Our guest this evening was Gillian Hales a member and past president of Whitley Bay Photographic Society.

Gillian's presentation proved an eclectic mix of both digital stills and AV's covering her photographic history from picking up her first camera aged 7 through family holidays in the New Forest and gaining Duke of Edinburgh awards in gold, silver & bronze to having her work exhibited in 2008 at North Shields Library.

The presentation kicked off with an AV on 'man's best friend' accompanied by a backing track imaginatively selected entitled 'Who Let The Dogs Out' featuring a plethora of breeds from pets to working dogs.

A trip to The Kelpies near Falkirk was followed by images from the 2012 Olympic trials from Gateshead Stadium.  Athletics are a sport Gillian holds close to her heart and a solo trip to the capital to produced images from the IAAF World Championships including Mo winning gold.
A trip to Italy in 1997 to visit a pen pal of many years who was getting married resulted in a series of images of her wedding.

Gillian has been engaged in a project entitled 'Faces' showing a wide variety of images both young and old with the emphasis on expressions with which she finished her presentation.
After answering members questions Gillian was thanked for her presentation and received the usual round of applause.
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Bob Finlay (President)

Tonight (11th Jan) was the results of the 2nd Open Print Competition.
 
Jane Coltman made a welcome return to Cramlington after an absence of over 2 years but this time as a judge not a guest speaker.
 
Jane, a member of Alnwick Camera Club has been a press photographer for over 30 years and is currently lead photographer on the Northumberland Gazette and so brings a wealth of experience to her role as a judge.
 
Jane said she was impressed with the quality of the entries and enjoyed viewing them all and as usual picking winners proved a challenge. Jane explained what she liked about each print and what perhaps might be a distraction or where perhaps improvements could be made.  The members were impressed and pleased by the way Jane managed to find positives in all the entries and even managed to make any negative comments or criticism sound positive, ideal for those new members having their photographic skills judged for the first time.
 
The mono prints were judged first and the winner declared as ‘Christmas Rose’ by Pauline Wilson.
Following straight on came the colour section with Jim Meikle taking the accolade for ‘Jess in the Hood’.  A very well done to both Pauline and Jim for 2 excellent prints worthy of their 1st places.
 
At the end of the evening Jane was thanked for her judging skills and positive and informed comments and was rewarded with a round of applause from the members.
 
A full list of the prints 'placed' and' highly commended' are shown below and to view the top 5 images, both mono and colour click ...(HERE)
 
Bob Finlay (President)
 
 
Colour                                                                                     Mono
1) Jess in the Hood              Jim Meikle                   Christmas Rose         Pauline Wilson
2) Old Hartley Bay Sunrise  Bob Finlay                     Sea Urchin                 Pauline Wilson
3) Cave Tourist                     Ray Thompson              Light and Shades     Ray Thompson
4)  Roughting Linn                Bob Finlay                      Blyth Mooring           Tom Wilson
5)  Mo-Does it Again            Paul Kidd                        Light Wave                Jim Meikle       
           
Highly Commended
Blue Sky in Blyth                 Colin Livingston            Off the Hook                          Jamie Welsh
Guarding the Herd              Paul Kidd                       Mother Love                           Paul Kidd
Morning Dew                        Pauline Wilson             The View                                Jim Meikle
Common Kestrel                 Jamie Welsh                 Tyne Water God                     Jamie Welsh
Stormy St Marys           Jim Meikle             Time to Relaxed & Think   Paul Kidd                                 
 

The Tall Ships Races make a welcome return to the area. Arriving in Sunderland on the 14th of July the fleet will take part in a four day festival of culture and entertainment across the city.

Click on this link for more information.  'Tall Ships 2018'

PDI Knockout (Coast) 4th Jan 2018

This evening was our first meeting after the Christmas/New Year break and it has to be said that attendance was a little disappointing.

The theme of the evening was a PDI knockout battle entitled 'Coast'. Over 50 images had been received as entries and despite the audience being somewhat limited in number those in attendance entered into the spirit of the competition and were treated to a variety of images, some rather loosely based on the coastal theme but many, worthy of a showing in open club competition.

Round by round images were eliminated until our outright winner was decided. The accolade going to Julia Robson for 'Fog on the Pier'. 
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Very many congratulation to Julia for a lovely image and thanks to all who participated and made the evening a success.
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Bob Finlay. (President)

  'Fog on the Pier' by Julia Robson