Blandford Forum Camera Club

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!

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

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)

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

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.

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.