Programme of Events. About Beacon Camera Club.

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1 About Beacon Camera Club The club benefits from charitable status and (as of 2014/15) has 130+ members with widely varying interests and skills. The programme of events offered to members is broad and stimulating, with lectures by names in the photographic world; practical club nights; tuition & mentoring; battles with other clubs; outings and, of course, hotly contested club competitions. A recent facility offered to members and guests is the availability of well known printing and mounting materials at significant cost savings. We have several special interest groups which meet on nights other than the standard Thursdays Beginners and Improvers tuition; Wildlife and Nature; Portraiture; Art Nude; Audio visual. All these are included in a full subscription. We operate a busy internet based members forum, which can be viewed by visiting the club s website at This gives members the chance to ask questions, show and critique their images, or simply chat about club or photographic subjects. Beacon Camera Club is a well known, popular and growing organisation of like minded individuals. The club s aim is to advance the education of the public in the theory and practice of photography as an art and have some fun along the way. We welcome new faces at any club night. Programme of Events Subscriptions: Full member: 40, Joint: 70, Student 5, Forum only: 10, Visitors: 2 per week (for a maximum of 4 weeks, deductible from subs if membership taken up.)

2 Welcome!....to the season of the Beacon Camera Club: our 44th. Year. This little booklet has been produced to give members more detail of the events we have planned for the season, plus snippets of useful club information for both new and established members. The Club continues to grow we now have 130+ members of various types: this makes us the 2nd. largest club out of the 240 in the Midlands Counties Photographic Federation. Each week it seems that at least one new face is to be seen! Our popularity and success must be due to our varied programme and the friendly way we conduct our business a lot of clubs are finding it hard to survive but it seems that our eclectic mix of lectures, competitions, special interest group activities (see the panel on the April page) and laughter is helping us to buck the trend. Long may it continue. One benefit of having an increasing membership is that - despite raising our subscription charges by only a very small amount - we have more money to spend on better speakers, so we have another year of outstanding presentations in store for you. So, on with the season there s a lot to see and do.! CLUB COMPETITIONS There is further evolution in the way that our competitions are to be judged. At the AGM in May 15, we agreed a change which will introduce a hybrid scoring system : Judges will award a score which is then added to the members average score to produce the rankings in our league table. There is a section on club competitions near the back of this booklet to help clear a little of the mist surrounding the subject, but of course the rules (available at downloads.htm) contain the precise details. PROGRAMME WARNING! The programme of club events contained herein was correct at the time of printing. However, because things can and do! change unexpectedly, members are advised to check periodically the programme as displayed on the club s website, which will always show any last-minute changes. This is Version 2, updated on 3/10/15. Ian Thompson ARPS, Chairman. The cover image is At the End of the Day by Steve McGuire which won Best Colour Print of the season at our awards night on 28th. May Meetings take place throughout the year. Those between September and May form the main body of talks and competitions shown in this programme; summer meetings (programme to follow) are less formal and are presented by club members who will present lectures and workshops which concentrate more on the practical and artistic aspects of photography. All normal club meetings are on Thursdays at 7:30pm at The Malvern Vale Community Centre, Swinyard Road, WR14 1FG HOWEVER... Please note that the club is closed on 24th. & 31st. December! Sub-groups have different programmes and meet on other nights for details please contact the various Directions to the Malvern Vale Community Centre Take the Newtown Road (B4503) out of Malvern towards Leigh Sinton. Continue until the road swerves to the right at Sayers Ave (on the left just before Pale Manor - if you get to Dyson Perrins School, you've gone too far). Turn into Sayers Ave and in 50 yds turn right into Swinyard Rd.. Follow this winding, unfinished-as-yet road (look out for primitive speed bumps!) until you see the community centre on your left: it has a big, level car park with a fenced playing field behind it. Use the main entrance, down the corridor and turn right to the Summer room.

