Club News
19 May 2022 - DPI Competition night
Thursday 19 May saw the first DPI competition of this photographic year for Chard CC, judged by Penny Piddock DPAGB EFIAP.
I am pleased to report entries were of a very high standard and the winning images in each category (Street, Still Life and Open) had some stiff competition; this could be acredited to the fact that recently we had some excellent presentations on these subjects.
Below are the winning images from each category. All placed images can be found on the relevant gallery page. Well done to all who entered.
Our next competition is for prints and will be at our meeting judged on the 16 June, which anyone is welcome to attend.
STREET STILL LIFE OPEN
Big Issue seller - Alan Williams A cup of sunshine - Coli Evans A splash of blue - Marjorie Marrett
10 May 2022 - Inter-club competition : Mid-Somerset Camera Club
Chard made a virtual visit to Mid-Somerset Camera Club tonight, for the annual inter-club competition. Penny Piddock was the judge for the evening and delivered her usual considered and constructive critique of the images on show. The end of the evening result showed Mid-Somerset as the eventual winners, in a competition where the difference in scoring was less than one point per image. Taking into account the reduced pool of images from which CCC's selection was taken, the set of images put forward by CCC was of a high standard, boding well for future competitions. Special mention goes to Angela Heed for her image entitled 'Hermoso' which was the only Chard image of the evening to score a maximum 20/20
17 March 2022 - Stars and Successes of 21/22
17th March saw the club gather, in person, to celebrate the past year's events and winners. Guest judge Malcolm McNaughton was tasked with choosing the best print and DPI from the year's placed images and the club was treated to an exceptional evening of critique and praise. Every image received extensive, considered input and every author was able to glean some pointers to act on for their next year's submissions. The work on show was of a high standard, making for an excellent record of the past twelve months' competitions. Debbie Hammond had an exceptional evening, taking first and second places in the Print of the Year section, together with first place in the DPI of the Year section. Angela heed had third place in the prints and DPI sections, whilst Sylvia Adams had a second place in the DPI section. Photographer of the year, the member who amassed the highest combined total of points across both print and DPI sections, was awarded to John Flanagan. John also received, for a year, a 35mm camera, which he has to use to shoot a roll of film and then show the images at the club. An most enjoyable evening was spent viewing the best of the year's images, with commentary from an exceptional judge. We start it all again on 07 May, with our first speaker of the year.
PRINTS OF THE YEAR DPIs of theYear
Majesty in the mist - Debbie Hammond Bird of Paradise - Debbie Hammond
Amethyst Deceivers - Debbie Hammond Stairway to heaven - Sylvia Adams
Waiting for the tide - Angela Heed Pheasants in a clearing - Angela Heed
3 February 2022 - Inter Club Competition
Unfortunately we finished up as the bridesmaid, not the bride, but there is always next year to aim for!
20 January 2022 - Speaker - Damien Demolder
"A street masterclass in composition"
So said one member of our most recent presentation, where we were privileged to welcome Damien to the club, albeit virtually, to deliver the second of his talks on the subject of street photography. Exploring silhouettes, shadows, foreground, highlights and of course composition, Damien was his usual informative, entertaining and educational self, never afraid to discuss his techniques and thought processes. Members and guests spent the evening enjoying the images and anecdotes and couldn't help but be inspired by the work on show and the enthusiasm shown by Damien. If you get the chance, experience it for yourself.
06 January 2022
Competition Evening : Judge - Derrick Holliday
Thursday 6th January 2022 saw the last of our in-house competitions for this club year and we welcomed Derrick Holliday from Exmouth, as our judge for the evening.
02 December 2021 - Speaker - Tommy Hatwell
We welcomed back Tommy Hatwell to our hybrid meeting last night to give us the 2nd in his (so far) series of three talks.
07 September 2021 - Speaker - Alison Mackay
Some 20 Members attended this evening's presentation by Alison Mackay, who started by making comparisons with very old famous paintings and and showing how they told a story. She then constructed her own 'still life' image with everyday items, an array of props - mainly found at charity shops - and arranged them accordingly. Then came the lighting before taking numerous images to get things just as she wanted before adding some creativity in photoshop/Lightroom and Efex software. Alison guided us through several images, sharing all the camera settings she used, guidelines for a variety of compositions and lighting. This was very inspirational and showed how we can all get creative without expensive lighting and props and that a "Nifty-Fifty" lens is a great lens for this genre of photography. Even though Alison classes herself as a "JUST FOR FUN" photographer, after tonight's presentation she has shown she is is quite a bit more than that. Please check out her website for more of her inspirational work. https://www.alisonmckayphotography.com/gallery
17 June 2021
Open DPI Competition : Judge - Gordon Aspland
03 June 2021
Glyn Dewis : The Power of Personal Projects
Last night our guest speaker was Glyn Dewis. This was our final speaker for this season and he did not let us down. He demonstrated how he started a project that has snowballed into something bigger than he ever thought. All the work that he has done for his project " 3945 World War 2 Veterans Charity " has been not for financial gain but to leave a legacy in respect for those people. Totally admirable and patriotic. Glyn's talk was totally unscripted & it showed how passionate he is about what he does, sharing so much with us in a very subtle way. The techniques he showed us in processing his portrait work through photoshop/lightroom are all on links that he has sent to us & require no financial outlay to watch and learn. A real pleasure to have joined this zoom meeting.
