Evening with Alan Sheppard ARPS AFIAP AWPF

TENBY AND DISTRICT CAMERA CLUB

Neil Thomas the club Vice Chairman introduced the guest speaker for the club evening of the 24^th April, Mr Alan Sheppard ARPS AFIAP AWPF Vice President of the Welsh Photographic Federation. Alan has been the WPF distinctions secretary for many years and has only recently vacated the position. Alan’s talk was how to become an Associate of the WPF and what is needed to qualify and where do you start. The distinctions are open to all members of all clubs that are themselves members of the WPF or any other federation which is a member of the P.A.G.B.

Panels for assessment comprise of twelve prints, twelve slides or twelve digital images.

Alan displayed several panels that had achieved success and explained that not only should there be photographic quality, there should be harmony of colour, shape and form and avoid repetition. Members enjoyed the question and answer with Alan following his talk.

The guest speaker for the clubs last meeting of the Winter Programme, Thursday 1^st May was introduced by Roy Packer club chairman, Mr Gareth Martin AWPF CPAGB travelled from Bridgend to give a talk on monochrome, miniatures and more. Gareth is a member of the Bridgend and District Camera Club and has been very successful in competition with many of his images. He showed a variety of images which he had entered into the various salons and spoke of the different judges reactions and comments, and some very interesting stories attached to the images he had taken. Gareth displayed a panel of 12 prints showing the technique of manipulation to give the images a water colour effect.

Members spent time viewing the images up close and asked Gareth numerous questions before the chairman closed the evening with a vote of thanks and reminding members that the summer programme starts Thursday15^th May at Jameston Community Hall.

                                                 

                               

Mick Brown -: South Georgia the Serengeti of the Southern Ocean

Fascinating and mysterious, vast and sweeping, these were the opening lines to the report given in 2012 with regards Mick Brown; two years later Mick Brown was back at the camera club to present a talk on South Georgia the Serengeti of the Southern Ocean.

Mick Brown’s home base is Pembrokeshire, but spends most time of the year as a guide on polar expeditions and has a wealth of facts and figures to go with his images which he showed to members on Thursday 3^rd April.

Mick explained that to explore the wild life and history of South Georgia you must travel by ship, sailing from the various ports in Chile and Peru. South Georgia which is a British overseas territory in the South Atlantic Ocean, it is a remote and inhospitable part of the earth’s surface, but has a magical attraction. The island is 167.4km long and 1.4 to 37km wide and is the largest island in the territory.

The images Mick showed members were of the many sea birds the island supports such as the Albatross, large colonies of King Penguins along with Petrels, Prions, Shags, Skuas, Gulls and Terns, also birds unique to the Archipelago such as South Georgia Shag, South Georgia Pipit and the South Georgia Pintail. There is no native population; but images were shown of a few settlements with the present inhabitants of the British Government Officer, Deputy Postmaster, Scientists and support staff from the British Antarctic Survey.

Following a coffee break Mick continued to explain that there are no native land mammals, though Reindeer, Brown Rats and Mice have been introduced through the activities of man. Reindeer amongst the Seals was an amusing image, these being introduced to the island in 1911 by Norwegian Whalers for meat and for sport hunting. In 2011 a complete cull was announced to take place, leading to the eradication of Reindeer from the island.

To conclude Mick showed members images relating to Sir Ernest Henry Shackelton’s Polar Expeditions to the Antarctic and his final resting place in Grytviken, South Georgia.

Images taken by Mick Brown.                  

Thursday 10^th April Judging Print/Digital of the year.

Thursday 17^th April Judging of Audio Visuals.

An Evening With Allen Lloyd ARPS,AWPF

TENBY AND DISTRICT CAMERA CLUB

Club members were entertained on Thursday’s club night 27^th March with the images by Mr Allen Lloyd ARPS, AWPF. Allen who lives near Chepstow travels to Pembrokeshire frequently for his nature and landscape projects, he is no stranger to the club he was with us in April 2012.

Tonight’s topics were Yellowstone Park – winter and spring, a snapshot of bird photography, visit to Nepal 2012 and finally landscapes – round and about Gwent 2014.

Allen has spent approximately 18 weeks shooting images in Yellowstone over the past few years at different times of the year. In the winter with temperatures -30c the landscapes and geysers take on a completely different form to that of the spring when all the vibrant colours of the iron ore and calcium deposits can be seen.

The images illustrated the vastness and beauty of this National Park in America, nestled quietly beneath the Rocky Mountains. The images brought us to the Tetons Region where Allen photographed Bald Eagles, Elk, Bob Cats, Wolves, Trumpetor Swans and Bison.