3 Our Committee who can be recognised on club nights by their yellow name badges: Chairman Ian Thompson ARPS & Webmaster Vice-Chairman Trevor Bell LRPS Treasurer Peter Gill Secretaries:..Club Mike Gast Programme Kim Walton ARPS Membership Colin Walls CPAGB Competitions Steve Beats Summer prog. Tony McDonnell LRPS Press/publicity Trevor Bell LRPS Events Bev Williams ARPS rd. Season Launch September led by our vice-chairman Trevor Bell LRPS. Trevor and the rest of the committee will present an outline of what to expect during the season. This could be useful for both old and new members! Followed by enrolment, nibbles and chat. 10th. Presentation by Lyn James: Distant lands Lyn's talk is about the people and places including India, Japan, Syria and Vietnam. Mono/colour prints. 17th. Richard P. Walton FSWPP: Theme TBA 24th. Presentation by Lisa Halliday, Weddings Remember that the club sells: Permajet inkjet papers in a variety of sizes and finishes at significant discounts. Print mounting board in 50cm x 40 cm sheets of various colours at a price you will not match!! Approved adhesive tape and spray - beware inferior varieties and be warned that poor quality adhesive tape may stick to the face of other entries this has happened in the past and if you are the culprit, your entry is automatically disqualified! Acknowledgments: We are grateful to the organisations, companies and donors local & otherwise who help us in our efforts, but especially to The Bransford Trust; Malvern Town Council; London Camera Exchange, Worcester (the latter offers various discounts to members upon production of this booklet); Permajet InkJet Paper, and member James Joyce for his sterling work on the image upload system on the club s website. October st. Keith (FRPS) and Kate Brown - Audio Visuals Audio Visuals (AV s) are about adding another dimension to photography by combining high quality photographic images with music, narration and other sound effects. Keith Brown FRPS FIPF EFIAP MPAGB APAGB and Kate Brown LRPS DPAGBhave been making AV s award winning AV s for many years. By winning a silver medal for their Grease, Gaskets & Gears compilation at the Royal Society of Photography s 2013 Audio Visual competition, the duo have demonstrated that they are both past and present masters of this demanding multi-skilled medium. Submit entries for Open 1 (Prints) Please remember that this year prints must bear just a title and image ID no. They must NOT bear the author s name.

4 8th. John Greenwood - Large Format Landscapes 15th. Competition: Open 1 Prints John is an outdoors lad and considers himself privileged to be a landscape photographer, as this means that he is able to spend more time in the landscapes he loves. Living in Malvern offers lots of wildlife and stunning views for both nature and landscape photography. He enjoys travelling so you will see a spot of travel photography too. NOTE: For all print competitions, DPI images of the prints will be displayed in the forum gallery 1 week before the competition to allow members to assess them so as to assist with scoring. The physical prints will be displayed on print stands on the night before the competition to allow close inspection of print quality. They will be identified by image ID no and Title only. Submit entries for Open 2 - Projected Competition 22nd. Presentation by Michael Krier MA and Dave Hyett CPAGB EFIAP The Cheltenham Salon The speakers will talk about the international competition run by their club and show us many of the images entered. 29th. Competition: Open 2 Projected of past entries and (b) gives us the ability to project images of prints so that everyone in the room can appreciate what is being seen by the judge. PLEASE NOTE that for this latter purpose - due to reasons of projector resolution and the uncontrollable calibration of members computer screens and printing processes - it is important to be aware that the projection on competition night of an image which has been printed by a member may not accurately reflect the quality or colour of the print being viewed by the judge, who is instructed to judge ONLY the print! Awards night also hosts a competition for which individual prizes are awarded by a judge to the season s best prints and projected images which must have been entered already into the 6 set competitions during the season. For this season, the club is working on a simple tick selection process for the on-line submission system so as to eliminate the need to resubmit such entries. Again, please see the club rules for more information. Inter-club Battles Three of these competitions are being held this season, all away : the Ross/Newent tri-partite battle; the Droitwich battle, and the Kempsey battle, now in its fourth year. The format of these events is that the clubs submit their entries of prints and DPI s and an independent judge scores each image out of 20. The winning team is that with the highest total of points at the end of the evening. Selection of images for these battles is loosely based upon those that have done well in club competitions but regardless of this, members are invited to submit any images that they consider might be useful to the cause. The Charlie Williams Monthly Themed Competition This is the club s web-based, multi-themed competition for DPI s only which runs monthly through the summer from July until May the following year. The purpose of the competition is to very interactively engender improvement in our skill. Images are judged on-line by only the entrants and there is a debrief session afterwards (at a pub!) where all the images are critiqued and discussed. Anything entered is still valid for entry into other club competitions. Full details can be found on the club forum. External Competitions There are a number of competitions entered by the club as a whole, relating to its membership of the MCPF. Entries for these will be invited at an appropriate time. Some such competitions invite entries from members individually and again entries will be called up and co-ordinated by the club. Keep an eye on the forum for news on this subject.

