One of our members, Natalie Wright, gave us a talk on 21st March about Bird Photography. Natalie explained that although having an interest for some years, she had taken a serious interest in this area of photography only in the last 18 months. However, she soon displayed enthusiasm and developing levels of skill and knowledge about the subject. Natalie spoke about the importance of understanding and studying the habitats and behaviours of different bird species. An understanding of where different species can be found locally, together with close observation of their behaviour, had helped her to take some excellent images. She also explained how other bird watchers shared information of where rare birds could be seen (often after they had been blown off course on their way to their destinations) and how they shared their knowledge when they congregated at a particular location. The difficulties of achieving good compositions of birds were explained by Natalie, particularly when they were taking off and landing. Patience, skill and good post processing skills are required - especially with smaller birds! She also spoke about the benefits of the photographer getting low when birds are low down or on the ground - this provides better compositions than photographing them from a standing position.
Long lenses are required for bird photography - a minimum of 400mm and preferably 600mm. Shutter speeds of 1-3000th of a second are often used. Natalie deploys automatic ISO but with a maximum setting of 6,400 on cropped cameras. She also shared with us some of her post processing techniques using Lightroom. Natalie's bird photographs included shots of Robins, Redwings, Waxwings, Red Footed Falcon, Great Crested Grebe and Greylag and Canada Geese. Natalie's talk was appreciated by the members present and was another example of our members taking a significant amount of time and effort to share with the group their knowledge, skills, experience and personal development . Ray Barnes Programme Secretary
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We held a Gallery Night on 14th March. Members brought examples of their prints and digital images and it was a good opportunity to view and ask each other questions about where and how the shots had been taken. There were some great examples. A few of our members gave short presentations of their work. There was a strong international theme to the photographs shown and presented by Derek Parker and Paul Dunn, in particular. Derek showed black and white photographs he had taken of Mount Everest and Annapurna, as well as birds he had photographed in countries such as Cuba and The Gambia. He also showed photographs from Thailand which he has visited many times. Paul's images included those taken on a tour of the North-West of the USA, in Myanmar, Madeira and other countries. Colin Livingstone showed stunning examples of the photographs he has taken of models in studios. He explained how these very technical shots had been taken, including the use and positioning of lights and the lengthy shutter speeds deployed. Peter Moody provided an audio visual presentation which he had skilfully constructed of photographs he had taken from around the UK. The photographs were accompanied by the music of a Scottish piper. Members had positioned their prints on stands and tables all around the room and others were available to view in members' portfolio folders.
Thanks to all contributors. It was an opportunity for us all to enjoy the work of our fellow members and to learn valuable lessons from them. If we needed reminding, there was plenty of evidence of the skills and dedication of our members! Ray Barnes The final Open Print Competition of the season, judged by Peter Downs, took place tonight (7th March). Peter provided positive feedback on each print, speaking to each of the authors and providing tips for improvements. Peter explained that he had a difficult time deciding on the top five in each category with a number of prints moving in and out off the places during his deliberations. This was especially true when it came to deciding the winner for the colour prints where the choice was between 2 equally good prints, with the final decision being made on the night. Fortunately, both prints were by the same person! Due to the number of entries, it was decided that only the top 5 places would be awarded for this competition, no highly commended awards. A full list of the prints placed are shown below. Colour: 1st Jack & Jules - Colin Livingstone 2nd Love in the Mist (triptych) - Colin Livingstone 3rd Punks - Bob Finlay 4th A Slow Day - Alan Carr 5th Winter - Pauline Wilson Mono: 1st The Gardener - Paul Dunn 2nd Not the Bridge - Alan Carr 3rd The Inspector - Colin Livingstone 4th Silhouette of Lossiemouth - Pauline Wilson 5th Frozen Bolam Lake - Pauline Wilson Paul Dunn
(Print Competition Secretary) Last night Thursday 29th February we hosted the second leg of the 4 Way interclub competition. Clubs attending Gosforth, Morpeth, Gateshead and Cramlington. Attendee’s from all clubs were represented. Our Judge on the night was Stuart Skelsey from Whitley Bay Camera Club. He started by thanking us for the invite to judge this event and commented how he enjoyed looking at the images presented from all clubs. Pointing out that his scoring tended to be variable and some scores would be ‘low’. Proceeding to the judging, feedback from all attendees was that his critique was fair and positive and informative. Giving clubs and photographers points of interest and advice on their future images when presenting for competitions. Our highest scoring images, Lone Tree by Alan Carr “28” and Angel at Sunset by Colin Livingstone “29”.
