Blandford Forum Camera Club

Points Cup No. 2 - Projected Images

Malcolm Bowditch — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 11:23:56 +0000

We held our second Points Cup competitions for projected images on Tuesday 18^th November when Rob Barron was our judge for the evening. In jovial mood, Rob started with our slide entries and devoted plenty of time offering comments on each of the twenty submissions. In the event, although he was unable to award the maximum points to any entry, he gave nine to both Gloria Durrell and to Maureen Langley.

From the considerably larger number of digital projected images (54), he found what he judged to be richer pickings and awarded three tens, including two to Colin Cross for work of astonishing quality. One image showed a mother leopard with her cub and the second showed a snowy eagle flying in an appropriately snowy landscape. The third ten was awarded to Graham Rains for a fine landscape.

What did we learn? Well, he doesn’t like Bill Oddie for example and he enjoys having a joke at the expense of his old friend Colin. More relevant, however, was his exhortation to ‘Give it room to breathe’. Not time to breathe; that’s for wine, but for pictures, do not crop too tightly! It is true that there were quite a number of closely cropped images on this occasion. Could it be that we are over-reacting to the more usual adjuration to create stronger compositions by cropping out less critical features such as blank skies and featureless seas? Well, we can’t please all of the judges all of the time, it’s pointless to try. Well, maybe not totally pointless exactly but expect a variation from five to ten - and never to know your own mind!

Equipment for Sale

Keith Chaloner — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 19:48:44 +0000

The ‘Market Place’ category is for the display of members’ equipment only. It is regretted that we cannot offer this facility to non-club members.

‘A meander in time’ - a Lake District heritage

Malcolm Bowditch — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 18:00:58 +0000

Malcolm Saunders was our guest speaker on Tuesday 11th November when he came to talk about the Lake District. The talk was illustrated by slides taken by Malcolm and was divided into two parts. Initially he talked about the Lake District itself; the geography, the geology, the archaeology and the way in which the region has developed as a result of human habitation. As an accomplished ‘blue badge’ National Trust guide, his presentation was smooth, detailed and quite fascinating. This was followed, after the break, with and equally absorbing section dealing with the lives of two famous names closely associated with the Lake District, namely William Wordsworth and Beatrix Potter. Despite the fact that many of us watch film and television as well as read, we all learned things that we did not know about them, together with some off-beat and intriguing trivia such as why the background colour of the AA badge is yellow, how the black sheep of the family is a regular kind of guy – or gal – and much, much more.

If you wonder about the badge and the sheep, you should have been there!

You would also have heard what Wainwright said when Malcolm greeted him on the top of a fell!

Whist Drives

Keith Chaloner — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 11:44:09 +0000

Did you know that our President Fred runs a whist drive on the Club premises every week and that the Club benefits financially?

I have just prepared to bank the proceeds from Octobers’ evenings which totalled £86 (and about £20 per week). This is a typical monthly total.

One way members can show their appreciation and also give encouragement to Fred is to donate the occasional item to be used as a prize, or part of a prize. A tin of fruit, a nice packet of biscuits, a bottle perhaps, or an unwanted gift, would be appreciated.
Please try and remember to bring something along next Tuesday, Fred would be grateful. Thank you.
Keith

BFCC Christmas Social

Marilyn Peddle — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 14:00:06 +0000

At The Hall & Woodhouse
Brewery Visitor Centre

Date 16th December 2008

The Christmas Social is coming up shortly (Yes that time already!) As you can see it is at the same venue as last year so it promises to be a good evening. Spouses, partners and friends will of course be very welcome but we need have numbers and payment by the 9th December.

Below is the buffet menu that will be served, it will be £7.00 per head with another £2.00 if you require a dessert.

Numbers and payment to Eric Langley.

Buffet Menu

(£7.00 Per Head)

Assorted open sandwiches:

Egg Mayonnaise
Tuna & Lettuce
Ham & Chutney
Cheese & Cucumber
Chicken, Bacon & Mayonnaise

Plus:

Sausage Rolls
Cheese Puffs
Hot Potato Wedges & Dips
Wings of Fire
Mediterranean Vegetable Pasta

(Desserts £2.00)

Digital Projected Images Competition 18th November 08

Marilyn Peddle — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 21:49:19 +0000

It’s only a few days away and your entries have to be in my hands by next Tuesday 11th November so that I can get the Competition organised for the 18th.

We shall name the competition 181108 so your entries need to have file names like “Norman Carey_Winter Draws On_181108” (without the quotes of course). We shall carry on naming competitions with the six figures denoting the date of the competition so you should be getting the hang of it all by now.

One or two (well, seven, in fact) didn’t manage to get the complete hang of it. Problems we found were:
image size – max 1400 pixels wide, 1050 pixels high – which means that sizes like 3266 x 1208 px are only going to have their middle bits projected. You can always go lower but it means your image will be smaller.

Resolution – we’re not printing anything so 300 p.p.i is way over the top. Stick to 96 ppi.
PNG files, please. Oh yes, JPEG and PSD will work but you’re inviting possible problems with colour – maybe the Judge will like it!!!

The underscore separator (_) goes between the three items which make up your file name so you’ll only need two (for internal Pixel Cup competitions, that is). Putting one in front as well just mucks up the program.

I’m going on at some length because we have come to the point where we cannot any more undertake to try to put things right for you. Gunge it up and it probably won’t get projected – it’s properly your responsibility so take a little care.

And if you don’t know, give me a ring… 999?

