Picture in Octobers Surrey life

I was fortunate enough to have one of my photographs used in Octobers' Surrey Life

First Commission

Just completed my first commission; which was for a number of portraits of 3 teenage children of a family friend. The customer was very happy about the results and said that she would be happy to come back to me in the future.

The difficult part was to make every comfortable and to get natural experessions. I used natural light and a bounced flash.

Reminder for January meetings

I would like to wish all members of Malden Camera Club a very happy Christmas and look forward to seeing you in the New Year.

Reminder for January meetings

First meeting of 2010 is on January is on the 7th of January is a presentation on Portraits by Liz Keevil (Kingston University). You will need to bring along your entries for the “Best print and projected image from 2009 competition

14th January Best print and projected image from 2009 competition Judge: Bob Turner FRPS . You will need bring along your entries for the 1st round of the 2010 Print Competition.

21st January Print Competition (First round) Judge: Don Morley

28th January AGM

Nature does'nt do bail-outs

Nature does'nt do bail-outs
Originally uploaded by Fred Dawson

Copenhagen the last best chance to avert global warming????

Taken on a walk in London using my camera phone.

Trip to Africa

Back safely from my trip across SW Africa which covered over 4,000 Kms. Some of the photographs are on Flickr I will put more on as I work my way through them. I am impressed with my Canon kit, the camera and lenses survived 40+ degrees, dust and vibration.

Exhibition news

Taylor Wessing 09
The Taylor Wessing National Portrait gallery an excellent selection of contemporary portraits. The Exhibition runs until 14 February

Landscape Photographer of the Year at the National Theatre until 24 January

World Press Photo 2009 Level 2 Foyers at Royal Festival Hall
Until Sunday 13 December 2009

Digital Photographer of the Year 2009 at the Mall Gallery until Sun 13 December 2009, 10am - 5pm

Freshwater Bay in Summer

Freshwater Bay in Summer
Originally uploaded by Fred Dawson

O now that summer is here. Taken in gale force winds and driving sea spray. Slow shutter speed for effect

Another from Dungeness

This picture again shows the woderful opportunities the beach offers. all manner of debris large and small

Fishermans sheds at Dungeness

Fishermans sheds at Dungeness
Originally uploaded by Fred Dawson

I had an excellent day out to Dungeness. I recomend it, as the beach has so much to offer to photographers. Parts resemble the set of a Mad Max movie.

RPS Syposium 12/12/09

RPS Symposium
Saturday 12th December 2009, 10am - 4pm
University of Westminster, Regent Street, London

An RPS Symposium
Following the success of the previous six Good Picture Symposia, the Imaging Science Group of the Royal Photographic Society is organising another in its series of tutorial seminars, open to all, on selected technical aspects of Digital Imaging. The aim of these lectures and discussions is to provide imaging practitioners, keen amateurs and students with insights into Digital Imaging and provide some tools and guidelines for assessing cameras and output.

Programme

Dr. Sophie Triantaphillidou ASIS FRPS - Visual Perception and Manipulation University of Westminster This talk is concerned with the way visual information is processed by the eye and the brain to allow us making sense of the world. Image recording and several types of visual manipulations will be introduced, a number of optical illusions will be explained and connections between human vision and imaging systems will be made.

Andrew Hannan - The Digital Camera Market: An Overview Buying Director, Jessops PLC Andrew will give us an insight into the digital camera market from his unique position as Buying Director of the U.K.'s pre-eminent high street photographic retailer. His talk will be wide ranging covering the impact that camera phones have on the compact camera market through to whether the end of the "pixel race" is in sight.

Prof. Geoffrey Attridge ASIS FRPS - Which Colour Spaces? University of Westminster Professional colour reproduction is frequently discussed in terms of colorimetric information based on, particularly, CIE colour spaces and diagrams. This presentation explains the basis of colorimetry, its use in comparisons of image displays including hard copy and monitor screens, and its relevance to colour management.

Elizabeth Allen - Imaging Workflow University of Westminster This talk will be a discussion on some guiding principles in determination of workflow; for example interpolation, colour management, choice of file format from capture to output, image quality versus workflow efficiency, image processing pipeline and requirements of different imaging applications.

