Last night, at our first league event of the season, we were in competition at Wimborne and a good turnout of eleven members from Blandford were present on a cold evening to hear George Walsh from Yateley CC judge our photographs.

George marked from 6 to 10 without resorting to half marks and, starting with the prints, it soon became clear that we were facing stiff competition and, by the tea break, we had already lost the prints competition by the substantial margin of six points (by 78 - 62).  This was despite the success of the Chaloner brothers, who shared three 9’s between them and Jean Bartlett who also scored a nine.

We did rather better in the DPI’s competition and eventually won - and by the same significant margin of six points (by 74 – 68).  For success in this event we have to thank the skill of our wildlife photographers.  We entered four images in this category (one by Graham Poynter and three from Colin Cross) and all scored 9 points.  Equally worthy of mention was a portrait by John Burt that also received a nine.

When considering Blandford’s pictures, and during a few surreal moments, George appreciated a raptor leaving the water’s surface holding a fish in its talons but disapproved of a figure in a landscape using a camera.  As an intriguing matter of fact, neither of these features appeared in any of our entries! 

In summary then, George gave three images the maximum points (all to Wimborne) and twelve images his minimum score of six (including mine!). And so it was that the evening finished with honours even and with each club justly winning as they did.  It was good to meet old CC friends and Wimborne were hospitable as always.

In a fortnight’s time we welcome Boscombe CC to Blandford in our home SAPA competition.  It promises to be an interesting evening.

Malcolm Bowditch

Houston ………. we have a problem!

As I have mentioned in a previous note on our website, it is a problem of our own making and success: too many points cup entries for the Judge to adequately cope within the time frame available. We have to give the Judge a reasonable workload and at the same time, provide our members with a transparent and unbiased critique of their work. There have been many suggestions via the Website, Emails from other members to the Committee and verbal suggestions from other members. Equally, individual Committee members are never shy with their own views, so an “interesting debate” was the order of the day at last nights Committee Meeting.

• So, am I going into details of the Committee Meeting? Yes

• Is this going to be a regular occurrence? No

• Am I going to publish Minutes? No

I am going through this process, because any change to Points Cup is perhaps one of the most important series of events in our calendar. On this unusual occasion, I have the approval of the Committee to summarise the debate and publish our conclusion. Please bear with me, because I am doing this at the earliest opportunity and without the benefit of the minutes in front of me. Therefore any lack of tact, diplomacy, or poor memory is entirely down to me. Please also bear in mind that I am putting in a paragraph that would need a couple of pages to accurately cover the debate on each item.

Some of the suggestions were:

• Reduce entries from 3 to 2

• Increase time available

• Pre-select only the better entries

• Hold it over two evenings

• Internal judges to pre-qualify entries

• Extend members appreciation evening

• Pre judge and only give marks on the evening

• Preclude some entries’ after a give maximum is reached

If I have missed anyone’s suggestion, that is my omission, but I assure you that all were collated and included within the debate.

We used to have a lot more competitions. Many were very poorly attended and there were ongoing complaints from members that there were too many competitions. A poll of members concluded that Points Cup was the most popular and should remain, with the resulting free evenings dedicated to “doing/learning” events. Previously, members could have four entries, two in two classes. This was subsequently reduced to three overall, but could be entered at each member’s preference. This was very helpful in establishing DPI’s, which were quite new at the time.

The SAPA Guidelines advise 80 as the maximum number that a Judge should be presented with. That is the maximum that judges would expect and what they are presented with from other clubs. Judges are a rare commodity and we should bear in mind that there is no compulsion for them to accept our invitation. Therefore, it behoves us to make their experience a pleasant and welcoming one, so that they are pleased to judge our competitions. On the subject of judging, we appear to have forgotten some of the normal protocols for when judging is taking place, so I will come up with some guidance on this for another time.

It was considered that splitting the competition over two evenings would take us back to the too many competitions scenario and monthly member’s work appreciation evenings would be viewed in a similar vein.

Whilst we have members capable of internal judging to a high level, it has been used before and was never a satisfactory solution. Some members take their competitions very seriously and it’s bad enough getting a low mark from a Judge, but that same low mark from a friend and fellow member is tantamount to “Handbags at Dawn!”

Extending the evening by starting earlier didn’t find much favour. Many members have other commitments, such as earning a living, so a 7:00pm start wouldn’t work for them. Plus, we would potentially be starting at different times for different events. The preference was to keep things simple with one start time.

Any form of pre-selection didn’t find any supporters. All members, regardless of ability, should be able to have their work independently assessed. Today’s beginners are tomorrow’s experienced photographers and there shouldn’t be any impediment to their learning curve, in favour of the current more advanced members. Whilst some of our expert members may be willing to forego the Judge’s critique and just hear the mark, the majority of our members value the Judge’s comments, as an aid to their continuing improvement.

That was the essence of the debate and the following is the Committee’s solution:

• Members will continue to be able to enter a maximum of three images.

• Members free choice of how many of those three in each category, as we do now.

• Members to mark their entries A, B, or C.

• In the event that the competition is oversubscribed, all C entries will be removed.

• If the competition is still oversubscribed, all B entries will be removed.

• Any removed entries will be advised to the members present, before judging commences.

• Any removed entries will still be eligible for future Points Cup Competitions.

• This modification of the entry rules will commence September 2012.

• This will not affect the current season up to May 2012.

This was a unanimous decision from the Committee and even though the problem is current, it was considered undesirable to change the rules part way through the season. Generally, entries are higher during the first half of the season and tend to slow down during the second half. As we are now in the second half, the problem should be mitigated for the rest of the season.

