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

There were 84 entries for Peter McCloskey FRPS AFIAP to judge and comment upon in this second Open Projected Image competition of the season.
It was pleasing to see that many of the new members had entered a competition for the first time.
Peter is an experienced judge and was looking for subjects that were a bit different and that appealed to him. Many of the images in all of the sections were in his opinion over sharpened – some showed unwanted artefacts and in others the give away is often a pale line around dark edges. Members should look very closely at their images for over sharpening before entering them in competition and Peter gave some helpful tips on how to avoid or remedy the problem.
In the Beginners section newcomer Bruce Chappell made an excellent start in his first competition as his monochrome entry ‘Mannequins’ (right) was awarded first place. The judge commented on the unusual subject and the good choice of depth of field.
Bruce was also awarded third place with another monochrome titled ‘The Herb Seller’
Another new member with an excellent start was Mark Somerville with his monochrome ‘Contemplation’ awarded second place and another of his entries gaining a Highly Commended.

The judge commented that although some monochrome entries gained awards others appeared rather all over grey and would have been better left in colour as he looks for good contrast in monochrome images.
A nature image gained David Wilkinson first place in the Intermediate section - the judge praised the sharpness and the muted background of ‘Stonechat with Insect’ (left) and David also had an HC with another nature subject.
The stunning scenery of Sue Wadman’s image ‘Norwegian Winter’ gained her second place and another landscape ‘Swirling Pool’ by Steve Hardman was placed third.

There was a wide range of subjects in the Advanced section for the judge to give his comments and opinions on.
‘Gallery Viewing’ (right) -  a monochrome by Janet Rutter LRPS particularly caught his eye and was awarded first place out of the 36 entries. The subject really suited the monochrome presentation.
Dave Gray had 3 awards for his entries – a portrait ‘Coy Teenager’ was in second place, and ‘Talisker Bay Sunset’ a landscape with an amazing sky was awarded third place with ‘Early Morning Ablutions gaining a Highly Commended. Richard Atkinson AFIAP and Robert Harvey ARPS EFIAP each had Highly Commended for two of their entries.
A full list of awarded images can be seen below.

Well done to all those that entered the competition and especially to those that entered for the first time. Hopefully the judges’ comments were helpful - often it was just a bit more attention to the presentation that was needed. As usual the judge commented that many images could have been improved with some cropping of unnecessary areas so that attention is drawn more to the main subject.
Thanks to the judge for giving his opinion on the entries and selecting those images for the awards. PM

List of award winners        All the awarded entries can be seen in the Galleries.

Members log in can to see the points tables in Members Information. If any member has forgotten their password or has any other difficulty please contact Pam Mullings website support.

The competition for Nature prints and projected images was judged by Penny Pinnock DPAGB AFIAP who is herself a renowned nature photographer specialising mostly in underwater images. Penny said that she had very much enjoyed looking at the clubs entries and that she felt that all the images were of a high standard so it was very difficult to choose which ones to give the awards.
Penny said that apart from the main subject being sharp and the colours true she looks for the aesthetics and the creative vision shown by the photographer. Preferably the subject should be shown with some action but said that as usually you can’t get wild birds or animals to pose just where you want so you have to do your best with whatever lighting conditions, vegetation or backgrounds are present.

There was a large entry of both prints and projected images from the club members.
Penny gave her opinions on each of the prints and was impressed by the good presentation.
Finally, after some difficult decisions the awards for the nature prints were announced with an outstanding image by Robert Harvey ARPS EFIAP being awarded first place for
‘Kingfisher Surfacing’ (left)
Robert spent many patient hours which resulted in a series of remarkable images of kingfishers diving in and emerging from the water often having caught a fish. The judge particularly liked the way the spray had been captured and the reflections shown in the image.
Penny liked the simplicity but appreciated the difficulties presented by photographing insects in flight and awarded ‘Flying Emperor’ (right) by Richard Atkinson AFIAP second place.
The subject was rather more static in third placed ‘Ladies Slipper Orchid’ by Gill Cardy FRPS EFIAP DPAGB with the judge remarking on the excellent lighting.

After the break the 42 projected images were shown depicting many species of birds, mammals from many continents, insects, amphibians and flowers.

Robert Harvey’s ‘Black-browed Albatross Courtship’ (left) was awarded first place with the judge remarking on the excellent composition.

In second place was Richard Atkinson’s colourful back-lit image ‘Brimstone Butterfly’ (below)
and Richard was also awarded third place for another difficult subject to photograph with the remarkable ‘Swallow in Flight’

Twentyone of the nature images were awarded a Highly Commended and altogether thirteen members gained awards for their prints and projected images - the full list can be seen below.