Dr. Graeme Awcock - Pictures From Space: An Introduction to Multi-Spectral Remote Sensing University of Brighton Satellite-borne remote sensing instruments now provide an established and demonstrable capability to collect invaluable data from the 'high-ground' of space. Furthermore, a wealth of data is available from the 1970s to the present day to permit study of changes in land use and the properties of the Earth's surface and its atmosphere; this is a critical resource in developing our understanding of climate change and other environmental issues. As we approach the start of "IR100", it is fitting, perhaps, that much of this capability relies on sensing undertaken in the IR wavelengths. This presentation will review the development of satellite-borne multi-spectral sensing and introduce some applications.

Dr. Tony Kaye ASIS FRPS - "RAW" Conversion Options: Too Much of a Good Thing? Independent Imaging Consultant At Good Picture 2007 results from 10 different "RAW" software converters were compared, Adobe with ACR 5.3 alone now offers 11 different camera profiles for Nikon cameras. Three are "Adobe" profiles and eight are "camera" profiles. These "camera" profiles were designed to match the colour appearance produced by the camera, and the camera manufacturer's software. In this presentation we will compare and contrast the tone and colour reproduction offered by ACR 5.3 with that produced "in camera" and via the camera manufacturer's software, and assess how closely they match.

Dr. Alan Hodgson ASIS FRPS - What Happens When You Press PRINT? 3M Security Printing and Systems Ltd. Ever wondered what actually happens when you press PRINT on your computer? This presentation will explain the process, broken down into the 3 decision groups taken in the background by your printing system.

MCC Flickr Group

I have set up a public group on Flickr for the Malden Camera Club. The purpose of this group is to showcase Malden Camera Club and members works and to provide a fourm for discussion

Group members can post to the MCC public group from their own accounts in Flickr. To set up acount go to www.flickr .com and follow the registration details.

MCC members can join by contacting me.

Picture in Surrey Life - may be

:: Surrey Life magazine - picture showcase
Hi Fred,
You may well have seen one of my postings on the variousSurrey groups on here but a quick introduction. My name isMatthew Williams and I write for Surrey Life magazine(http://www.surreylife.co.uk/). In case you're not aware, we're amonthly glossy magazine that is bought in shops in andaround the county.

We've just started work on our October issue and are looking at running an 'Autumn Colour' picture special. I'vejust seen a stunning shot by yourself from last October ofthe Surrey Hills and was wondering if you might beinterested in showcasing it in the magazine.

Also, just noticed your position as chairman of the MaldenCamera Club. If any of your members have any stunningpictures of Surrey in the autumn (including 'old Surrey' -Richmond, Kingston, Croydon etc) that they might be beinterested in showcasing in Surrey Life magazine then feelfree to get in touch.
Best wishes,
Matt

Malden Camera Club Annual Exhibition

Chain of Office
Originally uploaded by Fred Dawson

Photography of the Mayor outside the Methodist Church in New Malden just before he visited our Annual Exhibition on the day of the Malden Fortnight Parade.

Press report on Malden Camera Club Annual Exhibition

This year I have the honour of being Chairman of the Club

Photographers will be stopped under terror law, says Met 'advice'

Report from Amateur Photographer

"The Home Office has distanced itself from photography guidance that was published by the Metropolitan Police earlier today. The advice, which appeared on the Met's website, is intended as a guide for photographers and police officers in relation to photography in public and current anti-terrorism legislation. However, it was unclear whether the advice had been government approved. And it drew criticism in an article published today by The Guardian. Asked whether it had been endorsed by the Home Office, a spokesman told Amateur Photographer (AP): 'The Home Office has got nothing to do with it.' "

NEWS UPDATE 9 JULY 5.30pm

Photographers Rights

Photographers Rights And The Law In The UKA brief guide for street photographers.

First Round of the Slide Competition

This week we have the first round of the rescheduled Club slide competition, Judge David Plummer. This round was re-scheduled because of the large number of entries received. This is a good indication of a healthy interest in continuing slide work with the Club.

Reminder
That all entries to the Annual Exhibition MUST be in by this Thursday 14th May

Photojournalism” by Helene Rogers DipAD FRPS FBIPP FMPA.

Last evening we had the pleasure of a talk entitled “Photojournalism” by Helene Rogers DipAD FRPS FBIPP FMPA.

During the presentation we were shown a variety of images on themes including religion, kittens and travel. Helene explained her approach to photography and touched on her involvement and approach to selling pictures. She mentioned that there are over a million images in her library. During the course of the evening it became very clear that she is very skilled at talking and persuading people to allow her to take photographs

Stock Photography

Art Directors & Trip was formed in 1996 when Trip Photographic Library acquired the Art Directors Photo Library. The Art Directors Photo Library was established in the early 1970s and TRIP was set up by photographers Helene Rogers and Bob Turner in 1992. The library has a broad cross-section of clients covering both the advertising and editorial markets, stretching across the world, that are serviced directly and through a network of overseas agencies.

