If you are in Manchester or Liverpool, these photography exhibitions may be worth looking at.
Chair’s blog 10th April
A few highlights from my recent email
Next meeting
There isn’t a meeting on April 12th so the next meeting is on April 19th. This meeting is online as the speaker Darren Lewey is in Morocco. He is giving two talks “shooting a landscape for the first time” and “making portraits of strangers”.
Project group
The next project group meeting is Thursday 20th April – subjects are “Doors” and “Found on the farm”
Iceland
Have you been to Iceland, if so we’d love to see your images at the members evening on 3rd May? We are collating images on PhotoEntry from all who have been, you can upload up to eight images in the ad-hoc section
Club trip to Hebden Bridge
Sue has organised a trip to Hebden Bridge for Tuesday 9th May. As usual this is not organised by the Guild, for the benefit of new members, you have to find your own way there. More details to follow however put the date in your diary now.
Chairman’s challenge
This year, the challenge is “taken in the blue or golden hour”. Please upload up to 4 images to PhotoEntry in the single competition section. The winner will be selected by the members.
For sale
Gary Schultz has a set of studio lights for sale, please contact Gary for more details
Gary Schultz has a set of studio lights for sale, please contact Gary for more details
Photography quote
I came across this quote by Andrew Hardacre on the Photography is like Golf page of the Photowalk podcast. Apologies to those who have minimal knowledge of Golf however it is an appropriate description:
“Photography reminds me of golf. You can walk all day and get nothing. You wonder why you bother. Then you get one good shot and you can’t wait to get out again. You reminisce about your ‘birdies and eagles’ and pray for a hole in one, that magical lucky shot that you want to frame and hang. Gary Player famously said, the harder I practice the luckier I get. But most of the time it’s bunkers and bogies.”
I came across this quote by Andrew Hardacre on the Photography is like Golf page of the Photowalk podcast. Apologies to those who have minimal knowledge of Golf however it is an appropriate description:
“Photography reminds me of golf. You can walk all day and get nothing. You wonder why you bother. Then you get one good shot and you can’t wait to get out again. You reminisce about your ‘birdies and eagles’ and pray for a hole in one, that magical lucky shot that you want to frame and hang. Gary Player famously said, the harder I practice the luckier I get. But most of the time it’s bunkers and bogies.”
Feb 15th – programme changes – updated
Competition 5
Unfortunately, the judge for Competition 5 has had to cancel. Due to the short notice, and that this was a print competition we have had to move Competition 5 to April 26th. The good news is that we’ve extended the closing date for entries till March 29th. If you’ve already entered, sit back and relax unles you want to change your entry.
On Feb 15th, we’ll now hold an informal club competition with the usual knockout format. There’s a space on PhotoEntry in the single competition category for you to upload 3 entries.
The images should be new images but you can use them in the future for normal club competitions. Look forward to seeing your images from as many members as possible.
Competition 6
This is still on March 15th, and yes I know it’s before comp 5, but we’ve had another judge change so this is now on Zoom! Themes and deadlines are unchanged!
Interclub comp on Feb 8th now a Members evening
For logistical reasons, the interclub competition is cancelled. So rather than being on Zoom, we will meeting in the small hall for a members’ evening.
Next Project Group Meeting
The next meeting will be Thursday 16th February 2023 at 7.30pm at the Guild.
Thanks to those who came to the last meeting and also to those who contributed but were unable to attend. The chosen subjects for this next meeting are:
1. Public Transport …as usual, interpret in any way you like any aspect of this fascinating subject, steam locomotives also qualify.
2. Music… Venture into a little video if you wish, otherwise hone your photographic skills and imagination on this subject.
A longer term subject was requested by some group members, it is due to be shown at the seasons last meeting on 18th May. The chosen theme is Alphabet letters , found in the environment.
A test of observation is this one, we are looking for anything that forms the shape of a letter of the alphabet wherever you may find it. It does not however include letters on road signs and the like.
Remember the group is not competitive, its about stretching your normal photographic boundaries and having a reason to get out with your camera.