5 Competition Information Competitions are a superb way to improve your work. Whilst they are by definition quite competitive and you might hold the incorrect opinion that you don't stand a chance, the views of the accredited and independent circuit judges that we use can be extremely difficult to predict (and even, sometimes, to understand!), meaning that your entry has as much a chance of being placed as any other. Whether you enter every competition or just a few during the season, the discipline and thought processes that are inherent in taking & preparing your work are a vital part of the keen photographer s improvement plan. We have seen new members work progress from family snaps to top-quality 1st. placed images helped along, we believe, by becoming involved in our competitions. The club holds a number of internal competitions we use independent, Midland Counties Photographic Federation (MCPF) approved judges to score the images but we also ask our members to score them using optical mark recognition forms so that we can quickly accumulate overall scores soon after the competition. The average of the members scores will be added to the score allotted by the judge and will form the basis of the 3 consistency awards (Colour, Mono prints and DPI) for which trophies are handed out at our Awards Night. Not all of the season s competitions count towards the annual awards: those that do are the set competitions: Open 1, Open 2, Open 3, Open 4, and two themed competitions (this year Shadows and Landscape ). The results of a member s best two results in each category of the 6 set competitions are accumulated and the totals are used to determine the winners of the annual consistency awards, details of which can be found in the club rules which in turn can be found on the club website. Prints competitions are divided into two categories: colour and monochrome into which can be entered 4 prints in any mix of C & M. Digital Projected Image (DPI) competitions have no sub-categories: 4 images can be entered. When entering, please bear in mind that a heavily-subscribed competition might result in images being dropped by the competition secretary, so please make sure that you prioritise your entries, as defined in the on-line submission system. PLEASE NOTE that from now on, prints submitted to competitions MUST NOT bear the member s name they must be identified ONLY by title and the image ID number generated by the competition submission system. Entry to all club competitions is via the electronic submission system in place on our website. This is a very simple, reliable and low cost way for members to submit and manage entries. The system is used for both DPI and print competitions: for the latter it (a) provides the club with a record November th. Presentation by Richard Spurdens Richard is an award winning photographer in the nude and fashion genres and will give us some insight into improving our efforts in these fields. Submit entries for History Prints Competition 12th. Presentation by Leigh Woodford AWPF EFIAP Landscapes and other pictures 19th. Themed Prints Competition: History 25th. Inter-club battle with Ross & Newent at Ross Walford Village Hall, Walford, Herefordshire, HR9 5QS, start at 19:30 26th. Tony Worobiec FRPS Abandoned America Author of 14 books, Tony Worobiec studied fine art at The University of Newcastle upon Tyne and spent 18 years as head of a large design faculty in Dorset. He has won awards for photography in the UK and internationally, and has had work exhibited in London s Barbican Gallery, Bradford s National Museum of Photography.

6 December rd. Presentation by Chris Gomersall Chris is one of the UK s bestknown wildlife photographers, with a 30-year track record of professional activity, including 14 years employed as in-house photographer at the RSPB. In 2007 he was proud to be named as the European Wildlife Photographer of the Year Submit entries for Chairman s Challenge prints competition: My Take on my Favourite Album Cover Art. Give us your version of that iconic album cover all elements must be your original work don t include photographs of someone else s art in your submission! 10th. Presentation by Robert Harvey Landscape and Nature Photography Robert is a professional environmental scientist, photographer, horticulturist, writer and speaker who has travelled the world in search of great images. 17th. Club Christmas & Chairman s Challenge My Take on my Favourite Album Cover Art (Judged by our Chairman, Ian Thompson ARPS)...followed by the Club Christmas Party. Refreshments provided, but a small charge will be made. 24th & 31st. Closed for Christmas 5th. Presentation by Tony Gervis FRPS My American Dream May 2016 America is for many photographers a dream, so much variation in subject matter, from deserts to rain forests, its culture and people, but for me its Cowboys, their life style and their rodeos, as well as a climate which is predictable. As well as having lectured to American photographers in America on photographing Wranglers and Cowboys Linda, my wife, and I have visited the States almost annually, some times for a few weeks, other times like 2010 for 5 months 12th. Annual General Meeting The night when your committee reports on the season past and then resigns en masse. Then the new committee is elected. Nominations for committee posts and any other motions must be received by the club secretary at least one week before the AGM, which is also the deadline for any motions tabled by members. Followed by a display of the PAGB Portfolio, time allowing. Submit entries for Practical competition Only work generated at a club-organised outing or session is valid for entry, prints (Mono & Colour) and DPI) 19th. Presentation by Mark Sissons Wildlife This is Mark s second visit to the club last year he impressed us with his wildlife images and will show us his most recent work tonight. Submit entries for Awards Night competitions Any work already submitted to one of the season s set competitions (Open 1, 2, 3, 4, History, Technology ) is valid for entry. 26th. Competition: Practical 2nd. Awards Presentation night. June 2016 With a competition Judged by The night of the year when all your hard work comes together. The club s consistency and other awards are presented to those members whose work has scored consistently well throughout the season. For more information on how this works, please see the section on competitions later in this booklet, and the club rules. Louise will also select the best work in her opinion from entries submitted to the awards night competition.

