We held our 4rd competition on Wednesday wtih two Parts, Colour and Seascapes. Congratulations to Monica and Adrian for their winning entries. The results are on the website here, the top three images from each section can be found here and the current standings in POTY are here.
The competition for POTY this year is close as always with four more rounds to go – who will emerge as winner? Entries for Comp 5 (Open Colour & Surreal) close on 10th Feb with the judging on 24th Feb.
The first image editing sessions went well – 28 people attended via Zoom, with lots of interaction, questions and help on hand. First up David gave an overview of Affinity followed by Bill who gave an introduction to basic adjustments.
The next session is planned for Monday 14th Dec at 7:30pm
Here are the links to the websites that have more learning – for those who cannot wait.
https://affinity.serif.com/en-gb/tutorials/photo/desktop/
Robin also has a book on Affinity with another on the way. I’ve not seen it so can’t comment on what it’s like (Amazon reviews are good) and the ebook is a good price.
There was a poll of the attendees, the results are here. Note the Photoshop users include Photoshop Elements.
We held our 3rd competition last night wtih two sections, Mono and Industrial. Congratulations to Gary and John for their winning entries. The results are on the website here, the top three images from each section can be found here and the current standings in POTY are here.
Next week is our first editing session, we’ll be looking at Affinity as an editing programme, covering basic editing steps and maybe more. We will also canvas opinion on what topics we should cover in future sessions.
Hope to see you there! If we don’t, have a Happy Christmas!
The second competition took place on 11th November – over Zoom as has become normal. The judge commented that there were many excellent images, the results and top 3 images from both parts are now on the website. The two winning images are
Open Mono
Urban Life
Download the images from the link in the original email by clicking on download or the 3 dots icon.
Please post your edited images to Photoentry under the ad hoc section. There is one “competition” for each image and you are allowed one edit – so pick the one you like the best.
Don’t forget, they need to be uploaded by the end on Tuesday 3rd November!
The competition season got underway last night, our first one using Zoom. From a technical point of view, all went well. There were two sections, open colour and a splash of colour. There was a wide variety of images and congratulation to Les Stringer and Bill Salkeld for their winning photos. All the results are shown here and the top 3 images in each section are in the 2020-21 gallery
The online exhibition is now ready for viewing either via the home page or here
Thanks to everyone who has been in touch and also for the many ideas for content that you’ve been sending through.
Next season’s Programme
Les has been working hard on contacting /confirming previously booked speakers and booking replacements as needed and Mary has been doing the same for the competition judges.
We have initially concentrated on the programme through to Christmas as we have taken the decision that all of our regular content will be delivered via Zoom for this period to give us some clarity for planning. We will of course be monitoring the situation closely and discussing with you when we feel it’s appropriate for us to restart the physical meetings again.
I have provisionally booked the large hall on two dates – the 20th October and 17th November (both are Tuesday evenings). Given the size of the large hall we would be able to safely run a meeting there if enough members wish to attend – I’ll ask for numbers nearer the time so that we can see how many would be happy to come along. These evenings would be additional to the main online programme and would be a members’ evening of some sort or perhaps a project group?
We’ll continue working on the programme and will send updates periodically.
Competition Programme 20/21
Whilst the themes are as previously communicated, we have moved ‘Seascapes’ to mid-season rather than being the first theme – to recognise the fact that getting to the coast has been more difficult in recent months!
Mary has opened up all the monthly competitions on PhotoEntry so those of you who are super organised can start loading your entries for the whole season! Some of us will be more last minute……….
Wilmslow Guild
Our membership for 20/21 is open on the Guild’s website and you should be able to renew your membership online as usual.
Anyone non-members interested in joining – please get in touch using the contact details on the webpage
The themes for next season’s competitions are below.
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Monthly Competition Themes
Competition 1
Part 1 – Open Colour Part 2 – Set subject: Splash of colour Competition 2
Part 1 – Open Mono Part 2 – Set subject: Urban Life Competition 3
Part 1 – Open Mono Part 2 – Set subject: Industrial Competition 4
Part 1 – Open Colour Part 2 – Set subject: Seascapes Competition 5
Part 1 – Open Colour Part 2 – Set subject: Surrealist Competition 6
Part 1 – Open Mono Part 2 – Set subject: Windows |
The results from Competition 4 Part 1 and Part 2 are now on the website along with the POTY rankings.
As we are now using PhotoEntry for our competitions, the rankings are different. This looks at all your entries across all competitions and puts them in descending order rather than in competition order i.e. all your winning entries are first followed by your second place entries and so on…….
WGPS Project Group – Next Meeting Friday 7th February 2020 at 7.30pm. Upstairs rooms.
This will be a practical evening looking at close-up and macro photography. As usual, it is open to any club member.
David Higton will open the evening with an explanation and demonstration of focus stacking. This will include taking the pictures and processing it in the computer.
Following that, members can split into small groups and work on their own subjects on individual tables. Results can be processed on the evening or later to be shown at the next meeting.