The landscape images showed waterfalls, Snake River, Tangle Creek, the geysers in the upper geyser basin. Before the break Allen showed members images of birds and the variations of style of shooting not just ‘birds on a stick’. This snapshot of bird photography certainly gave members many ideas for future projects.

Allen continued following a coffee break with images of Grizzly Bears, all taken at the Grizzly Bear Discovery Centre entitled ‘Grizzlies in the Snow’. This was followed by his visit to Nepal in 2012 where he in his own words ‘Was out of my comfort zone taking images of people’. To complete his talk and presentation Allen gave us a landscape tour around Gwent, the Severn Estuary, unusual views of the Severn Bridge and the same views but taken winter and spring, summer.

The chairman thanked Allen for his very professional presentation.

Thursday 3^rd April – An evening with Mick Brown – talk on Gambia. Also handing in of Audio                       

                                Visual presentations.

Thursday 10^th April – Judging of printing/digital of the year

Third Open and Carmarthen Five Way Battle

TENBY AND DISTRICT CAMERA CLUB

Roy Packer club chairman opened the club meeting on Thursday 13^th March and welcomed guests and the judge for the evening Mr Ed Cloutman. After a short introduction Ed went on to give his critique of the18 prints submitted in the clubs 3^rd Open Competition. The winning print ‘Dipper with Prey’ by Paul Richards was described by the judge as technically a perfect print and a fantastic print of the bird in its natural environment. Paul also secured second place with his print named ‘Kingfisher Strike’ and 3^rd Place was Dylan Harries with his landscape ‘Mineral Lake’.

After a short interval Ed went on to judge the 24 digital images submitted, wildlife again took pride of place when Roy Packer’s image ‘Jumping Squirrel’ was declared the winner, the judge telling members that this was an excellent example of capturing a sharp image of a creature on the move. The image of the ‘Lone Fresia’ by Dylan Harries came second with Dave Bolton’s ‘Bike Race’ awarded third place.

        

The Five Way Battle – projected image competition was held Thursday evening 13^th March at the Bethany Chapel, Priory Street, Carmarthen. This competition is between 5 photographic clubs each submitting 8 images. The clubs taking part this year were Amman Valley, Cardigan, Carmarthen, New Quay and Tenby and District Camera club. Charles Kidd the external competition secretary selected the images for Tenby and was successful in winning the event with 146 points from a total of 160, 2^nd place was Carmarthen club with 141 points. Two images submitted gained a maximum of 20 points ‘The Greedy One’ – Neil Thomas and ‘Kingfishers Are It’ – Paul Richards and one image gaining 19 points ‘Porlock Weir’ – Gary Jenkins. Congratulations to all members whose images were used in the competition.

               

27^th March – Journey Through India with Roy packer.

Creative comp

TENBY AND DISTRICT CAMERA CLUB

The vice chairman Neil Thomas gave a warm welcome to Jan Cawley EFIAPS HON.FWPF who was the invited judge for the evening of the creative competition held on Thursday 6^th March at the St Florence community hall. Sadly only 10 prints and 13 digital images were entered in this competition, but nevertheless Jan gave an excellent critique, firstly on the prints with subjects ranging from the seaside, alphabet pasta, otters feeding, dogs heads photo shopped onto human bodies, all in the creative mode. The winning print was a monochrome image ‘Birkenau’ showing the railway lines that brought the Hungarian Jews to within a few yards of the gas chambers. The creative talent of Roy Packer who transformed the clouds into images of those pour souls was justly awarded 20 points, in second place Harry Gardiner with his beach print ‘Oh we do Like’ and third place Dave Bolton with his print ‘Who let the dogs out’.

Following a short break allowing members to view the prints, Jan continued her judging of digital images, once again the creative talents of members shone through. Again Roy Packer and his creative talent using Photoshop and Lightroom produced the winning image ‘Puppet Masters Wheelchair’ with Harry Gardiner receiving second place with his image ‘cobblers Nightmare’ and in third place Charles Kidd with his ‘Land of the Giants’. The overall winner was Roy Packers ‘Birkenau’. Jan concluded the evening with a selection of her own images, many that had won medals in the various shows, explaining to members how and why she changed an image from colour to black and white, whether to saturate and distort to give the desired effect, how she sharpened some images and cropped and blurred others. Before saying goodnight Jan reminded the members that competitions are fun and should not be taken seriously, each judge has a different opinion, what has a low mark tonight – elsewhere will be judged higher.

              

20^th March – Camera club AGM