in a trilby hat was awarded an HC with the judge commenting on the sepia toning and the good presentation.
A rather glum looking model inspired the amusing title ‘Did you eat my last Rolo?’ by David Eagle and it was placed second in the section.
The judge liked the pose and the lighting.
Another retro image – this time a monochrome of a pretty young lady titled ‘Flawless 40’s’ gained Craig Purvis third place.

Moving on to the Intermediate section, an image of a beautiful young model by Sue Wadman was awarded first place.
Titled ‘Holly’ (right) the judge liked the relaxed pose and the studio lighting.
A photograph of ‘Charlotte’ - another interesting young lady by Sue was awarded third place.
The characters found in the Caribbean inspired the portrait titled ‘A Lifetime in Cuba’ by Stephen Burgess – the judge remarked that the subtle colours of the background and the man’s clothing complimented each other and awarded the image second place. An HC went to ‘A Twenty will do Nicely’ - another Cuban image by Stephen depicting a typical cigar smoking character from the region.
Very different was Andy Vick’s ‘Lords Trip’ with the profile of a young lad enjoying a cricket match which also was awarded an HC.

A monochrome image ‘Man in a Fur Hat’ (left) by Pam Mullings was placed first in the Advanced section with the judge remarking on the detail shown in the fur and the uncluttered background.
In second place was another characterful portrait ‘Turkistan Gentleman’ by Pam – this time a coloured image with the judge liking the complimentary colours of the background and the man’s clothing.
Another portrait by Pam – this time of ‘Esme’ - an attractive young lady was awarded an HC.
The colourful costume and the character shown in the face gained ‘The Story teller’ by Richard Atkinson AFIAP third place. Four more images in the Advanced section were awarded HC's - see the full list below.

Congratulations to all the award winner and thanks to all who entered
There were some very interesting images entered in all of the sections but in many cases the judge felt that some would have been better cropped tighter as the emphasis should be on the face in a portrait competition. The lesson to be learned when taking portraits is to try to avoid distracting backgrounds by perhaps moving to a better position or removing them in post editing.
Also check that the colours of the background and clothing all compliment each other to give a harmonious overall effect.

Thanks to Beryl for giving such positive and helpful feedback on all the entries and for travelling from Bristol on such a cold and snowy evening. PM

                                                       Full results                                             All the awarded images can be seen in the Galleries

The subject set for January was 'Detail' and many club members posted their images on Devizes CC facebook.
The 'Challenge' is for members pick up their cameras or phones and take a photo during the month that fits the chosen subject.
It's always surprising what members come up with - this month we had a wide range from boiling mud to sweet wrappers, a blue car door handle to a dozing duck and a computer hard drive to teasels.
Members sometimes find that they need a bit of inspiration especially during the winter months so having a 'Challenge' often results in some interesting images.
The favourite January image was Caroline's raindrops on a feather shown left which was taken with a phone. An excellent image which probably would not have been taken if Caroline hadn't been looking around for something to fit the subject 'Detail'

The subject chosen by Caroline for the month of February is 'New Beginnings' so members - please get thinking and post your photos in the facebook Album.

If you are not yet a member then apply to join Devizes CC facebook as it is a good way for members to share photos and communicate with each other on photographic topics. PM

 Devizes CC entered the 2018 GB Cup Open and Nature Projected Image competitions. These competitions are held annually by the Photographic Alliance of Great Britain who organise photographic events for photographic Clubs in England, Scotland, Wales & Northern Ireland.

The competition is judged during January by 3 judges who can each award up to 5 points for each image.
In the Open competition we scored a total of 154 points for our 15 images and finished 50th out of the 75 clubs who entered which was slightly higher than last year. Our top placed image was ‘Fairy Glen’ (left) by Richard Watson LRPS with a score of 13.
Sue Wadman and Robert Harvey ARPS EFIAP both did well with scores of 12.

