Summary of 2023-24 club activities

 

11 April - Cranleigh hosted the 2-way interclub competion with Ludshott which was judged by Sheena Rogers ARPS. Congratulations to Ludshott Camera Club winning both the Nature and Open sections with a very strong selection of images. The overall points awarded were:

Section	Cranleigh Camera Club	Ludshott Camera Club
Nature	88.5	91.5
Open	161.0	169.0
Total	249.5	260.5

Cranleigh club members can view the full table of results in the members area using this link Table of results.

28 March and 4 April 2024 - No meetings - The club's EASTER BREAK

23 March - The club held its annual exhibition at the Cranleigh Village Hall. We had 213 prints and 119 projected digital images on display in 12 categories and we received much praise from visitors for the high standard of prints on show. Rob Bonfield judged the exhibition entries and declared Elephants enjoying the dust as the overall winner and Best in Exhibition.

Elephants enjoying the dust by Mike Hall

A full summary of the exhibition category winners is shown in the table below. (The full table of awards can be found in the members only section.)

   
The exhibition venue and exhibits in the main hall - pictures by Donna Gorin

21 March - Our 4th PDI + Mono prints competitions with the set subject Less is more was judged by Tim Morland ARPS. In the PDI competition he awarded maximum marks to Julian Hall in the open section and to Angela Karney in the set subject.
In the Mono print competition he awarded 10 to images from Chris Flood and Elizabeth Bulley in the open section and to images from Chris Flood and Mike Guy for the set subject as follows:

PDI Open section:

    
Egret with Lizard by Julian Hall

PDI Set subject section - Less is more

Pebble on the beach by Angela Karney

Mono print Open section:

    
Man with an Eccentric Hat by Chris Flood and The shelter by Elizabeth Bulley

Mono print Set subject section - Less is more

    
Three Cormorants on a Pole by Chris Flood and Early morning swimmer, Tilgate lake by Mike Guy

14 March - An excellent presentation by club member Chris Flood FIPF ARPS - Into the west: aspects of Ireland. He gave a brief geo political overview of Donegal, the most northern county in Ireland, re its population, economy, climate, etc. and illustrated his talk with numerous images showing the varied landscapes, seascapes and skyscapes taken at different times of year, as well as the fauna and flora of the region. He concluded with examples of interesting photogenic buildings, ruins, historic edifices and shrines that are emblamatic of the county. Some examples illustrating his talk are shown below.

  

      

7 March - Graeme Wales CPAGB judged our 4th colour print competition which included the Set subject: Less is more. He awarded images from Ron Boon and Norman Price a 10 in the open section and to Paul Jenks and Ron Boon for their images in the set subject section.

Open section:

    
Ladies day out by Ron Boon and The Rembrandt touch by Norman Price

Set subject section - Less is more

Crosby beach by Ron Boon

 

29 February  - Our annual Match-a-Print competition was judged by Ron Boon. Both teams each had 40 images from which they could chose a match and in a close fought competition the ladies team narrowly beat the gentlemen’s team by a mere 3 points (29 vs 26) having been 15-14 down at half time. The gentleman managed to match only 8 of the 20 ladies prints and where the ladies went first the ladies managed only 7 matches but as they had had more prints judged as the better image, 22 to the men's 18, they were the overall winners of the competition. All in all a good fun evening with much heckling and good humour!

22 February  - A meeting reserved simply for members to bring all their entries and completed entry forms for the club's Annual Exhibition which will be held on Saturday 23 March 2024.

15 February  - Our Reg Mullard wild flora and fauna competiton was judged by Roger Reynolds FRPS APAGB. There were 34 prints and 36 PDIs and,in what proved to be a strong competition, he judged Ann Smith's PDI of two drgonflies mating in flight as the overall winner, narrowly beating Tim Cheshire's winning print of Pintail ducks arriving at evening sunlight.

Four-spotted chasers mating in flight by Ann Smith.

Pintail ducks arriving at evening sunlight by Tim Cheshire.

Those receiving awards in both print and PDI sections are shown in the table below.

8 February - A presentation Exploring the Italian Dolomites and Iceland with James Rushforth – an unexpected career in photography and guidebook writing.

In his talk James described his unexpected and fortuitous journey into outdoor and adventure photography and writing; from first picking up a camera in 2012 to his success at the British and International Photography awards just a decade later. James’ transient lifestyle, moving between the pale mountains of the Italian Dolomites to the wilds of Iceland, led to the creation of three photo-location guidebooks, showcasing his images and providing cultural and local information for visitors to his adopted regions. This presentation followed his natural progression from adventure to landscape photography, focusing on the logistics and creative nuances of both.

The pictures below, copyright of James Rushworth, are some examples from his talk.

