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

Club Chairman Richard Watson LRPS welcomed members back after the summer break. This was the first meeting of the 2017-2018 season so there was a great deal of chatter about trips to exiting places and photographic experiences. 
Members of the committee introduced themselves and explained to visitors their roles in the club and also something about their photography.
Dave Gray continues as Secretary and also runs the very successful Landscape Group together with Programme Secretary Robert Harvey ARPS EFIAP.
Lynda Croft has taken over as Treasurer and Caroline Wright continues as Competition Secretary. Battle Secretary Frank Collins who has been a member for about 34 years organises our competitions with other clubs.
Relative newcomers to the club found themselves elected to the committee in May - Steve Hardman has taken on the role of Vice Chairman and Craig Purvis has found himself in charge of Publicity. What could the club do without Michael Saunders who sets out the room ready for the meeting.
A full list of those that do the hard work running the club can be found on the ‘About Us’ page.

Robert then showed us the very interesting line up of top speakers we can look forward to during the season.
Presenting a wide range of subjects so there should be something to please everyone – including landscape, wildlife, creative, portraits and much, much more.
Robert gave a taster of each of the speakers and the subjects they are presenting.

Members had been asked to send in a few of their photos taken during the summer so it was interesting to see the exotic and not so exotic places that have inspired them.
From the committee members - Frank showed images taken in Bucharest and one of Dave's Bali images caused a laugh with its odd English translation and another was of a picturesque Hindu temple. Robert travelled to the states and showed some stunning images of the total eclipse. Craig had some colourful images of Bruges and Ghent and Richard showed images taken closer to home of British butterflies.
Others who sent in images were Robin Taylor who was inspired by a steam train and Corfe Castle,  Janet Rutter showed some monochrome images of machinery, Pam Mullings some character portraits and Peter Tasker images of Gill Cardy and her vintage Austin 7 taken at the club social event.
During the break members could catch up with each other and make the visitors welcome.

Following the old adage ‘What is the best camera? answer – the one you have with you’ Richard gave a presentation of his images taken on his phone.
As he explained – the quality of phone images is very good nowadays so it is very handy to use the phone to take images that inspire you.
Anytime, anywhere you will probably have your phone with you so you don't miss the chance of capturing an interesting image.
Richard has been experimenting with the apps that let you do interesting things to the images actually on the phone so no need to transfer to a computer. Two, three or more images can be overlaid and blended with a wide variety of effects. Some work well others not so but now and then a stunning image emerges right.
Richard is trying to capture the effect of wind blowing grasses and an image of orchids combined with an image of grasses gave an interesting, painterly and impressionistic effect. left

Preparations are being finalised for the Biennial Print Exhibition which opens in the Wiltshire Heritage Museum, Devizes at 2pm on Sunday 10 September so the club hopes you can all attend and bring along anyone else interested in in joining to see a wide range of members framed prints.

See the Programme for all the interesting speakers and just a reminder that next Tuesday is the sending in day for the first competition of the season.
Please see the Competitions page as there are a few changes to the procedure.

Looks like everyone is as enthusiastic as ever about their photography and very much looking forward to the coming season. PM

The competition results and points tables will be shown in the members section during the season. If you have lost your password please contact me. 
Also any members wishing to add to the Members Albums - please let me know. Pam Mullings - Website Support

Congratulations to Robert Harvey for being awarded a PSA Gold (Best in Category) for his image
'King Penguin Chick' (right) at the Port Talbot International Salon .
Robert also passed another personal landmark when his total number of different images accepted in international/FIAP salons exceeded 200.
He has added many new images to the total in the last five international salon.
These impressive results put Robert in the lead for the Ryder Rathband Trophy with 56 points. 

Richard Atkinson has added a few acceptances to his total to gain a total of 27 points but there have been no new entries from other members.

Entering Salons gives members a chance to let a wider audience see their images and gives a comparison with not only other photographers in this country but those from across the world. Entering and seeing the work of other photographers will broaden your horizon and give you stimulating ideas of how to progress your photography.
If images are accepted in FIAP supported Salons then a photographer can gain an internationally recognised accreditation.
The first level of accreditation AFIAP is within the reach of many of our members and recognises you as a competent photographer.
More information regarding Salons can be found on our website and a good read is 'A Beginners Guide to Photography Salons'.

