Club Night Summary #140

Stockers Lake Walk

We had an Interesting walk around Stockers lake and farm last Thursday evening, where we enjoyed a photowalk meeting, taking in plenty of photography subject matter before it got dark! Thanks to David Eckland for arranging and being our tour guide on the night.

This week we have our Summer party which Includes our presentation of all the awards and trophies for achievements from our talented members this season.  Congratulations to everyone who has produced amazing photography throughout the season, giving us such enjoyable competitions and entertaining evenings. It’s great that we have achieved such strong Photography to represent the club in next seasons external competitions.  Well done everyone who has entered competitions this year whatever the scoring outcome, it’s what enables competitions to take place and gives us all a purpose to produce more creative output.

Don’t forget this Saturday is Croxley Revels on the Green, where we will be showcasing our club and showing a number of prints produced by our members. It’s a great opportunity to remind the visiting public of our presence in Croxley and also remind any local budding photographers that there is an opportunity to join us for the start of next season on September 8th. Please try and visit the stand on Saturday afternoon.

Steve


Club Night Summary #139

Last Competition of the Season

Our last competitions of this season took place on Thursday, this time to find the best colour and mono prints from the high scoring Images taken from this season’s competitions. We had a total 46 prints ( 33 colour and 13 mono) for experienced judge Chris Palmer to critique in his quest to choose the overall winners. The very accomplished judge gave great commentary along with his critique, on every Image during the evening. The Judge also remarked on the overall high standard of the clubs prints and felt we should do well in external competitions next season.

It was good to see this print collection on display in the hall and all authors should be proud of their work throughout the year.

Congratulations to the overall winners which Included 2nd and 3rd and highly commended and commended in each category. This years cup winners for print of the year were Cat Humphries for her excellent ‘Hurdy-gurdy man’ Mono print and I was fortunate to win the colour cup with ‘Restrained’.

All details and Images on our excellent gallery on the club website. Thank you to all that attended this enjoyable evening in the Community centre.

There is no meeting this Thursday and we hope everyone enjoys the Queens jubilee over the long weekend. The following week on Thursday 9th June we have a photowalk planned with Ant and David Eckland leading the walk in the Stockers lake area. Details in next weeks newsletter for meet time and parking etc Should be a fun relaxed evening in a good area for some great shots.

Enjoy the celebrations this weekend

Steve


Club Night Summary #148

Last week we held our annual AGM at the community centre. Thank you to everyone who attended to enable the formal process to take place. All of the details of this years AGM can be found on our website including reports and details of the committee members. There are changes within the committee for next season with Stuart Craig unfortunately moving out of the area. We thank Stuart for all the great work he has done for the club over the last few seasons as external competition Secretary.

I also made the difficult decision to step down as Chairman and thank the committee and everyone at the club for their support over my tenure in the role as Chairman. David Eckland will be the new Chairman and Alan Rhodes has been elected as Membership Secretary.

In addition Mike Brankin will take over the role as external competition Secretary. I wish the Committee well with these changes that have been made, ready for the challenge of next season.

We still have some great events to go as we approach the end of this year’s programme. This week we have our final competitions of both the colour and mono prints of the year. This is followed by a photowalk on 9th June and we complete our season on the 16th June with our summer party/ presentation evening. Don’t forget partners are Invited to this event and if you would like the fish and chip supper for £10 a head, Denise needs to know by this Thursday.

See you on Thursday

Steve


Club Night Summary #147

PDI of the Year!

Hard to believe we are in the last few weeks of our season once again. Another season of managing living with the pandemic trying to ensure we met safely and still enjoy our passion of photography.

So it was great to have our PDI of the year competition last week with 68 Images on display, all high scoring Images from the season. It was lovely to reflect on the high standard of creative photography that had been produced during the year, while we all tried to dodge the virus. Judge Kevin Day gave great critique and commentary on each Image in his quest to find the winning Image for the trophy. He was also very complementary about the overall club standard for the competition. Thank you to everyone that came to the meeting and congratulations to the representing authors in the competition and many congratulations to Alan Rhodes who won the ‘2022 PDI of the year trophy’ with his excellent Image.