Some more of Helene’s stock photographs

New Malden Fun Day at the Library

New Malden Libray are staging a "Fun Day" on Saturday 2 May from 10am to 4pm. This includes a photographic exhibition and great picture hints and tips from members of the Malden Camera Club.

Isle of Wight

The Isle of Wight is providing an excellent opportunity for some landscape photography. So far the weather has been good and I have tried my hand at wildlife photography, to date we have field mice, stoats, rabbits, red squirrels and a variety of birds.

Talk Photography

One on the best online sites for discussions and answering questions about photography is talk photography. Broad spectrum of members both amateurs and professional and caters for all aspects of photography and I personally have gained a lot over the time I have been a member.

No meeting this week

No meeting this week, I would like to wish everyone a very happy Easter

SPA 1/4 Finals at Crawley

The SPA Quarter finals held at Crawley Camera Club were well supported by Malden Camera Club, however Cheam won by a small margin. Crawley Camera Club is fortunate in having a permanent venue and a growing membership. I discussed this with members of Crawley Camera Club and a major element of the Club’s current success is the use of the Club web site to provide up to date information on all activities. The small number of members not online, provide the secretary with self addressed envelopes so that information can be mailed back to them. As I have said before one of the most important issues for our Club is to grow the membership and I see the use of the Club web site as key to achieving this. I am interested to know what members views are on this issue.

G20 Police Riot Squad

An interesting afternoon at the G20 protest near the Bank of England, plenty of opportunities to take photographs of people.

In situations like this you must keep an eye out to ensure your personal safety. I took my cheaper camera the Canon 350D

Any trouble and violence was limited to a small minority of people. Generally a festive atmosphere with the full spectrum humanity present; even Gandalf from the Lord of the Rings complete with staff

I was corralled within the Police cordon and not allowed to leave. However I successfully located a gap and was able to leave after about an hour and half.

President OBama leaving Downing Street

Took a little time off work to take these pictures of President OBama leaving Downing Street after meeting with Gordon Brown

SPA quarter finals

This Thursday, 2nd April we will be going to the SPA quarter finals being held at Crawley Camera Club. As a consequence there is no meeting at New Malden.

Monochrome Print Competition

The Monochrome Print Competition was held last Thursday and was characterised by the high quality of the entries in both the standard and advanced classes. Les Worger did an excellent job casting his critical eye over the entries providing constructive comment and criticism.

One issue that did come light, is what defines a monochrome print and to what extent is colour allowed. I am actively pursing this issue and hope together with the Club Committee to provide advice in the near future.

Incredible high speed photographs by Alan Sailer

From the Telegraph - High-speed photographs by Alan Sailer capture the moment a pellet fired from an air rifle hits an object

Google Streets and privacy

The BBC have a report that suggests that a complaint has been made to the Information Commissioner about Google streets infringing peoples right to privacy.

My concern is that should the ICO rule against Google this would set a precedent in law that would effectively prohibit or significantly restrict the taking photographs whilst in a public place.

This may have implications for both amateur and professional photographers I would be interested to see other peoples views on this issue and if my concerns are justified

AV presentation on the Falkland Islands

I very much enjoyed last week’s presentation on the Falkland Islands by Prue Barker ARPS. The presentation gave a good insight into life on these isolated islands both human and animal. The landscape reminded very much of the higher parts of Dartmoor, consisting of bog and grass with few if any trees together with exposed granite peaks.

2nd round of the Print Competition

This week we have the second round of the Club print competition, this round is one of my favourites, monochrome. I shoot in colour (RAW) and convert to monochrome in Photoshop. You can exercise great control over the conversion by controlling the way in which the individual colour channels are converted. By darkening the blues you can make the sky darker increasing the contrast against the clouds, so that in extreme you can create an almost infra-red effect. You can also simulate various black and white film effects by adjusting the colour channels when using the Photoshop curves function.

RPS Visual Art Group Day

ROYAL PHOTOGRAPHIC SOCIETY
SOUTH EAST REGION AND VISUAL ART GROUP DAY‏

Saturday 18th April 2009 – 10.30 for 11.00 am at Kings Hill Community Hall, 70 Gibson Drive, Kings Hill, West Malling, Kent, ME19 4LG.

