This is our main projected image competition of the year and showcases some of the very best of the Society’s work. The points awarded from this and the other competitions throughout the year will go towards our annual prize giving.

In other news I am delighted to inform you that we faced and won against some stiff competition in our Digital Projection Battle with Morecambe Camera Club. I don’t have the full results but as soon as I do I shall post them on the site. Well done to everyone who took part, you did us proud.

Meeting Details:

• Wednesday 22nd February; 7:30pm
• Lancaster Methodist Church (aka Greaves Methodist Church) – directions

See you all Wednesday,

Christian

Our judge for the competition will be John Jennings ARPS.

Meeting Details:

• Thursday 16th February; 7:30pm
• Church of the Ascension; Lancaster Road, Torrisholme, Lancashire, LA4 6RH – directions

Let the Judging Begin © John Aldred

For many years Syd Cumbus has provided a brief review of the week’s meeting to the Lancaster Guardian for their social scene column. We’re now very happy to be able to also present these round ups on the website.

The President, Christian Cable introduced Jeremy Malley-Smith L.R.P.S , a member of Wigan Photographic Society to judge the Annual Print Competition.

Results as follows:-

Colour Prints – Highly Commended

1. ‘Poppy field in Majorca’ – Ron Atkinson
2. ‘Lancaster Fireworks’ – Sheenagh Crumley

Colour Prints – Commended

1. ‘Beauty and the Beast’ – Sheenagh Crumley
2. ‘An Avenue of Oaks in Spring’ – Syd Cumbus
3. ‘Burg-Al-Kalifa Tower, Dubai’ and ‘Damsel Fly’ both by Allan Hartley

Monochrome Prints – Highly Commended

1. ‘Ice bound at Haverbreaks’ – Syd Cumbus
2. ‘Arches’ and ‘Dandelion Clock’ both by Allan Hartley

Monochrome Prints – Commended

1. ‘Capital Clock’ – Vic Crumley
2. ‘Eskotran No. 407, Bilbao’ – Syd Cumbus

Awards

Best Colour Print in the Competition

‘Mohamed, Frankincense Trader’ – Allan Hartley

Best Landscape Print in the Competition

‘Slater’s Bridge’ – David Moorhouse

Best Monochrome Print in the Competition

‘Teasels in the Sun’ – Sheenagh Crumley

Best Runner-up Print (Colour or Monochrome) in the Competition

‘Teasels in the Sun’ – Sheenagh Crumley

The vote of thanks was proposed by Christian Cable.

This is our main print competition of the year and showcases some of the very best of the Society’s work. We are joined by Jeremy Malley-Smith from Wigan Photographic Society who will be our guest judge for the evening. The points awarded from this and the other competitions throughout the year will go towards our annual prize giving.

Reminder to Members

This week is the entry deadline for the Annual Projected Image Competition.

Christian will be collecting your usb sticks of images at the meeting. You can enter up to 6 images. Three colour and three monochrome images. Images may be of any subject. Images can be from previous monthly competitions but not from previous annual competitions. View our Competition Rules.

Meeting Details:

• Wednesday 8th February; 7:30pm
• Lancaster Methodist Church (aka Greaves Methodist Church) – directions

The Society meeting this week was divided into two parts, with presentations by two members.

Chris Thoume gave a talk entitled ‘Land of the Morning Calm’ describing his recent visit to South Korea. The modernistic architecture of the capital city, Seoul was shown along with the vibrant markets selling Asian specialities and great varieties of fish. Photographs of the monsoon rains which are frequent in Seoul confirmed why the country is so verdant with forests and national parks. A visit was made to the second city of the country, Pusan, some 400 miles south of the capital. Here we saw the port facilities, the fisherman’s village and images of some of the 17 miles of bridges connecting the islands and forming a coastal highway. A call was made at a Folk Village where Chris showed images of local sculptures. Pusan was also the home of the Korean Film Festival and the Grand Prix Circuit.

David Moorhouse provided the second presentation entitled ‘Images from the River Lune’. David is a member of the Lancaster Anglers Association, a group of some 250 members who fish from the Crook of Lune to the confluence of the River Wenning at Aughton in a season beginning on February 1st and ending on October 31st each year. He spoke of the salmon hatchery at Sedbergh and how some 100,000 eggs are stripped every year. Of the 600 or so salmon caught each season most are returned to the river to aid conservation. The brief talk was followed by an audio-visual  presentation showing the beauty of the Lune in all seasons and included images of some of the Atlantic Salmon caught in past years.

Part two of the evening was devoted to a Bring & Buy Sale of photographic equipment with Chris Thoume acting as auctioneer. Equipment offered for sale included many film cameras, filters, flash guns, tripods and redundant holdalls. The proceeds of the sale benefited the Society.

The vote of thanks to Chris and David was proposed by the President, Christian Cable.

This week we’ll open with a selection of members’s talks followed by an equipment auction in aid of the Society.