This week we have our Club AGM (Annual general meeting) a very Important date in our Calendar to ensure we have our formal process in place. We have sent everyone more Information than usual to help with the communication and hopefully explanation of the process we follow. Please come along this Thursday to support your club with this Important event. It would be really appreciated, even if you haven’t managed to make too many meetings this season, everyone is welcome.

After the AGM we still have some great evenings remaining in our programme with the Print of the year (mono and Colour), an evening photowalk workshop and our Summer party and presentation of awards. ( don’t forget if you would like the fish and chip supper for £10 at the Summer party please let Denise know as soon as possible). Partners are also most welcome for this fun evening

See you on Thursday Steve


Club Night Summary #146

Final League Competition of the Season

After she was unable to attend the previous week, It was good to meet and present to the winner of our open competition, held for non members, the trophy and certificate, plus a years subscription to our club. We once again enjoyed seeing the entrants Images and the outstanding winning Image from Lisa during the presentation.

We then settled down to our final open print league competition of this season with 25 Images to enjoy. Judged by Peter Cox there were once again some outstanding prints on display giving him a difficult task to separate the Images. Peter gave each Image critique and good commentary throughout with various tips for possible Improvements, were needed, including some useful Information about printing paper types to suit the Individual Images. Congratulations to the higher scoring authors on the night and many thanks to everyone that entered giving a really enjoyable night of appreciation for the members creative output.

This Thursday we have the first of our best of the season competitions starting with the ‘PDI of the year’ it will be great to see these images pitted against each other to find the winning Images. I’m sure it will be a good night!

Our AGM is on the 19th of this month, so please come along and support this necessary date in the clubs calendar, to ensure your club has good representation. Don’t forget if you would like to be more Involved in the club please let us know. Or If you would like to be part of the committee, we have identified a new position we would love to fill; Membership Secretary- to help run activities, to attract new members and assist in promoting the club in the Three rivers area. If your interested and would like more details, please contact anyone on the committee.

Finally if you would like to suggest any topic for next years set subject competitions, for our soon to be completed programme, please let us know.

See you on Thursday

Steve


Club Night Summary #145

External Competition 2022

Last Thursday we welcomed our contestants who had entered our non members competition where the prize was a trophy and a years free subscription membership to the club. There was some real talent among the authors who had entered, providing an interesting competition.

Cat Humphries judged and gave a really balanced and supportive critique throughout the competition. Ultimately she chose the winner and also awarded highly commended and commended certificates to the other authors whose Images she had held back during her selection process. We hope the contestants enjoyed the experience and will consider joining the club.

In addition on the busy night, we had a practical demonstration of ‘painting with light’ from Gordon Calder and Ant (Anthony Highet) who set up a single light flashgun to demonstrate lighting for portraiture. Huge thank you to both for enabling and presenting this part of the evening, which was enjoyed by everyone who brought along their cameras. Thanks for all that attended the evening, making such an enjoyable night.

This week we are in the hall for our final open League print competition of the season. A night the print league positions will be finalised.

Thanks to those who have committed so far to ‘Croxley Revels’ on 18th June. We still need more support for the day, so please contact if you can come along and assist.

The AGM is getting closer on 19th May. Please come along to this meeting to support this Important event for our club. If you would like to be part of the committee or want to offer further support in any capacity, please let us know.

Also if you have any questions regarding the club please advise.

See you on Thursday

Steve


Club Night Summary #144

Landscape and Portrait Cups

More enjoyable competitions were held last week for both the ‘Portrait’ and ‘Landscape’ trophies. We had 46 PDI entries competing to win the prestigious cups awarded to the winners.

The competitions were judged by Amanda Wright who gave great commentary and clear critique throughout the evening.

Once again the members produced a worthy set of Images of a high standard to contest for the winning Image.

Thank you to everyone entered the competitions and to those who attended the evening. Congratulations to the higher scoring Images and to the Ultimate winner of the trophies which this year was Mike Brankin who won both of the cups with his excellent Images. You can see Mikes and the other high placed Images in on our excellent gallery on the clubs website.

This Thursday we look forward to meeting some non club members as we host our open competition to judge and choose a winner. It will be great to have a full audience to cheer them on and make our visitors feel welcome to our ‘friendly’ club.

