Another excellent set of entries for our recent DPI competition – Open Mono & Food/Product

Results from this and previous competitions are available here

The next meeting will be on Friday 14 December at 7:30pm

For this meeting the plan is to do something a little different and have a practical ‘Shoot and Show’ evening.

The theme will be based on the well known 1927 image by Edward Weston ‘Pepper No 30’.

The aim will be to produce pictures similar to, or in the style/spirit of the one linked below attached during the first half of the evening and then process and show them in the second half.

It’s not a competition, it’s about learning and enjoying your photography.

Ideally you will need to bring:

1.  A misshapen fruit or vegetable (the first challenge). If not available bring anything else photographically interesting which is within the spirit of the evening.
2. Camera with suitable lenses etc.
3. Tripod
4.  Some form of lighting, e.g. flash, table lamps, LED torches  or ? Reflectors will be useful.
5. Laptop and suitable software.

Do not worry if you cannot bring all on the list, the club has a laptop and some table lamps available and I’m sure that members will be happy to help each other out.  

Bill Salkeld

Link to wikipedia   Pepper no 30

Our competition year got off to a great start with a good number of high quality entries in “Open Colour” & “Portrait” categories

Results are available here

The next meeting will be on Friday, 16th November 2018 at 7.30pm.

The chosen subjects are-

1. ‘Autumn’.   Deliberately vague so as to include all the usual wonderful colours or any other interpretation you wish to put on it. 
2. ‘A view from above’. Your own interpretation.

As before,  you can enter either or both sections  with the aim to have enough material to do about a five minute presentation.

If you have any general photographic queries or problems bring them along and we should be able to discuss them.

Bill Salkeld

Congratulations to David Royle on winning the Photographer of the Year award for 2017-18.  David has had a number of very close near misses in the competition over the last few years, so it was good to see him win it this year. The trophy was dedicated to the memory of Dave Griffiths, our former chairman and excellent photographer.  We were very pleased to have Geraldine presenting the trophy in Dave’s memory.

The Guild Photographic Society restarts on Wednesday 19th September with a welcome meeting.

Some dates:  

Wilmslow Art Trail at the Guild – Friday 5th, Saturday 6th and  Sunday 7th October

Project Group meetings: Fridays 5th October,  16th November and 14th December

The Digital Imaging Group of the RPS is hosting 2 talks on Sunday 16^th September in Frodsham.  There is a charge for the talks which can be found through the link below.

Speakers:

• Paul Gallagher – The B&W Digital Darkroom
• Michael Pilkington – Successful Colour Printing Every Time

For more info click here: RPS talks

WGPS Project Group – Theme for the Summer Break

Rather than set a Summer theme, and bearing in mind that we have several ‘Genres’ to concentrate on for the next seasons club competitions (i.e. Industrial heritage, Portrait, long exposure, Conceptual/fine art(??), A day in the life, Food/product) I thought that we have enough to concentrate on already.

However, taking the Genres, holidays, day trips, personal projects etc all into consideration we could open the new seasons first meeting with the theme,

  May to September, my dozen favourite images.

The mix and match, or not, as the case may be, as usual is up to you.

Have a good Summer

Bill Salkeld

The results from Competition 6
and the subsequent Photographer of the Year positions are now available

Congratulations especially to David Royle, Les Stringer & Michael Hilton – but also to everyone for the high standard of entries this year.

Last Friday’s meeting  saw a wide variety of images from those present and others who were unable to attend. The Multiple Exposure theme was most interesting with in camera double and multiple exposures (depends on the camera model), post processing overlays, panorama stitches and photo stacking all appearing. The long term unusual and humorous themes also had us laughing. Amusing images are welcome at any time.

The next themes are,

1. Gritty Monochrome. Interpret this as gritty/grainy/noisy images made in camera or PP. They will lack fine detail therefore rely on shape and form, they could easily be, as in film days a tiny portion of an image which has been greatly enlarged. Monochrome does not necessarily mean Black and white, it can be any colour (and white?)
2. ‘Take a self portrait in the style of a well-known photographer’.  (Drawn from the theme card pack)   Time now to study the books or the internet to find something suitable to recreate. You don’t have to stop at one attempt but please include a copy of the original to add to the interest.  

Its up to you now. 

Bill Salkeld

The results from Competition 4 & 5
and the subsequent Photographer of the Year positions are now available

Apologies for the delay!

The next meeting is Friday 20th April and the themes are- 

1. Multiple exposures ,(on one frame) Can be either done in camera or post processing. Any subject. This may well involve discovering more about your camera and processing techniques. 

