A presentation by Richard Bingham, ARPS, EFIAP. See Richard's website for more info.
Meet outside the Abbey Row CC at 6.30 pm on Wed 19th if you wish to go to this.
Ken presented a series of monochrome images.
The purpose was to choose images for the Earlston Slide Battle. About 100 images from a variety of members were projected
and a short list was drawn up for final selection by Bill and Ken.
Hmmmm .... is it an age thing!! Can't remember what we did that night! But I'll bet no-one actually notices!! :)
Bill showed us how to use studio lighting and various members had a go at photographing various models!!
Click HERE for a full report of Laurie's presentation.
Bill and Ken, our two resident experts and Norman(!) gave their responses to a wide and wonderful selection of questions put by club members.
Some detailed and informative answers from Bill and Ken were complemented by Norman's contribution which relied heavily on the Chaos Theory!
Several members who took part in the Edinburgh trip presented their results and there was some lively discussion!
10 club members made the trip up to Edinburgh on a mild and pleasant evening. LOTS of pictures were taken near the National Gallery
in Princes Street. See the City Lights section in the Galleries for some examples. More to follow - so send them in folks!!!
Norman did a presentation on different aspects of exposure.
In a change to the advertised programme we watched the rest of the very excellent David Noton video.
A very active practical session concentrating on basic setup and commonly used controls (modes, exposure compensation etc).
Bill Hume presented a session on composition. He explained some of the differences between cameras of different formats and showed a sequence
of photos of Kelso Square and Town Hall which exemplified some of the issues involved in composing and exposing a shot. The second part
of the session was a truly excellent tutorial video by David Noton (who incidentally
has a roadshow in Edinburgh on Tues 28 Sep!)
Members stepped out into the deepening gloom for a photoshoot of buildings. As always the technical aspects of photography were coupled
with a good blether! This was followed by a discussion on different aspects of photographing buildings. For the purpose of the theme
a building can be a whole building or any part thereof! It can't be an animal because ... errr..... that's not a building!
Galashiels CC Agricultural Competition
Entries are invited for this annual competition and exhibition. Full details at
Gala CC's website. The closing date for entries is 16 Ocotber 2010.
Royal Photographic Society Print Exhibition
Monday 20 September - Fridy 29 -October
An exhibition of 40 prints by Scottish members of the RPS. It will be held in the Cloudhouse Café Gallery in Stow
and is most definitely worth a visit!
Holiday theme night. We also christened our Acer P1303W projector and screen with an awe-inspiring and fabulously
interesting photo masterclass on DVD! I'll spare Ken's blushes by not mentioning what it was about... cough... GLAMOUR!!!
Summer Holiday meetings
Over the holiday period the club continued to meet although it was all a bit freeform as various people were on holiday on any given week.
However those who were able to attend enjoyed a wide variety of images and discussions on all sorts of subjects, photographic and otherwise!
Picture Discussion
Various members brought in pictures which were discussed in small groups.
Out & About in Kelso
People formed small groups and went out and about in the town looking for whatever photo opportunities presented themselves!
Cricket at Shedden Park
Members rolled up to Shedden Park to take pictures of the cricket match in progress.
Rules for Theme competitions
These were clarified and can be found here.
Inter-Club Competitions
We have been invited to particiapte in a slide battle with two other local clubs. The arrangements for this (and other
similar events) will be as follows:
- members are free to submit up to 3 digital images
- these should be sent to Norman via email (details to follow)
- a selection panel of 3 will be formed.
- the panel will select 30 images in the first instance
- all club members will be able to 'score' these images and a final selection of 15 images will be made
Equipment
The club currently has about £800 in the bank!
Ken and Norman had been researching digital projectors and screens. Both will be purchased in due course.
Other items to be considered for the future will include lighting and a TV.
Possible funding for grants will be explored.
Meetings
A calendar is still in progress and various suggestions were made for possible content. Camera workshops were asked for.
Committee
It was agreed that the committee should be expanded. And volunteers should contact Ken or Norman in the next couple of weeks.
The committee will meet on an occasional basis as and when required.
"What makes a good photo?" by Bill Hume
Bill presented a series of images with a highly informative commentary on aspects such as composition, exposure and technique.
Slide Challenge
KCC has been invited to enter a club submission of about 15-20 digital images for a slide challenge with Galashiels and
Earlston camera clubs on January 19 2011. This will be one of the topics to be discussed at the next meeting.
Yellowstone in Winter
A terrific presentation by Hazel Mason ARPS and James Frost ARPS. Fabulous images of a fabulous place and a great commentary,
very professionally presented by Hazel and James.
Theme: Sunrise & Sunset
This theme will run until Thursday 10 June.
Ron McCoombe, wildlife photographer
Ron presented a slideshow containing many superb wildlife images. These illustrated Rons photographic expertise as well as his knowledge of and love for wildlife generally
and birds in particular. The images were accompanied by a highly informative commentary which gave us a real insight into the working practices of a wildlife photographer.
Our thanks to Ron for a great evening! Ron's website.
Wildlife Theme Competion
A large number of wildlife prints was displayed by club members. It was great to see such a wide range of images
of such excellent quality. Ron McCoombe commented on several photographs and 'Toads' by Susan Young was the theme winner! Well done Susan!!
Practical Session - Wildlife
Club members enjoyed a stroll in various parts of the town, snapping away furiously as they went! at anything non-human that moved! (except cars!)
This was followed with a slideshow from Ken illustrating a variety of wildlife pics taken in a whole variety of locations in UK and abroad.
Photojournalism
A presentation by Mark Davey - website.
