Archived Items
10th February 2020
Today, Thornbury Camera Club travelled with Eddy Lane (ARPS, DPAGB, EFIAP) and Pam Lane (ARPS, DPAGB, EFIAP) as they journeyed far above the Arctic Circle to Svalbard; just 700 miles from the North Pole. Eddy and Pam are well known for their wildlife photography. In this case the reason for their travel was the polar bear - large, curious and dangerous. Arriving in Longyearbyen in September, photographs showed kindergarten children being escorted by teachers carrying hunting rifles - the bears often visit the centre of town.
As part of a group of ten photographers, Eddy and Pam joined an icebreaker, the “Stockholm”, for the three week trip round the archipelago. Polar bears are often depicted as white in fact they are a yellow-cream colour which contrasts well with the snow. The main problem for the bears is food. There is plenty of other wildlife but walruses have long tusks which can cause serious injury. Safer sources of food are the seals and birds which are faster moving, but less dangerous.
The safety rules said never to approach closer than 50 meters to the walruses. No-one told the walruses! So, by waiting for the animals to come closer, Eddy and Pam shot close-up portraits.
Svalbard is bleak, and dangerous, but it is beautiful. There were days when the sky was dark and the rain falling hard. But there were other days when the sky was blue and the sunlight glinted off the icebergs.
3rd February 2020
This evening, Thornbury Camera Club once again featured two of its own members showing their style of photography. Martin Nimmo and Barbara Gibbons presented. Martin and Barbara are well known within the club; Martin for running the internal competitions and Barbara for maintaining the club website (http://www.thornburycameraclub.co.uk/).
Martin presented first. He started by staying close to home, showing pictures of the Wye valley from Chepstow to Tintern Abbey and beyond. A recurring theme was tourists, whether riding zip wires at speed or making more leisurely progress in hired canoes.
Having meandered along the Wye, Martin’s attention moved abroad, to Berlin Marrakesh, Paris and Vienna. Wherever you go in the modern world there are tourists and, it seems, that wherever you go the tourists are distracted from their surroundings, no matter how spectacular, by the incessant demands of their mobile phones. It makes you wonder why they travel! Martin’s presentation ended with a sequence of images of Thornbury Carnival Parade; lots of cheerful people having fun.
Barbara turns more to wildlife and landscape with a little macro photography thrown in for good measure. As with Martin, Barbara has travelled far. While staying close to home for trips to Scotland and the Lake District she has also visited New Zealand for Whale watching, walking in mountains and admiring glaciers (do so while you can – before they melt). I was particularly interested in her Lake District images as it is an area of the country I know well. While the hills can be spectacular when the sun is out, the area is known for its rain and lowering clouds. In Barbara’s images the dark clouds were there but added interest rather than distracting.
It is always good to see what our own members are doing. They provide ideas for our own images and, just maybe, for next year’s holiday.
January 27th 2020
At Thornbury Camera Club we offer many different attractions for our members. Week by week, outside speakers and competitions appear in the programme. A popular feature is the opportunity for members to show their own photographs. After all, the purpose of photography is to create images and there is little point in creating images and then not showing them off! So it was on this occasion; members were invited to show six images on the general theme of “Two of a Kind”.
Eighteen members rose to the challenge. Each set of six images was projected and the authors asked to say a few words about what attracted them to the picture and to describe any interesting details about the techniques needed to capture them.
Such a general subject gave rise to many interpretations; Teddy Bears alone gave rise to several including one with a dozen bears and the punning title “‘Too’ Many Teddies”! There were people and places, lamp-posts and bollards. Images from the natural world included flowers birds, lambs and deer.
Perhaps one of the more surprising entries was a set of monochrome stills from a film showing two women dancing. The shapes in the images were made from the forms of their long hair shaking as they danced.
January 20th 2020
This evening was the third of the five competitions which are held throughout the year by Thornbury Camera Club. The subject on this occasion was “Open” which meant that the judge, Steve Hallam LRPS, had to content with everything from portraits to landscapes; from still life to wildlife.
There were 20 prints entered. Dean Packer was placed first with “The Geisha of Gion” and in second place Robert England with “Mix the Grape with the Grain”. “Chillin’ on the Pebbles” gave third place to Mike Ashfield. Highly Commended and Commended images were from George Collett, Mike Ashfield, Steve Wells, Brian McBride and Dean Packer.
52 entries were judged in the projected image section. In first place was Gary Wood with “Young Borneo Proboscis in the wild”. Mike Ashfield came second with “Sharing the Beach” with, in third place, “Eyeing me Up” by Vincent Mann. Highly Commended images were from George Collett, Rodney Crabb, Barbara Gibbons, Dean Packer and Malcolm Rea. Commended images were from Cheryl Miller ARPS, Tracey Whitehead, Dave Whitehead, Martin Nimmo, Peter Davies and Vincent Mann.
We now look forward to the fourth competition in March when the set subject will be “Trees”.
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The results, winning images and points for Comp 3 (Open) are under the Competitions tab
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The results, winning images and points for Comp 2 - 'Reflections', are under the Competitions tab
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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.
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The results of Comp 1, (October 2019) - can be found under the Competition Tab
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Comp 5, (May 2019) results and placed images and final positions can be found from the link
on the Competition page HERE
on the Competition page HERE
Comp 4 results, placed images and standings can be found from the link
on the Competition page HERE
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Comp 3 results, placed images and standings can be found from the link on the Competition page HERE
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Comp 3 results, placed images and standings can be found from the link on the Competition page HERE
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The competition rules have been updated in the competition page
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)
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The results for Comp 2 (Motion) can be found from the competition page HERE
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Oz Parfitt recently showed us how he used his images to fill text. His notes on this can be
found on the Tips and Tricks page HERE
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Following on from Simon Riches' recent 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
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Rob England has found 3 links on what judges look for in competitions. They can be found
in the Tips and Tricks page HERE
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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
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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
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Our fifth competition of the season - Open - was held on 21st May 2018.
The placed images can be found from the competition page HERE
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George Collett has obtained his CPAGB. The pictures and details can be seen in the
May newsletter update. Congratulations to George.
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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.
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Ian Cook's notes on his talk on Photoshop Elements 13 can be found HERE
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Simon Riches gave us a talk on how to mount prints. A link to his talk can be found HERE
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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
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Sunlight Through the Window by Janet Oxenham
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Historic Laycock by George Collett
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Lily by Barbara Gibbons
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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.
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Old Boats by Peter Howarth.
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Hunting Buzzard by George Collett
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Click on pictures to enlarge
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DPIC Results 2016
To see results and the winning pictures click HERE