Exmouth Photo Group
Est. 1969
Newsletter Year 2011
Another Pat on the Back for EPG (SDL Print Battle, 29th November 2011)
On Tuesday evening the print leg of the annual SDL battle was held, and knowing Newton Abbot's strength and reputation, we approached it with some trepidation. In fact, the Newton Abbot members were our gracious hosts for the event and ran it very smoothly. Brian Galbraith, the WCPF President, brought along his very dry sense of humour and was an extremely able and entertaining judge for the evening, even if he ruffled a few Newton Abbot feathers along the way.
The scoring system (used in both legs) sounds complicated initially but it’s not really. The minimum score for an image is 8 points and the maximum is 20, though the top three marks (20, 19, 18) are reserved for just the top three images. However, until we have seen ALL images, in their pre-determined order, and heard their scores, the top three images are amongst those awarded 17 points: their additional points are announced at the end. If scores are close, these extra 6 points can make for a nail-biting end to the evening.
Each club enters 15 images, with a maximum of 2 from any member. We had prints from ten members representing us (Ernie, Jean, Derrick, Caroline, Frank, John P, Mo, Sheila, John W, and me). Five of us had one print each and five had two prints. A score of 12 or better is generally pretty acceptable, and I’m pleased to report that each of our 10 members achieved at least a 13. It was truly a “team effort”.
From the outset the scoring saw first Newton Abbot and then Exmouth grabbing the lead, and frequently swapping positions. Crediton were pushing hard just behind but Dawlish & Teignmouth had to play catch-up after a slow start. By half-time, Newton Abbot had pulled out a lead on 108 points with EPG on 103 points, the last round of prints bringing about yet another swap for the lead. Nobody was completely out of the running yet though: Crediton were on 94 and Dawlish & Teignmouth had picked up a bit on 93.
The second half saw a flourish of high scoring prints, especially towards the end, but with some surprisingly low and perhaps harsh marks for a couple of the Newton Abbot prints. I was sat not far from Paula Graham, a photographer whose brilliant work many of us know and respect. I suspect I might have learned a few Dutch swear words had she not just been muttering under her breath! Combining that with a great showing from John Wickett and Sheila particularly, we were able to stretch comfortably ahead of Newton Abbot with just the additional points for the top 3 images to be awarded. Newton Abbot’s Christina Burton and Phil Gill took 1st and 3rd with “Mandrill” and “Puffin with Sandeels” respectively, but thanks to John Wickett’s “Dinosaur Tail” gaining an individual 2nd place, we still managed to finish 9 points clear of Newton Abbot to win the first leg!
Aside from John’s 2nd place, our highest achievers on the night were Sheila, with a couple of 17 point prints, a selection of 16 pointers from Derrick, John P, and myself, and a 15 pointer from Frank, but it was the strength in depth that saw us through so it’s a great credit to everyone. Even if you weren’t one of those with prints selected, it’s the competition and sharing of knowledge within the club that keeps pushing us all onwards and upwards, so everyone deserves a pat on the back.
Final scores were: EPG 215, Newton Abbot 206, Crediton 191, Dawlish & Teignmouth 178.
In April we will be running the digitally projected images leg and believe me, with a 12 point range of marks on any image, a 9 point lead can soon evaporate, especially over a club like Newton Abbot who will be hungry for revenge! It should be an interesting evening. So, if you’ve got any great images tucked away, do please make sure we see them before the selection in March!!!
Dave McH.
Kingswood Salver: a success or a near miss?
Five of us popped along to Clyst St Mary for what turned out to be an exceptionally enjoyable day. We may have spent it indoors while outside the weather was being unseasonably kind, but we came out at the end feeling that we'd definitely got the better deal.
In the short time before judging began, while drinking tea or coffee and dodging the camera of Ann "Paparazzi" Owens, we scanned around the other 22 clubs' entries and each of us thought, "Wow, we've got no chance!" The overall quality of work was very high indeed and it was hard to guess which panels might do well (though it didn't stop us trying).
Our judge was Margaret Salisbury FRPS, FIPS, MFIAP, APAGB - and she fully deserves that string of letters. In fact, I'm not sure I haven't missed some. Margaret gave a thoughtful and often humorous critique of each panel, bringing to bear her huge experience in judging panels at all levels. It was very interesting to hear her talk so admiringly about club photography, and to get some insight into how she looks at and judges panels. She had time to relate many interesting and funny tales from her own vast experience and even cast aspersions at the silly comments judges make! When our panel went up, Margaret's first comment was, "Oh no, not bl**dy steam trains! I hate them!" but she did go on to say lots of nice things about our photos, thankfully. All in all it was an extremely entertaining session of judging.
