NEWSLETTER DECEMBER 2011
FORTHCOMING PROGRAMME
Jan 10th: Monthly Competition - Animal Behaviour
Presentation - Dr Alex Mustard
Image of the Year results
FORTHCOMING EVENTS
Jan 10th: Monthly Meeting
The Meeting (start time 2000hrs) will be at our normal venue - The Casson Centre, Rodway Road, Patchway, BS34 5DQ (map) It is easiest to access it via Durban Road, off Highwood Road but, due to roadworks, you can no longer turn right at the traffic lights if coming from the Gloucester Road direction. Instead, you would have to carry on to the next roundabout and do a 180 back down Highwood Road and then turn left into Durban Road. The Casson Centre is the left hand part of the Patchway Community Centre, immediately next door to the Patchway Town Council Offices. There is off road parking adjacent to the Centre and further spaces along Rodway Road, near to the local Spa shop.
The monthly competition theme is 'Animal Behaviour' - eg mating behaviour, yawning fish, cleaning action, group behaviour, catching prey etc. Send your digital files to Competitions Member, Peter Plume, by midday on the Sunday before - this will be the standard cut off time unless advised otherwise. Unsure about entering? Even if you don't feel you have any winners, send some in to benefit from the audience feedback - it's an ideal way to learn.
Our main presentation will be by Dr Alex Mustard, so look forward to an inspirational talk and lots of stunning images.
Alex will also be judging our 'Image of the Year' from the winning images over the past twelve months.
RECENT EVENTS
December Meeting
The Christmas Meeting is rather more of a social get together, so there were no presentations but we had three competitions (and lots of mince pies).
Monthly Theme Competition - Open
With three competitions to get through at this Meeting, entries for this one were restricted to one entry each rather than the usual two. There were fourteen entries.
| In First Place, with 5 votes, was Trevor Rees with this image from Capernwray. Five strobes were used to create the very effective lighting. |
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In second Place, with 4 votes, was Arthur Kingdon with this image of a dwarf lionfish. The lens used was a Sigma 17-70mm. |
| In Third place, with 3 votes, was Cate Barrow with this image of a leafy sea dragon from south Australia. |
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Several images achieved one vote, a selection is shown below: Tamsin Eyles photographed this stingray at the Sandbar in Grand Cayman using her Canon 5D and Sigma 8mm circular fisheye. The image was cropped to rectangular and converted to monochrome using Silver Efex Pro. |
| Anna James with pool shot of model.... |
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Rob Bailey with a nudibranch (very large) from Loch Goyle.. |
| Peter Plume with a shark image. |
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Beginners' Portfolio
This was the inaugural competition for what will be an annual event. Anyone qualifying as a beginner by BUPG rules could enter three images to be shown sequentially. Subject choice was unrestricted. There were eight entrants:
| In First Place, with 40 points, was Paula Bailey. Her images were two from a recent Bali trip and a fireworks anemone ( lit by torchlight) from Loch Goyle. It should be noted that Paula was the only entrant using a compact camera! |  |
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| In Second Place, with 25 points, was Libby Gawith. Her images showed effective cropping and a good range of technique but needed a touch more sharpening. |  |
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| In Third Place, with 16 points, was Jeannie Bailey |
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Open Portfolio
In First Place, with 35 points, was Rob Bailey with a portfolio of images mainly from a recent Bali trip
In Second Place, with 34 points, was Trevor Rees with a very creative portfolio of British Images - you will have to ask Trevor how he created the white background.
In Third Place, with 25 points, was Arthur Kingdon
So, it was a great night for the Bailey family!
Wishing you all a very merry Christmas and best wishes for 2012,
Arthur