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.
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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.
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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
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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