Thursday 23rd February 2017
Dave Dixon, Places, Projects and Pictures.
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This week Dave Dixon LRPS, Chairman of Alnwick and District Camera Club came down to give us a very entertaining and informative presentation entitled "Places, Projects and Pictures".
 
Over the years Dave has photographed many subjects but he has a passion for landscape both rural and urban. He showed a selection entitled "Waterfalls" showing us 'The Three Sisters' in the College valley, Roughting Linn, Hareshaw Linn, and Linhope, spout all in Northumberland. "Northumberland Churches" took us to St Michaels, Ingram with a crimson carpet leading up to the colourful stained glass, St Cuthbert's, Elsdon and many more showing the simple beauty in these old buildings. "Projects" starting in Alston Village railway station, explaining his reasoning for converting to a sepia tone to create effect and to hide the colours of walker's bright coats. "Newcastle Civic Centre to the Sage" his latest project to document the architecture through the city, with access to rooms that the public rarely see; to the Five Swans in the quadrangle. Also documenting the structures of the 60's from the Swan House Building now 55degrees, to the concrete underpass of the central motorway. "Dereliction"a series of images showing how nature eventually takes over after man moves on. "Graves". Dave is a volunteer with the War Graves Photographic Project who have photographed 1.8 million named graves and memorials.

 
Dave encouraged us to comment and we enjoyed a very interactive evening listening to his presentation.
 
Lauren thanked Dave for his work and the members showed their appreciation.
 
Colin Livingstone
Secretary  

4 Way Inter Club Competition 2nd Round. (Prints)
 
Tonight (Tuesday 21st Feb) saw the 2nd round of this competition, kindly hosted by Morpeth Camera Club.
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 In this second round it was the turn of prints, to be judged by Gerry Adcock. ARPS of Hexham Photographic Society.  Gerry had 40 prints to evaluate, 10 from each club including both mono and colour.  Gerry assessed each print giving a brief critique before scoring each out of a possible 30 points.
 
The members of  Cramlington CC who attended were on tenterhooks as the marking proceeded. Cramlington CC were leading after the 1st round of digital images carrying forward 239 points to this all important 2nd round.
 
Maximum scores of 30 points were awarded to 3 prints from Gosforth CC and 1 from Gateshead CC.
 
At the final count Gateshead CC were acknowledged as the overall winners, scoring 264 points on the night and a total 2 round score of 491. Cramlington CC tied for second place with Gosforth CC both with a 2 round score of 490 and scores on the night being 251 and 260 respectively. Morpeth CC were 4th with a score on the night of 244 and a total 2 round score of 470.
 
So, in the end it was only one point that decided the winner. Congratulations to Gateshead CC for their victory.  I think our performance should also be recognised and commended.  Well done do all those who submitted prints for this competition.
 
The evening ended with the usual refreshments by way of coffee, tea and cold buffet.
 
Bob Finlay.
Web Administrator.

​Tuesday 21st February 2017
Whitley Bay Exchange Visit.
 
This week we had the pleasure of visiting Whitley Bay Photographic Society for our second exchange of the season.
We arrived early and were met by a couple of members setting up the room.  Jeff Evens, president of the club arrived and more formal introductions were made. Jeff and his members made us warmly welcome. We sorted out the running order and set off on our short presentations.
 
Alan Tailford started off the evening with his images from a Norwegian Cruise and Showing some of the beauty in the dereliction of an old Russian mining town, interspersed with his humorous anecdotes of the trip.  He also showed some "Nearly" images of shots he should have taken, and his "royal" shots from Alnwick Castle.
 
Bill Stephens came next with his "Imagination" photography and how he liked to manipulate the original image to the final version that he had envisaged.  Everything from Venetian canals and Gondoliers turned into amazing watercolours or oil paintings.  Finishing with an AV manipulated by mathematical equations depicting "His Creation ".
 
Next  came Ian Leask with his tour of the Canadian Air Show, many aeronautical images from air museums all over America and Canada and giving a brief history of the aircraft and its location.
 
Alec Cowley showed one of his earliest short AV's, showing the River Tyne at Night, accompanied by music; and as Jeff Evens commented later some of the best "transitions" he has ever seen.
 
Then to finish we had Derek Parker, with the wild Hare and its sad decline in the countryside followed by some of his bird shots and travel photographs from Thailand.  Each with a humorous anecdote describing the shot or a bit of history about the area.
 