Morning
Roy Robertson FRPS - 'Twin Strands'
Producing photographs for over 30 years, this talk looks at 2 of the main themes of Roy’s work and the interaction between them. Learning about the camera and how to create pictures, looking at images through a pictorial or a documentary approach, working in the city of Dundee and in the landscape of the north of Scotland. The talk goes on to look at some of Dundee's traditional industries, the Arts and Contemporary dance, while drawing parallels in the elements of the Scottish landscape.

Afternoon
SE Region AGM Then RPS Regional Lecture Series with Simon Roberts ARPS
Simon was the winner in 2007 of the Society’s Vic Odden Award for notable achievement in the Art of Photography by a British Photographer under 35. He has travelled widely, working in Russia, Ukraine, the USA, Zimbabwe, Israel and Palestine, publishing his first book in association with a major show ‘Motherland’. He has published internationally in magazines, exhibited worldwide, and won a number of scholarships and awards.
The lecture will be made up of a short introduction presenting some examples of Simon’s original editorial work before concentrating on images from Motherland. He will then present some images from ‘We English’ to finish.

Tickets £6 from Lynette Benton - email: lynette@rps.org or 01323 768252

Digital Competiton Round 1

The results of round one of the Club Digital Competiton held on 26 February 2009, judged by Howard Martin ARPS have now been posted on the Club Web site.

A flying visit to the Falklands

19 March - an AV presentation by Prue Barker ARPS "A Flying Visit to the Falklands".

Reminder
that our usual venue New Malden Libray is closed for refurbishment and we will be meeting at the Methodist Church in New Malden High Street.

The surburban corner shop

I processed the image in Photoshop to try and convey the feel and look of a struggling corner shop.

Dark Thoughts

I attempeted to cretae an image with a pool of light on the face framed with a circle of darkness. I experimented using flash to try and achive this creative effect. This was the best of the bunch; Camera -2 stops for a dark background. Exposure adjusted using Canon 580EX11 flash

James Ravilios one of the great unknowns

Alan Bennett narrates a documentary about James Ravilious, one of the great unknowns of British photography. Son of the renowned water-colourist and engraver Eric Ravilious, he dedicated his art to a small area of north Devon, where over a period of two decades he took more than 80,000 photographs. This collection has become one of the most comprehensive and poignant archives in the country, documenting an English world and way of life most people had thought long gone.

Sony World Photography Awards

Photography Awards be inspired

Outings Evening

Last night the evening was devoted to images from last year's Club outings. I wish to thank all who contributed their images together with those who organised the evening.

Last years outings included:
Milestones Living History Museum at Basingstoke, Shefield Park & Gardens, Bluebell Steam railway, boat trip down the Regents Canal

Photography Monthly

An interesting and varied web site with something for everyone interested in broadening their skills in photography. This includes a podcast

Change of venue 19, 26 March

Note that meetings on 19 and 26 March take place in the hall at the rear of the Methodist Church in New Malden High Street as the library will be closed.

Competition - Images of Club Outings 2008

On 12 March there will be a showing of pictures taken on last year's club outings.

Please submit your images to John Rowe, ideally by 5 March. You can nominate up to two prints, two slides and two digital images for inclusion in a competition for the best picture taken on one of the outings.

Photoshop Illustrated Talk

This evening Jack Casement gave an informative and interesting talk focused on the creative side of Photoshop. He provided hints and tips on using layers and selections and how to put these together using actions to automate workflows. I certainly came away with some new ideas which I will try out over the coming weeks.

A club member also donated two Photoshop handbooks to raise money for Club funds, this was very much appreciated and we offer him our thanks. I have one of these books left "Photoshop CS3 in easy steps , Windows and Mac by Robert Shufflebotham" for £5, please let me know if your interested.

A day out to Brighton

Last Monday we had a glorious day with warm spring weather. I took the opportunity to take a day off and visited Brighton, taking my Canon40D along for the ride. The photographic highlights were the West Pier destroyed by fire, the Palace Pier, the Royal Pavillion and the Lanes. I certainly recomend Brighton for a day out with the camera and plently of choice for a very good lunch

Historic Polar Images, 1845-1982 from the Scott Polar Research Institute

Freeze Frame

Historic Polar Images, 1845-1982 from the Scott Polar Research Institute
The Scott Polar Research Institute in the University of Cambridge holds a world-class collection of photographic negatives illustrating polar exploration from the nineteenth century onwards. Freeze Frame is the result of a two-year digitisation project that brings together photographs from both Arctic and Antarctic expeditions. Here you can discover the polar regions through the eyes of those explorers and scientists who dared to go into the last great wildernesses on earth.

