Archived Items
14th December 2020
Aleks Gjika (DPAGB, AFIAP) is an old friend of Thornbury Camera Club. Originally from Albania, Aleks has lived in the Gloucester area for the last twenty years.
Aleks started his presentation with images of his home country. Albania is mountainous in the North with beaches and the Mediterranean sun in the South. His images were of the countryside and of portraits of local people: particularly country farmers and their goats. He emphasised from the start that a picture had to be well composed but that it also had to tell a story and that all parts of the story should be represented in the composition, and should be shown completely.
Having started in Albania, Aleks moved his story to Gloucestershire where he lives today. He has become fascinated by woodlands and, particularly by bluebell woods. The message here was to keep it simple. Many of his wooded scenes were taken in the mists of early morning. His autumn scenes always had colour other than the seasonal browns and reds to provide contrast: sometimes surviving green leaves; at other times the blue of the sky. Often wind caused the red and gold leaves to fly.
The third section of Alecks’ talk was devoted to what he called “pictorial”. Here he was manipulating the images more. He emphasised that a picture is made in the eye and the brain; not in the camera. He visits a lot of re-enactment events and combines the photographs to produce his final image.
If this was not all, Aleks is a skilled photographer of birds in flight. I particularly remember an owl: wings at the bottom of their sweep; its eyes seemingly fixed on the camera.
He finished by showing photographs of lighthouses engulfed in storm waves - sometimes many times the height of the lighthouse. One of these photographs gave Aleks first place in the “Your View” category of the “Landscape Photographer of the Year” competition in 2020.
7th December 2020
It is amazing how much variation you can get from a simple theme. On this occasion members of Thornbury Camera Club were asked to provide six photographs of doors. Fifteen members rose to the challenge. Twenty-nine gathered on Zoom to see the result.
Buildings were a favourite with houses, theatres, churches, castles, windmills, lifeboat stations and even the Houses of Parliament providing inspiration. So far, so straightforward! Then there were the modes of transport: buses, canal barges, bomber aircraft and even a spacecraft. If you are going into orbit you have to get into your craft so there has to be a door.
Then, of course, you need not photograph the whole door. We saw letter boxes and ancient locks: painted scenes and graffiti. Inside houses (no need to go out during lockdown) there were kitchen doors, wardrobe doors, front doors and backdoors.
To complete the set we had a Teddy Bear escaping though a cat flap!
30th November 2020
You may have noticed from these reports that by using Zoom, we can call upon speakers from far and wide. This was the furthest yet. Steve Gettle and Nicole Sudduth joined us from Michigan. Steve and Nicole are professional photographers who take, particularly, landscape photographs. In their talk they described how to do it!
Illustrated by stunning photographs Steve and Nicole showed how patterns and broad landscapes often share compositional features. Placing the subject on the thirds, leading lines, “S” shapes and symmetry all came into play. They showed how these compositional ideas can be simplified into lines which reveal the structure of the image. One thing which was also apparent was the idea of waiting: waiting for the weather; waiting for the light. A picture may be taken in a five-hundredth of a second but it may take all day for the light to be right.
When photographing water, look for reflections. Look for the same “S” shapes and leading lines in the water but, perhaps, repeated in the shapes of clouds.
One tip which Steve repeated several times was that while a tripod is essential, they are clumsy. When looking for the picture, take the camera off the tripod and move it about: search for the correct place to take the image. Move right and left, up and down. Try different focal lengths. Only when you are ready should you move that essential but clumsy tripod into position.
23rd November 2020
We have already reached the second of the five rounds of Thornbury Camera Club's annual competition. This was a set subject competition on the subject of “Flowers”. Everyone photographs flowers. They sit there without moving, look attractive and don’t complain. Even so, from the 89 images presented (37 prints and 52 projected images) the variety of treatments was remarkable. While some were taken in the “wild”, many had received a studio treatment with the flower set against a plain, usually white, background.
The judge on this occasion was Michael Curtis (ARPS, IFIAP) who has visited us before in 2018.
In the print competition, Robert England was awarded first place with “Wild Desert Cactus”. Steve Wells came second with “Blue Nigella”, while in third place was “Edward Kilmartin with “Three”. Highly commended and commended images came from Dean Packer and Robert England.
In the projected section, “Cardoon and Woodlice” gave first place to Simon Meeds, with Graham Peers taking second place with “Colichicums”. Eirwyn Thomas was third with “Pretty in Pink”. Highly commended and commended images came from Dean Packer, Lorna Minshall, Robert England, and Christine Crabb.
The next competition is an open competition. Entries are due to be handed in by December 14th for Judging on January 18th.