All in all a good night and judging by the applause very well received by Whitley Bay. Jeff thanked us for our efforts and is looking forward to their visit to us in March.
 
Tea and coffee followed with the opportunity to meet old friends chat and exchange ideas.
 
Colin Livingstone
Secretary
 

​Thursday 16th February 2017
Members Night
Due to a cancellation on the programme, we decided to hold an impromptu "Photo-shoot" at the club.
This proved to be very popular as quite a number of members brought in lighting rigs and plenty of props.
 
Lots of cameras with members taking shots with and without flash; ranging from miniature cars and model aeroplanes to vases of flowers and wine bottles.
Our more experienced members helped the less knowledgeable with advice on composition and camera settings.
 
We kept the coffee and biscuits running and all in all we had a good night.
Many thanks to the members who provided lights and props.
 
Colin Livingstone
Secretary

Thursday 9th February saw us host the annual 5 Way PDI competition between ourselves, Blyth, Cambois, Wallsend and Whitley Bay camera clubs. 50 images (10 from each club) were judged by Dave Phillips of Hartlepool Camera Club and given a score out of 30.

Dave was incredibly positive about all of the images and any criticisms he made were
Constructive and positive.

The evening had an unusual ending as there was a tie between Cambois and Whitley Bay; something never seen before in the history of the competition.  After a quick debate an agreement was reached by all 5 clubs that the trophy would be shared between the 2 winning clubs.
 The highest scoring Image of the night came from Cambois Camera Club of 'Eric the Viking'; well worthy of its 30 point score. Congratulations to both Cambois and Whitley Bay and well done to all 5 participating clubs.

Lauren Clayton.
President.

Exchange Visit to Ponteland Photographic Society.
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Last night saw Cramlington Camera Club visit to Ponteland on the return leg of our joint exchange.
We where made very welcome by our hosts and after the formalities of introductions by both Ponteland members and myself we got into our presentations.
We started off with a display of prints by Derek Parker, starting with the wild Hare and its sad decline in the countryside, followed by  some of his bird shots and travel photographs from Thailand; each with a humorous  anecdote describing the shot or a bit of history about  the area.
 
This was followed by two AV productions from Alec Cowley, a short 3 minute "jigsaw" piece showing views of the north east then a longer tour around the interior of Cragside Hall in Northumberland accompanied  by some classical music.  Alec gave a brief description of his "style" of photography at the end.
 
Next up was Jamie who took us on a tour of sports venues in Scotland, showing and explaining the complexities of getting "that action" shot of the athlete.  Whether it be a mountain biker trying to overtake or young downhill skier taking a sharp bend, also some fun shots of the water  jumps at Belsay Hall Championship. Finishing off with some landscape shots.
 
Bill Stephens came next with a storyboard of his photography and how he liked to manipulate the original image to the final version that he had envisaged. Everything from desolate bridges in the lakes that suddenly enjoy the presence of sheep or horses to canal side warehouses with the lights on or off. Also a selection of oil and watercolour conversions of some images.
 
Following on, Margaret Stephens showed a short selection of her photography. Margaret likes to work with still life and occasional landscape but using similar methods of manipulation and "her vision" creates some stunning art work with her photography.
 
Winding up the presentations was Ian Leask, with his collection of aeronautical images from air museums and air shows.  Primarily Canadian and giving a brief history of the aircraft and its location.
 
Thanks to all our members for their time and also Alan Tailford who came with us but due to time limitations kindly dropped his presentation.
 
At the end of the evening Ponteland thanked us for our work and the variety of images and styles. We then got together with each other to talk about the images over tea and cake.
 
Colin Livingstone
Secretary

​ Panorama Challenge 2nd February 2017
 
The evening got underway with a short, but very informative tutorial by the club secretary, Colin Livingstone about panoramic photography.  Colin also showed us just how much the "pro's" can spend on some of the equipment, and how much cheaper we amateurs can pick a very similar product up for.
 
As for the main event, 18 members submitted their images, 48 in all, and the knockout competition got underway.
 
 As per usual, some amazing images were shown, but in the end, the winner was deemed to be 'Ullswater Sails' by Alan Carr.  The runners up were. 'Tarn Howe' by Jim Meikle and 'Buttermere Reflecions' by Alan Carr.
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Once again, many thanks to all the members for submitting their images.
 
Alan Lockey.....PDI secretary

Winner  'Ullswater Sails'  Alan Carr

Runner Up  'Tarn Howe'  Jim Meikle

Runner Up  'Buttermere Reflections'  Alan Carr