PAN & TILT
December 2011
December 2011
1st November
Print Heat 2 : Judge Stuart Pickford APAGB
Our Judge, Stuart, started by saying he did not expect everyone to agree with his views but he hoped that his audience would remain friends. He then went on to describe how major competitions are judged by three judges and how they often fall out over how many marks a picture should be awarded. That said he began by looking at the thirty five colour prints that had been entered. Stuart’s style is to give a concise and clear view of the image, saying what he likes about it and what he thinks could have been done better. He also drew attention, when necessary, to technical faults, lack of sharpness and such like. His commentary was interspersed with humorous anecdotes. After tea the sixteen monochrome prints by seven workers received the same treatment. Stuart commented on the quality of our black and white printing. Dennis then thanked Sturart for his efforts on our behalf. The results were:
Colour Prints:
| Place | Title | Author |
| 1st | Dusty Racers | Mike Spurway |
| 2nd | Two Boys in a Boat on the Mekon River | Derek Miah |
| 3rd | The Thames by Night | Mike Spurway |
| 4th | Cover Girl | Mike Spurway |
| HM | Pelargonium Seeds | Andrew Herbert |
| HM | Coloured Glass Triptych | Joyce Bernard |
Mono Prints:
| Place | Title | Author |
| 1st | Misty Morning | Martin Ridout |
| 2nd | Millennium Bridge | Tony Deller |
| 3rd | Chevy Graveyard | Mike Spurway |
| 4th | Time | Tony Deller |
| HM | Body in a Tree | John Hill |
8th November
Flash Workshop
Tony Deller began the session with first a brief history of the development of flash photography followed by noting some of the shortcomings of using flash. He then showed a basic flash gun as produced some thirty years ago and still working. He introduced his audience to Guide Numbers for flash guns and then pointed out that most flash guns have an easy to use dial for setting the aperture. He then went on to show more complex flash guns with automatic exposure control including the latest TTL models. He described the need to know the types sync and the max shutter speed. He covered bounce flash, use of reflectors and methods of using more than one flash gun. He then handed over to Martin Ridout who elaborated on some of the points already made, in particular the various types sync and their uses. He then showed the members some of his homemade attachments for directing the flash light to where he wanted it, especially when doing macro work. Other members then showed their various flash gun bits and pieces. Others tackled the more experienced members about their flash problems. By the end of the evening most members had learned something new and how to get better pictures using flash guns.
Friday 11th November 2011
FSLPS Digital Group 1 Heat Held at Selsdon
Judge: Andy Smith
Seven clubs competed in this round of the South London Federation digital competition, hosted at Sesldon Camera Club. The standard was high, which was demonstrated by the awarding of the maximum of 10 points to seven images. Despite this, the final results were very close with only 5 points separating first and last places. The individual image scores ranged from 7.5 points (only one image) to 10 points, so effectively 8 to 10 points.
West Wickham scores were as follows: Mike Spurway’s ‘Canadian Timber Wolf’ scored 8.5; Tony Warran’s ‘Lonely Tree – Omaha Beach’ scored 8, and his ‘Arromanche Mulberry Harbour’ scored 8.5; Bob Zwolinsky’s ‘Clevedon Pier’ scored 8 points; Lorina Dean’s ‘I’m Watching You’ scored 8.5; Martin Ridout’s ‘Young Bataleur Eagle’ scored 9, and his ‘Redhead’ also scored 9; John Hill’s ‘Siobhan’ scored 9.
Final scores were:
Carshalton Camera Club 73 1st
Croydon Camera Club 72½ 2nd
Selsdon Camera Club 71 3rd
Beckenham Photographic Society 69½ 4th
Orpington Photographic Society 69 5th
West Wickham Photographic Society 68½ 6th
Mitcham Camera Club 68 7th
Thanks to Martin Ridout for this report.
15th November
DPI Heat 2: Judge Mick White LRPS
Dennis opened the meeting and after the various announcements introduced our Judge for the evening. Before commencing on his task he informed his audience how passionate he was about wild life and asked members to join him in signing a petition to the Government to protect our coastline. That said he then got on with the evening’s task. Some sixty four entries had been received from fourteen members. After the first run through our Judge, Mick, complained that we had set him a very difficult task by the overall high standard of images. There was a large variety of subjects entered with a good sprinkling of macro images. Mick also commented on how nice it was to see a few monochrome images entered. After the main run through no less than fifteen were held back. These were then gone through again and the heat places awarded. It was interesting that apart from two images, all scored seven or higher. The results were:
| Place | Title | Author |
| 1st | Stairway | Bob Richards |
| 2nd | Gatekeeper Butterfly | Martin Ridout |
| 3rd | Marmalade Hoverfly | Martin Ridout |
| 4th | Well Sprung, Bluebell Railway | Norman Bernard |
| HM | Broken | Martin Ridout |
| HM | Mountain Lion | Mike Spurway |
Saturday 19th November
KCPA AV Competition at Maidstone
Nine members travelled to the New Line Learning Academy near Maidstone for the KCPA Audio Visual Competition. The Academy is a brand new school and the Competition was being held in a lecture theatre with excellent facilities. The Judges, who sat in with the audience, were Dave Willcox and Dick Williams, ARPS, DPAGB. The show was split into three sessions during which twenty five AV’s were shown. Some clubs managed quite large entries with Maidstone having six and Folkestone five entries. Some clubs had only a single entry. West Wickham had not entered but those members present were keen to learn what made a good AV for our Society’s forth coming competition.
