February 2012

3rd January
Audio Visuals by Ron Henry ARPS

Martin Ridout explained what the members were about to see were some first rate AV’s produced by Ron Henry. There were seven AV’s to watch but one of the AV’s was in fact was two separate AV’s. The evening began with an item entitled ‘Stand and Stare’ (length 5 mins), inspired by the well known poem, the pictures consisted a mixture of animals, plants, landscapes many of which were shot in the Peak District. The sequence also appeared to pass through the seasons starting with snow drops in the snow. The sound track had some quotations from the poem but was otherwise accompanied by music. At the end, members were invited to comment. Some thought the pictures excellent but the changes were too rapid and some thought that some pictures did not fit with the sequence. The next to be shown was in fact two AV’s, one entitled the ‘Joust’ and showed a medieval re-enactment of a joust and the other called ‘Pickering on Parade’ and was shot around the town and on the North York Moors Railway during a 1940’s weekend. Both AV’s had live sounds recorded during the event as well as music and commentary. The ‘Pickering’ one was thought by members to be better constructed. It started with a blank screen whilst Chamberlain’s declaration of war speech was played. To give the right atmosphere, many pictures were shown in monochrome and there were some clever quick fades to give the impression of movement. It ended with another blanks screen and the sound of the all clear siren. Number three ran for 11 mins and was a travelogue on Budapest. The commentary gave lots of facts and the photos were excellent but overall not very inspiring. The fourth show was entitled ‘Carnival di Venezia’ and gave five minutes of venetians wearing their finery and elaborate masks. Very colourful but lacked variety. Number five, entitled ‘Flying High’ ran for just four minutes but was thought the best of all the evening’s presentations. It utilized a lot of animation type sequences which gave the impression of a plane’s propeller rotating. Other sequences used a panning technique which gave the impression of planes flying past. Starting with sounds of engines, the sound track cut to some pop music which fitted the subject well as did the picture changes keep time with the music. Liked by all. The penultimate AV was entitled ‘I Love Paris’ and to the music of several popular songs about Paris we were given a nine minute tour of the City. The last and longest at fifteen minutes was called ‘Postcard from Provence’. The sequence started with a post card falling from a letterbox on to a door mat, the card then is picked up and turned over to reveal the card is from some friends travelling around Provence in France. You are given time to read the card which tells of what the following sequence is all about. Several more postcards are presented to announce the following section. We are treated to many pictures of village life and the surrounding country side, we see cyclists and lavender fields…and lavender fields…and lavender fields. Some excellent photos and apt music but the last sequence showing the lavender fields was thought, by some, to go on to long. For those contemplating entering the Society’s AV competition, this was an evening for inspiration?


10th January
DPI Heat 4: Judged by Paul Adams DPAGB

Once again our members gave the judge something to think about. There were 63 images entered by 13 members with subjects ranging from animals, plant studies, table top, sport, landscape and abstract. There was also a fair sprinkling of monochrome images one of which got top place. Our judge gave a good appraisal of each image, saying what he liked and what he thought might be done better. It was refreshing to find Paul spreading his marking over a much wider spectrum with marks as low as 5.5 as opposed to those judges who seem reluctant to score lower than 7 points. Our judge also thought that the borders used with some of the images were rather ‘heavy’ and distracted from the image. Eight images were held back from which Paul gave the following result.

Place	Title	Author
1st	The Journey	Bob Richards
2nd	Tree Nymph Butterfly	Joyce Bernard
3rd	Skoda Rally	Mike Spurway
4th	Arromache, The Mulberry Harbour	Tony Warran
HM	Bud Tips	Bob Richards

Saturday 14th January
Outing to Greenwich

Eight members greeted the day with a fine frosty morning and a bright blue sky as they journeyed to Greenwich via the Docklands Light Railway. On leaving the Cutty Sark station the group made its way to the Old Brewery Café in the old Naval College for refreshments. Some time then was spent looking round the adjacent visitor centre, there being much of interest to see and do. From here the party went to the Painted Hall and then The Chapel, both in their own right of much interest and beauty. A short walk took them on to The Yacht public house for lunch which provided views across the River Thames. After lunch some members walked along to the Cutty Sark pub which unfortunately was closed for refurbishment. Along the way, members were able to observe the old Trinity Hospital and the unusual sculptures set in the wall of the power station. Most members then decided it was getting too cold and the last part of the planned walk was left for another day.

Thanks to Jennifer Deller for this report.






17th January
3D a talk by Ian Rawat of the Stereoscopic Society

Ian, our speaker arrived early to set up the projectors for the evening entertainment. This consisted of two double magazine projectors so that two images from the one projector could be shown simultaneously. Each pair of slides were a matched having been taken using a stereoscopic camera. Each image was projected through a polarizing filter, the filters set at ninety degrees to each other. The audience was given viewing spectacles with polarizing lenses to match those used on the projectors. The whole was controlled by a small computer. The show given was entitled ‘The Aeroplane Collection’ and had been photographed by Roy Jackson. The photographer had visited just about every significant aircraft museum in the country and in the following forty minutes or so we saw most of the aircraft on display. After resolving a few hiccups at the start where the slides got out of sync, members settled down to watch the presentation. The 3D effect was much better in some shots than others whilst the commentary was brief and succinct accompanied by various appropriate music and sound effects. The whole range of aircraft types were seen ranging from the very earliest to modern jet fighters and airliners. Nor were helicopters and missiles left out. For some the show was a bit too long especially if you were not into aircraft history. After the tea break, Ian gave a short talk on stereoscopic photography, how it worked, how it could be done with ordinary cameras and showed some of the ways in which such images could be viewed.


