Newsletter. Bracknell Camera Club

Transcription

1 Newsletter Bracknell Camera Club Issue 97 March 2014 The days are getting longer, and it just occurred to me that Pancake Day is this week - a winter excuse for comfort food! Alan and I are off to Italy this week to spend five nights at both Siena and Florence. I have never been to Italy before - really. The trip is with Ramblers, a mixture of city sightseeing and half-day walks in the nearby countryside. So who knows what sort of photos we will come back with? We have already prepared our entries for the club's 2014 annual exhibition, to make sure we do not run out of time as we did last year. Another deadline for you to remember is Thursday 24 April, for the Portfolio competition. Your entry to this roundrobin competition is anonymous, so don't be shy, as you should remove exif data from your entry. I have now used up my stock of newsletter articles - the cupboard is bare! It's up to you all. Click on the author s image to navigate to the article of your choice. Brian Steptoe shows us the value of high quality 'record shots', taken several years ago at locations that look very different today. Bruce Collins describes an enchanting brief encounter on a train. Anne Eckersley enthuses about a photo shoot at RAF Northolt. She also encourages you to consider a PAGB award. Chris Bradley invites you to enter the annual Portfolio Competition, which is always a lot of fun. BCC Newsletter Issue 97 Page 1

2 by Brian Steptoe After reading your mention in Issue 95 of a reference to me in the second issue of the club's newsletter, published in 1983, I thought these photos would be interesting. They are among the earliest negatives I can find, taken in I was interested in using infra-red film at that time. Both sets show locations that are now very different. The first two images were taken in Salford, near the end of the Manchester Ship Canal, a site now occupied by the Lowry Gallery, the War Museum North and Manchester United football stadium. The following three images are Shanklin views, including one of the pier, which was destroyed the following year and is now completely removed. BCC Newsletter Issue 97 Page 2

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4 by Bruce Collins On one of Brian Steptoe s visits to London exhibitions, I was on a District line train with a few other Camera Club members when I referred to my copy of The Dalesman (no Yorkshireman would travel without one). My heart was warmed, I said, by a set of photos of Roseberry Topping, though they were scarcely up to a Joe Cornish standard. You may know that Roseberry Topping is a favourite subject of legendary landscape photographer Joe Cornish, who lives within sight of this distinctively-shaped hill on the edge of the North York Moors. Did I hear you say Joe Cornish piped up an attractive girl sitting opposite to me my heart started to race I am his daughter, Chloe. Then ensued a lively conversation about the glory of growing up in North Yorkshire and the agony of the taking of family photos when the man behind the camera is a fastidious landscape photographer! John Bickerdike then revealed that his son, David, also has a passion for large-format landscape photography and has a selection of his own photographs exhibited in a section of Joe s gallery in Northallerton. I subsequently ed Joe s gallery with the news of this remarkable encounter and was delighted to get a reply from Joe himself, who had heard the story from both Chloe and David. I can t wait to see what happens next time Brian takes us on an Exhibition trip join us to find out! BCC Newsletter Issue 97 Page 4

5 by Anne Eckersley When Ron Gafney approaches you and asks if you re free on a particular evening, he s normally got something exciting up his sleeve, (unless of course you re Sue Davey and being lined up to cover the raffle on one of his nights off) so it s usually worth further investigation. Most camera club members will have seen Ron s impressive plane shots from previous night shoots, so when he suggested a trip to RAF Northolt, three of us decided to take the plunge. Thus a Thursday evening in October saw four of us, dressed in our finest hi-viz gear, headed up the A40 for a very special evening of night photography. Security as you would expect around the RAF base was tight, personal details had already been supplied and everyone was asked to produce a passport and 6 for crew entertainment before being admitted. It was a clear evening and an excellent array of rare aircraft were displayed under powerful floodlights. From the Swedish Sabreliner, the Grumann Tracker, the Eurocopter search and rescue helicopter with an impressive glass cockpit, through to the star of the show, on its final ever outing, a Lockheed C-130K Hercules C1, which was being retired from No 47 Squadron the following day. It was particularly poignant to see the Hercules engines running and propellers turning for the benefit of the approximately 200 photographers. This was a lovely friendly affair; there wasn t the pushing or bustling that normally accompany any gathering of photographers all striving for that perfect shot. You took your pictures and moved away so others could get theirs. Internal cabin and navigation lights were illuminated and propellers spun long enough for everyone to get the shot they wanted. Night photography isn t easy, you need to experiment with manual settings. You want low ISOs, a reasonably high f/stop, so exposures are long, you need a tripod only don t forget to turn off your image stabilisation! There is another event scheduled for the 13 th March at Northolt, unfortunately I can t get to this one, but everyone else s pictures should be coming to a club competition near you very soon! Grumman Tracker at RAF Northolt, by Ron Gafney Swedish AF Sabreliner, by Ron Gafney Lockheed C130K Hercules, by Barry Callan BCC Newsletter Issue 97 Page 5

6 by Anne Eckersley If you have ever considered a PAGB distinction, and there are three different types of these, open to all members of Clubs affiliated to the PAGB through their Federations, then now might be the time to take definite action. The levels are: - Award Credit (CPAGB) - Blue badge and certificate Distinction (DPAGB) - Red badge and certificate Master (MPAGB) - Gold badge and certificate Standard required Good Club Photography Open Exhibition Photography Highest Standard of UK Amateur Photography These awards are held for life without any annual fee and holders are entitled to use the designated letters after their name. Next year the Southern Counties Photographic Federation will be hosting the 2015 April adjudications in Southampton. The adjudications are generally held twice a year and travel round the country. This is the first time it has been in this region for about five years. The SCPF are also trying to gauge level of interest in an Awards for Photographic Merit workshop scheduled for October this year in our region. This is particularly useful for anyone who has either entered an adjudication or is considering doing so. So if you are interested taking a step towards an award or attending the workshop in October please let a committee member know. Further details about the awards and what is involved can be found on the PAGB website. but don t leave it too long these adjudications are very popular and always fill up very fast. BCC Newsletter Issue 97 Page 6

7 by Chris Bradley This is your chance to be a judge and let your Club colleagues know how you feel about their work! The competition is a round-robin contest where everyone submits an image to me, I collate them and all of the entrants have a chance to mark and comment on each one online - after the closing date. There are no hard and fast rules regarding content, any subject will but I do ask that all the general rules of sharpness, exposure and composition are adhered to. Images must be a maximum of 1400 pixels wide and a maximum of 1050 pixels high. The closing date is Thursday 24 th April 2014 Please submit your entries by to myself Bradley on chrisandeb@tesco.net Chris There s a cup for the winner and a bottle of wine for the best comment! is published around six times a season, from August to May. I welcome and need your contributions. Articles, with pictures, should ideally be of a photographic nature; but they don t have to be if you have something to say. See the Newsletter page on our website for guidelines of what is required. Ed. BCC Newsletter Issue 97 Page 7