In the Nature competition we entered 19 images and were placed 35th out of the 88 clubs who entered.
Highest scoring image was ‘Kingfisher with Catch’(right) by Robert Harvey with Dave Gray, Gill Cardy, Richard Atkinson all having images scoring 12 points.
The club scored a total of 116 points from the top 10 images which counted towards the result which was higher than the 109 scored last year.

Thanks to Battle Secretary Frank Collins for organising the club's entry and for to those members who chose the images to be entered.

See the results

The judge for the 2018 Annual Landscape Competitions was John Tilsley ARPS DPAGB APAGB who travelled from Dorchester. John is a very experienced judge and is himself a very competent landscape photographer and when he saw the glorious sunrises and sunsets depicted in many of the entries he quipped that it usually rains whenever he goes to photograph landscapes! 
It was no surprise that many entries showed classic scenes taken in the Isle of Skye as the club had a group visit to the area last year and were lucky to experience wonderful weather. John knew first hand many of the locations so knew how difficult it can be to wait to get the best light to show the landscape at its best. John remarked on the magnificent skies members had managed to portray in many of the images.
There were seventeen print entries and John remarked on the high standard. Most of the images depicted the glorious scenery found in Scotland but there were a few from other parts of the world as well. It is always difficult for a judge to choose the final winners and John joked that he would only delight those entrants whose images were awarded first place!  John had looked through the entries in great detail and gave very helpful comments on each image but he preferred to wait until he saw the prints under the print stand lights to decide on his order of awards.
Finally, a dramatic Devon seascape titled ‘Wembury Point’ (right) by Robert Harvey ARPS EFIAP was chosen as the judge’s favourite print. John commented on the dynamism shown in the image and the way the light enhanced the dramatic foreground rocks and the slow shutter speed used to give a sense of drama to the waves.
In second place was ‘Sunset over Sgurr Nan Gillean’ (left) by Steve Hardman with the judge stating that the glorious colours in the sky gave a remarkable effect. Third was another Skye image – this time ‘Early Light, Old man of Storr’ by Dave Gray. Two prints by Robert was also awarded Highly Commended and Gill Ford Pier the third HC.
There was a good entry for the Landscape Projected Image Competition in which images had to be taken in the British Isles. Again many of the 35 images entered were from the group visit to Skye
with some of the images taken from very similar viewpoints so John waited to see how the images appeared when projected to make his final judgement.
Again Robert gained first place with ‘Buttermere at Dawn’ (right)  – this time a tranquil scene taken in the Lake District which the judge described as having a beautiful subdued lighting.
Second place went to ‘Passing Clouds at the Quirang’ (left) by Tim Pier with the judge remarking on the superb lighting on the interesting rock strata.
Third place went to Robert with ‘Durdle Door at Sunset’ which perfectly captured the setting sun through the rock arch with the whole shoreline of Swyre Head.
Nine images were Highly Commended with one each going to Robert and Tim, two going to Dave Gray, two to Sue Wadman and one to Caroline Wright.
Special mention goes to Roly Barth for his HC for a delightful local scene of winter trees. Roly is in the Beginners section having only fairly recently joined the club. Very well done to all.

Robert was presented with both the Silver Birches Print Trophy and the Derrick Turner Memorial Trophy for Projected Images by John Tilsley. Many congratulations to Robert who retained both of the landscape trophies he was awarded in 2017.
Thanks to John for taking such time and trouble looking through all the landscape entries and giving his comments and judgement.
Thanks to Caroline for sorting the entries and running the competition and also thanks to all the entrants who showed us such a range of stunning landscapes. PM

   Full results                                                     All the awarded Landscape images can be seen in the Galleries

Competition Secretary Caroline Wright has done all the calculations for last weeks Projected Image League Competition and Richard Watson LRPS read out the results at the meeting.
(See last weeks write up about the competition below)
Robert Harvey ARPS EFIAP was declared the winner of the Hewitt Cup Trophy and Robert's set 'Arctic Light' was the set with the most points - an image from the set of 5 shown right.
Robert's other two landscape sets  'Through the Arch' and 'Lake District in Autumn' were placed among the top seven sets.
Tim Pier was in second place and Dave Gray in third place.  
Special mention of Craig Purvis in 4th place, Heather Collins in 8th and Bruce Chappell in 10th place who are all from our Beginners section so very well done to those. 
Sixteen members entered 3 sets each so there were 48 sets awarded points out of 10 by fellow members.