Highest score was “Childhood” by Laura Caballero of Gateshead Camera Club. https://www.gatesheadcc.com/home 1st Place Gosforth with 279 points (540) 2nd Place Gateshead with 257 points (501) 3rd Place Morpeth with 246 points (509) 4th Place Cramlington with 240 points (483) Consolidated score in brackets. After the presentation and thank you and congratulation everyone retired to have a chat and enjoy the buffet. Colin Livingstone Interclub Secretary On Thursday 22nd February 2024, we held a Members' Night on the subject of Still Life. Some of our senior members - Colin Livingstone, Pauline Wilson and Bob Finlay - prepared and set up a number of Still Life scenes for us to photograph. Colin also arranged and set up some studio lighting so that each of the scenes was lit effectively and was conducive to good photography. Members had been asked in advance to bring along their cameras and, if they so wished, their tripods. There was a fun mood amongst the members as we moved between scenes, viewing each others efforts, experimenting with different compositions and camera settings and looking to produce that elusive perfect image! A few examples of our photographs are shown here. After an enjoyable evening, we packed up the equipment and then some of us headed down to the pub.
On 15th February Alan Porrett (ARPS, EFIAP, DPAGB, APAGB) and his wife, Pat Porrett (LRPS, AFIAP, APAGB) of Whitley Bay gave us a talk entitled The Roving Cameras in South Africa.
Alan explained that their visit to South Africa hadn't been a holiday when they took photographs but was actually a dedicated photography trip, led by their friend, the Canadian professional photographer, Freeman Patterson. Other than visiting Cape Town at the start of their trip, then group had largely spent their time in the remote North-West of South Africa, which is hardly ever visited by Europeans. As the photographs testified, travel was often across very rugged and barren terrain and accommodation in the desert wilderness was often basic! We were shown photographs of desert and coastal landscapes, wildlife and the local people. Alan explained that despite suffering years of apartheid the locals were very friendly and welcoming and showed no signs of bitterness towards white Europeans. The presentation was informative, fascinating and it was another enjoyable evening for CCC members. Ray Barnes Last night 15th February Myself and Colin Byrne attended Blyth Photographic Society for the Anunual 4 Way Pdi. Between Blyth, Cramlington, Cambios and Whitley Bay. Quite a good attendance with visitors from all clubs represented. In the absence of their President, Alan Wennington hosted the evening and started by thanking everyone for coming. He then introduce David Ord the judge for the night. David as is usual by judges explained his method of assessing the images, saying how much he enjoyed looking at them and what a very good standard of entries. He proceeded with his critique in a very positive and complimentary manner. As well as noting this is of course only his opinion. The final scores;- 1st Blyth with 277 points 2nd Whitley Bay with 268 points 3rd Cramlington with 265 points 4th Cambios with 261 points So quite a close result, the top score of 30 points went to Alan Wennington for his image of “Enter the Dragon”. Cramlington top score of 28 went to Natalie Wright for her image “Berry Redwing”. A raffle and buffet ended the evening. Colin Livingstone Thursday 8th February, was our 2nd open PDI competition, with Stephen Fowler of Ryton Camera Club as Judge. He has visited Cramlington many times.
After a short introduction Stephen explained his style of looking at the images prior to marking. He then took us on a journey of his critique, which was very positive and informative. There were 42 images entered, Highly Commended were; Early Morning Dip in Derwent Water by Ray Thompson Fallen By Pauline Wilson Cullercoats by Paul Dunn On Guard by Pauline Wilson You go First by Chrs Houghton Winners; 5th place In the Air by Colin Livingstone 4th place Sundown and Sorrow by Brian Sydney 3rd place Derek by Bob Finlay 2nd place Berry Redwing by Natalie Wright 1st place Jules in Motion by Colin Livingstone Colin Livingstone The 2nd Open Print Competition, judged by Geoff Green, took place tonight (18th Jan).
Geoff not only provided constructive and positive feedback on each of the prints but also researched the image giving information on location or subject of the image. Geoff also encouraged feedback from the images author which was appreciated by those present. Congratulations go to Colin Livingstone once again taking 1st place in both the mono and colour competitions. A full list of the prints 'placed' and' highly commended' are shown below. To view the images, both colour and mono go here Paul Dunn (Print Competition Secretary) Colour Mono
Highly Commended Flower Buds Colin Livingstone Windmill Paul Dunn Red Arrows Adam Burness In the Name of Bond Colin Livingstone Sail Away Paul Dunn Roseberry Topping Colin Livingstone In a nail biting finish, my own image, "wheres my nut" came a very close second to Ray Thompsons "Deer in the morning sun" image. Many images were entered and there were twists and surprises along the way!
Congratulations to the winners and many thanks to to all those who took the time to submit an image. |
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