Norman

Wessex Colour Group slide competition

Malcolm Bowditch — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 17:22:04 +0000

Blandford CC are long standing members of this group and the annual battle with other clubs took place in the Corn Exchange, Dorchester on Monday 3^rd November. Nine members of the club attended and enjoyed a high quality battle hosted by Dorchester CC and ably judged by Brian Galbraith from the Wadebridge club in Cornwall. For the benefit of those unfamiliar with the competition, each club submits eight slides with not more than three from any one photographer and at least five workers represented. Because of their great popularity, not more than three nature images are allowed from each club. We fielded slides by John Burton (2), Jan Carey (1), Eric Langley (2), Graham Poynter (2) and Bernard Smith (1). The other clubs taking part were Beaminster, Bridport, Dorchester, Swanage, Wareham, Weymouth, Wimborne and Yeovil. Dorchester won with 70 points with Beaminster and Bridport sharing second position with 67 points. We came seventh with 60 points, which is underwhelming at first glance but it is important to note that we were the only club to have entered eight traditional slides created through the use of conventional film. Eric, especially, is to be congratulated on being our highest scorer with nine points for one of his landscapes. To reflect the current technology, and with effect from next year, all WCG images will be digitally projected. This means that we shall have to get used, not only to the concept of having to switch off the lights before we can see the pictures (we’ve got used to that by and large), but also to the fact that images have only digital existence. The pictures themselves have no actual reality. Never mind; keep the faith, they can still look good.

Battle with Camborne Redruth - away leg

Malcolm Bowditch — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 16:39:03 +0000

The away leg of this friendly fixture was held on Tuesday 28^th October and thanks are again due to Adrian Oliver and family for transporting our entries to and fro as usual. The judge was John Murray who marked from five to ten but in what some may consider being a rather quirky way. Clearly a man who knows his own mind, of the sixty images, i.e. fifteen prints and fifteen slides from each side, he awarded five points to just over three quarters of the total. The remaining fourteen images were awarded points between seven and ten – no sixes and no half marks.

Be that as it may, the net result was a satisfactory one for us, winning as we did, by 88 to 82 with our prints and by 90 to 80 with our slides. In the print section, the highest Blandford scorers were John Burton (10) and Malcolm Bowditch (9) with Dionne Horsfall and Colin Cross both getting seven. As you will have worked out, the rest got five. The higher scoring Blandford slides were by Malcolm Bowditch (10) and Dionne Horsfall (9) with Dionne (again), John Burton and Colin Cross all scoring seven. And the rest got - - - ?, that’s it, five.

Those with longer memories than mine may recall that we also won both sections in the home leg a month ago by a comfortable margin. So, all in all, a good, consistent performance by Blandford who were completely unfazed by playing away on unfamiliar territory.

Prints Points Cup No. 2

Malcolm Bowditch — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 14:54:30 +0000

The second Points Cup competition for prints was held at the clubhouse on Tuesday 4th November and the judge was Terrick Meakin from Trowbridge. Terrick is a very highly respected judge and it was a pleasure for the club to welcome him for the second time in a year. A total of 59 prints were presented for his consideration and, displaying his usual enthusiasm and good humour, gave a carefully considered critique of each image together with encouragement to all with words and/or points. The range of subject matter was wide and the standard was high and this latter factor was reflected in the award of the maximum mark to no fewer than eight pictures. Terrick’s last visit, for the final Points Cup of 2007-08 in early May of this year, yielded only three tens, reflecting perhaps some photo fatigue at the end of a long season or, more optimistically, indicating the improving standard of the club’s work that we are now seeing. However, five of the current tens were for colour prints by Norman Carey (still life), Colin Cross (natural history), Keith Chaloner (seascape), Dionne Horsfall (portrait - woman) and Marilyn Peddle (portrait - dog). Dionne was in fine form and was also awarded a ten for a monochrome entry, as was Chris Ablett and Malcolm Bowditch.

This was a well-attended and thoroughly enjoyed event - as such occasions should be - with members leaving a little bit wiser and much encouraged.

‘Dorset County’ competition

Keith Chaloner — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 10:58:34 +0000

by Malcolm Bowditch, posted by KC

On Tuesday 28th October, the club held internal competitions for prints and slides with ‘Dorset’ as the theme. Our judge for the evening was Martin Western DPAGB from Bournemouth Photographic Society. Martin was also our judge for the slide competition for the Davies Cup back in March of this year. On this occasion though, the twenty-seven entries in the print competition were for the Committee Cup, and after a considered critique of each image, he awarded the trophy to John Burton for a very fine coloured seascape, ‘Portland waves’. In second place was a monochrome shot of Corfe Castle by Malcolm Bowditch and Jean Bartlett was third with ‘Dorset at Kimmeridge’. Jean was also highly commended for a second photograph ’Kimmeridge Sunset’. Dionne Horsfall and Peter Watts were also highly commended for their work.
The slides competition attracted twelve entries and was for the Carillon Trophy. Martin made an equally measured assessment of each entry and after due consideration, awarded the first place – and the trophy – to Bernard Smith for a rather different and effective treatment of Kingston Lacy. Eric Langley’s ‘Tollard Royal’ was placed second with Bernard featuring again in third place with a classic shot of Ashmore, featuring its village pond. Julian Forder was highly commended.
It was a thoroughly enjoyable evening, attributable largely to the pleasure of enjoying some nice images but due also in no small part to Martin Western’s judging in which he focused on what was good rather than on what was bad.