Thursday, 28 March 2024. Cramlington Camera Club hosted the
NorthTyne PDI interclub Competition.
Judged by Jim Welsh LRPS, CPAGB, APAGB.

Our President Chris Haughton opened the proceedings by giving a warm welcome to all our guests and members. He then introduced Jim to the audience, and gave a brief résumé of Jim’s achievements in the field of judging.
Jim started by explaining his personal technique and style of judging. As with other judges his thoughts and opinions might differ from the authors of the images entered. He also commented “This was one of the best entry’s he had seen in many months”. So had made his job very difficult.
His style was very interesting and he gave a very detailed resume of each image, talking and explaining the story of each image as “he” the viewer saw it. His praise for the photographer’s skill was very evident. He offered a lot of helpful information about each image, commenting on focus, depth of field and composition. Jim is a high scoring judge so it soon became a very tight competition. Scoring was high through the competition, Jim awarded six 30 point images, with;-
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Chris then read out the final scores; Cramlington 1st with 223 points, Joint 2nd N Shields & Gosforth 221,  4th Whitley Bay 218, 5th Tynemouth 215,and 6th Pontelsnd 213
 He then thanked everyone for their efforts, he then introduced Jim once more to hand out the trophies to the winners, Chris on behalf of Cramlington Camera Club and Doreen Hart on behalf of Graeme Crombie of North Shields Photographic Society.

​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

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”.
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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