Bill Salkeld
Twelve Years Ago
It’s exactly 12 years since the January 2011 issue of Cheshire Life was published, including an article about the Wilmslow Guild Photographic Society. It’s almost entirely written by our then-chairman Gary Schultz, who said:
“The Wilmslow Photographic Society was formed in the 1930s and now has about 70 members on its books – ages range from 20-odd to 60-odd – and they have excelled in competitions locally, nationally and even internationally.
They came third overall out of almost 70 clubs in the Natural History Print Section of last year’s Lancashire and Cheshire Photographic Union Annual Competition and finished in seventh place overall.”
There are photos from Bill Salkeld, David Lewis, Kevin Lee, Claire Metcalfe, Geraldine Hillmer and Brian Smith alongside the text.
The above is a brief extract and you’ll be able to view a copy of the full article at our next meeting, at the start of January 2023.
December Monthly Competition Results
At the very end of November we held our December monthly competition. In this digital image competition the winning picture in the ‘Scapes category was ‘Low Tide at Aberffraw’ by Mary Dolan.
In the Open Mono category the winning picture was ‘Blackpool, a Trip Down Memory Lane’ by Pat Sawas.
Congratulations to both photographers! Full results are available on Photoentry as usual.
Our next monthly competition is on 18th January so remember to submit your DPIs via Photoentry by the 11th of January. Categories are ‘Open Colour’ and ‘Low Light’. It should be easy to find some low light at this time of year!
Our First Print Competition of the Year
On the 9th of November we held our first print competition of the year. The winning print in the Open Colour section was ‘Iris’ by David Royle.
And the winning print in the ‘Perspective’ section was’Blown Up in a Bubble’ by Mary Dolan.
Congratulations to both photographers! Full results are available on Photoentry as usual.
We are moving quickly on to our our next competition, which will also be in November this year because of the Guild calendar.
First 2022/23 Competition Results
In the words of Tess Daly “the scores are in”…
…and on the 5th of October we held our first competition of the season. DPI Open Mono + the subject ‘Water’.
Our judge chose Mary Dolan’s image ‘Tulips’ as the winning mono picture.
For “Water” the winner was John O’Brien’s ‘Yorkshire Falls
Congratulations to Mary and to John! Full results are available on Photoentry as usual.
Next project group meeting
WGPS Project Group.
The next meeting will be held on Thursday 20th October at 7.30pm in the Small Hall. The short notice is because the Guild is closed the following week for Half Term.
The chosen subjects are Silhouettes and Lines.
You can enter either or both sections with a total maximum of 10 images only please.
If you wish to show/discuss any other images (or photographic issues) bring them along and we can present them if we have time.
File sizes are not critical but smaller ( e.g. standard 1600 x 1200pixels) work better.
Future meeting dates are November 24th and December 8th.
Any suggestions/ideas are always welcome.
Bill
Project group is back!
WGPS Project Group.
The first meeting since pre Covid will take place on Thursday 6th October at 7.30pm in the Small Hall.
Anyone who is a member of the Photographic Club is welcome to attend. The aim of the group is to develop an individuals photographic skills by discussing images and other photographic issues in a friendly and non competitive atmosphere. This is partly achieved by setting photographic challenges which are decided within the group, the results then being shown at the next meeting.
Two different challenges are normally chosen and to start us off the I have selected the first subject of “Together”’. (maximum 5 images please)
For the second part bring along up to five recent images on any subject that you wish to show or discuss. All the images need to be on a USB memory stick. Sizing is not critical for this group but smaller files are preferred.
It would help if we had a volunteer to operate the computer during these meetings.
The hall has been booked for meetings on the following dates, Oct 20th, Nov 24th, Dec 8th.
Any questions or suggestions, please contact Bill
New Programme
As promised, the new programme for the 2022-23 season is here.
Click on the menu item ‘Calendar’ to view it.
Coming Soon
Our new season will be starting in September and to quote The Two Ronnies; have we got a packed programme for you?
