MAY NEWSLETTER
May 4th, 2008 by Malcolm Bowditch
Editor’s Notes
We all know that an early start is important if, as enthusiastic photographers, we are to benefit from the special light around dawn that makes magical landscape pictures possible. However, at this time of the year, the dawn chorus provides an additional bonus for the early riser, and the combination of photographic potential and the actuality of wonderful birdsong is difficult (though not always impossible) to resist. It was on such a morning recently that I threw back the curtains to be rewarded with the cheering sight of a pair of great black tits resting on the edge of the birdbath in the garden. Now I am no ornithologist but that was the sort of sight that would inspire any photographer – even those who are not naturally drawn to wild life as subject matter.
RECENT EVENTS
April Points Cups
Peter Gafney started with the slide entry and awarded maximum points to Bernard Smith for an entry entitled ‘Sluices’. Maureen Langley with ‘Wasdale’ and Julian Forder with his cleverly titled ‘Long time no key’, both received 9½. Surprisingly for a trainee judge, Peter has already acquired the enviable skill of being able to find a plausible justification for the lower mark given to an image that fails to please. (As an aside, it is interesting to note that, helpful though it may be to others who aspire to greater things, few photographers seek an explanation from a judge for awarding him/her maximum points!)
Norman Carey then judged the prints. Four tens went to colour workers including David Cornes, Colin Cross (2) and Peter Gafney. Diàne Horsfall did very well to secure the only ten for a monochrome entry. Norman judged with his usual panache and good humour. Our grateful thanks to the judges; they both get ten from us!
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An AV digital evening
Ken Stevens and Dave Hurley hosted an AV digital evening at the club on Tuesday 15th April. The first half comprised contributions by the aforementioned together with Mike Ballard and Mike Catley. Sequences involved a range of subjects from digital manipulation, in ‘Jigsaw’ to camcorder footage of Ken Stevens driving a steam train on the Swanage Railway, by the end of which he was resting an elbow on the cab ‘window cill’ with the best of them. After the break, John Burt (a Purbeck marbler for sixty-plus years) gave an accomplished presentation coupled with a professional commentary on the story of Purbeck stone, its origins, extraction and applications. The oompah-pah musical accompaniment to an Austrian sequence lead to a certain amount of thigh slapping by one enthusiast, though this was on a strictly private and personal basis. It was an enjoyable evening.
EGM and Dorset Post Offices
On Tuesday 22nd April, the club met in large numbers to attend an EGM required in order to agree certain changes to the constitution. The large number attending (47 members) was not only pleasing to see but was also essential in order to be quorate, with the requirement of not less than 60% of the membership to be present.
This boring, though essential and ultimately successful, meeting was followed by a number of ‘snapshot’ presentations from a few of the members who had been active in the season’s collaborative activity of photographically recording all of the Post Offices extant in Dorset. The main object of the exercise, which has been going on throughout the year, was to produce a database which could be of value and of growing interest with the passage of time, particularly to local and social historians. A secondary objective was to provide a collaborative activity for club members to enjoy, and thus make a change from the more usual competitive ones. During this quite light-hearted and occasionally chaotic second half, members were able to view digitally projected images of a range of Dorset Post Offices from the grand and purpose-built to the remote and locally adapted versions of buildings which were not always easy to find geographically - or even to find open for business when they were! In this way, it was demonstrated that a group project with an ultimately serious purpose could also be enjoyable both during its fulfilment and its presentation.
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On Tuesday 29th April, at a packed meeting, the ladies were in competition with the men of the club for the Wessex Cup. Each side submitted twelve colour prints and twelve mono prints, for judging and marks out of ten in the usual way. On this particular occasion, the club was delighted to welcome Peter Tyrer as the judge and, from the start, he acknowledged the high quality of the entries before scoring and making useful comments on each submission. It was generally felt that, in addition to his informed commentary, he awarded points justly with the highest scores going to the best/most popular pictures.
The net result of this print battle was for the men to win by the relatively narrow margin of 214½ to 204½, in short less than 5% separated the two sides. The results are now even in this new competition, since the women won last year – by a margin of less than 1%! But, when all was said and done, who was counting after such an enjoyable evening?
Well, everyone actually!
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The public has access to the College under controlled conditions; they understandably wish to know who is in the building in addition to the many students attending.
Malcolm and I have an understanding that club members (and their guests) may attend, preferably in small groups (up to around six say) particularly if you also wish to take the opportunity of having a meal, or maybe an evening drink in the bar, (no alcoholic drinks during the day).
If you plan to visit in the evening and have a meal, please ‘phone the reception desk on 01202 308500, say you are a Club member and that you would like to view the exhibition with a party of however many, and (if you intend it) you would like to have a meal/drink afterwards if this is possible.
You can also visit during the day without making an appointment but in this case go to the reception desk on arrival, introduce yourself and say you would like to view the exhibition. Parking at the College is very limited (don’t expect to be able to park there) it is best to park in the Asda car park and walk the small distance to the College.
The College is normally open 7 days a week and in the evenings until 10:30. The exhibition runs until the end of June.
Keith Chaloner
With effect from next season, Points Cups will be decided on the basis of the best five results from six competitions, rather than the best six out of eight as at present. In a further break with tradition there will be a total of four Points Cup competitions rather than the current three. In addition to the usual Colour Print, Monochrome Print and Slide Competitions, there will also be a Digital Image Competition. This latter will be for the Pixel Cup to be donated by Norman Carey.
The first Tuesday in the month will be devoted to prints with the third Tuesday being given over to projected images. The second and fourth Tuesdays will be available for set competitions and guest speakers and other events.
In summary, we shall have twelve evenings for Points Cup events rather than eight. To accommodate these changes the season will be extended by two months from the end of May to the end of July.
This is advance notice only and fuller details will appear in the new programme that will appear in August.
