Feeding photographic minds in the Towcester area

If you’d prefer to bring your images on a memory stick to be projected then that’s fine too. There will still be just enough time for you to get them printed if they are selected. (Deadline is 1st Oct for the Terry Chapman entries).

October 7th - Robert Skears LRPS: Portraits and practical studio work - Robert’s main ‘thing’ is shooting people. He trained in the early 80’s, using ‘light’ you can’t see - shooting people on the inside as a career, then for a hobby, from the outside!

Or put another way x-ray by day and Nikon by night and weekends.

His interest in Photography started when he began his first job at the Royal Dental School in Leicester Square. With lots of time and a ready supply of buildings and monuments he thought he’d have some fun. So armed with a 50mm lens and Pentax ME Super he began, what has developed into a consuming passion. Over the years he has used Chinon, Bronica, Canon, Fuji, finally settling onto Nikon with a mix of Sigma and Nikon lenses.

Robert doesn’t know why he got into shooting people …he says they are more difficult to persuade to sit for you - a bowl of fruit doesn’t fidget, whine, take ages to do its hair and then moan that’s not its best side, etc… But that’s what he got into and he has been going on courses ever since. (…….continued) ….Eventually the obligatory studio set up loomed and he bought a sweet little Bolite. Last August he bought Gemini 500 heads, which are now his main choice, although he has been looking more favourably on the ‘Strobist’ approach lately.

Robert shoots a lot for the larger theatre groups in Milton Keynes, doing Programme shots and Publicity for PR and Posters as well as the dreaded dress rehearsals! He has set up “pseudo’s” in church halls; redundant churches, several areas around the OU theatre foyer; two canteens; various halls that become rehearsal spaces at night; Salcey forest and even inside Woburn Abbey. His next costumed PR shoot is planned for the sham castle at Stowe for ‘Beauty and the Beast’.

There is certainly plenty of potential in Robert’s portfolio to make for a fascinating session as he shows us how exactly how he sets the scene for a practical portraiture session.

October 21st - Competition Night (at Paulerspury): Annual Print Battle with Olney Camera Club - This year we are hosting our annual friendly competition and as our membership has recently grown in size, the meeting is to be at the larger Paulerspury Village Hall, just south of Towcester, instead of our usual cosy little venue. Our rivals from Olney have been invited to come along there and show us their best photographs. The past few events have been a very close match…… Which club will win this time? Come along and enjoy the action. There are always countless tips that you can glean from a judge’s own considered opinion.

October 24th - Competition Night (at Irchester): The 8th Terry Chapman Memorial Competition - This event is organised annually by Rushden & District Photographic Society and entry is open to all Northamptonshire Camera Clubs.

Venue: Irchester Village Hall, Irchester, Northants, NN29 7AW
Viewing is 6-7pm and judging starts at 7.15pm. There is an admission fee of £2/person. All profits from the event are donated to the Oncology Unit at Northampton General Hospital.
The judge this year is Ann Miles FRPS from Cambridge.

November 4th - Steve McGill: On Safari in the Gameparks of Africa - It is with great pain and the utmost reluctance that our very shy & modest Treasurer, Steve McGill has eventually agreed to show us some of his photographs from his latest safari. Having had a sneak preview of some of them, he should be justifiably proud of showing them!

Knowing Steve, it will be mostly birds and animal photos with quite a bit of inside information about how he actually managed to catch the shots. This will be a meeting well worth coming to (even if the football is on!) – Who knows? Steve may even be distracted enough to forget to collect the subs! Now that wasn’t actually a promise!

November 18th - Keith Leedham FRPS EFIAP FIPF: Audio visual compilation techniques - Last autumn we were shown some brilliant audio visuals by Keith Leedham, who is a National AV judge and an International AV Festival Committee member.

Keith has kindly agreed to come back and tell us a bit more about how to get started actually putting an audio visual together.

Prepare to be totally inspired, even enough to make your own AV!

And keep Dec 9th free…… all will be revealed later!

December 2nd - Sharing (2 of) our skills: ‘Learning about Landscapes’ and ‘Mirror lens techniques’ - It is one of the strengths of our club that our members are more than happy to share their knowledge with each other. This evening is one such event where we will be hearing from 2 of our own members what they have learnt about a particular skill.

It is one of the strengths of our club that our members are more than happy to share their knowledge with each other. This evening is one such event where we will be hearing from 2 of our own members what they have learnt about a particular skill.

Andy Hooker has been experimenting with the very unusual creative effects that can be achieved using a mirror lens. He will explain how it works and will show us some of his mirror lens images.

December 16th - Informal Participation & Christmas Party: Our best shots of 2009 - More details to come out as the nights draw in, but the general opinion last year was that a premeeting Christmas meal was a very good idea! Whether or not you can arrive a bit earlier than usual to have a meal, the meeting will be a relaxed gathering with some festive food & drink and an opportunity to share your favourite photographs of the year.

Feb - Towcester Library: Our best shots of 2009 - We have our traditional opportunity to exhibit members’ prints during the month of February in the Towcester Library. More details nearer the time but start thinking about what you would like to show.

NEW! Practical Workshops (AT PAULERSPURY) - Studio Lighting/Colour Management/ AudioVisuals/Basic Photoshop

By request, there is to be a monthly practical photography workshop session which will be held at Paulerspury Village Hall.

The idea is that some of our more experienced members will volunteer to lead a practical, hands-on session on a particular topic. These will be interactive sessions, with only a limited number of members attending, to enable those interested to actually get involved themselves. Some of the topics already suggested are listed. Fuller details will be given out at meetings (and in the regular reminder email which goes out to members) when you will have an opportunity to book a place.

If these sessions are successful, the topics covered will be repeated or expanded where possible, to suit demand. To test the viability of this new venture, the venue has been booked, initially only for the next 4 months.

It is now up to all of us to participate/volunteer/request topics.

2009 Workshop dates (all Wednesdays, 7.30-10pm) and topics are:-