Well yes we have; and details will be here shortly, so please visit in a few days’ time to see the new 2022-23 programme.
Last post of the season and competition themes for next season
I’ll update the rest of this post with a summary of the AGM soon however the themes for next season are below.
Congratulation to David R for his winning image ‘Colours of the City’ in the Chairman’s challenge. Also to Steve S for 2nd place with ‘Flip’, and to Monica and John for joint 3rd.
Date for your diary – Opening evening 14th September 7:30pm at The Guild for Lifelong learning. We are thinking of having an evening photowalk on 7th September in Altrincham – more details to follow.
The competition & themes for next season are as follows – dates to be follow.
| Comp | Part 1 | Part 2 |
| 1 (DPI) | Open Mono | Water |
| 2 (Print) | Open Colour | Perspective |
| 3 (DPI) | Open Mono | ‘Scapes (Land/Sea/City) |
| 4 (DPI) | Open Colour | Low light |
| 5 (Print) | Open Mono | Wildlife |
| 6 (DPI) | Open Colour | Blur |
Informal competition and Chairman’s challenge
Informal Competition – April 27th
This is an open theme, either colour or mono and will be a knockout competition voted for by the people in the hall at the Guild (sorry Zoom attendees). All the images should be new images, however you will be able to enter them in next year’s competitions.
Please upload 3 images to PhotoEntry before April 25th
Chairman’s challenge – May 25th
The theme for this is “Movement”. This could be a great action shot, intentional camera movement, a combination of both as I’ve tried to do or whatever else you think fits the theme. Once again, the winner will be decided by popular vote. In case you’re wondering, I’m ineligible so won’t be participating.
Once again, please upload 3 images to PhotoEntry.
Chair’s blog – 24th March including programme changes
Important
Next week 30th March, the speaker is unable to come to the Guild and hence this meeting will be a “Zoom” meeting, and there will not be a meeting in the Guild. Please check your emails from Monday for the link to the meeting.
Also, we have had to switch a couple of meetings due the speaker having a clash
4th May: Members evening
18th May: 75th Southport National Open Exhibition Presentation
The online calendar has been updated to reflect this.
Some External Competitions You Might Like to Enter
L&CPU Annual Individual Competition
Our “local” competition & free to enter. For prints & digital images. Closes 23rd April.
See: https://lcpu.org/2022/03/annual-individual-print-projected-image-competition-rules/
Edinburgh International Salon
The hardest photographic salon to get an acceptance from, in the world. For unmounted prints. Closes 1st June.
See: http://www.edinburghphotosalon.org (when they fix the domain name)
Photographic Society of America PSA Annual Large Print Exhibition
Despite the name it’s being organised and exhibited in that great USA state of ‘The Wirral’, at Hoylake, this year.
For unmounted prints; also despite the name, of the normal competition size. Closes 6th June.
See: https://psa-photo.org/index.php?psa-annual-2022 or https://psa-photo.org/useruploads/files/exhibitions/psa-annual-2022-large-print.pdf
Could you be the next Landscape Photographer of the Year?
Entries are currently open for this year’s LPOTY. For the 15th annual awards, we’re looking for images that capture the spirit of Britain and celebrate the wonder and joys of our landscape.
There are over £20,000 worth of prizes, with £10,000 awarded to the overall winner. Runner-up and commended entries will be included in a full-colour book and touring UK exhibition in the UK’s biggest train stations.
Main categories: Classic View, Black and White, Urban Life and Your View.
Special Awards: Coast, Lines in the Landscape, Historic Britain and Landscapes at Night.
Read more about the categories and awards: lpoty.co.uk/competition/categories
Any photo taken in the last 5 years is eligible. Submit your best landscape images by 5 May 2022 at lpoty.co.uk
Entry fees apply. Any questions, email admin@lpoty.co.uk
An Invitation to Chapel Camera Club’s Exhibition
Twenty Twenty … and Beyond
Chapel Camera Club is delighted to invite you to
an exhibition of photography in Gallery 2 at Buxton Museum and Art Gallery between 5th March and 2nd May 2022.
