​Following an Extraordinary General Meeting to discuss the future direction of the club, one of our long-standing members, Bob Finlay, gave us a presentation which he had titled An Eclectic Mix. Bob explained that he had used a range of cameras during the course of his photographic journey and had moved between Pentax, Nikon, Fuji and an Olympus camera. He explained that he had owned cameras with cropped and full frame sensors and, most recently, had bought an Olympus four thirds camera. The four thirds system is a standard created by Olympus and Eastman Kodak for DSLR camera design and development. Four thirds refer to both the size of the image sensor as well as the aspect ratio. Bob said he was very pleased with this recent acquisition which produced great images, was light to use and carry on photographic trips and could be hand-held for an impressive 2 seconds when shooting.
 
With some amusing diversions about the cars he and his friends had owned and driven in the past, Bob presented a range of his photographs in sections such as Landscape, Sport and Portraits. Bob has a relaxed but clear and amusing presentational style and this, together with his high-quality photographs, provided a very enjoyable and informative meeting. 
 
Including Bob, about three-quarters of those in attendance then headed for the pub to continue our discussion about photography in general, the club, next year's programme and a wide range of subjects and anecdotes which came to mind, and which were suitably lubricated by the beer.
 
Ray Barnes 
Programme Secretary

On Tuesday 18th February the second round of the 4-Way Print Competition was Hosted by Morpeth Camera Club. A number of Cramlington members represented us on the night and the results follow.
4th Place was Cramlington with 408 points
3rd Place was Gateshead with 449 points
2nd Place was Morpeth with 483 points
1st Place was Gosforth with 502 points 

Colin Byrne
​PDI Competition Secretary

Tonight we held our 2nd PDI Competition and was Judged by Veronica Congleton. Veronica remarked on the quality of all the images and was difficult to select the top 5 and highly commended.
The Top 5 were as followed:
1st - Tom - Adam Burness
2nd - A moderate Hike - Malcolm Booth
3rd - Angry Bird - Ray Barnes
4th - Grey Squirrel - Bob Finlay
5th - The Hunt - Colin Byrne

Highly Commended:
High Level Darth - Colin Livingstone
The View - Paul Dunn
Mysterious Anna - Paul Kidd
Cathedral Walk - Ray Barnes
Merry Monk - Ray Barnes

Colin Byrne
​PDI Competition Secretary

The 4 Way Interclub PDI Competition between Blyth, Cambois, Cramlington and Whitley Bay was held on Tuesday 11th February 2025. The host club was Whitley Bay PS and the judge was Tony Broom.
After a very tight competition, Blyth PS won with an overall score of 264. In 2nd place was Whitley Bay PS with 255, 3rd place was Cambois CC with 250 and Cramlington CC came 4th with 241 points. The image scoring 30 points was ‘Madonna Lily’ by Richard Young of Blyth PS.

​Jim Welsh received the trophy on behalf of Blyth PS. This is the 4th year in a row Blyth has won this trophy, sharing it with Whitley Bay PS in 2023.
Tony Broom was thanked for his constructive comments throughout the competition and the event was well attended by all clubs. The host club provided an excellent buffet after the competition.

On Thursday 6th Ray Barnes started off with a Presentation of the club, how it's going and the future running of the club which gave a few members thinking about the way forward. 
Afterwards we had a few displays set up for members to take a few photo's and discuss how and the best way to shoot them using their own camera's. 

Colin Byrne
​PDI Competition Secretary