Ideally you will need to bring along:
1. Camera and suitable lens for close ups/macro. I will have a selection of lenses and improvised close up equipment available for those who may wish to try them.
2. Tripod
3. Suitable small subjects for photographing. We can swap them around during the evening.
4. Portable lighting, be it flash, desk lamps, LED torches or photo lamps. White card, crumpled kitchen foil on a board or other reflector. Black card to reduce light spill.
5. A background, be it paper, card, cloth , a light tent or……
6. Blue-tack, bulldog clips, masking tape, patience, imagination and a sense of humour and anything else you think useful.
Optional
6. Laptop with suitable software installed to process and stack photos.
For the first meeting of 2020 the packed audience were thoroughly entertained by Neil Hulme and his presentation “Moments in Mono”.
Neil started by explaining about having taken up photography some eight years ago and having ‘found’ his preference for a minimalist long exposure black and white style and the photographers, for example, Michael Kenna and Rohan O’Reilly who provided inspiration. He then took us on a journey of favourite locations from ‘a ten minute walk from home’ to his beloved Venice. He demonstrated over and over again that within a few minutes walk and certainly a few hours drive, for example, to the Wirral, North Wales and the Fylde Coast, there are so many potential photographic subjects but ….you just have to have the vision to see them.
The audience were fascinated as he explained his ‘unsophisticated’ post processing method which he demonstrated on several of his images which invariably resulted in an uncluttered and simple composition with a delicate tonal range.
Neil’s amusing anecdotes kept the audience smiling and his modest and humble attitude to his photographic achievements kept them absorbed as he walked us through his wonderful images.
A really enjoyable evening was had by all!
Neil’s work can be seen on www.neilhulme.smugmug.com, Facebook, Flickr and Instagram.
The results from Competition 3 Part 1 and Part 2 are now on the website along with the POTY rankings.
As we are now using PhotoEntry for our competitions, the rankings are different. This looks at all your entries across all competitions and puts them in descending order rather than in competition order i.e. all your winning entries are first followed by your second place entries and so on…….
MONTHLY COMPETITION – NOVEMBER 2019 – OPEN COLOUR
Michael Hilton’s excellent image,“One More Time”, was rightly judged into first place in the Open Colour Section of November Monthly Competition.
The print competition was well supported with a great variety of types of photograph being entered.
This variety was recognised in David Royle’s “Wild Flowers’ which was placed second.
The judge, John Riley, then awarded Les Stringer’s impressionistic image “Lone Tree” third place.
Generally the entries were of a high standard and John Riley’s critique was helpful to all entrants by explaining what constituted a ‘strong’ competition image and suggesting areas for improvement on individual images.
For full results click on to “COMPETITIONS”.
The rules and guidance have been updated to reflect the current status, to clarify the defination of monochrome and to update the Annual Competition category from Natural History to Nature as used by the PAGB and L&CPU. The new rules can be found here
Results from the recent competition are on the website along with thumbnails of the images can be found here
The placings for the photographer of the year can be seen on the PhotoEntry website.
Following a successful first meeting the next one will take place on Friday 1st November at 7.30pm. There will be a slight change to the normal challenges, as follows:
For 1st November,
1. Motion. As usual the interpretation is up to you but you might consider, moving subjects of any sort , human or mechanical, intentional camera movement, long exposure, flash with slow speed sync or ……..?
2. Birds eye view. This is really a non-competitive preview for the main club competition which will give you the opportunity to have your images critiqued before other club members who may be able to suggest refinements based on their experiences.
For 3 January;
Autumn. A longer term project to enable us to get the best out of the change of season without rushing it as we have done previously. The colours have started to appear already so start anytime you wish.
Just a reminder that one of the aims of the group is to get you to go out and take fresh pictures rather than dig into archives. (Rules can be broken sometimes though).
If everyone sticks to a reasonable number of images to last around 5 minutes it will give us a chance to make some comments/try alternatives and also ensure everyone gets to show their images on the night.
Bill
Dates for project group have been organised for Oct – Feb. They are on the club website!
Topics for the first meeting are “Orange” and “Summer”. Plenty of time to take photos for Orange….and technically, it is still summer!
For the Great British Summer competition, we are using the old uploader which can be found here http://wgps.org.uk/competitions/pdi-competition-upload/
To whet your appetite for our speakers, an short biography and links to website can be found on the online programme. Click on the + in the top right corner for each speaker to show the details!
The L&CPU are holding an Advisory day and Mock Adjudication for the PAGB Awards for Photographic Merit in Eccles on 29th September. It’s first come, first served – click here for more details.
Don’t forget , there is a reduction for early registration for next season on the Wilmslow Guild website https://www.wilmslowguild.org/
The Guild AV group is having a free open evening on Friday 13th September – all are welcome.
Details on their website
Following the Judge’s review yesterday the results of the Annual DPI competitions are available here
Special congratulations to Barbara Cook for a magnificent sweep across Colour, Mono and Portraits with some stunning images.