06 May 2021
Annual inter-club competition : Mid-Somerset Camera Club
Tonight saw Chard welcome Mid-Somerset Camera Club, via Zoom, for our annual competition. With 44 people attending, split roughly equally between the clubs, this was the most people we have entertained 'virtually' and it made for a great evening.
The judge, Wendy Allard, really did make the evening special. She shared her knowledge, photographic background and briefly noted what her accreditations were. She spent the same amount of time on every image giving positive feedback, being very helpful and positive. It was a refreshing change with no negativity on any image.
Members from Mid Somerset were very friendly during the break and it was good to see so many of them. The final scores came and Wendy agreed that there were no losers as she enjoyed every image.
Mid-Somerset came out as the eventual winners, thanks partly to some great scores on their nature shots where they scored 19s and 20s on images of birds and butterflies.
Overall, Chard's average scores per image were only just over 0.5 lower than Mid-Somerset, so over the 60 images shown in total it was very close indeed.
Angela, Don and Debbie all scored 19, whilst Angela, Debbie, Jeff, Don and Sylvia also scored 18s.....congrats go to ALL who entered images, on both sides of the competition.
Next year, with the hopeful lifting of all restrictions, it is hoped to expand the competition to both DPI and print images.
15 April 2021
Bill Ward - In search of......
Chard Camera Club started the new club year with an entertaining Zoom talk by Bill Ward, photographer and actor . Bill's talk took us from his early forays into photography, through his developing styles, right up to his recent offerings from the world of ICM ( Intentional Camera Movement ), including recent successes in prestigious land- and sea-scape competitions. Members were treated to a comprehensive catalogue of images and styles and were enthused to try the techniques showcased in Bill's work. Some members have already been out to try ICM, with some great results. As a talk which inspired and entertained, members were not disappointed.
04 March 2021
David Keep : Underwater Photography 1
Wow ! An evening spent watching David's presentation is quite simply two hours of the most amazing underwater photography, of ALL sorts, you will see anywhere. If you missed this talk you missed something special.
From Hairy Frog Fish, through large turtles and right up to Tiger Sharks, we were taken on a tour de force of the inhabitants of some of our oceans. Stunning photography, great narrative and above all enthusiasm for the topic AND the sharing of info and how-to all combined to give members an enthralling evening's viewing.
Added into the mix were David's other personal projects which included shooting open water swimmers, underwater story-telling and ethereal floating dress scenarios, all of which resulted in an evening full of inspiration and enthusiasm and every member present was richly rewarded.
18 February 2021
Digital Triptych Competition with Debbie and Duncan Armour
Tonight's final in-house competition of the year was a digital triptych challenge. Members were asked to submit one 'digital slide', made up of three separate images which are to be on a theme of the members' own choosing but presented in a way as to tell a stroy of the subject matter. Duncan and Debbie Armour spent time with the images and Duncan delivered their thoughts, critique and guidance on the submitted works. Members were treated, as ever, to detailed, considered and always fair critiques, with everyone able to take something away for use on future presentations. See Competitions Gallery for images.
Results :
Highly Commended : Dick Moon - Hatched, matched and despatched
3rd : Drew Anderson - Cerdic - Chard by night
2nd : Sylvia Adams - Frosty reed bed
1st : Debbie Hammond - Broken autumn
04 February 2021
Critique Evening
The Club welcomed Penny Piddock, on an evening where members were asked to submit images for critique. Quite a few images were shown and discussed during the evening, with members asked to put forward their own thoughts, in a non-judgemental manner, on such topics as subject matter, editing and overall 'feel' of the images. Penny guided the image authors and the membership through the images, with good-natured suggestions from all sides being put into the melting pot for all to consider. The evening ended with Penny submitting her own edits of the submitted images, backing-up what had been suggested during the evening and giving members the chance to see first-hand the results and how/if the images were improved. A worthy exercise, with food for thought and techniques to consider, all helped by Penny's guiding and balanced hand.
History lesson !
Club member Terry Marrett submits this Club Program from ........ 1984
Simpler times .......
Many members have since commented on their enjoyment and a wish to see more from Andrew.
29 October 2020
Jo Bradford
Smart 'phone, smart photography
Chard welcomed Jo Bradford, who is based on Dartmoor, to deliver the Club's second guest-talk, based solely around using our ever-present camera, the smartphone. Jo talked us through her career from early snapshots right through to present day, showing images and discussing how she captured, edited them in-phone and printed them, revealing just how much is capable with those little boxes of tricks we always have in our pockets or bags. Members were left inspired to catch images even when without their 'main' piece of gear. The next speaker, Brian Northmore, joins us on Thursday 05 November.
15 September 2020
Richard Sercombe
Urban Night Photography
The Club welcomed guests from South Petherton Photographic Society and enjoyed a presentation from Richard Sercombe, in the first of the Club's Zoom guest speaker Talks. Richard's subject was 'Urban Night Photography' and viewers were treated to photographs from all over the world and all taken at night. As Richard said, once the daylight has virtually gone and the night's lights start to appear, cities and landscapes take on a whole new dimension and the images were certainly met with 'new eyes'. Great photos, mixed with anecdotes and even some tutoring on how to sometimes use Photoshop etc to get the best from our images, made for a very entertaining and stimulating evening. Some members are already planning their after-dark excursions .... ! Our next speaker is Jo Bradford, on Thursday 29 October.
26 September 2020
Chard Camera Club