During a short break before the results were announced, we noticed with some excitement that our panel had been removed along with two others from the display boards around the room. Either these were rubbish panels being discarded or we had managed to get ourselves into the top 3! The "Commended" panels were announced - no mention of us yet! We had indeed made it into the top 3, in fact finishing in a very creditable 2nd place. So, a near miss or a success? I guess it depends on whether you're a "glass half full" or "glass half empty" sort of person, but we felt it was a huge success and I hope you'll all agree.
A few extra thanks are due at this point: one to Sheila for taking the time and trouble to remount our "Devon Battle" panel in such a way that they conformed to the WCPF's rules, and indeed they looked every bit as good as they did for the Devon Clubs Battle. Thanks also to the members who came along to support the club - and enjoy the day, truth be told. However, I leave my final thanks for John Wickett, as I believe the success of the panel has been very largely due to the processing technique he has introduced us to.
Anyway, I'm sure you all want to see the winning panels, so here they are.
Mo receiving our 2nd place certificate from Margaret Salisbury Photo courtesy of Ann Owens
1st - Phoenix Group (Rainy Days and Sun Days)
2nd - Exmouth Photo Group (High Dynamic Railway)
3rd - Calne Woodlands Camera Club (sorry, I didn't get a title for this one)
For more photographs from this year's Kingswood Salver, showing the remaining panels and the individual winners, please look here.
After a break for lunch (the garden centre across the road serves good food I'm told!), we reassembled in the hall for a talk and show of photography from Margaret Salisbury. She went right back to her roots and showed some of her landscape photos and moved on to some fabulous prints from a more recent visit to the carnival in Venice. We were able to look at some of these more closely during a short break before seeing an enchanting collection of photographs, with equally enchanting stories, from Ghana, covering such diverse subjects as a wedding and a funeral, and going on to focus on the people and particularly the children.
Dave McH. November 2011
Workshops
The Committee have decided to run two all-day workshops. The first one will be at Topsham on Sunday 22nd January 2012 with Composition as the main focus. More details will follow. It was also decided to have a further one at Lyme Regis on Sunday 15th April 2012. The subject matter suggested was "changes within the day", the idea being that members go back to the same place later in the day to see how differently the photograph can be recorded. It was also suggested that each participant should consider, when taking their photographs, the aspects shown on other workshops.
We hope that results from these two workshops can be shown at the club sometime after September when the season starts again for its winter session. Images can then be discussed and members can give any comments they wish to make on their images.
Some of you may like to have your image changed in the Members Images, please let me know and send an image 500 pixels wide. There are also a few missing images from members, if you can't see one of yours please let me have an image and I will upload. At present I have added a few images at the end of the S - Z members images as it takes ages to put them all in alphabetical order.
October 2011
Storage
As some of you are now probably aware, we have acquired at the club further storage in the Cleaners' Cupboard. This is in the form of a very large cupboard and the Committee have decided to try to make/purchase some display boards suitable for displaying prints after competitions and for speakers to display their work. They would of course have to fit into the cupboard.
As we now have this cupboard and plenty of space, the Exmouth Photo Group's Library Books & CDs can now be stored in the cupboard. If you wish to borrow a book or CD then please ask me (Sheila) so that I can tick your name on the Library List as having borrowed the item. October 2011
News from Jean King who represented Exmouth Photo Group at their recent Council Meeting.
I have listed below a cut down version of the relevant details:
The Kingswood Salver is to be held on the 12th November and Jean & Ernie took in our entry.
Next year's Print Exhibition is to be held at Frome and the closing date for entries is 9th March. Only 8 prints to be allowed per entry. Do please enter: all details on the WCPF site.
The Archivist is giving us his position but said that there is a box of mono archival prints dating from the 1930s to 1960s and perhaps some clubs would like to show them for an evening. If any members are keen to look at them perhaps you could let Gill know and she may well put them into next year's programme.
The Webmaster of the WCPF, Bill Aven, said he would like some images for the website.
There will be an AV Competition next year and it was stated that they preferred shorter AVs, up to 5 mins. All images must be all your own work, a rule that is going to be enforced in the future. Again, information will be given out about the competition soon.
No arrangements are definite yet, but there will possibly be a WCPF seminar some time in the Autumn. This is always a good event with opportunities to take photos and meet people.