Top 10 results & top 28 sets            Images of the top placed sets from the top 10 photographers.

Club Chairman Richard Watson LRPS welcomed members back after the Christmas break. It was a shame less members than usual were present but maybe the wet and windy weather was to blame or some may still have been getting over the New Year or maybe just forgot it was a Tuesday but anyway they missed seeing some excellent images.
There were 48 sets of members images entered with a wide range of subjects. A well as the more usual stunning landscapes from Britain and around the world there were many sets of  nature images including birds and insects. There were also some rather more unusual subjects including horse racing, a car on fire, big boys toys and even telephone boxes!
Wells Cathedral, Oslo Opera House, London and night shots of beautiful Ghent and Bruges were some of the architectural subjects. 
Altogether there were 240 individual images for those present to see. After each set of 5 images were projected members were asked to score the set out of ten taking into account the quality and presentation of the images, the appearance as a set and how well the images fitted the title. The results of the competition will be announced next week as the calculations have to be worked out. Scores for each set have to be averaged and each entrants 3 sets have to be added together to finally give the winner of the Hewitt Cup.
Thanks to all the members who put their sets of images together and entered the competition.

During the evening members were able to see the club’s entries chosen for the forthcoming Battles. Robert Harvey ARPS EFIAP explained the merits of each image and how the battle entries are selected. Images for the Battles came from members of all 3 sections of the club with about club 18 members represented.  Battles entered are the Western Counties Digital Projected Image Competition (DPIC), the GB Cup Open and Nature Competitions which is a National Photographic competition for clubs from throughout Britain and Warminster Camera Club annual print competition. Hopefully the judges like the images  that the club has selected and we do well in the Battles which take place during February.  PM

Look out for Challenge 2018 - a different subject each month to inspire you to go out and find something new to photograph during the month.
Subject for January is 'Detail'  Members can post their  images on the DCC facebook. If you have not viewed the club facebook then have a look now and request to join.

In 2016 the club ran a weekly ‘challenge’ which many members enjoyed and produced many interesting images that they might otherwise not have taken.
For 2018 members suggested that a monthly challenge would give more time to explore each topic. The idea is to take new photos during the month and post your best 5 in the monthly Album. Join in and you may be inspired to go out of your 'comfort zone' and try something a bit different! You may not have taken many photographs lately so you may be inspired to dust off your camera (or phone), find new subjects indoors or out, experiment with new ideas and above all have fun!!

We invite constructive criticism and you can ‘like’ your favourites. The top 3 most ‘liked’ mages by members will be shown on the club website and the winner might like to choose the next subject. 

New on the website is a 'What's On' Calendar on the Programme page - this shows local events that photographers might be interested in and locations where interesting subjects might be found. Please send in any information you might have on local photographic events and venues of interest to others to add to the page.

The last meeting of 2017 was the Christmas knock-out – a light hearted competition where the images entered are knocked out one by one until just the winner is left.
Master of ceremonies was as ever Frank Collins who donned his Santa suit once again for this annual event. Frank explained to new members that they would have a good work out during the evening as they needed to raise their arms time and time again to choose either the left or righthand  image as they were randomly projected.

Twenty-five of the club members entered five images each which were projected in pairs – members present had to choose which of the two images they preferred and the one with the most hands up went through to the next round and the losing image disappeared never to be seen again.

With 125 images to look at there was a wide variety of subjects with many interesting images which had not been seen in competitions before. It was an excellent competition for members to try out new ideas and see how well they are received by fellow members.

Often two very good images came up together but one had to go - so sadly many of the best images never made past the first round. On a few occasions the hands counted were exactly the same for each of the two images so then Frank stepped in and had the final say.
Those that had the biggest show of hands went on to the subsequent rounds until it was down to sixteen then eight and then the last four.