Robert Harvey was once again presented with the two Nature trophies – the John Sowman Memorial Trophy for prints and the Bowker-Praed Challenge trophy for the projected images - so very well done yet again to Robert.

Thanks to Penny for travelling from Dorset on a damp evening and giving her helpful comments on how some images might have been slightly improved and for taking the time to look so carefully at the entries and choosing the winning images.

Thanks to Caroline Wright who had the time consuming job of organising and running the competition.
Finally, thanks to all the members of the club who entered the competition - especially the new members.

Full results     The awarded images can be seen in the Galleries 

Congratulations to Robert Harvey ARPS EFIAP who has recieved the good news that his image 'Knowlton Church and earthworks, Dorset' is one of those commended in the Take a View Landscape Photographer of the Year Competition.
Robert entered his image in the Classic View Category which is one of the four categories. 
The competition is for images taken in the UK during the last 5 years and is sponsored by the Sunday Times magazine.
The winner of the category was Rachael Talibart who recently gave the club an excellent presentation so many congratulations to her. This is 11th year of this national competition run by Landscape photographer Charlie Waite who will be giving a presentation for the club on 11 November at the Music Centre, Bradford on Avon.
The awarded images are to be published in a book and the images will be shown in a digital display at Waterloo Station from 20 November until 4 February 2018.

Robert's image was his first one taken in 2017 and  below is his description of the image.
 'Deep in the Dorset countryside, ruined Knowlton Church is situated within a Neolithic henge. I chose to make this image a few minutes after sunrise on a heavily frosted January morning. I like the way the low sunlight embraces the earthworks, emphasising their subtle contours. Frosted grass brings the scene to life. My image conveys a sense of the many layers and millennia of history at this sacred site, from prehistoric pagans to medieval Christians'

Bob Train LRPS CPAGB was welcomed on his first visit to the club. He is a member of Gloucester Camera Club and is also a judge of photographic competitions.

Bob said that some time ago he found his interest in photography had somewhat waned after he found himself alwys looking for images that would impress a judge rather than images taken just to please himself.
After taking several RPS courses Bobs particular interests now are mainly Street, Urban and Documentary photography and he went on to explain the differences in his interesting presentation.

‘Every image should tell a story’ – in street photography Bob looks out for everyday people in sometimes amusing and sometimes incongruous situations. His advice was to be inconspicuous and quietly observe what is going on. ‘Shoot first – think later’ be quick or you miss the moment he advises. Sometimes he has an image in his mind and then waits patiently until suitable passers-by walk into the frame to complete the story. The best images are often captured when the subject is completely unaware that they are being photographed.

Bob uses a Sony A7R compact system which is small enough to pack in a pocket and is unobtrusive. An advantage is the flip out screen and features like the face recognition system enabling perfect focus, the ability to capture images in mixed lighting conditions and the excellent low light ability. Intelligent auto and motor drive means you do not miss the crucial moment so Bob says ‘embrace the new technology’ even phones are handy nowadays to capture a moment in time.

The idea with Urban photography is to look out for thought provoking, interesting situations which are devoid of people but show evidence of past occupation. Bob showed his set of images taken in the now empty Gloucester Prison but with haunting evidence of what prison life was like in the past – messages on the wall – some socks tied to a bed.

Another topic of Bob’s is to find images where just a tiny part of the image has a big impact – maybe a tiny figure or a single tree. Simple creative images that concentrate on patterns and shapes – less is more says Bob.
Many images are converted to monochome to better convey the feeling of the image.
Bob showed us some excellent night shots without the use of flash but explained that the camera must be on a tripod because of the slow shutter speed required. Some panoramas created in camera were shown and Bob says he is always experimenting and trying new ideas to keep his interest in photography alive. PM

Images © Bob Train    Top left 'Good Buddies'      Right 'Begging Zone'      Left 'Walk to Freedom'

The judge for the first competition of the season was Peter Weaver LRPS CPAGB APAGB who has visited Devizes CC to judge club competitions on many previous occasions. Peter remarked how much he enjoyed looking at the clubs images with such awide range of subjects and the very high standard of the entries.
Starting with the Beginners the judge said most were of a very high standard and it should not be long before some were promoted to the Intermediate section. To gain promotion from Beginners members need to gain a total of 25 points with 6 points awarded for first place, 5 for second place, 4 for third place with 2 points for all images that are awarded Highly Commended (HC).
The judge said it had been difficult to decide on the winner from the 30 images entered in the beginners section but decided that ‘Warleigh Weir' by Martin Stokes (left) deserved first place. Second was a very unusual image also by Martin titled ‘Sunflower Surprise’ which showed a well-lit close up of a sunflower with a sunset behind.
Peter Eley’s ‘Winter Thistle’ which very well portrayed a close up of a frosted seed head was in third place. Another simple frosty image by Peter gained an HC.
Well done to those newcomers who entered a competition for the first time.