In the second half of the evening ‘Ant’ will be demonstrating single flash lighting for portraiture and Gordon will be setting up a still life and demonstrating ‘painting with light’. So bring along your cameras and tripods etc for this Interactive section.

Don’t forget if you would like to get Involved with the running of the club by applying to join our committee or pledge help in any capacity, please contact us as soon as possible. The Club AGM is on 19th May.

Also Croxley Revels is on the 18th June and we would appreciate any support to help with the organisation on the day. Please let us know if you can help.

See you on Thursday 

Steve


Club Night Summary #143

Welcome Back After Easter

We hope everyone had a good Easter break.

This week we have our PDI ‘Landscape’ and ‘Portrait’ trophy competitions, an event that always brings out some excellent Images and gives the judge a difficult time in choosing the ultimate winners of these coveted awards.

It is bound to be an enjoyable night for both authors and audience back in the community centre.

The following week 28th April we have our Croxley camera club open competition. This event was planned to give non members the opportunity to enter Images to be judged and receive valuable feedback on their submitted work. 

Despite extensive local publicity we were not able to attract a large uptake of photographers to take up the challenge. However we do have a number which will come along to the hall for the evening for this event.

With the absence of Croxley revels for the last two years, this Initiative was seen as a possible new member enticement to the club.

It would be great to have a number of ‘seasoned’ members at the meeting to encourage and make the entrants feel comfortable during the evening. Interestingly there is a higher percentage of ladies than men that have entered the competition.

It is envisaged the judging and awards will take place during the first part of the evening and in the second section we will have a couple of Interactive activities. Ant will demonstrate single flash lighting for portraiture and Gordon will set up a still life scene and create ‘painting with light’. Bring along your cameras and tripods to get some great shots.

Just another quick reminder of two Important events;

AGM on the 19th May please put in diary to attend if possible. Anyone who would like to get more Involved in the club. Please let us know of your Interest.

Croxley revels 18th June. We need lots of help on the day to make this a successful event. Please let us know as soon as possible if you are able to get involved in some capacity. After two years without the ‘revels’ let’s make this a great day and let everybody know who we are!

Thanks, see you on Thursday 

Steve ?


Club Night Summary #142

Another Print League Competition

Our latest print competition produced another fine collection of photography. Judged by Paul Burwood, who kindly visited at short notice following the original judge having to cancel. It was an ‘open’ league competition giving a wide and diverse variety of Images, we had 33 entries on the night. Congratulations to the ultimate high scoring authors and thank you to everyone that entered and also all that attended the evening. Also a huge thank you to Rod Lacey who hosted the evening in my absence, along with the very experienced team running the competition Vanessa and Denise.

A sign that normality is gradually being resumed with the return of ‘Croxley Revels’ on 18th June. We have booked a stand using our marquee to display some of our wonderful photography. After two years it’s a great opportunity to remind the local community about our club and to entice new members to join us. We obviously needs lots of help to run the event e.g putting up and dismantling the marquee and helping throughout the day. Please let us know if you can help on the day with the event.

Our club AGM is on the 19th May, a very Important event in the club calendar. Any member who would like to get more Involved in the running of the club, either in being part of the committee or to offer support to the committee, please let us know. No meeting this week, enjoy the Easter break and look forward to seeing your entries for our next trophy competition on the 21st April ‘ Landscape and Portrait’ cups two entries per author and entries in by Sunday 17th April.

Look forward to seeing everyone on 21st April

Steve


Club Night Summary #141

Print League Competition

Over the season our talented photographers produce a tremendous amount of original Images to present in competitions. In last Thursday’s print competition the originality was once again evident in the themed set subjects ‘Close up’ and ‘Symmetry’. Our experienced visiting judge was Peter Prosser. The members Interpretation of each theme was well represented with some really outstanding Prints. It is always appreciated by the club, the additional effort and time taken to produce a print for competitions. Thank you to everyone who entered these league competition and congratulations to the higher scoring authors on the night.

This week in the hall, we have another league print competition, which this time is an ‘open’ event, therefore unlimited choice of subject matter to present. Another evening to enjoy with our creative likeminded members which continually Inspire one another by producing outstanding photography.

See you on Thursday

Steve ?