Finally, the favourite image was chosen and it was a monochrome portrait of a pensive looking orang-utang titled ‘The Thinker’ by Craig Purvis. (top left)
In second place was a striking close up of a Buff Tip Moth Caterpillar(right) by Steve Burgess. Third was another monochrome – this time of a silhouetted figure titled ‘Into the Light’ (left) by Janet Rutter and forth was a glorious sunset over Eilean Donan Castle (right) by Sue Wadman.

Well done to all who entered and to those whose images proved to be the most popular.
Gifts were handed to the two top winners by club Chairman Richard Watson shown below with Frank and Craig.

The evening finished with members enjoying the fine spread of festive food.

Thanks to Frank for hosting the evening and to Dave Gray who vey ably used Lightroom to randomise the images and display them in pairs on the screen. PM

Monochrome Print and Creative PI Competitions

Terry Walters from Swindon Photographic society was the judge for the club's first Open Print competition of the season. Terry who has visited the club on many previous occasions began the evening by saying he might be considered to be a tough judge but he always tries to give members advice about their entries rather than just saying ‘a nice image’ and passing on.

Terry commented that some otherwise excellent landscapes were slightly let down by the depth of field used. He prefers images to have really sharp foregrounds so that he can ‘feel’ the sharpness but the focus can get softer towards the background to give a sense of depth. Skies in some instances he considered rather bland and there were the usual comments about cropping, light areas on the edges and distractions in the image. .
The first print out of the box gave Terry a shock as he found it to be of a very high standard and that was in the Beginners section! He felt that if that’s the Beginners standard how are the Advanced section going to compete!
The number of print entries has gone down in recent years - probably due to the extra work and cost compared to entering a projected image competition, however to see an image actually as a print gives a degree of satisfaction. Hopefully more members will consider entering  prints next time.

In the Beginners section the image that really stood out for the judge was ‘The Village Stream’ by Craig Purvis (left). The late evening shot using aslow shutter speed showed the stream of car lights as they wound their way along the road with lights from the houses and a church in the distance.
Prints by Bruce Chappell were placed second and third – ‘Final Furlong’ (right) depicted galloping horses and the monochrome ‘Peeping Tom’ was a well caught moment.

A monochrome was placed first in the Intermediate section with David Lock’s ‘We ain’t Talking no More’ - Terry commented on the positions of the two figures and the interesting background. David also had an HC with another monochrome ‘Houses of Parliament’
A classic image ‘Central Jetty’ Coniston’ by Steve Hardman was in second place and a well seen simple subject ‘Feather and Grass’ by Kyra Wilson was third. 
An image of a lone boy titled ‘Outlook’ (left) by Steve Burgess and ‘Sea Otter’ by David Wilkinson were each awarded HCs.

The Advanced section had 26 entries with many excellent landscape and nature prints also some portraits and monochrome architecture images.
A portrait by Dave Gray titled ‘Gambian Girl with her Toy’ was placed first – the toy was a rubber tyre but the young girl had a beaming smile on her face. Another print by Dave was in second place this time a stunning Scottish landscape titled ‘’Liatach from Loch Clair’
In third place in the Advanced section was ‘Young Red Deer Stag’ by Caroline Wright. Tim Pier was awarded HC’s for 2 of his prints as did Richard Atkinson with Pam Mullings and Robert Harvey ARPS EFIAP an HC each. See the full list below.

A big thank-you to Terry Walters for judging the competition, for giving his very well informed comments and for taking so much time and trouble looking at all the prints. The club does appreciate the time the judges give – without them there would be no competitions!
Thanks also to Caroline for all the time she gives sorting, listing and getting the entries to the judge. Richard Watson ran tonights competion as Caroline  was unable to attend. PM

Full results                                               The awarded images can be seen in the Galleries.

