Blandford Forum Camera Club

The SAPA All v All competition was held at Fordingbridge last evening.  The event was well supported by Blandford, maybe not in numerical terms because there was only one present.  That solitary representative was Marilyn Peddle but it is she that we must thank for her sterling efforts and the information for this post.

The event involved twelve clubs from within SAPA and it was judged by Tony Oliver from Salisbury.  Each club enters six images, all by different photographers, and the club with the highest total score at the end of the evening is the winner.  Blandford did not win but we did come second, losing by three points to Fordingbridge.  In third place was Boscombe who trailed us by two points.  It will be remembered that we lost our DPI league battle with Boscombe but on this AvA occasion we showed that we have strength in depth.

Especially worthy of congratulations must be Norman Carey who finished top of the heap with a ten for his ‘Masque Venice’.  Individual Blandford scores appear below:

Full results are as follows:

1^st   Fordingbridge                   57½

2^nd  Blandford                        54½

3^rd   Boscombe                       52½

4^th   Ringwood                         52

5^th   Wimborne                         51

6^th   Wareham                         50½

7^th   Kinson                              49½

       Parkstone                         49½

9^th   Bournemouth Electric      49

10^th Bournbemouth P.S.         47½

11^th Ferndown                         46½

12^th Poole                                45½

Malcolm Bowditch

Tuesday 28^th February was the occasion of our second ‘Print appreciation’ meeting of the season – except that this time we had the opportunity to appreciate on-screen images as well as prints on paper.  This innovation was welcomed on the basis that, where constructive and worthwhile suggestions for improvements were to be made, they could be taken on board before time, effort and materials were wasted on producing an imperfect print.  A further innovation involved the division of photographic interest into specialist groups individually hosted by experienced workers.  In this way, all those with a common interest in, for example, landscapes were able to focus attention on that genre.  In addition however, portraiture, monochrome and a general category were also individually featured as areas of significant interest for the purposes of the meeting.

As is usual, the event was overseen by Brian Winkle and a goodly number (29) of members had an enjoyable evening and were able to benefit from the club’s in-house collective experience.

Malcolm Bowditch

How do you define a group of 32 people with 153 legs* between them?  It’s a BFCC club evening devoted to the theory and practice of macro and close-up photography attended by members with cameras and tripods.  Our welcome guest and host for the evening was BrianTarling from Shaftesbury who educated and entertained us in his own inimitable way. During the first half Brian talked about the theory and practice illustrated with some of his own photographs and the kit that he uses.  After the break, members were let loose with their own cameras and tripods to take photographs of suitable subjects, lit in a variety of ways, on tables arranged around the hall.  Brian was ever-present to give advice on technique - how to adjust and stabilise our cameras and spread our legs so as to get the best results. 

These practical evenings are an occasional, and much welcomed, feature of the club calendar and this particular event was no exception being supported and enjoyed by thirty-two club members.

*not everyone brought a tripod.

Malcolm Bowditch

(with thanks to Eric Langley who supplied all of the information used and apologies to him for the occasional embellishment

It’s been an exciting time.  We are two-up in the one-day internationals against Pakistan, it is understood that the verification of the ‘Higgs boson’ particle is imminent and we were due to meet Boscombe C.C. in the second of our SAPA league battles on Tuesday 14^th February!  For the latter event, we welcomed Barry Senior as our judge for the evening - and Fiona for her company.  It was also a pleasure to welcome a group of eight visitors from the Boscombe club.

Well, for the benefit of those not present at the club on Tuesday, I should cut to the chase and tell you that we lost both the print battle and the DPI competition.  In fact, and as a matter of minor interest, we lost both events by precisely the same margin of 1½ points.  Fortunately for us perhaps, the lowest mark given by Barry was 7½ or the difference could well have been larger!

The DPI competition was held during the first half and Barry awarded the maximum score of ten to four images; two to each club.  Marilyn Peddle (landscape) and Colin Cross (bird with a fish) were the successful Blandford photographers.  Colin also scored a 9½ for a picture of a fox.  Boscombe won by 81 to 79½.  The print event was also keenly contested but, and I’ve prepared you for this, again Boscombe won.  Five prints were given the maximum score, two of which were for Blandford entries with one by Marilyn (teasel), who was on a roll, and the second from Graham Hutton (of a train).  Jean Bartlett (eagle) and Keith Chaloner (portrait) also did well to score 9½’s.

Both competitions were close but Boscombe emerged worthy winners and we congratulate them.  Barry commented on a number of projected images from both clubs with burnt out highlights.  This is a factor that we should all keep in mind when producing images for digital projection.  The situation is different with prints.  If highlight detail is absent one can see it and re-print, provided of course that the information had been captured in the first place.

This was a very good evening with an opportunity to see some excellent work from another club though for the first time in a while we won’t be competing in the league finals this year.

Malcolm Bowditch

Reg Clark from Boscombe CC was the judge at our fifth Points Cups competitions at the club on 7^th February when he was faced with a manageable total of seventy-seven images to comment upon and the task of awarding points out of ten for each. This was his second visit to the club as a judge with the first being in September 2010 when he judged our President’s competitions.

The slides competition failed to produce any ‘tens’ but Brian James did well to get a nine.  The DPI competition, with thirty-three entries, resulted in the award of three tens; one each to Norman Carey, Graham Rains and Kath Singleton.  David Watson and Pam Woodhouse also did well with each scoring 9½.

In the print competition, comprising thirty-six images, Keith Chaloner was the only one to receive ten marks and that was for a colour image.  Peter Watts pushed hard from behind with 9½ for a colour print, followed by another of Keith’s and one by Peter Gafney with nines (both colour images) and Marilyn Peddle with the same score for another monochrome print.

This was an excellent evening thanks to a very good entry but also, in no small part, to our judge.  Reg was fluent, articulate and perceptive - and his critiques were therefore much appreciated.  Although understandably subjective, his marking was consistent and he used the range available to him in such a way that he discriminated effectively between the entries.  But, at the end of the day, as a fellow member shrewdly remarked, ‘the points are of value to individuals but a skilful commentary is of value to all’.

Malcolm Bowditch