UPMINSTER V BRENTWOOD PRINT BATTLE

I guess that it rates alongside all the great rivalries, The ould firm rivalry between Glasgow Rangers & Celtic, Liverpool versus Everton, Ali v Frazier. Kasparov and Fischer. The makers of Twix !!!??.

It certainly creates the same tension and electric atmosphere, with respective supports kept apart. It was noticed that one or two members were fraternizing with the enemy. these appeared to be new members who probably did not realise who they were talking to.

In hindsight we should have taken the judges offer of a draw before the competition got under way. However, we were confident having home advantage. 

There was a good variety of prints from both sides. We got off to a good start and went into an early lead, by half-time it looked even, until it was realised that they had three held back to our two, still it is a game of two halves, two horse race and all that.

I don't like to cast aspersions but it was noticed that the judge was in deep conversation with one of the Brentwood Crew at the break and that there was a lot of Major Charles Ingram type of coughing in the second half.

I did try to do my bit to help and claim a Brentwood print as one of ours, before I was shown a yellow card.  

At the end of the evening it eas a fair result, though we were sick as Parrots, there is always next time etc.

Our thanks to judge for making it an entertaining evening, giving the prints a precise critique and trying to create an exciting climax to the evening by keeping a few prints back, oh well nice try.

Interesting that he kept prints of every subject back, not sure about the two prints that looked like pencil drawings. The one of Stonehenge, the portrait looked more like a Viking rather than someone from that era. Maybe, it was a Saxon from the time of Robin Hood, I was never allowed to watch it as my mum said there was too much Saxon Violence on T.V.

Congratulations to Brentwwod for a set of excellent prints,and were deserved winners.

Thanks to Colin for selecting the prints, perhaps our loss was a reflection on the low numbers of prints we get for our monthly competitions.

Two Horse Race, Our Old Nag

DIGITAL PROJECTED IMAGES

January 20th 2015

I still miss the good old days of slides or the more technical term of transparencies. With Dennis on the projector, giving us a good old groan with his puns of the images. and all ways getting his own work sharply focused and the rest? well almost, with the judge saying a pity this is not quite sharp.

The only way you could alter the image was either a piece of tin foil to crop it, or vaseline to give it a blurred affect, this always confused poor old Dennis as he had trouble trying to focus it. 

Still we cannot stand in the way of progress, the only thing that does not change is the subject matter. Tuesday was no different, with images of London at night showing how photogenic it is at night, probably only second to New York, but easier and cheaper to get to. 

We also got our usual share of Natural History shots with birds of all descriptions and habitat. 

I have tried to take photos of our garden birds. I have paid out for peanuts for our Blue and Great Tits, Niger seed for Goldfinches, Mealworms for the Robins and fat balls for Starlings & Jays and have been rewarded by their visits. However, I have spent a small fortune on Sand Eels but not one Puffin.

We also got some arty shots, like The Look, although the man could have visited the barber before shoot' and the very moody Lady of The Night, oops, sorry Girl in The Light.

Thanks to team Oliver, for their insightful comments, Jeff, I think the Hippo must have been an old male, as you get older you find that hair starts to grow out of places that it did't when you were younger.

Sarah, it was not big or clever to pause too long when commenting, as Alan was just about to press enter tro record his score when you started talk again. He developed a bit of a twitch after that.

After last weeks Blog, Andy has been busy getting things in place for this years outings, looking forward to some great photo opportunities.

Don't forget your camera

DIGITAL PROJECTED IMAGES COMPETITION

Winning Images January 20th 2015

ADVANCED

1st Kingfisher

by Reg Mellis

2nd Girl in The Light

by Bradley Beck-Hill

3rd Grey Heron

by Reg Mellis

Highly Commended Fox Cubs

by Reg Mellis

INTERMEDIATE

1st The Look

by Paul Vine

2nd Water Colours

by Andy Taylor

3rd Only Way Home

by Colin Smith

Highly Commended The Escape

by Alan Layton

PRELIMINARY

1st Locked Up For The Winter

by John Hastings

2nd Zig Zag

bySteve Christie

3rd Stormy Sky

by Steve Christie

OUTINGS COMPETITION 2014-15

January 13th 2015

Winning Images for the three Outings Competitions.

Judged by Bernard Turnbull ARPS DPAGB

DIGITAL PROJECTED IMAGES

1st A Break in Poor Weather
by Lin Wilcox

2nd John Player Special, Classic F1

by Dick Williams

3rd Castlerigg Stone Circle
by David Lund

H.C. Poly Tunnels
by Dave Wilcox

H.C. London to Brighton
Dick Williams

H.C. Christmas Tree

by Steve Ingall

.

H.C. 1950 Plymouth

by Mick Ladner

H.C. Having Fun at Winter Wonderland Hyde Park

by David Lund

H.C. Concentric

by Lin Wilcox

COLOUR PRINT

1st Wrynose Pass

by Colin Smith

2nd Blea Tarn View

by Sarah Oliver

3rd Ullswater Sunrise

by Sarah Oliver

H.C. Snagged

by Dave Wilcox

MONO PRINTS

1st Blea Tarn

by Dave Wilcox

2nd A Lakeland View

by Sarah Oliver

3rd Maldon

by Andy Laing

H.C. The Viaduct

by Dick Williams

OUTINGS COMPETITIONS

I always enjoy the Safari and Outings evenings as it is interesting to see other peoples "take" on a place or event. Like The Rochester Dickens Festival, with two pictures of Miss Haversham, I was assured the portrait of Miss Haversham was not a selfie of the author taken first thing in the morning.