Results of Surrey Advertiser Rose Bowl

The results of The 2009 Surrey Advertiser Rosebowl Challenge Competition Held on Saturday, February 28th 2009 have been published.

The Winning Club was Guildford Photographic Society , the Best Image
Namibian Oryx – Simon Garrett, Bookham Camera Club. Malden Camera Club image set was highly commended.

Photoshop an Illustrated Talk

Photoshop Workshop - Thursday 5th March


Just to remind everyone that we have a Photoshop illustrated talk by Jack Casement ARPS. This should provide an excellent opportunity to ask all those questions you have been dying to ask about how best to sharpen and how much to sharpen etc.


Reminder
Please remember to bring along your images for the Outings Evening which includes a competition. This takes place on Thursday 12th March

Projected Image Competition 26 February

The first round of our projected images competition proved a great success. Indeed so many slides and images were submitted that there was only time to judge the digital images. The entries where split into advanced and standard classes and ranged from creative abstracts to traditional landscapes. The images that particularly rook my eye was an image of a lavender field bathed in a glorious evening light by Roland Adams who managed to deal the high dynamic range of the lighting very well. The other was the creative abstract by John Horne of disembodied body parts including eyes and mouths against a chequered background.
The slide competition is being rescheduled to the 2nd of April subject to the availability of a room at the Methodist Church, since the Library is closed for repairs to the roof etc.

Photograph of tea bushes

I came across this photograph in the Telegraph. It struck me as bearing a remarkable similarity to one of the pictures entered in our Club competition. My view is the one in our Club completion is better; the ranks of tea bushes look far less shaggy and the tree is larger

Competition News

News from the latest round of the SPA competition held at Mid Sussex Camera Club, Burgess Hill . I would like to thank both Dennis and Richard Western for representing Malden Camera Club at this event. Richard has been kind enough to provide this report on the proceedings

24.02.09

Since I don’t think the results of our match yesterday evening made it to the morning News, and we were too late for the papers’ deadlines you probably don’t know the result.

I am pleased to say we won both prints and slides, both by a handsome margin. You would have been proud of your members for their work. You would not of course have been proud of them for their support because it was only Dennis and I flying the flag, but our “away” support has been dwindling for a while, and all the stalwarts bar us had good reasons for being unavailable.

The prints result was 87.5 v 82 in our favour, with their print winning the star, although bizarrely not one of the 10’s. Steve Lawrensen, the judge, and a very good and entertaining one he was last evening, says it is not a requirement that the star must be a 10.

Mind you, he very much liked John’s “Fading away” and Chris’ “Winter oaks”, and I thought he was going to give the star to Duncan’s “Gehry building”, all of which scored 10s, but he did think Duncan had been over-familiar with the sharpening tool on “Red tie”, which set the scene for the evening with an 8, and he made some silly comments about Nadal’s eyes not looking at the ball, having said he was definitely not a “sports” judge and had no interest in tennis, resulting in an 8.5. Unfortunately they did not display the pictures, as we do, and they pulled them off the pile in the order in which we had brought them in the box, i.e. alphabetical order except for the two “extras”.

“Hot work” only got an 8 so it needs to be compared with “Joceline” and “Atmosphere Valley” before the Elimination round.

They had no 10’s, only a 9.5 and then two 7’s, both early on, and a 7.5 later while ours were all being held back, so their cause was fairly hopeless!

Projected Image Competition

Reminder to all members that next Thursday ( 26 February) we have the first round of our projected image competition (Slides & digital projected images). The Judge will Howard Martin ARPS.

Palio Horse Races at Siena

Simon Weir LRPS gave an excellent AV presentation on the Palio that takes place twice each year in Siena in northern Italy. In making this presentation he took several thousand photographs; of which he selected 220 for the presentation, each was on the screen for about 6 secs. The presentation took about 20 minutes; but to produce it, took Simon well over a hundred hours of work using "Sony Vegas". He explained the difficulties of working in large crowds and the the need to use wide angle lens and the creative use of panning and how to create a story line.

All in all a very enjoyable and informative evening