March 2010

Pan & Tilt
March 2010

2nd February
Print Heat 3

Our Judge for the Evening, Mike Gleave ARPS DPAGB, started by going through the colour prints making comments as he went. Unlike some judges, Mike only occasionally resorted to cropping in his advice. There were some 29 colour prints entered and by having tea a little late, Mike was able to through awarding points. Again our Judge must have thought our work reasonably good since no print received less than seven points. Seven prints were held back from which the evening’s winners were selected. After Tea, the 16 mono prints were gone through in a similar fashion. Bob closed the meeting by thanking our Judge. The results were:

Colour Prints

Place	Title	Author
1st	Docklands	Andrew Herbert
2nd	Bald Eagle	Joyce Bernard
3rd	Early Morn, Lake Luzern	Tony Deller
4th	Pink Lily Petals	Derek White
HM	Fox (Vulpes vulpes)	Alec Mahood
HM	The Monastery, Thun, Switzerland	Mike Spurway
HM	Winter Wonderland	Derek White

Mono Prints

Place	Title	Author
1st	Decommissioned Boats, Mull	Alec Mahood
2nd	Stigma and Stamen	Vic Tokarski
3rd	Mercedes	Bob Zwolinsky
4th	The Look of Innocence	Mike Spurway
HM	No Longer Spoken For	Mike Spurway

Friday 5th February
FSLPS Plate Competition Held at Selsdon

This competition had a few problems. The judge Les Worger did not turn up having gone to the wrong venue. Therefore the DPI comp did not take place, though the entries were shown for interest. The DPI part would now take place on the 10th Feb judged by Les Worger with Jeff Royce in attendance only. The results, and comments as far as possible, will be circulated in due course by Jeff.

However, the Colour Print comp did go ahead with Martin Faiers as stand-in judge. West Wickham was up against Beckenham and Croydon. The scores were, Beckenham 69points, Croydon 68points with us coming third with 64.5points. Martin Faiers judging might be described as quite “intellectual” but none the less was he was decisive and clear in his judgements. There were several impressionistic style images which attracted him. Hence, our Bob Richard’s “Barcelona Bustle” was held back and then scored 9. Some of these impressionistic images might be questioned as to whether they were in fact photographs.

We must get our coloured images scoring as high as our monochrome images.


9th February
Members’ Evening, Members’ Audio Visuals

During the previous week, Chairman Bob had expressed concern regarding the apparent lack of Audio Visuals (AV) that had been submitted for this evening. He need not have worried. On the night he was to have to apologise to some members for whom time ran out and their AV’s did not get shown. The evening started with Lorina’s putting together some of the pictures from the Society’s AV project regarding the seasons at Combe Woods. A good effort but at eleven and half minutes, the audience agreed it was too long. Next Hilary Walker showed one of her own making, pictures were of the Victorian Crossness Sewage Pumping Station. This partially and beautifully restored steam engine made interesting pictures but some queried the suitability of the chosen music. Next to go was Joyce with an AV called Lemonade. The pictures alternated between glasses of lemonade and children enjoying themselves with a suitable accompany song. Chairman Bob then showed a series taken at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. Most pictures were close ups of the details of the cars on show. Bob had made good use of the various fades between the images. Derek White, noted for his montages, put up a show on just that subject. The older members remembered some of the images shown. New member, Tony Warren, then had a go with a tour of Venice accompanied by Mahler’s Death in Venice music which went well.

Andrew Herbert put up an AV based on photos taken at the Theatre 62 production of the Accrington Pals. It tells the tale of young men going off to fight in the First World War and many not coming back. The sound track captured the mood well. Derek White then had another go with a series of ‘quickies’ followed by an AV called Poetic Licence. Some members thought this might have been better if the words had been spoken rather than printed on the screen. Bob Cook showed his theme of the Bridges on the Thames from Source to the QEII Bridge. The last to go was Lorina’s re working of her earlier effort called Dream Cars. The pictures illustrated a popular pop song. Very well done. Everyone agreed this had been a good evening and it is possible that AV’s may be introduced into our competition calendar.


Wednesday 10th February
FSLPS Digital Projection Plate Competition

As reported earlier, owing to the no appearance of the Judge on the 5th, this competition was held without an audience. The Judges was Les Worger and the projectionist and note taker was Jeff Royce. Unfortunately, West Wickham again did not fare so well. The scores were as follows, Selsdon CC 71.5 points, South London PS 71 points, Cheam CC 69.5 points and West Wickham got 68.5 points. The Certificates went to the other clubs and our highest score was 9.5 points to Matt Richard’s ‘Pony Tail’.


16th February
Britain’s Heritage by Derek Forss

Derek Forss introduced himself by describing how he earned his living in photography, specialising in landscape and architectural photography. He is the author of several books and provides illustrations for many well known National Organisations. The evening started with a short but slick AV show to illustrate his style of working. He then gave some tips on preparing to do landscape photography. Planning, the study Ordnance Survey Maps to see the lay of the land and where the sun will be at what time of day and for that time of the year. What the weather will be like, listen to forecasts. He then went on to describe how to make the best of different locations his forte being to introduce some foreground interest. Use days of dull lighting to do close ups of plants, waterfalls, church interiors, anything which makes a good picture without including the sky. Each series of tips was punctuated with further short AVs accompanied by suitable music. We had tips on dealing with low light situations and getting the exposure right. He then described a project in which he was asked to provide the photographs for a book on the beauty of Northamptonshire. In conclusion, Derek said how in his work sticks to realism. He photographs it as it is. He does not do post production changes to images. He also described briefly how to get your work published, particularly using those companies that accept your work and produce a book to your specification. The example he showed was quite modestly priced. The Talk concluded with another slick AV showing more of his work including some of his shots of preserved steam railways. A good evening enjoyed by all.


Saturday 20th February
Outing to Westerham

As planned, some eight members met up on the Green around 09:30 and after an initial look around, went and had a cup of tea. Suitably refreshed the members then separated out to explore this lovely Kentish Town. The weather was cold but very bright with clear blue sky, making some subjects difficult to photograph with this strong contrasty light. Having explored the lanes, the church and graveyard, it was time to adjourn to the Grasshopper for lunch. A very interesting building in the Tudor style but, unfortunately, the service was not quite up to expectation.




23rd February
Natural History Competition

After a faltering start, this competition ended with a good entry there being some 35 DPI’s and 8 Prints. Our Judge, Andy Smith, is no stranger to West Wickham and he received a warm welcome. He began by first looking at and commenting on the prints followed by the DPI’s. His comments, as always, were given in a very constructive way, giving mini master classes on some of the pictures. His scoring suggested that the Society’s work was of a high standard. His main comments related to highlights in the background, particularly near the edge of the image which could have been toned down. One or two shots could have benefited from a little cropping. Having commented on all the images, Andy then gave the scores followed by the award winners. The Wren Trophy was awarded to Martin Ridout for his DPI ‘Dandelion Seed Head’ and Honorary Mentions were awarded to Hilary Walker for her DPI ‘Bushbuck’ and Alec Mahood for his print ‘European Otter’. It is very satisfying to see a trophy going to one of our newest members.