In the Intermediate section there were 15 images entered. The judge particularly enjoyed the image of a cow with its calf titled ‘New Born’ by Jean Ingram (right) and placed it first. Peter said that capturing a swallow as it flew in to feed its young was a difficult subject but was well caught by Kyra Wilson and placed ‘Barn Swallows’ second. In third place was a nostalgic image titled ‘Vintage Rally in the Highlands’ by David Wilkinson and David also gained an HC with his image ‘Red Leg Partridge’

After the break the 33 entries in the Advanced section were commented on by the judge.
There was no doubt about the winner as the Peter said that the image by Robert Harvey ARPS EFIAP was probably the best kingfisher image that he had judged. Captured as it emerged from the water with a small fish in its beak ‘Kingfisher with Catch’ (left) was a superb image and a very worthy winner. Robert also had HC’s with his other wildlife entries ‘’Two King Penguins’ and ‘Sparrowhawk with Prey’
A deceptively simple monochrome image of reeds reflected in still water ‘Encircled’ by Richard Watson LRPS was praised by the judge and placed second in the advanced section with another of Richard’s images ‘Time for a Cuddle’ awarded an HC. ‘The Three Pugaleers‘ by Kev Ferris LRPS was a very cute image of puppies posing for the camera and was given third place. Gill Cardy FRPS DPAGB EFIAP had HC’s for two of her images 'Storm Rider' and 'Lapwing'

Congratulations to all those gaining awards and also very well done to those for entering for the first time.
Many thanks to Peter Weaver for taking so much time and trouble to judge all the entries and to give such helpful comments.

Thanks also to Competition Secretary - Caroline Wright for all her work collecting in all the images, sorting them and sending them to the judge and entering them into the software used for competitions. PM
See the full results                      All the awarded images can be seen in the Galleries

Often photographers can be rather disappointed when an image taken straight from the camera looks rather dull and soft on their monitor so as club secretary Dave Gray says ‘clicking the shutter is just the first step in the process’.
Using the extensive range of editing tools in Adobe Lightroom Dave very ably demonstrated to members how to transform a rather ordinary looking image into an outstanding one.
The original RAW image may have little detail in the shadows, a rather dull sky and lack impact but with some basic editing of the colour balance, exposure and contrast any image can be greatly improved.
See this example – just a few clicks later
and the image is transformed.

The clouds show up well against the blue sky, the foreground looks more interesting and the detail can be seen in the rocks.

Using a range of subjects Dave demonstrated how any image can be enhanced by using the sliders in Lightroom. 
Any of the hues within a RAW image can be edited separately – the sky made bluer, the grass greener or colours more vibrant but take care to not overdo the changes.

Digital images tend to be slightly soft but over sharpening can produce digital noise and unwanted artefacts so check the enlarged image very carefully.
Care must be taken with saturation and vibrancy adjustments as in some cases too much can make the colours look unnatural.

Further fine tuning can be done using the array of Lightroom tools – graduated filters can lighten or darken, specific areas can be changed and vignetting added to the final image. With practice it can only take a few minutes to edit an image and photographers usually get to know which of the array of tools available works best for them.
Sensor spots can be removed using the healing tool and Dave showed how he could make a temporary pre-set so that the same spots on other images can be quickly removed. After editing an image the changes made can be saved as a pre-set for use on similar images saving time.

Dave recommended that members should ‘soft proof’ their image before for printing to get a better idea of the final appearance as colours viewed on a screen can vary from the colours on a print.  Using colour management and obtaining a printing profile should result in a print close to the image shown on the monitor.

Concluding his presentation Dave showed members how they should prepare their images for club competitions. It wastes a lot of time for Competition Secretary Caroline Wright if she has to correct members image files before they can be entered into the software used.  Would all members please check that their images are correctly resized and titled before sending them in for competitions. Please read the Projected Image instructions.  PM

Members may like to recap on the extensive information given by Dave by reading his 'Editing in Adobe Lightroom' See other useful pdf's in 'Members Information'

A large audience, including several guests new to the club, gathered to hear our first speaker of the season.  Arriving at the club after an interview with BBC Radio Wiltshire, fine art photographer Rachael Talibart took us on a fascinating journey exploring her relationship with the coast and her distinctive approach to making photographs of the sea.

Most of Rachael’s images are not “representational landscapes” in the sense of showing recognisable places but rather seek to capture the atmosphere of the subject. Most have been made in the company of her classic VW Camper Van Lilly.  Rachael likes to return to the same locations many times to show their many moods.

A turning point in Rachael’s photography came when she created “Five” on a foggy day in Venice. Since then she has eschewed traditional views of well-known subjects in favour of innovative approaches. One of her favourite shutter speeds is ¼ of a second, sometimes hand-held, to show movement in water and even in the terrestrial elements of her seascapes.  An image in which nothing is sharp can create a painterly effect. 

