Photo Club This months photo club Newsletter comes to you a little later than usual as once again we accelerate towards December and it gets harder and harder to get everything done... The end of the year will soon be on top of us and it is time to plan our annual Best of the Year Awards. The competition will soon be open on Photo Vault and I encourage all our members to enter! Competition rules and details can be found on Page 7 of the Newsletter. PLAYFUL BITE Avril Eschmade SEPTEMBER meeting For a change of scene Ballito Photo Club hosted a Movie Night in September - complete with popcorn! The documentary screened was titled In No Great Hurry and was about American street photographer / artist Saul Leiter. Saul is recognised for his unconventional use of form and almost abstract use of colour. His approach to life, art and photography is both fascinating and totally inspiring!! A pioneer of colour photography in his time, he can be defined as a true artist (and a real character...) CATEGORY WINNERS Well done to our category winners for the September competition: Open: Easy Peel (Noel Hunt) Monochrome: Playful Bite (Avril Eschmade) Set Subject STREET SCENES: Street Beggar (JD Lotz)
September Set Subject: STREET SCENES MONTHLY ENTRIES Our judges for September were all from the Durban Camera Club. Rory Baker provided remote judging scores and Bronwyn and X kindly assisted with live judging on the night. We had a total of 76 images entered in September. Using the TOP System sliding scale the judges awarded a total of 30 Silver Awards, 42 Gold Awards and 2 COMs this month. There were only 2 Bronze Awards. Nevil Tyler regional chairperson of KZN for the PSSA and Maggy Lally will be joining us at the October meeting to assist with judging. It has been a while since their first visit to the club (Maggy and Nevil judged at our very first Ballito Photo Club meeting when we originally relaunched in April 2014). They are both really looking forward to seeing how our club has grown over the past couple of years. Let s impress them with some awesome photography by our very talented members!! STREET BEGGAR JD Lotz 1st SET SUBJECT WINNER The winning image for this months STREET SCENES assignment was Street Beggar by JD Lotz. JD is a super talented photographer and an avid bird photographer. JD is not only good at birds but has huge potential in other genre as well. Well done JD on capturing the expression of this homeless soul so perfectly. Our Assignment Topic for October is a challenging one - ZEN. We can thank Theo for this one! We are looking for contemplative images which are peaceful, tranquil, quiet, still... not necessarily balancing rocks and yoga poses - although those won t be disqualified... The image can also be full colour or mono it is up to you. Here are a couple of ZEN like examples which have been sourced off of the internet to provide some inspiration: SET SUBJECT TOPICS: OCT 11 Zen NOV 8 Eyes are Beautiful 2 Assignments to go this year...
First Timer Entry TIRED FEET Bill Daly SHEER SPEED Claude Mattsson OPEN WINNING IMAGE 1st THE BIG FREEZE Chris Ainsley EASY PEEL Noel Hunt JUST A FEW OF THE CHAIRPERSONS FAVOURITES: FISHING IN SANUR Sandra Snyman This shot is just so beautiful!
STARRY NIGHT Chris Ainsley INTO THE DISTANCE Karen Zastron BPC BIRDING TOGS SHOW US HOW IT IS DONE: LIFE AND DEATH Caro Smith PIED KINGFISHER BREAKFAST Tim Driman LOCKED ON JD Lotz CATCH JD Lotz
SEPTEMBER OUTING UPDATE: Last Saturday evening members of the Ballito Photo Club braved what looked like iffy weather and headed to the Durban Beachfront for this years Scott Kelby World Wide Photo Walk. The walk took place in the Point Precinct in Durban. The event was open to all photographers and was hosted on the same day in hundreds of cities across the globe... Ballito Photo Club had members joining the Bo-Kaap walk in Cape Town and another member joined the walk in Zurich, Switzerland. It was great to see a group of BPC members participating (well done Leticia, Theo, Chris, Jo, Mike and Anesh). It is always nice to meet up with other togs and have some fun together. Those who attended the outing had a lot of fun and enjoyed the company of fellow photographers at the event. The route took them from Moyo Pier along the beach front towards Addington Hospital, through the streets behind Addington Hospital and then along Point Road. They then made their way towards the Durban Paddle Ski Club. There were many great photo opportunities along the various streets and alleyways. Walkers could also walk along the beach to capture sunset shots of the city backdrop or stay within the Point Development and Canals before making their way back towards Moyo again. Below are a few shots taken at the Durban World Wide Photo Walk. Not all are by members of our club but sometimes it is interesting to see the work of other photographers: Willie Coetsee Leticia Cox Peter Abrahams Leticia Cox Peter Abrahams
