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.