  

1 February - Simon Street FRPS (10 awards) FIPF judged our 3rd PDI and Mono print competitions and gave a balanced critique of the 28 PDIs and 29 mono prints in both competitions, praising the club on the quality and diversity of all the images on show. In the PDI competition, after holding back 10 images, he awarded three images from Elizabeth Bulley, Donna Gorin and Mike Harrison the maximum score of 10 as shown below:

The winning PDIs were:

    
Keeping watch by Elizbeth Bulley and Plastic fantastic by Donna Gorin

Cock pheasant by Mike Harrison

In the Mono print competition, after holding back 9 images, he awarded the following images from Mike Hall, Chris Flood and Tim Cheshire 10 points:

    
Crowfoot glacier by Mike Hall and Peloton by Chris Flood

I spy with my little eye by Tim Cheshire

25 January 2024 - An excellent presentation by club member Mike Hall - Safari - A single word but many different experiences. Mike's talk was not just about showing numerous images taken in exotic locations but also in relaying his safari experiences over many years travelling to destinations such as Tanzania, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Botswana, Namibia and South Africa. He started his talk discussing the pros and cons of various forms of safari ie from simply organising his own camping trip to going on commercially organised trips staying in tents, remote huts or more luxurious lodge accommodation. He also emphasised the importance of relying on experienced guides and trackers for locating wildlife to photograph and for personal safety. Through his photography Mike demonstrated the vastly different landscapes, animals and birds in the various countries/locations on the African continent. The latter part of his talk covered photographic equipment, the techniques he employed and how he post processed his images to achieve the final results suitable for sharing and exhibiting.

The following photos, copyright of Mike Hall, show some examples of the terrain, accomodation and transport you may find on a safari and finally an example of one of the many fine images in his safari portfolio.

    
Varying landscapes found on safari

    
Mobile camping in tents and a vehicle in a challenging situation

Leopard with her cub

18 January 2024 - 3rd open colour prints competition was judged by Geoff Young. There were 38 entries and after a balanced critique he awarded Tim Cheshire, Phil Copestick and Stefan Foryszewsk the maximum score of 10 points and a further 5 images were awarded 9.5. The three winning images are shown below:

    
A Wheatear contemplating the journey to Africa by Tim Cheshire and Water droplets by Phil Copestick

Photographing hats by Stefan Foryszewski

11 January - The theme for the evening was a scavenger hunt ie members were asked to rummage through their old photographs, the older the better, and then rework them with modern software and bring the results along to the meeting so that the old and new versions could be compared. Each member gave a brief resume, as far as recollection allowed, of where, why and how the original image was taken and then described how the new version was produced. While members were using a variety of software all brands shared a common set of tools/methods for image removal, cropping, colour replacement, vibrance and saturation adjustments etc. In some cases members also made extensive use of layers, masking, blend modes and opacity controls as key tools for reworking their images.

4 January - The workshop began with a short presentaion by the chairman outlining the subject for this year's Chairman's challenge, Impressionism. A copy of his Powerpoint presentation can be found in the "members area" section of this website. After the presentaion a number of photographs brought along for review by fellow members were discussed with the aim of garnering opinions on how the images could be improved either at the time of shooting or with post processing adjustments.

14 December - Club members and partners celebrated Christmas 2023 with a delicious dinner at the Bricklayers Arms, Shamley Green. During the evening the chairman announced that the subject for the Chairman's challenge this year would be Impressionism and that he would give a short presentation on this subject when the club resumed for its first workshop of the New Year on 4 January 2024. The evening ended with a 5 round fun quiz covering geography, history, art, entertainment and solving cryptic clues for naming British football clubs. The accolade for CCC quiz team of the year went to Mike and Christine Harrison who won with a very admirable overall score.

Some pictures by Gwen Ward capturing the occasion.

      

      

7 December - An excellent presentation: Secret Britain by Andy Sands APAGB.
Andy owns and runs the Chiswick Camera Centre with his wife Sarah and supplies Nature Picture Library with his images of British wildlife. His talk covered various natural history subjects of the British Isles that were either rare, elusive or simply so small most people didn’t know they existed! It started with a short trip to a few secret, less often visited, areas of Britain to discover hidden wildlife havens and then moved on through various habitats looking at mammals, birds, insects and other small creatures. He finished with woodland where apart from the wildlife he delved into micro fungi and the almost microscopic world of slime moulds.

    

A male Merlin, Curculio glandium a type of acorn weevil and a slime mould Lamproderma scintillans.