There were 100 prints on show all day, some of them winning panels from adjudication winners, plus in the afternoon Bristol Photographic Society, led by Barry Mead, showed some excellent images.
For any details you need to know about the WCPF, visit their site here.
A Visit to the Exmouth Art Group, 6th October 2011
A few EPG members attended an evening at the Exmouth Art Group, organised by Paul Palin who is of course a member of both groups. It consisted of short presentations with Paul giving an introduction to the evening, followed by short presentations from Tony Ovens, John Perriam, David Potter, Janet Rudkin, and Dave McHutchison. Paul asked these members as he felt they represented a range of approaches to photography within EPG. The loose theme for the evening was "Art in Photography".
Paul's introduction covered the use of photography by some world-renowned painters as well as a wonderfully controversial (and of course, in our view, ignorant!) set of quotations from the Internet giving "10 reasons why photography is not art".
Tony began by taking us right back to his first ever photograph, and illustrating how photography can uniquely show change over the years by capturing moments in time that are gone forever. He also showed us some images that told subtle stories of the photographer's ideas and feelings.
John followed with a showing of his amazing 360 degree "island" images, some of which were new to us but all being superbly interested to look at. His main theme was that this is a hobby and it should be fun.
After a short tea-break, David gave a humorous view of some photograms he's been producing using plants from the garden, pointing out that anyone suggesting that photography was just a question of pointing a camera and pressing a button would have some difficutly in making that argument stick with him!
Janet brought another completely different angle to the evening with her show of "extreme framing" - techniques used by framers in competitions which are meant to allow the presentation to be the dominant feature - an art in itself. It does, of course, show off the amazing skills that can be used in presenting artwork or, indeed, photographs.
The evening was wound up by Dave showing that a large element of artistic decision is present even in photography that most would not consider "art", i.e. nature and sports photography. With the inevitable cast of gannets, supported by several other birds, and the sports of tennis, swimming, cycling and equestrian eventing, Dave explained that there's really much more involved than just turning up and pressing a button.
I don't know if we changed any opinions - possibly we reinforced some! - but I think we certainly presented our audience with some food for thought, and there was certainly plenty of positive feedback. I think all would agree that it was an entertaining evening, and certainly one that the EPG members enjoyed putting on for the Art Group.
Dave McH.
Totnes Summer Rally
Displaying our work for the Totnes Summer Rally took place on Friday 22nd September. Members submitted images according to the rules and subjects stipulated. Everyone said they enjoyed taking the pictures and found it refreshing to look for the right subject matter to match the 7 subjects required. Not everyone managed to do the differential focus subject but there were over 100 images all told. The standard was very high this year and it was noticeable that members took care in getting the subject matter right. Members were also given the opportunity of entering two sets of images so Part 1 was projected in the first half of the evening with Part 2 after the refreshment break.
Members were asked to vote on the best image that complied with the subject taking into consideration the quality as well. They could vote for more than one in each section and scores were added for an overall winner for each Set.
Part 1 winners; 1st Sheila, 2nd John P and 3rd John W and for the second Part it was slightly different, John P was 1st, John W second and Sheila 3rd. The Overall Winner was John Perriam. So it's congratulations John. As everyone says, perhaps it's time we should have different organisers!!!!!! Honestly though, we took the pictures on the day and had to contend with the same conditions as everyone else - does anyone want to do the Summer Rally next year? Perhaps it's time to change again.
Still, a most enjoyable day out and I think everyone enjoyed it. Most of us managed to meet at the pub for lunch which made it a very sociable day out. Thank you to those who attended and managed to enter their images into the sets we saw on Friday.
Kingswood Salver 12th November 2011
This year we have decided to enter the Kingswood Salver which is being held on the 12th November at Clyst St Mary Village Hall. I do hope a few members will be able to attend, it should be a good day, plenty of opportunity to see other work from clubs around the area. The day starts at 11 am and in the afternoon they have Margaret Salisbury FRPS, APAGB, EFIAP giving a talk called "Dragonpix". She is known as the Dragon lady and does excellent work.
We will be entering our panel of HDR Railway images called High Dynamic Railway and the members who have contributed to this panel are: John Wickett, John Perriam, Mo Martin, Dave McHutchison and Sheila Haycox. This panel came 2nd in the Devon Clubs' Print Battle at Paignton this year so we have high hopes!!!!