Colin Cross
Chairman

But there was so much more.  We learned, for example, that the name Dolomites was derived from that of one D G de Dolomieu, a French mineralogist, who was passing through (possibly on his way to Rome - who can tell, it was a long time ago) when he discovered a dominant mineral in the rock of the mountains that he took home with him and identified as calcium magnesium carbonate.  Hence this mineral is now known as dolomite and the mountain range as the Dolomites. 

This was an evening with something for everyone and was thoroughly enjoyed by all.  Thank you both, very much!

Malcolm Bowditch

Brian Winkle entertained members at the club on Tuesday 17^th January when he surprised us all with a light-hearted, illustrated talk on his various recent travels.  More precisely, our surprise stemmed from the fact that he never discloses the nature of his subject for the evening in advance; it was not a surprise in the sense that we had expected him to talk about anything else!

These evenings with Brian have become a regular annual feature of club life at Blandford and are always enjoyable.  On this occasion he started with a description of a cruise on the ‘Balmoral’ which included a visit to Casablanca which was of especial interest to him and, indeed, to all of the film buffs present.  This experience was followed by a brief sojourn in south Devon, a visit to Wimbledon and a particularly enjoyable photographic foray in Paris - a favourite location for Brian as a fluent speaker of the language and an enthusiastic street photographer.  His special interest is in photographing people rather than places.  Nothing pleases him more than photographing the man in the street.  Unless, perhaps, if it is the woman in the street.  Not women of the street; this is another subject entirely that received barely a mention on this occasion.

Altogether, this was a pleasant and relaxing evening presented with Brian’s usual good humour and which included some fine images, many of them reflecting his long experience and skill as a black and white photographer.

Malcolm Bowditch

There was standing room only for members on the occasion of the fourth Points Cups competitions of the season on Tuesday 10^th January.  The judge for the event was Mike Weeks, a regular at Blandford and always welcome.  Despite the fact that he was faced with the apparently impossible task of judging a total of approaching one hundred images, he nevertheless completed the task and finished only five minutes after 10.00 pm.  Having said that, no doubt Mike - and certainly many of the competitors also – would have appreciated the luxury of having a few extra seconds to do full justice to images regarded by him as of a generally high standard.

In a small slides competition (7 images), Julian Forder was the highest scorer with 8½ points for a texture rich image.  The DPI competition followed with 49 entries and the award of five tens to Maureen Langley, Stephanie Selwyn, Colin Cross (2) and Malcolm Bowditch.  Close behind were two images, by Pat Catley and Graham Hutton, each of which received 9½.

After the break, the thirty-nine prints were judged and three colour prints were awarded the maximum score.  Jean Bartlett and Keith Chaloner (2) led the field here with three close behind with each scoring 9½ points.  These included a monochrome picture by Marilyn Peddle and two colour prints by John Ellis.

This evening represented the half-way point in the competitive season and members are really back and involved in their hobby after the Christmas break.  Meanwhile, the pressure is on the committee to deal with the problem of an embarrassment of riches.  There could be worse problems!

Malcolm Bowditch

I didn’t see how many hands were raised in response to the first question but I guess maybe half, or less, of the membership. I do, however, know the answer to the question of contributors and it’s about the same as the fingers I have on one hand, which is five. No, I lie, there are now 6, welcome aboard Peter. In comparison with most of the population who are very seriously into web related communication and very ready to put their personal lives on facebook etc. why are you so reluctant to take an interest in this means of sharing thoughts about your club and your hobby?

I suppose there are a few of the more ‘mature’ members who just can’t be bothered with this new fangled stuff and I’ll let you off. However we have an increasing number of members who look young to me although that may not be a reliable basis for judgement. At the danger of conflating the two issues, (regularly accessing the site and commenting) could it be that Malcolm and I (who produce most of the content) are considered too remote and part of the ‘establishment’ and therefore distant from the ‘normal’ membership? Surely not; I am firmly anti-establishment and Malcolm far too nice although quite prepared to speak his mind when the occasion demands.

My brother David made an interesting comment about the running of the club which he apparently sees (I think this is correct) as something a bit remote, conducted by others who apparently meet, discuss and make decisions and have little relationship to many of the members. Maybe a bit like a bus that we regularly use, get on and off but have no idea of the ultimate destination or the route.
If members were a little more aware of, and felt more involved in, the running of the club and if club business was reported on the web site, would more of you feel involved and take an interest?
Over the next week or so (now complete please call me if I have missed you) I will try and register every member on the site and provide the password necessary so you can comment, when this is done I will email you individually together with instructions. I may be wasting my time but please prove me wrong.

I conclude with an invitation to the Committee to report on your deliberations in respect of how ‘Points Cup’ numbers will be restrained (if this becomes necessary) and the quality of judge’s comment improved.

Discuss.
Keith

On Tuesday 3^rd January, at the first club meeting since the Christmas break, we welcomed Tony Worobiec who gave us fascinating presentation on ‘Night and low-light photography’.  This was essentially based on his eponymous book that first appeared in 2009 and deals with the subject in very great detail.  In fact, unless one’s special interest here is the night sky and star trails, the book (and the talk) covers pretty much all one could wish to know. 

When viewed on the screen it was difficult to believe that such splendidly detailed images could be produced in lighting conditions that often required the photographer to use a torch when moving to and from a particular viewpoint.  Furthermore, in landscapes and in the absence of artificial light, images possess a quality of luminosity and colour quite different from that obtained during daylight hours.  Although this is presumably to be expected because the colour of the light illuminating the subject is so very different, the nature and quality of these images have to be seen to be properly appreciated.

Tony is a gifted communicator and the evening flew by as he gave this talk that was special in the sense that it dealt in detail with an aspect of photography with which relatively few of us are very familiar.  Many of us left fired with an enthusiasm to try something different.  Time will tell …

Malcolm Bowditch

Malcolm Bowditch