OCTOBER MEETING NEXT MEETING: 11 October, Tuesday, 7pm First Timer The Simbithi Country Club This month the Ballito Photo Club will be doing Book Club! PHOTO CLUB BOOK CLUB Let us be inspired by the work of other great photographers. Please remember to bring along some books for show & tell! Everyone is encouraged to bring along a couple of Photographic Books from their collection which they have personally found inspirational or helpful during their photographic journey. The books can be anything from fine art books to beautiful photographic coffee table books or even tutorial style books on capturing the perfect pic or mastering post processing. We will then have the opportunity to chat about and browse the books as well as be inspired by the work of great photographers. monthly competition The next monthly meeting will be held on 11 OCTOBER (the second Tuesday of the month) at the Simbithi Country Club and will once again start at 6:30 for 7:00. For our OCTOBER meeting MEMBERS will submit a maximum of x4 photographic images for judging. Photographs are to be submitted via Photo Vault and will be presented digitally for viewing, discussion and judging. The following Monthly categories apply: x1 Monochrome Photograph x2 Open Category (Subject matter of your choice in colour) x1 Assignment Set Subject Topic SEPTEMBER: ZEN PHOTO VAULT SUBMISSION DEADLINE Midnight Sat. 8 OCTOBER. PLEASE NOTE: The Saturday Midnight Deadline allows judges enough time to view and judge the images fairly and constructively without having to rush the process. No extensions can be given. Star Levels PROMOTIONS This month our congratulations go to Leticia Cox and JD Lotz who were both promoted to 2 star this month. Both of these photographers are producing work of a very high standard and are therefore advancing through the ranks swiftly. We look forward to seeing more of their work over the next couple of months. The star levels are designed to help you set personal photographic goals. Whilst you will learn from the work submitted by other members, you are competing only with yourself to get to the next level. It s also great fun to work towards reaching photographic goals. The better your images the faster you will advance through the levels. A bad crit should inspire you to learn from your mistakes and try harder the next time. To track your progress simply Click on MY ADVANCEMENT (under MY CLUBS in Photo Vault). STAR ADVANCEMENT CRITERIA - Ballito Photo Club: 1-2 STAR - 24 Club Points and a minimum of 8 Gold or Merit Awards 2-3 STAR - 36 Club Points and a minimum of 12 Gold or Merit Awards plus 1 Salon Acceptance 3-4 STAR - 72 Club Points and a minimum of 24 Gold or Merit Awards plus 25 Salon Acceptances 4-5 STAR - 124 Club Points and a minimum of 64 Golds or Merit Awards plus 48 Salon Acceptances
BALLITO PHOTO CLUB: BEST OF THE YEAR AWARDS We will start the evening with some light snacks and a glass of wine before starting with our Annual Best of the Year Awards. During October / November members will be given the opportunity to select and submit their two Best Images in each category. The categories are as follows Nature, Open, Mono, Set Subject, Excursion. The entries will be judged independently and the results announced at this the DECEMBER final meeting of the year. A prize will be awarded to the winning image / photographer in each category Junior and Senior. Certificates for 2nd and 3rd place in all categories will also be awarded. Nominations for the Club Choice Award for the favourite photograph as voted by our members will take place on the evening. The judging will be done by independent judges. Photo Vault submissions for the Annual Awards will open after the October meeting. The competition will close on Saturday, 12 November 2016. Please be sure to get your entries in before the deadline. With the exception of the excursion photo entries ALL photographs must have been entered PREVIOUSLY and been judged at the monthly Ballito Photo Club competitions during the 2015 competition year from January 2016 up to and including November 2016. Prizes / Certificates will be Awarded for: Categories JUNIOR 1-2 Star / SENIOR 3-4 Star - Best NATURE (No retouching allowed! See PSSA guidelines) - Best OPEN COLOUR - Best MONOCHROME - Best SET SUBJECT - Best EXCURSION: You need to have attended one of the following 2016 club outings to enter: Official Ballito Photo Club Outings 2016: Durban Harbour Night Shoot Street Scenes Township Tour Moyo Pier Sunrise Shoot Motocross at Seaton Deleval The Ballito