Ten local camera clubs were invited to take part in the Calne Digital battle. The judge for the evening was Ralph Snook ARPS DPAGB EFIAPwho very ably commented and gave his judgement on the 70 images.
Ralph’s specialised subject is nature as he is a very accomplished wildlife photographer himself but he gave his very well thought out comments on the diverse range of subjects entered in this Open competition. We saw motor bikes going through flames, steam trains, street photography, portraits, ships and of course many landscapes.
The standard was very high as usual so those that attended had a very interesting evening seeing the wide range of entries from all the clubs and hearing the judge’s comments.
During the evening there were 5 images awarded the top score of 20 including ‘Kingfisher with Catch’ (right) an amazing image by our club’s Robert Harvey ARPS EFIAP.
The judge said it was one of the best kingfisher images he had seen with the tiny fish in a circle matching the circle caused by the spray.
Close behind Gill Cardy FRPS DPAGB EFIAP had 19 points for ‘Hawfinch’ an image which the judge said was very well focussed and with an uncluttered muted background.
Caroline Wright had 18 points for ‘First Lock of the Day’ with the judge remarking on the excellent atmospheric early morning monochrome image. Something rather different was a composite image ‘Choir Practice’ by Pam Mullings scoring 18 points.
A stunning sky in an image titled ‘Sunset, Eilean Donan’ by Sue Wadman also scored 18.
Not far behind was Robert’s ‘Knowlton Church and Earthworks’ and Dave Gray’s ‘Brothers' which both scored 17 points.
At half time we were tied in second place and when the final points were totalled Devizes CC finished in a very creditable second place with a final total of 127 points.
First were Nonpareil with 132 but we finished ahead of  the other 8 clubs including Bath, Warminster and Swindon.
Before the meeting closed the judge announced his favourite image from the competition which was Robert’s kingfisher.
The very nice crystal trophy was presented to Robert at the club on Tuesday.
Very well done to all.
Thanks to Calne camera Club for hosting the event, our club Battle Secretary Frank Collins or organising our entry and those who selected the images. PM 

“Throw Away the Tripod” was the title of Tuesday evenings presentation by Bob Ryan ARPS FRSA and Alison Price ARPS FRSA. Bob apologised for the fact that his wife, Alison, was unable to attend as work and home commitments had prevented her from coming.  In preamble to his talk he said that on their many travels around the world they found that their tripods were often lugged around without ever getting used.
“Forget the Camera, Let’s talk about the Brain” might have been the sub-text for this fascinating lecture covering the conscious and non-conscious skills and decision making that take place during the photographic process from planning the shot to viewing the finished image.

Bob is an Emeritus Professor who specialises in Analysis which he used during his career as an accountant. He has now transferred those skills to photography where he has developed his thoughts on how non-conscious skills can improve a photographers ability.
Learning to drive, he said, is an example of how non-conscious skills can be developed. When you learn to drive, there are a lot of conscious decisions to be made - when to change gear, how to change gear, when to turn, where the controls are, etc. As you practice and become more experienced you do these things without thinking. He asked how many people had driven to the club and who could remember exactly how they got there. Once skills become non-conscious, the brain is freed to carry out other conscious decision making and the non-conscious processes happen more quickly. Bob said that this non-conscious learning process is accelerated when people are under stress.
We were introduced to what he called the “Structure of Expertise” and its 10 photographic constructs - Technical details; Focus; Exposure; Use of Colour and Tonality; Composition; Use of Light; Depth of Field; Creativity; Narrative; and Impact. Bob postulated that being able to make non-conscious decisions at the moment of opening the shutter will give you a better chance of getting the shot you want.
He credited Alison with an enviable and uncanny ability to make decisions at a non-conscious level on most of these constructs at the point of taking a photograph. These skills were burnt into her brain during her years as a Police Photographer taking images in traumatic situations such as car-crashes. Despite many years away from photography, when she came back to it she found that she still had that ability to make photographic decisions at an intuitive level.
Bob then talked about ways that these intuitive skills can be developed. He suggested the EPF method covering Emotional activation, deep Practice and Feedback. He advised using music to achieve emotional involvement in what you are doing.
Practice detailed techniques (e.g. shooting in different light) over and over again until you do it intuitively. And get someone to honestly tell you what they think of the results.
And then he invited us to take his IMP test to assess how we measure up against others in our intuitive, non-conscious decision making in relation to our photography. This entails assessing a series of images on-line against his 10 constructs and receiving an assessment report.
Bob finished each half of his talk with a couple of audio-visual presentations from his and Alisons travels. At the end of the first half he showed the Great Migration on the Masai Mara and an AV called Struggle for Life following a herd of Zebra crossing the river. One zebra escaped the clutches of a crocodile with an injury leg, only to be caught by a lion. The images included to make this story were fantastic.
At the end of the second half there was an AV from the Living Rainforest of Borneo. As well as some great shots of Proboscis Monkeys, there was a series of emotional images of the maternal responses of a mother Orang Utan to her dying baby which Bob credited to Alison.
This was a fascinating evening taking a different slant on the photographic process. It will have provoked a lot of thought and discussion.