We have already reached the second of the five rounds of Thornbury Camera Club's annual competition. This was a set subject competition on the subject of “Flowers”. Everyone photographs flowers. They sit there without moving, look attractive and don’t complain. Even so, from the 89 images presented (37 prints and 52 projected images) the variety of treatments was remarkable. While some were taken in the “wild”, many had received a studio treatment with the flower set against a plain, usually white, background.
The judge on this occasion was Michael Curtis (ARPS, IFIAP) who has visited us before in 2018.
In the print competition, Robert England was awarded first place with “Wild Desert Cactus”. Steve Wells came second with “Blue Nigella”, while in third place was “Edward Kilmartin with “Three”. Highly commended and commended images came from Dean Packer and Robert England.
In the projected section, “Cardoon and Woodlice” gave first place to Simon Meeds, with Graham Peers taking second place with “Colichicums”. Eirwyn Thomas was third with “Pretty in Pink”. Highly commended and commended images came from Dean Packer, Lorna Minshall, Robert England, and Christine Crabb.
The next competition is an open competition. Entries are due to be handed in by December 14th for Judging on January 18th.
Andy Gillingham has written some notes on how to show your images at their best when presenting digital images.
This can be found in the Tips and Tricks page for future reference
This can be found in the Tips and Tricks page for future reference
The Pentaptych pictures for the end of term project can be found beneath the Members' Galleries tab HERE |
There is a link to Digital Camera World cards to download/print on the 'Tips and Tricks' page These are 72 tips on different aspects of photography. |
Thanks to Simon Meeds for an interesting and informative talk via zoom on Creative Problem
Solving . The slides and notes for the talk
and also another section that Simon didn't
have time to cover are in Tips and Tricks HERE
The results and winning images for Comp 5 (Open) and the final results for the year are under the Competitions tab |
The results for the 3 way Battle held on 16th September were as follows: Thornbury 464 points Crossbow 446 points Sodbury and Yate also 446 points Several of our members gained a maximum score of 20 points so special congratulations to them. Janet has sent a flyer to the membership containing our entry, the photographers and the individual scores. |
Following on from discussions at a recent club meeting there is a link HERE to an article in Amateur Photographer regarding the Law and Street Photography
Mark Hayward has shared with us a post processing site that he uses which is now free to download.
It can be found at http://www.dl-c.com/ - link HERE - (Digital Light and Colour)
Oz Parfitt showed us how he used his images to fill text. His notes on this can be
found on the Tips and Tricks page HERE
Following on from Simon Riches' talk on 'What catches the eye in DPIC,
Rob England has found 3 links on what judges look for in competitions. They can be found
in the Tips and Tricks page HERE
Rob England has found 3 links on what judges look for in competitions. They can be found
in the Tips and Tricks page HERE
3 Way Battle Results for 2018
The results of the 3 Way Battle were:
Thornbury 396 Points
Sodbury and Yate 384 Points
Crossbow 377 Points
A link to our entry is HERE
Updates for this season regarding competitions
There will be no beginners pdi competition (Just one competition for all)
and
The 3 year restriction has been lifted for competition entries
Also, please note the new sizes for pdi competition images for the coming year
- 1600px wide x 1200px high (max)
If you need help with resizing, there is a link to Steve Wells' powerpoint
presentation HERE
There will be no beginners pdi competition (Just one competition for all)
and
The 3 year restriction has been lifted for competition entries
Also, please note the new sizes for pdi competition images for the coming year
- 1600px wide x 1200px high (max)
If you need help with resizing, there is a link to Steve Wells' powerpoint
presentation HERE
George Collett has obtained his CPAGB. The pictures and details can be seen in the
May newsletter update. Congratulations to George.
3 Way Battle Results for 2017
The results of the 3 Way Battle were:
Thornbury 400 Points
Crossbow 386 Points
Sodbury and Yate 379 Points
Congratulations to George Collett, Janet Oxenham, Andy Gillingham and Simon Riches
who each scored 18 points for one of their pictures.
The results for the 3 Way Battle in September 2016 were:
Sodbury and Yate 449
Thornbury 441
Crossbow 428
Congratulations to Sodbury and Yate!
Below are the 3 pictures from TCC members that received the maximum of 20 points each. You can enlarge on the pictures by clicking on them
Barrian Cup 2016
The Barrian Cup was held on Saturday 11th June in Barry. Congratulations to George Collett and Peter Howarth who both scored 19 out of 20 (pictures below). Out of a total of 26 clubs, Gwynfa Camera Club were the winners with 96 points. Thornbury scored 86 points placing us around the middle of the competition.
Old Boats by Peter Howarth.
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Hunting Buzzard by George Collett
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Click on pictures to enlarge