Devon Clubs' Battle 26th May 2012
We should now be thinking of the Devon Clubs' Battle which is to be held on 26th May 2012. Plymouth Camera Club are hosting the event and the Committe are anxious that we get another good panel together again. Every member is invited to think of a suitable panel, perhaps a few of you could get together and think of something suitable, unique, different, unusual are a few things to think about. We have to have 5 prints that go together as a theme. It would be good to get one print from five different members because if we enter the Kingswood Salver again the criteria is to have five different photographers. It is not so for the Devon Clubs' Battle, one photographer can have up to 2 prints each.
The Devon Clubs' Battle was hosted this year by Paignton Photographic Club. It was held at St Paul's Church Hall, Preston, Paignton TQ3 2DH on 21st May 2011. The judge was John Tilsley, a very well respected judge who did an excellent job with very interesting comments about all the panels.
I have linked a page solely for the Devon Battle. Please click here to view this page. This will give you some idea of the panels that were presented this year.
WCPF Members' Digital Exhibition 4th September 2011
The WCPF this year had a completely different format for digital images entered into their Members Exhibition and it certainly worked. This was an exciting new event for the WCPF offering a better showcase for the Projected Images on their newly enlarged screen held at the Corn Exchange Exeter.
Three eminent judges, Paul Keene FRPS MPAGB EFIAP/p (CACC), Chris Palmer ARPS DPAGB APAGB AFIAP (CACC), Brian Swinyard MA(Photo) ARPS DPAGB EFIAP/b BPE3* PPSA (MCPF) awarded their marks a few days earlier. All the images submitted were projected and the marks announced. All the accepted images were announced with titles and photographers names during projection. One of the Judges, Paul Swinyard attended and he gave comments on the main winners. All awards were given out during the day.
This event was run by Pam Sherren from Paignton Club and I must say, she organised the event very sucessfully. Pam was very keen tointroduce a Creative Section which went down well. On the day of judging there was great controversy as to what "Creative" was, Paul felt that Creative is: Different to what you see with the eye but the final result could be done in camera or computer. He really enjoyed this section and thought the WCPF should keep it for next year.
Paul Swinyard talked about the way he judges, technical competence, artist merit being very important but also needed 'something else' from the photographer to make it that bit different. All three judges said that poor technique, poor presentation, over sharpening, HDR overdone and too much saturation was the biggest faults on the day of judging.
I was certainly very pleased with the day having had several acceptances, will go again. I urge you, members of Exmouth Photo Group to enter next year. A worthwhile day as far as I am concerned.
Window Display at Thomas Tuckers
Mo is keen to put up some different prints in the windows of Thomas Tucker. We have had some good displays of work, some of which have been sold and we have managed to interest new members because of this display. We would very much like to have a good representation of members work on display in this very prominent position in the town, so please do contact Mo and put your work on display.
Click on image to view more images
Images for Website
Some of you may like to have your image changed in the Members Images, please let me know and send an image 500 pixels wide. There are also a few missing images from members, if you can't see one of yours please let me have an image and I will upload. At present I have added a few images at the end of the S - Z members images as it takes ages to put them all in alphabetical order.
Miscellaneous
I have put some more information into the Members Area which is for "Members Eyes Only".
There is an inventory of all our equipment, I have done this because its scattered far and wide because it cannot all be stored at our new venue. Hopefully we can then keep a check of where everything is if its needed in the future. If for instance you need to borrow the Mat Cutter then you will see that John has it at his place. Our new laptop is for members use, for instance if they wish to do a project then they can transfer it to the laptop. This laptop will be used for any digital competitions.
There is a list of all our Library books. I have tried to put them into three groups; a small amount seem to apply to film and darkroom, a large amount seem to have just images which are certainly worth looking at, they will give you ideas and there is quite a number of books that could be useful to new members as they are instructive. I have them stored in one of the EPG cupboards. If you would like to borrow any please let me know and I will bring it to the club at the next meeting I attend.
The Membership List and Email List has been updated.
Exmouth Photo Group Flickrs
Come along members, join the group. Its a way to show some of your images - what else are you going to do with them!!!! Not every member of the Exmouth Photo Group Flickrs are Photo Group members. We have acquired others from others parts of the globe.
Logan Mat Cutter, Studio/Flash Equipment.
The club has a mat cutter which is available to all members who wish to cut mounts for their prints. Don't forget, competitions are coming up soon!!!! It is not kept at the Club as members may well wish to use the cutter during the summer months. It is at present with John Perriam and can be borrowed by giving him a ring.
We also have some studio/flash equipment which is stored Gill's.. Please see Inventory in the Members Area.
That's all for now,
Sheila