Having never visited Blea Tarn I now feel that I know it like the back of my hand, from every angle and every time of day.

Congratulations to Colin, Dave and Lin for their winning images, however,after Tuesday next time when I'm  looking at our trophies and the names on the plinths I will wonder how many of the names of our Chairman should be that of our Treasurer, "Sorry Lin but your picture came a close second to my winner"

 Probably the winning colour print would have been of Blea Tarn if Colin's car had made it up Wrynose Pass.

I think that titles are important as they tell people about the picture where they are taken like Blea Tarn for example, although probably Maldon was a bit boring as we have all been there a few times and know it quite well. Still I like to keep keep it basic, so there is no confusion. I was going to enter Mastermind, specialised subject "stating the bleedin' obvious"

As with all our competitions the quality of the judge can make or break the evening, we were blessed once again with our old friend Bernard Turnball. He can make a witty comment about an image without upsetting or offending the author. Always finding something positive to say and taking his time to help with suggestions on how a picture could be improved if he thinks it is failing in a particular area, for instance shooting an errant Seagull to help balance a scene, although he did seem a bit obessed about including scantily clothed  ladies in some scenes.

I like the way he sums up an image "under his breath" before commenting on them, my favourite on Tuesday was, on seeing a picture of finely tuned athletes, riding in the most famous bike race in the world. "people on bikes" 

I believe that he is retiring this year, I'm sure we wish him well and thank him for sharing his enthusiasm, experience and knowledge over the years.

Last, but not least thanks to the organisers of the outings for finding interesting and varied locations and events for us to photograph.

Where to next? Andy it's over to you.

Monthly Print January 2015

Winners of January Monthly Print

ADVANCED

1st 47 Trees

Kevin Sykes

2nd Dawn
Brian Clark

3rd Cycle Race Stratford Velodrome

George Kaim

Intermediate

1st Chrysanthemum Reflection

Andy Taylor

2nd An Explosion of Colour

Andy Taylor

3rd Puffins

Colin Smith

Highly Commended Stamen Bubble

by Andy Taylor

PRELIMINARY

1st By The Lakeside

Len Adshead

2nd Roller in Flight

by Douglas Hamford

3rd Wild Rabbit on Skomer

by Douglas Hamford

Andy Makes The Final

Our very own Vice Chairman "Andy Taylor" has made it through to the final four images from thousands of entries for the "Licentiate Royal Photographic Society's Photographer of the Year"

Even made the local news paper....!
This is the press release.
 

A man who is a postman by day and a photographer by night has been announced as a finalist in a competition by Europe’s largest photography association.

Upminster camera club vice-chairman Andy Taylor (LRPS), 54, of Junction Road, Romford, has been selected as one of four finalists and will be in with the chance to be crowned The Society’s Photographer of the Year 2014.

He said: “I was just over the moon when I heard I was picked out of thousands for my artwork – it was an incredible feeling.”

Andy said, “I am thrilled to be a finalist in this prestigious competition and very much looking forward to the awards ceremony. My highlight of 2014 was gaining my Royal Photographic Society Licentiateship and the Societies’ nomination has kicked off 2015 with a very proud bang.”

Phil Jones, The Societies’ CEO said: “This year we have seen a fantastic range of images and the standard has been very high.

“The finalists represent some of the finest images entered in to the competition and have competed against some of the world’s best photographers – congratulations to all our finalists.”

Andy will find out if he has won the grand prize of £1,500 and new camera equipment at The Societies’ 2015 Convention Awards Dinner on January 17.

Well done Andy....look forward to reporting more success next week....?

Monthly Print

The Turkey has all been eaten, your selection box is empty, the Brussels are a distant memory (well almost). No more Morecombe & Wise for another year, and you have forgiven Santa for not bringing you that new bit of camera gear that you wanted. Christmas is over, it is offical as Cadbury Cream Eggs are on sale again.

What better way to get rid of the post Christmas blues than to get back to the Camera Club for an evening of prints.

To enjoy pictures of a Capabillity Brown Landscapes, Autumn scenes at Westonbirt, of people enjoying a walk, dawn breaking on boats of various sizes. 

The usual excellent pictures of varities of wildlife, and not to forget a few stunning macro shots.

Evidently some of us have got a bit of problems with our water works, as long as we keep taking the tablets we should be o/k.

There was a case of OCD with someone counting how many trees were in a picture. Of course when someone puts a number in a title, someone, me, who has to count them to check the total. 

My favourite picture of the evening was Tokyo on a Very Bad Day. It was good to see that other countries have as bad a weather as we do. 

With no snow so far this winter to get our photographic juices flowing, hopefully Tuesday night will encourage us to get going again.

  

It's Offical Christmas is Over