30 November - Rob Bonfield judged our 2nd PDI and Mono print competitions which included the Set subject: Looking through. In the PDI competition he awarded maximum marks to Ann Smith and Julian Hall in the open section and to Graham Kurn in the set subject.
In the Mono print competition he awarded 10 to images from Mike Guy and Stefan Foryszewski in the open section and to images from Ed Hull and Mike Thompson for the set subject as follows:

PDI Open section:

    
Bonfire party by Ann Smith and When the Elephants walk by Julian Hall

PDI Set subject section - Looking through

Look out on the harbour by Graham Kurn

Mono print Open section:

    
Stairs to walkway, Greenoch Peninsula, London by Mike Guy and Making a nest by Stefan Foryszewski

Mono print Set subject section - Looking through

    
Looking through - Lest we forget 1914-18 by Ed Hull and Looking through my dictionary by Miles Thompson

23 November - Girls in the landscape - a presentation by Pete Baldrey. He demonstrated how his photographic style had developed over the last 15 years with a series of audio visuals containing many images taken at various locations in the UK and abroad including France and Greece. He described how he obtained his subjects, mainly friends and models from agencies, and how, during shooting in busy locations, he endeavoured to remain inconspicuous in order to minimise unwanted interaction from inquisitive passers by. He also demonstrated, using Adobe Lightroom, how he post processed his images but that he always attempted to keep this to a minimum in keeping with the original in-camera image.

16 November - David Hughes ARPS DPAGB BPE3* judged our 2nd Colour print competition which included the Set subject: Looking through. He awarded images from Angela Karney and Ann Smith a 10 in the open section and to Norman Price and Miles Thompson for their images in the set subject section.

The winning images can be seen below.

Open section:

    
Sunset over a changing city by Angela Karney and Load of old rope by Ann Smith

Set subject section - Looking through

    
Looking through beer at a meal by Norman Price and Looking through the arches, Balcombe Viaduct by Miles Thompson

 

9 November - Presentation - Capturing movement in wildlife and sport by Nick Rogers. Nick is chair of Reigate Photographic Society and enjoys taking images of anything that moves, focusing on wildlife and sport. He gave a very interesting talk supported with a wide variety of his photographs (see the two examples below) and interspersed his presentation with numerous tips for camera settings and techniques plus ideas for photographic locations.

  

2 November - A workshop to review members images and receive advice on possible improvements. Despite the inclement weather there was still a reasonable number of members in attendance enabling a full and productive workshop for discussing all the images.

26 October - Graham Mansfield judged our 1st PDI and monochrome prints competitions. There were 30 PDI and 32 monochrome entries and he awarded a maximum score of 10 to 2 images in both competitions. The winning images scoring 10 were:

    
PDIs - Looking out by Pete Baldrey and Robin with alder flies for nestlings by Ann Smith.

     
Monochrome prints - New Orleans style by Chris Flood and Proboscis monkey by Mike Guy.

19 October 2023 - Three colours was the subject for the 1 month challenge although black was not to be considered as a colour. Members brought along their prints and/or PDIs for review and spoke briefly about their images, after which discussion by other members ensued.

A small selection of the PDI images is shown below.

 

12 October - 1st open Colour prints competition judged by Eddie Hyde FRPS. 36 images were entered and after a well balanced critique he he awardedChris Flood, Donna Gorin and Norman Price the maximum score of 10 points for their images which can be seen below.

    
Stunt rider by Chris Flood and Shy sunflower by Donna Gorin

An old has been by Norman Price

5 October - In line with the club's ethos for providing members with opportunities to further develop their photographic skills and techniques, the club held seven tutorials led by experienced members in parallel breakout sessions. The topics covered were:

CAMERA TECHNIQUES

• Focusing Techniques - led by Mike Hall
• Understanding camera settings - led by Miles Thompson

USING SOFTWARE

• Affinity - led by Phil Copestick
• Lightroom - led by Pete Baldrey

OTHER SKILLS

• Cutting mounts for prints (needed for print competitions) - led by Ed Hull
• Setting up a still life, lighting, backgrounds etc - led by Norman Price
• Gaining LRPS, ARPS, FRPS accreditations and general activities of the RPS - led by Chris Flood -

28 September - Following the success of a similar walk around Cranleigh village last year members were asked to bring along their cameras but this time the challenge was to take at least four images in just 30 minutes and members were prompted to look down, capture reflections and take close-ups etc where possible. On returning to the meeting room the images, straight out of camera, were shown on the digital projector. It is always amazing to see the range of images achievable in a location with seemingly limited photographic opportunities. Two examples which give a flavour for some of the images taken during the evening are shown below.

    

21 September - Our first club meeting after the summer break commnced with an EGM to approve the membership subscription of £65 for 2023-24 which was passed by a comfortable majority of members.. Following the EGM the Programme Secretary Angela Karney provided us with details of the new season's programme and also announced that 3 colours is the theme for this 1 month challenge. We will review the results of the challenge at the 19 October meeting - up to 4 PDI images from each member. After the break the members who had brought along some of their prints for discussion were asked to tell us why and how their pictures were taken.