David Lewis found an interesting article:  multiple exposures

2. Unexpected findings. This may well be a discarded item dropped on a street or beach , something which is quite clearly out of place from its normal environment.  Or ??? 

We are looking for something beyond a straight record shot so some creativity is needed to make it stand out. This is the sort of subject that would lend itself to be captured by a phone.

3.Long term project, Amusing and unusual signs. Show us what you have come across over the last few months. 

Bill Salkeld

We had 15 members at last Fridays meeting, the themes appearing to be popular. 

On the theme of Control Dial /Menu  explorations we saw examples of amazing high ISO results from a modern DSLR, video clips, and various Art/Creative/ scene modes from different brands of camera. David Higton will be reviewing a selection of these at the next members evening. 

We hope to use a variation of the theme in the next few months. The Backlit Close up theme was also very popular with flowers being a strong subject. What came over to me once again is that we have some gifted club members who are not all interested in entering competitions. There were a variety of very good entries.

The next meeting will be on Friday 9th March at 7.30pm

The subjects are-

1. White on White.

We had to resort to the theme cards for this one –

2. Pick your favourite Bond theme tune and illustrate it.Slight variations are acceptable as long as there is a recognisable connection to a James Bond film title/tune.

As usual you can enter either or both themes , aiming to make a presentation of around 5-8 minutes. 

Running for a longer term is the theme Amusing and unusual signs, which we will look at in April

Bill Salkeld

‘Open Mono’ was relatively straightforward but the theme of ‘Intentional Camera Movement’ was a challenge both for our members and our Judge.

The competition results are available here.

POTY latest positions here

WGPS Project Group Update.

Friday last saw a good turnout of members. The Christmas theme drew aside variety of images including food, family groups, retail mania, post Xmas walks and even a few with religious connections.  Recreating an image from a magazine produced some star images,  from Pam with portraits of a friend reproduced from a ten year old magazine article. From Stuart, a reproduced Nikon advert  and from Mary, (who was at home poorly) an iPhone advert using new skills she has recently acquired, see attached images  .   My thanks to all who attended and contributed, it made for an interesting evening.

The next meeting is on Friday 9th February  at 7.30 pm in a room yet to be allocated.

There are two subjects, you can enter images for either or both. The first one may go against the grain for some, but its only for once and besides that’s what we do!

1. Control Dial/Menu Explorations. The subject is completely open, the idea is for you to get to know and use the least utilised or unused modes/programs on your camera. These will vary depending on the model and can be marked as Art, Scene, panorama etc and can produce some novel effects. These effects not be to your liking straight out of the camera but they may provide a basis for further post processing. It will be interesting to see what camera manufacturers have  built into their models.  The special effects are usually produced as a jpg but if you shoot RAW and JPG together you should get a ‘proper’ file as well as a modified image. From what I saw at the introduction on Friday night most of you will not need to use Auto or PASM modes for this theme.

2. Back lit close up. Inspired by some of the prints from last week’s competition.  No fixed subject but words coming out on Friday included  flowers, foliage, leaves, sliced fruit, glass, lightbox, window light, tracing paper etc. It’s up to you!

Please get in touch if you need further details.

Bill Salkeld

There are some very interesting RPS events/ meetings in January and February:

Andy Astbury – Landscapes on Sunday 14^th January at 10:30 at Hough End, Chorlton

http://www.rps.org/events/2018/january/14/andy-astbury—landscapes 

Richard Tucker – A Lifetime of Images – Sunday 4^th February at 10:30 – Wilmslow Guild

http://www.rps.org/events/2018/february/04/a-lifetime-of-images-by-richard-tucker

Gareth Jenkins – Sports photography & image processing on Sunday 25^th February at 10:30 at Hough End, Chorlton

http://www.rps.org/events/2018/february/25/7th-meeting-of-the-nw-digital-imaging-centre

For the Project Group update and next subjects, click here:  Project Group Update

Wilmslow Guild Photographic Society – Wednesday 15th November

John Beatty ‘Adventures in the Wild’

Tonight we had a superb evening with John Beatty, speaking about his ‘Adventures in the Wild’. John has been a photographer for over 35 years and told of his aim to capture the ‘beauty and simplicity of the natural world’.

John started by telling us of his links to Wilmslow, showing a photograph of himself as a young boy sailing his boat on Lindow Common and also explaining how he taught for 7 years at a local Secondary School – indeed he was the PE teacher of our very own Dave  Swann and Ian Wilson.