7 April th. Presentation by Phil Malpas: Finding the Picture Phil is a freelance photographer specialising in landscapes and who writes regularly for a number of photographic magazines in the UK. Tonight he will help us to be able to see things in a slightly different way. Submit entries for Open 4 projected Competition 14th. Competition: Audio Visuals new this season. 21st. Competition: Open 4 Projected 28th. Presentation by James Woodend James was named Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2014 for this images of the Northern Lights. Tonight, he explains some of his methods and techniques. Special Interest? Join a sub-group! The club has sub-groups (at no extra cost!) for Beginners 2nd and 4th Monday each month (7:30 the Vale) (Angela Thompson ) Wildlife ad hoc meetings (Richard Williams ) Portraiture 3rd. Wednesday each month (7:30 the Vale) (Tony McDonnell ) Audio-visual ad hoc meetings (Trevor Bell ) Contemporary ad hoc meetings (Trevor Bell ) Please speak to a group coordinator if you wish to be involved. If you have a special interest not in this list, why not start another? January th. Presentation by Dave Batho: Theme TBA Dave is a phtogrpaher whose work covers many genres from sport through to ballet Submit entries for Technology Projected Competition 13th. Presentation by Tom Mackie African Wildlife VENUE: Malvern Rugby Club, WR14 1AJ Tom has been a photographer all his working life. His degree in commercial photography took him first of all to Los Angeles, where he spent five years as an industrial and architectural photographer. Tom married his art to this new-found passion and embarked on a 'til death-do-uspart' relationship with landscape photography. 14th. Competition Technology Projected 21st. Presentation by Maxine Husselby Maxine is a wedding and portrait photographer of some repute. Tonight, she will be giving us some ideas as to how we can take different and exciting shots. 28th. Presentation by Luke Unsworth Trained in documentary photography and filmmaking, Luke received a prize in the Guardian's David Hodge Award for young photographers in His interest lies in social documentary photography. He has worked in broadcast television design and collaborated with international artists and choreographers on large scale projections. In recent years he has been commissioned by leading midlands museums and art galleries to document their 3D and 2D collections.

8 February th. Presentation : Anne Sutcliffe FRPS Anne s Land Anne is well known to BCC: her easy style and sound advice will make this talk very worthwhile in adding insight to our efforts. Her images are created with great attention to detail. Some pictures tell stories and others show images within images. 10th. Interclub Battle with Kempsey CC at KEMPSEY. The Community Centre, Main Road, Kempsey WR5 3LQ. 11th. Presentation by Dave Broadbent Dave is passionately involved in photographing birds, their environment and general landscape. In the past, he has been commissioned by the RSPB and other wildlife organisations 18th. Presentation by Susan Brown FRPS 25th. Presentation by Jan Sedlacek Susan is a Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society, and sits on the both the Licentiate and Visual Art Panels. She is a Member of the Devon Guild of Craftsmen and a Member of Arena Group of Photographers. Jan has made a bit of a name for himself locally with his canvas panoramas of the Malvern area. Tonight, he ll give us a few tips and tricks we can use to good effect. 26th. Inter-club battle with Droitwich at Droitwich Chawson s Barn, WR9 0BA 3rd. Viveca Koh FRPS Viveca is a self-taught Fine Art photographer, with a special fascination for small details, for lost, abandoned, poignant and generally broken objects, and also for darkness contrasting with light, both in a physical and emotional sense. Last season, she wowed us with her Urbex photographs. She returns with more and different! Submit entries for Open 3 Prints competition 10th. Tim Pile Have I Got Nudes for You! Tim is an amateur photographer in the true sense of the word, producing images for the love of it, and always looking for interesting places to capture the beauty of the female form using natural light. 17th. Competition Open 3 - Prints 24th. Presentation by Guy Edwardes 31st. Presentation by Chris Palmer FRPS Guy is a leading professional in the world of landscape and wildlife. Such is his popularity with us, we ve asked him back again! Chris has been actively involved in club photography since1979, as a member of Field End Photographic Society in Ruislip. He gained his ARPS with traditional monochrome prints, an RPS Fellowship with digital prints, and serves on their Licentiateship panel. Tonight he will talk to us about how to get the best out of our prints. Submit entries for the AV Competition March 2016