Practical Session - Wildlife
Your Camera.... and some things you need to know about it!
After a technical hitch with cables, Simon Erskine kicked off the meeting with a presentation which covered many of the basics
regarding camera setup.
See the Downloads page in the Resources section
for a copy of the Powerpoint presentation.
Composition
Bill Hume presented a selection of images and talked us through aspects of successful (and unsuccessful!) composition.
Spring Theme
Simon judged the pictures submitted for the spring theme and the winners were:
- 1st: John Girrity - Spring (see the Flora gallery)
- 2nd: Susan Young - Daffodil and Spring
- 3rd: Chloe Purves - Easter Bunny
Simon also gave a critique of some of the other submissions.
Mounts
The mounts which club members had ordered were distributed.
Theme: Wildlife
Our next theme is 'Wildlife and his will run until 29 April and will hopefully be judged by Ron McCoombe, wildlife photographer.
Pictures should be of wild animals although these may be in captivity.
Motorsports Photography Exhibition
Len gave details of a forthcoming exhibition of motorsport photography by Nick Loudon, a friend of the late, great Jum Clark.
The exhibition, which wil be held in the Jim Clark Room, Duns, opens on 24 April and runs until 22 May. Entry is free.
'An introduction to photo editing using a computer'
Norman described a range of software which could be used for photo editing. Using Photoshop, he went on to illustrate some of the main
concepts involved in photo editing eg colour, tone, layers, selection. The session finished with a demonstration of how photos
could be improved, using examples of images which left a lot to be desired!! Hopefully this session will have broadened your horizons
as well as straightening them!!
Club Business
Following a vote, it was agreed that the club would move to the Abbey Row Centre in the near future.
Club Business
Premises
It was proposed that the club should move to a new location for meetings as space could become an issue at the Ace Centre. Abbey Row
was suggested as an alternative. It would be possible to hire several rooms there and we would also be able to make use of their
computer suite. There would be a weekly charge and an annual affiliation fee of £10.00. Members were asked to consider this
and it would be raised again for decision in the near future.
Annual Calendar
Lots of suggestions were offered for the format of club activities.These included:
- guest presenters
- 'How to....' workshops. It was suggested that these should be longer and that there be some choice
- social activities
- presentations by club members
- practical sessions - outdoors when weather and light are good
- special occasions
There were also lots of ideas for content:
- local connections eg St James Fair, Kelso Laddie
- photo editing
- linkage between 'How to....' workshops and the current thems
- themes - sunrise and sunset, landscape, buildings, urban, wildlife, portraits, sport
- Something to photograph eg a tree. This would allow members to interpret the same subject in their own way
- feedback on members' photos
- cameras and equipment
- black and white
- printing
It was great to get so many good suggestions and a small group took themselves off at that point to begin to build an annual calendar.
Watch this space!!
Competitions
Ken gave details of a competition organised by the Scottish Seabird Centre in North Berwick. See Ken for more info or check out the
SSC website.
A volunteer is needed to co-ordinate club entries to competitions. Simon was nominated in his absence but that's probably
not fair!!! :) Any volunteers for this would be greatly appreciated. The main tasks would be to collect any entries from club
members and deliver these to the appropriate place.
Mounts
Last orders were invited for a club purchase of mounts for members. An order will be sent off as soon as possible and the mounts
will be distributed at the first meeting following their arrival. (Hopefully NEXT meeting!)
Quiz
A photographic quiz was keenly contested by members. Two groups were 1st equal with 24 points (out of 30) with the remaining group scoring a very creditable 20 points.
The Wee Gallery
This session was held at the Wee Gallery. Members viewed an exhibition of photographs taken by local primary school children
in the FotoSkool project. It was also a good opportunity to have a blether, a glass of wine and some nibbles!
Several members ordered mounts which will be purchased after next week's meeting. If you want to add an order you can do so at the next
meeting or you can download the order form below and bring it along next week. Or save the planet and email it directly
to Norman!
Download Mounts Order Form (MS Word)
Wednesday 3 March
Quite a few members will be going over to Selkirk to see the exhibition which hopefully will include several photographs
submitted by our members. We're doing our bit to reduce the carbon footprint by sharing cars!
Photographing Motion
Ken left his Munki at home and introduced a session on photographing moving water and sand. A challenging subject with lighting
and timing being the main issues!
Mounting Prints, Resizing Images and Basic Camera Settings
3 Group activities - a slapped wrist for Norman for over-running!! 3 excellent practical sessions on different aspects of picture making! Some good info,
some great questions and isn't that giant TV fab!
Simon Erskine is the first theme winner in Kelso Camera Club! His macro picture of a flower head came first in the Macro theme.
Runner-up was John Girrity with a macro shot of a wasp.
Mountaineering from Scotland to the Alps
A terrific slideshow by Dot Melville and Len Brown of Kelso Camera Club who shared some of their mountaineering experiences with us.
Their enthusiasm for the high peaks was evident throughout the presentation and it gave a real sense of 'being there' (but without the risk!)
as we climbed with them in Glencoe, the Cairngorms, the French Alps and the New Zealand Alps.
We were fortunate to have an excellent presentation by Ian Oliver of Galashiels Camera Club. He started with
an audio-visual presentation of recent work on the themes of 'Winter' and 'People'. This was followed by some very helpful information
about the organisation and activities of Gala Camera Club. The session ended with a selection of images submitted by Borders Camera
Club members to the Agricultural Competition which runs annually in November.
Several members submitted prints for the Selkirk Camera Club exhibition which will open
at 7.30 pm on Wednesday 3 March in Selkirk Parish Hall.