John’s expeditions and adventures have taken him all over the world. One of his first expeditions was to the Antarctic, to South Georgia, just before the Falklands War, and he was lucky enough to have the only photos of South Georgia, that graced the front pages of our newspapers, when the war broke out.  He also visited the Arctic, skiing 400 miles across the Greenland Ice Cap, whilst hauling a leather sledge, and also spending time on the island of Spitsbergen, only 600 miles from the North Pole.

Some of John’s other adventures included trips to: the Himalayas; the source of the Ganges; the deserts of Africa and Asia; spending time with an African tribe and witnessing a healing ceremony that lasted all night; living in a yurt with the nomadic Eagle Hunters of Kazakh Mongolia; trekking the tributaries of the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon with his family and also a visit to Alaska. His love of mountains and wild remote places was evident throughout his talk and it was all accompanied by stunning images and video clips, which emphasised the beauty of the natural world.

He also told of his encounters with wild animals including grizzly bears, polar bears, lions, walruses, and meerkats and he spoke of ‘ that special moment when a wild animal looks you in the eye’. His talk contained many interesting anecdotes: the time he witnessed the ‘birth of a mountain’ when a volcano erupted in Iceland; the time he had high tea in a remote Buddhist Monastery in the Himalayas; the time his friend fell off an ice face and he managed to hold onto the rope for 18 hours until rescue arrived!

John ended the evening telling us about his home and his love of the  Peak District. He showed some incredible images that he had taken in that ‘five minutes of special light as dawn breaks’, thus showing that we don’t have to travel to the other side of the world to take a brilliant image, we just have to look around us – and be up early! 

Thanks to Dave and Ian for suggesting that John come to give us a talk and to Adrian for arranging it.  We look forward to a return visit from John to hear more about his ‘Adventures in the Wild’ and to see more of his outstanding images.

No pressure there then, plenty of time!

The chosen subjects are:

1. Seasonal
2. Perspective

As usual you can enter either or both sections showing your own interpretation of each. Aim for a  presentation of around 5 minutes so that we get the chance to see everyone’s images with a little time for discussion in between.

Does anyone have any thoughts /ideas for a practical evening early in the New Year? If so please let me know.

Bill Salkeld

Wilmslow Guild Photographic Society will be exhibiting at the Wilmslow Guild at 1, Bourne Street on Friday 13 October (7:00 – 9:30), Saturday 14 October (10 – 4) and Sunday 15 October (11 – 3). Please join us as part of the Art Trail to view our Photographic Exhibition and find out more about the Society.

For more information about the Wilmslow Art Trail, please visit the website:  Art Trail

At last Wednesday’s meeting I showed a meteor shower time lapse film I’d made on an iPhone.  If you’re interested the app required to make similar videos, and for just about any astronomy-related iPhone purpose, is NightCap Camera.  I was using version 9.0 which has the improved ‘meteor mode’.

Note this app was previously called NightCap Pro and, for a very short time, Night Camera (I think).

It’s currently £1.99 but there is no free ‘lite’ version any more.

And remember there are more meteor showers coming up this year, almost all on nights when the moon won’t interfere too much!  The Orionids, Leonids and Gemenids; in October, November and December respectively.

-Michael Hilton

We have received information that the Wilmslow Guild AV Group are holding a Welcome Evening at 7.30 pm on Friday 15 September at the Guild where you can meet like-minded photographers and members of the AV group and find out more about AV.
To find out more, please read the full invitation.

Welcome Evening at WGAV

We will be holding a Photography Exhibition in Wilmslow Library Gallery from Saturday 26 August until Thursday 14 September. Do come along – entry is free and we will have a variety of exciting photographs on display with some of them for sale. For further information phone Mary Dolan on 07867428759.

The Royal Photographic Society are holding a number of Events and Workshops which you may be interested in. There is a fee for each event but you don’t have to be an RPS member to attend.

Workshop at the Victoria Baths – Sep 4
Click: Victoria Baths

Workshop in Llanberis – 16 Sep
Click: How to cheat in Photoshop

Dinorwig quarry – 17 Sep
Click: Quarry visit

Joe Cornish talk – 25 Nov in Wrexham
Click: Joe Cornish

To be shown early next term (September) .  

You can contribute to either or both themes.

A Story in Black and White. Any subject, any theme (e.g. people making something or even a holiday or day trip) Up to a maximum of 15 images, any method of presentation, even an AV if you wish.  

Same place, different times.   Again it’s up to you, it could even be your garden or the local pub or church etc. Up to 15 images about the one subject taken at different times, you can use different viewpoints, different lenses, filters etc, whatever it takes to fulfil your interpretation of the theme.

My thanks to those who have contributed in any way to the success of the Project Group this season.

Bill Salkeld