Opening times are 10am – 5pm
( Please note the museum is not open on bank holidays)
This award-winning camera club is featuring 30 self-portraits from its Arts Council’s funded project, ‘Living Through Lockdown -Personal Perspectives in Photographs’ together with photographs of a wide variety of subjects.
Visitors to the exhibition will enjoy viewing:
- 30 self-portraits from its Arts Council’s funded project, ‘Living Through Lockdown -Personal Perspectives in Photographs’.
- 48 members’ framed images of a wide variety of subjects
- The 3 winning images from our Peoples Summer Photo Competition
- A 5 min TV presentation of members’ Lockdown quotes, and further members DPIs on a variety of topics
- 2 cabinets illustrating the club and member’s successes by means of medals, certificates and ribbons
- A grand total of 112 exhibits
Each Saturday afternoon, during the exhibition, the club is holding ‘Meet the Photographer’ sessions. Visitors will have the opportunity to meet members to find out more about the club’s weekly events programme, mentoring opportunities, and to talk about their own projects, or just photography.
For further information please contact Ann Carter (Vice Chair) ann@coffeecups.plus.com
Royal Geographical Society – The Three Stripes South (a free online talk)
Chair’s blog – 27 Feb
Hello,
At last some sunshine and signs that Spring is on the way – hope you can get out and about with your cameras! Hopefully, life is getting back to normal and we can all get some great images to share, and discuss.
Next week, we will review images from the PhotoEditing challenge – there’s still time to upload your versions to PhotoEntry if you haven’t already done so
Last week we had the second print competition of the season and it was great to see an increased number of entries including one A4 size. We will keep the rule change to allow unmounted and mounted prints in the future and look forward to seeing entries from as many of you as possible. Congratulations to the winners last week, the results mean that there are three points between first and second place, so the last competition will be exciting! You can view all the placings on PhotoEntry. Please get in touch if you don’t have a login
Upcoming meetings
2nd March we will meet in the Guild, and hopefully broadcast the proceedings to those who have elected to join remotely. As the meeting will involve discussion between members in the Guild, it may be difficult to hear what’s going on.
9th March – we have a remote speaker and the meeting will be online only, we will not meeting in the Guild
16th & 23rd March we will meet in the Guild, and hopefully broadcast the proceedings to those who have elected to join remotely.
27th April – Informal competition This will take the form of a knockout with member voting. It will be an open theme. The number of images has yet to be decided.
That’s it for now, take care
David
Fifth 2021/22 Competition Results
On the 23rd of February we held our fifth competition of the season. This was our 2nd print competition of the season and to encourage entries we removed the requirement to mount the prints. The first half of the evening was “Open Colour” prints and the set subject in the second half was “Panoramic”.
Our judge was John Riley and he chose Michael Hilton’s image ‘Rose’ as the winning colour picture.
For “Panoramic” the winner was Gary Schultz’s ‘On the way to the North Cape’.
Congratulations to Michael and Gary! Full results are available on Photoentry as usual.
Chair’s blog – 6th Feb
Back from Devon, after the first day the weather was good for January- even managed a sunset image and no, I didn’t go for a dip!
I enjoyed the images and talk on Alternative Yosemite by Dave Wyman. Here’s the link to his website http://dave-wyman.squarespace.com and he can be found on Instagram @davewyman if you want to follow his work.
Image editing challenge
The link with the three images for everyone to edit was in my last email and you can upload your finished versions to PhotoEntry in the adhoc section. There was a wide range of interpretations when we did this last season, so the review evening should be interesting.
Creating a dream winter scene
You may be interesting in this video on how to create a dream winter scene. Creating a Dream Winter Scene with Felix Hernandez
Thanks to Ken for sharing this.
Vivian Maier UK Exhibition
The first ever UK exhibition of the work of legendary street photographerVivian Maier will be held at the MK Gallery in Milton Keynes between June and September. Tickets can be booked on the Gallery website.