Wednesday 18th January at Beckenham PS
FSLPS Mono Prints Plate Competition

Beckenham were host for the two FSLPS competitions, the Mono Prints Plate and the Colour Prints Plate. West Wickham was entered in the Mono Competition but the Colour event went first. Our Judge for the evening was Steve Lawrenson ARPS, APAGB. Five WWPS Members attended the event in a well filled hall there being no fewer than eight clubs represented. Steve is not only a very good judge but entertaining as well. His critic was to the point accompanied by some humorous anecdote often inspired by the photograph being looked at. For the record; the result of the Colour Competition was: Carshalton 71.5 pts; South London 68+ pts; Aperture Woolwich 68 pts and Greenwood 63 pts. South London came second after winning the tie breaker.

After tea came the Mono Prints and West Wickham’s entry. There should have been four clubs in the competition but Orpington had withdrawn. This left West Wickham against Selsdon CC and Croydon CC. After the first run through it was obvious it was going to be a close run competition with some nine prints held back of which three were from West Wickham’s entry. At the end the bean counters made the scores, Selsdon 67 pts., West Wickham 68 pts and Croydon 70 pts. Just three points separating the clubs. Three scores of ten were given along with certificates, two went to Croydon but the third went to Mike Spurway for his ‘Not the Fisherman’s Friend’. Well done Mike. I think West Wickham can be proud with such a result when up against clubs like Croydon and Selsdon.


Monday 23rd January at South London PS
FSLPS DPI Plate Competition

Round two of the Plate competition was judged by Marcus Scott-Taggart. Three clubs, Mitcham, Bromley and Old Coulsdon took part in the colour print section (Orpington chose to drop out) and the result was that Bromley came first with 69.5 points, Old Coulsdon came second with 68 points, and Mitcham third with 65.5 points. Bromley go forward to the Plate colour print final. Three prints were awarded a score of 10 points with a certificate, one from each participating club.

Four clubs took part in the DPI section; Beckenham, Cheam, Old Coulsdon, and West Wickham. The final scores were Cheam 69.5, Beckenham 68.5, Old Coulsdon 68, West Wickham 64.5. Cheam go forward to the Plate DPI final. Four images were awarded a score of 10 points with a certificate, two from Cheam, one from Beckenham and one from West Wickham. A fairly close contest, but we end our participation in the DPI competition here.

West Wickham's scores were as follows:

"Canadian Timber Wolf" by Mike Spurway - 8 points
"Lonely Tree, Omaha Beach" by Tony Warran - 8 points
"I'm watching you" by Lorina Dean - 7.5 points
"Clevedon Pier" by Bob Zwolinsky - 7.5 points
"Young Bataleur eagle" by Martin Ridout - 8.5 points
"Family of man, Barbara Hepworth sculpture at Snape Maltings" by Alec Mahood - 8 points
"Redhead" by Martin Ridout - 10 points and certificate
"Arromanche, The Mulberry Harbour" by Tony Warran - 7 points

It is interesting to note that Old Coulsdon and West Wickham, who fought it out in the DPI final for the main competition last year, both go out in this DPI Plate round for this year.

Thanks to Martin Ridout for this report.


24th January
Print Heat 4: Judged by Mike Dales ARPS

Before starting his judging, Mike Dales outlined what he saw as priorities. He said that whilst technical excellence is important he thought the picture content was more so. If an image was trying to convey a story or a message it would add weight to his scoring. Likewise, if a picture clearly presented some technical difficulties to the photographer then, for attempting the difficult, should also be rewarded. That said he got on with the business of the evening. The colour prints went first and some 29 images were presented by seven authors. Our Judge commented on the wide variety of subjects. He commented on some of the classic images presented that seem to only appear in camera club competitions. He clearly liked our work with a lowest score of 7.5 points. Ten colour prints were held back from which the results are shown below. After the tea break the monochrome prints were shown, this time 18 prints were offered by eight members from which six were held back. Mike’s judging was punctuated by mini master classes on how this or that might have been done better and all accompanied by humorous anecdotes. The final results were:

Colour Prints:

Place	Title	Author
1st	Golden Days of Steam	Mike Spurway
2nd	Young Women in Red	John Hill
3rd	One Man and His Dog	Denis Noble
4th	The Dome, Painted Hall, Greenwich	Martin Ridout
HM	Blue Morph Butterfly	Joyce Bernard
HM	Lighting	John Hill
HM	Lily	Alec Mahood
HM	Speeding Train on Barmouth Viaduct	Mike Spurway

Mono Prints:

Place	Title	Author
1st	A Walk in the Park	Martin Ridout
2nd	A Bowl of Leaves	Bob Zwolinsky
3rd	Abandoned Boat	Bob Zwolinsky
4th	Katy	John Hill
HM	Jorrocks the Fox Hunter	Clive Rivers
HM	We All Started Somewhere	Mike Spurway

31st January
The Carmargue National Park and the South of France by Serge Krouglikoff

Serge began his talk by describing how he got into photography. Born in Paris, he moved to Brussels where he studied photography. He then moved to London where he worked in various studios working his way up from sweeping the floor to taking pictures. He then worked for several magazines doing fashion and portraiture. He then described how he formed ‘Create Away’ an organization to provide opportunities to photograph the Carmarge Region of France. During his introductory talk Serge showed some of his fashion pictures. His assistant, Jane, then took over to describe the flora and fauna to be found in this region of France; the culture surrounding the wild horses and bulls to found roaming this flat delta region. How the local gypsies use the horse to round up the bulls and a form of sport which Jane made a point of making clear, unlike the Spanish, the bulls are not harmed in any way by the sport. Jane’s part was accompanied by many photographs not only of the horses and bulls but the other wild life to be seen; also shown were the opportunities for landscape photography. The talk closed by Jane and Serge describing the range of facilities they could offer to visitors to the region including access to areas that are normally off bounds to the tourist.