If members are interested in showing their images to a wider audience then please get in touch with Richard for advice and support.

See PDF for latest DCC Salon results.            See Salons for information about entering Salon

Many congratulations to two of our club members on their recent successes.

Gill Cardy FRPS AFIAP DPAGB has recently been awarded the distinction of EFIAP (Excellence in the Fédération Internationale de l'Art Photographique)
To gain the award Gill needed to have a minimum of 250 acceptances from at least 30 International Salons using at least 50 different images. Twelve of the images had to have acceptaces in the Print Category and at least 5 inages must have gained 3 acceptances and of those 2 had gained awards from 2 different countries. Gill found that the rules kept changing so quite a challenge to work out what was required!

Very well done Gill for persevering through all the rule changes and gaining the award. 
One of Gill's accepted images 'Great Grey Owl sitting in Snow' right

Many congratulations also to Joan Ryder Rathband FRPS FPSSA AFIAP DPAGB who had one of her images selected by the PAGB to represent England in the PDI Biennial Competition

The competition was organised by FIAP with 20 countries taking part.

Twenty images were selected for the theme 'Females in Imagined Places'   Joan's selected image was titled 'The Single Red Rose' (left) and was awarded 10 points.
All of the images which gained over 7 points will be on display in Norway.

The results have been recently announced and England were delighted to be placed second and awarded a Gold Medal.
(Russia came first and were awarded the 'World Cup')

Very well done to Joan and also to England as the standard of photography was very high from all the countries that entered.

Adrian Herring ARPS DPAGB and Vanessa Herring LRPS are both very experienced judges and did an excellent job of jointly judging what Adrian described as 'a fantastic set of images - especially the wildlife'. This 'friendly' battle between the sexes of the club is always closely fought and both sides do all they can to win!
Having a husband and wife to judge jointly avoided any feeling there might have been of bias even though they were only given the titles of the images with no photographer's names shown. The judges had viewed the images separately and had not revealed their scores to each other in advance but in most cases found that they agreed with each other giving similar comments on each image and very nearly always the same points. Each judge scored out of 10 giving the total points out of 20. The rules stated no more than 3 images from any one entrant and a minimum of 6 images from each section (Beginners, Intermediate & Advanced) 

Out of the 60 images projected 5 scored the maximum 20 points with Gill Cardy FRPS AFIAP DPAGB bumping up the Ladies total considerably with perfect scores on all 3 of her images. Both judges were in agreement and each gave top marks to the 3 stunning wildlife images 'Black Grouse at Lek', Great Grey Owl sitting in Snow' and 'Osprey Bringing Nesting Material' (right)
Pam Mullings also scored a 20 for the Ladies with a group of fleeing impalas titled 'On the Run'
Close behind was Caroline Wright who only lost 1 point with 19 for her 'First Lock of the Flight' and 'Little Owl Hopping' by Kyra Wilson scored well with 18 points.

For the Gents - Ray Grace ARPS DPAGB scored the only 20 with his simple monochrome image titled 'Twilight' (left) and Ray also scored 18 for a Lake District landscape titled 'Derwent Isle'
There were 4 other images that scored 18 points for the Gents -
'Desert Eagle Owl' by Mike Valentine, 'Albatross Courtship' by Robert Harvey ARPS EFIAP, 'Elephant Mock Charge' by Clive Rathband FRPS FPSSA EFIAP DPAGB and last but by no means least 'Puffin' by Steve Hardman.

The total scores for the rest of the entries went from 12 to up to 17 points but members should not feel disappointed if they did not get top marks because, as Adrian said, the judges had to be 'picky' with such a high standard of entries so even any very minor flaws lost a point or two.

Many congratulations to all the Ladies who have only about half the number of 'photographically active' members but still managed to score 480 points against the Gents 465. Last year the Gents did manage to win but overall the Ladies have won most of the 'Battles of the Sexes'!
Thanks to the team captains who were both fairly new members and who came forward to organise the entries - Craig Purvis captained for the men and Lynda Croft for the ladies.
Thanks to Battle Secretary Frank Collins who set out the rules, organised the competition and saw fair play.
Thanks to all the members who sent in images for the selection - sorry not all could be used but the rules had to followed.

Very special thanks to the two judges for taking the time and trouble to look so carefully at all the entries and give such helpful comments when it was felt the image could have been improved. PM

 You can look back on club news & events from previous years.