Next meeting
This is a three way battle with Melbourn (in Cambridgeshire) and Hebden Bridge. There won’t be a gathering at the Guild, this will be on-line only. Let’s hope we do as well as the four way battle last month.
Fourth 2021/22 Competition Results
On the 19th January we held our fourth competition of the season; this time it was ‘Open Monochrome’ in the 1st half and the set subject of ‘Geometry’ in the 2nd half. Both were digital projected images.
Our judge was Chris Boyes and he selected David Royle’s image ‘Pelican’ as the winning monochrome picture.
In the ‘Geometry’ section the winner was Mary Dolan with ‘Spiral’. Congratulations to them both!
Full results are available on Photoentry as usual.
Chair’s blog – 22nd Jan
Last week, we were back in the Guild for the first time in 2022 and it was great to see everyone. It was the 4th competition of the series, Mono and Geometry PDI. There was a healthy entry in both sections, with David Royle winning the mono and Mary Dolan winning Geometry – well done to both.
In the POTY, John O’Brien is 7 points in the lead with 4 others in close contention – the last two competitions will be interesting. If you wish to see the tables, log onto PhotoEntry and select “show series results” – all will be revealed.
Next competition
This will be a print competition, no need to mount the prints this time but you can if you wish. For the panorama theme, the print can be 600mm wide otherwise normal rules apply. Don’t forget to upload a PDI for each print to PhotoEntry.
Also next week is the last week we will be meeting in person at the Guild before the closing date for competition 5 so if you can get your prints ready for hand in then, that would be most helpful. If not, talk to David to discuss hand in.
Next week, and beyond
As I’ve said above, next week (26th Jan) we are meeting in the Guild. Login details will only be sent to those who have elected to join via Zoom.
2nd Feb, this will be online only as we have a speaker from California, and on the 9th Feb it is a 3 way battle with Melbourn (Cambridgeshire) and Hebden Bridge. Once again, this will be online only.
4 way battle with Knutsford (KPS), Manitoba (MCC) and Winnipeg South (WPSC)
We’ve received the results from this and Canadian judges also placed us first. The Canadian judging was based on three judges. It’s been an enjoyable battle. Here are all the scores.
| UK judging | CDA judging | |
| Colour | Knutsford PS- 180 | WPS – 176 |
| Wilmslow PS- 175 | KPS – 158 | |
| MCC – 171 | MCC – 145 | |
| WSPC – 171 | WSPC- 144 | |
| Mono | WPS – 187 | WPS – 163 |
| KPS – 177 | KPS – 163 | |
| MCC – 172 | MCC – 143 | |
| WSPC – 165 | WSPC – 128 | |
| Totals for UK portion: | Totals for CDN. portion: | |
| WPS – 362 – 1st | WPS – 339 – 1st | |
| KPS – 357 – 2nd | KPS – 321 – 2nd | |
| MCC – 343 – 3rd | MCC – 288 – 3rd | |
| WSPC-336 – 4th | WSPC- 272 – 4th | |
| Grand Aggregate Totals: | WPS – 701 | |
| KPS – 678 | ||
| MCC- 631 | ||
| WSPC- 608 |
Chair’s blog – 15th Jan
Last week, we had another interest talk by Steven Le Prevost, the images he showed certainly fitted the impressionist theme and he gave a lot of useful info on how he produced them – thanks for Michael for organising. The link to the recording will be sent by email.
Wildlife Photography Exhibition in Wilmslow
Whilst walking off my Sunday brunch today, I passed the ICE art gallery on Water Lane and spotted this notice.
Tim Flach’s website has excellent images, so it may well be worth popping in to take a look. There isn’t any more information on the ICE galleries website however this also contains some of Tim’s images
Competitions
Next week, we have competition 5 which is PDI and we will be meeting in the Guild for this, I hope to see you all there.
Competition 5 will be a print competition and to encourage more people to enter, you don’t need to mount your prints. Two sections as usual – open colour and panorama theme, and we are allowing the panoramas to be up to 600mm wide. For those new to printing, a lot of people use ds colorlabs although other options are available.