Her favourite lens is a 70-200mm telephoto, often selecting details from a scene and showing only part of a subject such as the Seven Sisters in Sussex.  This leaves the viewer to extrapolate; sometimes what is left out can be more powerful than what is included. 

Lighthouses are a particular inspiration, sometimes shown in black and white to make them more graphic. She also has a particular fondness for aerial photography from a helicopter, which she has used to make striking images of the Oregon coast and Isle of Wight’s Round the Island race.  Some striking images have been taken by pointing the camera straight down, avoiding any perspective and focusing on details such as drainage patterns in sand (“sand trees”), which can appear abstract when captured in this way.  Two favourite locations for this type of photography are The Isle of Harris and Iceland.

Rachael prefers to capture images as complete as possible in camera, rather than spending much time processing them on a computer.  To this end she uses a range of filters including polarisers, 6 and 10 stop neutral density filters and both hard and soft graduated filters.  She tends to leave her images on file for some time before processing them, to bring a fresh eye to the subject matter.

Rachael’s talk concluded with a sequence of her best known work, storm waves photographed at Newhaven in Sussex.  Using a fast shutter speed of 1/1000th of a second, she captures the character of her waves, to which she gives names drawn from classical mythology. Two of her favourites are “Poseidon Rising” and “Maelstrom”, which won the Sunday Times Award in the 2016 Landscape Photographer of the Year competition.

We are very grateful to Rachael for travelling all the way from Surrey on a stormy evening to give us an insight into her innovative photography and show us so many outstanding images. RH         Images © Rachael Talibart '  Five'  'Sand Trees' 'Poseidon Rising' and 'Maelstrom'

Members might like to view the images of photographers that have inspired Rachael.       Lyle Gomes,   Jonathan Chritchley  and Isabel Diez

Behance - website with interesting photo projects from Hans Findling, Claire Droppert  and others           The Togcast - contemporary Landscape photographers

The prints by club members are now all framed and hung on the walls of the Gallery in the Heritage Museum, Devizes resulting in an excellent exhibition that is a real credit to the club. Many members were present at the opening on the afternoon of Sunday 9 September as well as visitors who all very much admired the work on display.

Club Chairman Richard Watson LRPS introduced Cllr. Nigel Carter the Mayor of Devizes  who opened the exhibition and in his speech remarked on the high standard of the prints on display.
The mayor had looked closely at the 59 prints and commented on the wide range of interesting subjects on display.
The Mayor expressed his own interest in photography and hoped he would find time to further develop his skills in the future.

The competitions were judged by Adrian Herring ARPS DPAGB who said he had greatly enjoyed looking through all of the entries.
He said that there were so many excellent prints that he had great difficulty choosing the final winners. He remarked that in some cases the prints could have been improved by choosing a different printing paper as that greatly affects the final look of the image but now they were all framed and under glass they looked very different.
Adrian said that even though some entries were from the Beginners section the standard of photography throughout the club was very high and he predicted that many entrants would soon be promoted to the Advanced section.

Starting with the Derek Parker Trophy competition Adrian praised the quality of the Beginners and Intermediate section prints and said there was not much to distinguish between those and the Advanced group. The winners were announced with first place going to an early morning canal scene by Caroline Wright titled ‘First Run of the Day’(top left) in second place was ‘Village Stream’ (left) a very well taken night scene by Craig Purvis and placed third was the atmospheric ‘Red Deer in Misty Grass’ by Kyra Wilson. (below left)

All entries from the clubs 3 sections were considered for the Leaze Cottage Trophy competition. The judge said it was extremely difficult to pick out 3 for awards as there were so many outstanding entries with such differing subjects. After a very difficult decision the first place went to ‘Who Let the Dogs Out? (top right) by Pam Mullings saying it was something a bit different and although he was not particularly a dog lover he loved the variety of dogs all running at great speed.
Very close in second place was Robert Harvey ARPS EFIAP with a very clever astronomical image taken of the starry Namibian sky with the title ‘Three Galaxies’ (above)
In third place was ‘Synchronised Landing’ featuring two geese cleverly photographed as the flew in side by side. (below right)

Adrian Herring presented the trophies to Caroline and Pam and praised all those members who entered their prints into the competition.

Richard Watson thanked Caroline for organising the competitions, Pam for her help and all those members that had come in the day before to frame and hang all the prints.
Thanks also to the Heritage Museum and staff for the use of the Gallery

The exhibition continues until Sunday 8 October so those that missed the opening can look in to the Gallery and see the excellent prints on display during Museum opening hours. If you say you are visiting the exhibition there is no charge. PM