Maidstone Camera Club who hosted the event had made an excellent job of the arrangements. The printed program even had space for the viewer to make notes on each AV as it was shown. As with such a large selection, some of the AV’s were somewhat basic in the use of the software whilst others seemed, often for no good reason, to use every trick the software had to offer. Some AV’s stuck in the memory which did not get a mention by the judges. One such was the ‘Empty Chair’ by Don Foster which told the poignant story of a recently lost loved one, a real weepy. Another was ‘An Old French House’ by George Pearson which took the viewer on a tour of a derelict house which had the most beautiful monochrome pictures many of which would stand on their own just as pictures. ‘And All That Jazz’ by Roy Carey FRPS, DPAGB, APAGB,BPE2*, was made up of a series of instant changes of pictures of ladies in 1920’s dresses appearing to dance to the music of the title. It started with a curtain up and ended with a curtain down, unfortunately the curtain down at the end came before the singer had finished her song!
The KCPA President, Clive Tanner FRPS, presented the prizes and first up was for best use of dissolve and transition which went to ‘Springing Out’ by Mike Jones of Maidstone CC which consisted of many multiple images of a woodland transforming from winter to spring. Next up was for best photography which went to ‘Winter’ by John Long of Sevenoaks CC, as you would guess, lots of winter snow scenes. For best soundtrack, ‘Severn Valley Railway’ by Mike Foster of Sevenoaks CC, took the prize. Then came the main Trophies and in third place was ’In Flanders Fields’ by Andrew Wood of Folkestone CC and as might be expected showed aspects of the First World War but mainly of the War Graves accompanied by lots of poppies. Second was ‘The Enthusiast’ and told the story of the last Golden Arrow Train to visit Folkestone Harbour but rather than concentrate on the train, our photographer concentrated on the other photographers and onlookers. The AV was accompanied by live recordings of the sounds plus humorous quips about the expressions on some of the people’s faces. But the overall winner was ‘Body Painting’ by Melaine Chalk CPAGB of Folkestone CC. Her AV started out with the bright colours of the paints to be used, went on to the brushes and then to the canvases and artists. The canvases were of course young men and women who were very nearly naked and the AV ended with pictures of the finished article. The final announcement was for the AV most liked by the Audience which went to ‘The Enthusiast’.
So ended a very enjoyable day. Our thanks to Maidstone CC who made such a good job of organizing the event.
22nd November
Elusive Light, a talk by Patricia Jones FRPS, MPAGB, APAGB, EEIAP.
Patricia, ably assisted by husband George, started by telling her audience that the prints they were to see were taken over the last two years. The journey would begin in the South of England and work its way north through Wales, Ireland and ending in Scotland. Patricia had brought her own display stand which enabled her to show a panel up to six prints at a time. The vast majority of prints shown were in the ‘high key’ style with beautiful pastel colours which made the occasional ‘normal’ print seem all the more brilliant. The majority of the pictures were landscapes or seascapes, often taken in winter. Only a few had any manipulation such as blending two images together. Some of the panels consisted of close ups of flowers or sculptures which created a series of abstract images.
All the time, without referring to any notes, Patricia gave a running commentary on how each picture was taken, that all important moment when the light came just right. These stories, as related, often had a humorous aspect. The talk ended with two shots taken on the Isle of Harris, the first of a spectacular red sunset and the second taken sometime later the same evening showing the afterglow. All in all, Patricia showed in excess of one hundred prints of the highest quality.
29th November
Print Heat 3 : Judge Mike Gleave, ARPS, DPAGB.
After the usual announcements Mike got on with the task in hand by commenting on the thirty seven colour prints entered. The ten authors had provided a great variety of images to make our Judge’s task the more difficult. Mike first went through all the prints making his comments and then a second time to award the points. He must have thought well of the Members’ work because the lowest score awarded was seven points. As the points were awarded he had seven held back and from these he selected the place winners, no Hon. Men’s. were awarded. After the tea break the twenty one monochrome prints from nine workers received the same treatment. Again, no Hon. Mens. were awarded. The results were:
Colour Prints:
| Place | Title | Author |
| 1st | In the Light | Bob Richards |
| 2nd | On Top of the Hill | Martin Ridout |
| 3rd | Coloured Glass Tryptych | Joyce Bernard |
| 4th | Three Walkers | Dennis Noble |
Mono Prints:
| Place | Title | Author |
| 1st | A Miner’s Wardrobe | Mike Spurway |
| 2nd | Dancing | John Hill |
| 3rd | Flood at Sturminster Mill | Mike Spurway |
| 4th | Bollard, Aberdovey Pier | Tony Deller |