Upcoming meetings
Just to confirm that the meeting on Jan 26th will be in the Guild, whilst both the speaker on Feb 2nd and the 3 way inter-club battle on Feb 9th will be online meetings.
Other items
As I mentioned on Wednesday, the PAGB Masters of Print 2021 Exhibition is being held at Wilkinson Cameras Liverpool from Jan 15th to 30th.
Take care,
David
Chair’s blog – 8th Jan
I hope you enjoyed the battle last week, lots of fantastic images and we won! If you missed it, an email has been sent out with a link to the recording – I can see that 32 people across the four clubs have already watched it . The Canadian judging will take place on Jan 18th at 1am! I will send out the Zoom invite nearer the time for any night owls who wish to watch it live!
Next week We have a remote speaker hence the meeting will be via Zoom for everyone. If people wish to go into the guild to watch the speaker, please let me know as soon as possible and definitely by 6pm on 11th Jan. If there is sufficient interest, I will look at organising this.
The closing date for the next competition is 12th Jan. As the competition is the following week, it is unlikely that there will be an extension to this date.
Other items
I recently came across a Youtube video by Robin Whalley entitled “Why you find Affinity Photo confusing” If you are in that boat, you may want to watch it. I’m happy to add any recommended videos on Photoshop/Lightroom to future blogs – just email them to me.
All the best, hope to see you on Wednesday
David
Chairman’s blog – Happy New Year
I hope everyone is well, had a great Christmas and your celebrations weren’t affected by Covid. With the rise of the Omicron variant, I realise that people may be less comfortable with meeting in the Guild. Fortunately, the programme this year has been designed for more online content in Jan/Feb if necessary and the first few meetings will be available online.
Next meeting 5th Jan – Interclub competition
The entries are in for this four way competition between ourselves, Knutsford, Manitoba and South Winnipeg. This will be held over Zoom to allow as many Knutsford and Canadian members to attend. For logistical reasons, there will not be a meeting in the Guild for this on the 5th January.
If you haven’t received the zoom link via email by 3rd Jan, please check your junk mail thoroughly and then let me know. It’s better not to leave this till the 5th Jan as I’m unlikely to have time to respond between finishing work and joining the meeting.
Following this, the meetings on the 12th and 19th Jan, these will be available to everyone via Zoom. If people want to attend in the Guild on these dates, please let me know and we will see this can be arranged. If I don’t hear from you, I will assume that there isn’t any interest.
Competitions & Judges
We’ve cleaned and adjusted the projector in the guild and hopefully, images will now project ok. Please bear in mind that the judges do get to view the images at home before the judging so will have seen them on a calibrated monitor.
Whilst I’m on the subject of judges and compeitions, there is always discussion about how judges comment and how to reduce their criticism. I found this judging special newsletter on the PAGB website interesting although I’m not sure I’ve put any of it into practice yet!
52 week project and other ideas
Mary is running the 52 week project this year. If you wish to join in, please get in touch with her. It’s a relaxed group and the sharing and discussion of images is via a separate Whatsapp group. Also, many of the photo sites on the web are full of projects for the year. Here are a few on the ephotozine website. These are a great way to keep your motivation up, particularly at the moment.
Exhibitions
For those of you interesting in entering the Southport Exhibition, the deadline is 14th January. More information can be found here.
The Smethwick International exhibition is judged between the 8th and 16th January. You can book online at their website if you wish to join the judging and the prints can be viewed free of charge on their website from the 8th Jan
Third 2021 Competition Results
On Wednesday we held our 3rd competition of the 2021/22 season. This was a DPI (digital image) competition. Our judge was Mike Lawrence who provided us with some excellent comments and coped with the very large number of entries.
Double congratulations to John O’Brien who won the Open Colour competition with ‘Emotion’ and also the Landscape competition with ‘In the Golden Mist’.
Full results are available on Photoentry as usual.