We would like to thank both Rob and Alison for their insights and images.DF

 Around 250 people converged on the Wiltshire Music Centre in Bradford on Avon to see world renowned Landscape photographer Charlie Waite speak about his photographic passion.  They were not disappointed, as Charlie explained his philosophy, and how this had been inspired by some of the greats of photography such as Ansel Adams and Henri Cartier-Bresson.
Pre-visualisation is one of the keys to successful photography.  Ansel Adams was happy if he made 12 successful images in a year, by which he meant photographs that fulfilled his ‘pre-visualisation’ of how the scene should look.  He had extremely high standards, and very few of his images reached the perfection he sought.
Although planning and pre-visualisation are very important, sometimes serendipity gives you an unplanned image which nevertheless works.  Charlie illustrated this with one of his own pictures, in which a line of cows took up exactly the right position along a shoreline, to create a perfect foil to the stormy sea and sky beyond.

Another theme was the connection between the photographer and viewer, and how interesting it is to observe an audience’s reaction to different photographs.  Psychologically, a viewer will typically decide whether they like an image within the first second of seeing it.  Charlie also showed how sometimes, viewers can interpret the image in unexpected ways.  An avenue through a line of tall trees, framing a view of open countryside beyond, suddenly became a bottle of white wine, and shadows on sunlit cloisters became a stairway.

Charlie’s tour company is called ‘Light and Land’, and Charlie emphasised how important light is on creating a successful landscape.  Pre-visualising a scene involves deciding on the interplay between sunlit and shaded areas of the landscape to suit the composition, and waiting for the sky to deliver sunlight and cloud shadow to match. The clouds not in the picture, casting shadows on the right portions of the landscape, are often more important than the clouds within it.

In the digital age, many effects can be added in post-processing, which raises the question of how much of this is valid.  If the photograph is the photographer’s way of sharing the passion of his experience with the viewer, the essential integrity of the truth of the image has to be maintained.  Once this is lost, the relationship between photographer and viewer is compromised.

On a more practical level, Charlie used many images to illustrate some of the finer points of composition which he believed make for successful images.  Repeating shapes such as curves, triangles, diagonal lines etc within an image make for a pleasing whole.  A slightly raised viewpoint often provides all important separation between the different elements making up the composition, and to achieve this, Charlie often uses a small set of steps to gain sufficient elevation.

The evening was Devizes Camera Club’s most ambitious undertaking.  It was hugely rewarding to see so many people from the wider photographic community and the general public coming to see and hear such and accomplished photographer and speaker.  Special thanks go to Robert Harvey, who as Programme Secretary conceived and managed the whole event, undertook publicity to 100 other clubs and co-ordinated tickets sales, which was hugely time consuming. 
Our thanks also go to Richard Watson, Craig Purvis, Frank Collins, Lynda Croft and all the others who helped publicise the event and manage ticket sales at club level. DG

Charlie Waite's website

Images taken at the event by Sue Wadman of Charlie Waite and club Chairman Richard Watson