Pro Surfing Tala Game Reserve Warwick Triangle World Wide Photo Walk The October Outing TBA - Best IMAGE (Across all Categories) - CLUB CHOICE AWARD - Enter your favourite shot from the year! - Most Improved Photographer - Most Salon Points 2015 - Most Club Points 2015 Photo Club 2016 GREAT PRIZES... BUT WE NEED YOUR HELP - PLEASE Last year we were had some great sponsors who donated some fantastic prizes for our Best of the Year Award winners. We are looking for PRIZE sponsors for our best of the year award winners. If you would like to sponsor or arrange a prize on behalf of the Ballito Photo Club please let me know! Your assistance would be very much appreciated. No prize is too big or too small... the more prizes the better! Competition Rules All photographs must have been entered into monthly Ballito Photo Club competitions during the 2016 competition year January - November. Only the excursion photograph can be a first time submission but the submitted image needs to have been taken at an official outing in 2016. No retouching of Nature images allowed. Not more than 2 entries per Category may be submitted. i.e. Nature, Open, Monochrome, Set Subject, Excursion and Club Choice. All entries must be submitted to the Club Competition Steward via Photo Vault before the stipulated deadline of Saturday, 12 November 2016. A panel of judges or judge will be nominated to judge and award prizes. Alternatively an members vote scoring system will be used. Most Improved Photographer will be awarded by the Chairperson. Final Salon and Club Points accumulated for the year will be totalled by the competition steward prior to the Awards Ceremony and awarded on the evening.
SOCIAL MEDIA All communication is done via the Ballito Photo Club Google+ Community Page, our NEW Facebook Group page and Whats App (Members Only) with the occasional email. Please sign up with Facebook and Google+ today if you have not already done so the Photo Vault basics: PHOTOVAULT INFO New Members please remember there is a registration process which needs to be completed online via Photo Vault. Instructions have been supplied in your welcome pack. Please remember to do this as soon as possible rather than leaving it to the last minute. Please don t forget to click FINALISE MY ENTRY once images have been loaded and entered into the competition (you will receive an email to confirm your entry once finalised.) This step is very, very important!!! Your entry is not complete until it has been finalised! PVPS RESIZING APP For those who battle with image resizing this is a reminder of the Resizing App developed by Johan Mynhardt which resizes images perfectly - at the click of a button. If you are battling to resize your image to the Photo Vault specifications follow the link posted on our Google+ page. http://johanmynhardt.co.za/pvps/#/ A reminder that the image size for Ballito Photo Club entries is 1280 x 800 pixels @ 96dpi. Portrait images are to be 800 pixels tall. Please also ensure you select HD Size as the upload option. If you are wanting to enter SALONS you will need to size your images accordingly and the resizing app is currently not set up to do this. CLUB COMMITTEE: Bebhinn Spoors Chairperson 079 111 4147 bevinspoors@gmail.com Theo Landman RESIDENT JUDGE 082 462 1682 theolandman@vodamail.com Jo-Anne Paton COMPETITION STEWARD 083 789 2585 Jo-ann@freedomstationery.co.za Helen Bauermeister 079 453 3557 Stephen Gore 082 570 2719 Jayson Naidoo 082 567 4446 Jill Parton 082 415 8045 MEMBERSHIP FEES: MEMBERSHIP The Ballito Photo Club welcomes anyone interested in photography. A once off joining / Registration Fee of R100 will be levied for each new member. A Membership Fee of R150 will also be payable annually. Monthly meetings will cost R20 to attend. When space is limited photographic workshops, excursions, competitions and special events will only be open to club Members. MEMBERSHIP RENEWAL You will receive a reminder when your membership is up for renewal. All Membership Fees are to be paid via EFT. Account details are as follows please renew your membership via EFT using your initials and surname as reference. Please email proof of payment to bevinspoors@gmail.com. ACCOUNT DETAILS ACCOUNT: BALLITO PHOTO CLUB BANK: ABSA BRANCH CODE: 632005 ACCOUNT # 9306604343 TYPE: Savings If you attended the meeting as a visitor I do hope you enjoyed the meeting and we look forward to seeing you at a meeting again soon! We welcome any feedback from visitors and members alike. Please let us know if you enjoyed the evening or if you have any suggestions. Contact the Chairperson via email: bevinspoors@gmail.com or tel. 079 111 4147 A big thank you once more to the many helping hands that help make each meeting possible.