If you have any old photographic equipment gathering dust that you’d like to see find a new home then please bring it along. For anyone else this looks to be an evening of photographic entertainment and bargains.

Syd Cumbus and Ruth Piearce

This evening’s event was designed as an occasion to mark the long association with the Society of its two most senior members, Mr Syd Cumbus and Mrs Ruth Piearce, who have been members for more than 50 years. To mark the occasion, Syd Cumbus provided a talk on his experiences of the changes in photography during these years. After reflecting briefly on the many different venues in which the Society has met, he gave a review of the cameras he had used, many of which were on display. These ranged from a simple box camera, through a number of rangefinder and SLR film cameras such as Leica and Minolta, to the current digital models. He also commented on his experience of a wide range of film, confessed a long-standing preference for Agfa products, and showed slides to demonstrate the variable keeping properties of different films.

The main part of Syd’s talk comprised a slide presentation focusing on his home city of Lancaster. After showing a number of images of old Lancaster, Syd demonstrated his enthusiasm for his home city with an illustrated tour of Lancaster, concentrating on the many changes that he has seen and photographed over the years, commenting particularly on the loss during the early 1970s of St Nicholas Street, which he believed t be of great character.

Thanking Syd for his talk, vice-president Sally Anderson commented that his pictures would serve as an inspiration to other members in their search for worthy subjects for photography. At the end of the evening president Christian Cable presented Life Membership awards to Syd and to Ruth, both former presidents of the Society, to mark their contribution to its work over 50 years.

The President of the Society, Christian Cable introduced Lee Metcalfe of Lancaster to present his lecture entitled ‘Perfect Light’ Lee is a local professional photographer who specializes in landscape photography and has enjoyed successful exhibitions of his work in the Ashton Memorial and local galleries plus cover photographs for Lancashire Life and articles for the Outdoor Photography magazine.

He showed a total of 37 images showing Lancaster, the Lake District and the Yorkshire Dales. With each photograph Lee explained his reasons for taking the shot and spoke of his selected locations. Many of the exhibited photographs were taken at dawn and dusk and this is a feature of his specialist approach to landscape imaging. Panoramic images of Buttermere were often multiple frame shots which were then stitched together in Photoshop. Many of the Lancaster images featured the Ashton Memorial with one set showing the memorial building in each season of the year.

The vote of thanks was given by Allan Hartley.

Lee is a Lancaster based photographer with a real passion for capturing the light of dawn and dusk. He specialises in landscape photography, seeking out new locations and waiting for that special moment when ‘the light is right’ before capturing his vision.

As many members will recall Lee’s ‘Perfect Light’ exhibition was at Lancaster’s 1725 earlier this year and was met with great success.

You can view a selection of Lee’s work on his online gallery.

Reminder to members:

This week is the entry deadline for the Annual Print Competition.

Please give Vic your prints at the meeting. You can enter up to 6 images. Three colour and three monochrome printed images. Images may be of any subject. Images can be from previous monthly competition. View our Competition Rules.

Meeting Details:

• Wednesday 25th January; 7:30pm
• Lancaster Methodist Church (aka Greaves Methodist Church) – directions

The third competition of the winter season was judged by Harry Emmett, a member of Accrington Camera Club. Harry provided good analysis of each image presented and commented on how he would change some of the photographs in Photoshop.

Results as follows:-

Colour Prints – Highly Commended

• ‘Damsel Fly on Rush and ‘Burg Al Khalif Tower, Dubai’ both by Allan Hartley

Colour Prints – Commended

• ‘Beauty and the Beast’ – Sheenagh Crumley
• ‘Eleven’ and ‘Shoe Shop’ both by Peter Fishwick
• ‘Frankincense Trader’ – Allan Hartley

Monochrome Prints – Commended

• ‘Arches’ and ‘Dandelion Clock’ both by Allan Hartley

Colour Digital Projected Images – Highly Commended

• ‘Watch me go!’ – John Aldred
• ‘Grace and Vulnerability’ – Graham Binns
• ‘Peacock Butterfly on Michaelmas Daisy’ – Sheenagh Crumley

Colour Digital Projected Images – Commended

• ‘Lavatera Flower’ and ‘Nicola & Chittipong’ both by Sally Anderson
• ‘Amber’ – Graham Binns
• ‘Door Knocker’ – Syd Cumbus
• ‘Sunflower’ and ‘Watching You’ both by Allan Hartley
• ‘Water Drops’ – Colin Yates

Monochrome Digital Projected Images – Highly Commended

• ‘Noir’ – Graham Binns
• ‘Sarah’ – Mandy Foreman

Monochrome Digital Projected Images – Commended

• ‘Strength’ – Graham Binns
• ‘Contemplation’ – ‘Tattooist’ – ‘Sing your Heart Out’ all by Martin Rathbone
• ‘Dahlia in the rain’ – Sheenagh Crumley
• ‘True Grit’ – Allan Hartley

The Vote of Thanks was given by Vic Crumley