Our Chair Roger welcomed members and our three guest presenters to another Covid19 Zoom meetings. Warmly welcoming Richard Hall, Gareth Morgan and Mark Tomlinson from Sheffield Photographic Society, who stood in at short notice to provide a splendid presentation of their outstanding photographic skills, by providing a feast of photography with something for everyone. Mark’s presentation “Sheffield Works” included some stunning images from inside the steelworks, Gareth showed examples of “Sheffield Street Art“, and Richard took us on a tour of people, sports, nature and landscape in “My Sort of Photo”. It was a superb evening of sumptuous photography with a local theme running through all three talks,
Roger then talked us through forthcoming events – covered in the screenshot shown below, drawing particular attention to our fast approaching Annual Exhibition in June, with the closing date for entries being Thursday 13th May (the date of our next meeting). So you only have a few weeks to sort out your entries. All the details are on shown on a header page on this website (including links to the rules and the on-line entry form). Members please note that late entries will not be accepted.:
I wish that I could attach more screenshots of the Sheffield trios’ images. But the following three batches of six images will give a flavour of a truly enjoyable evening. Click on to individual images to see them in greater detail. Use the arrow key to move from one detailed image to another.
Roger, our 2021 Chair, opened the meeting by welcoming everyone, then talked us through tonight’s programme and forthcoming events, as shown in the screenshot below. Roger also confirmed that it was most likely that the Exhibition of images at June’s meeting would be conducted via Zoom. Roger drew our attention to our website, calling for members to submit the Exhibition images (shown as a header page above) where information and the rules can be viewed.
Roger also announced that Kate and Keith Brown won two prizes at The IAC Peter Coles International Audio Visual Competition which was held last weekend via Zoom – it is normally held each year in Capel Curig. Keith & Kate had entered “These Boots”. which is an AV which they made on behalf of the club. It is the story of William Lennon’s shoe and boot factory in Stoney Middleton. The photographs are from a number of club members whilst Kate & Keith did the sound track and production. The story was told by Les Lennon who sadly died last year. These Boots… was awarded a mini love spoon “Highly Commended Award” and also 5th in the Audience vote. Here’s a few images that formed part of the award winning audio visual (Click onto an image to see it in greater detail. then use the arrow key to view expanded images):
Then we all settled down to the first part of the evening, a presentation by Ann, mainly covering her stay in the Philippines in January 2020 – just before lockdown took a strangle hold. Followed after a tea break of a presentation of images Alison had taken in the Hope Valley OR further afield in the UK during various ‘staycations’, between various 2020 lockdowns.
Roger, our Chairman for 2021 opened the meeting by giving the following information:
Annual Exhibition Our exhibition will go ahead this year, but we don’t know yet whether it will be held in a physical location or on-line. So, please start thinking about your entries, but don’t go to the expense of making any prints just yet in case we only need digital images. Recall that this year’s themed section (set by Joan) is entitled “Bridging the Gap“.
Thornhill Carr Paul Hatt and David Allwood are leading the Society’s contribution to documenting the re-wilding at Thornhill Carr. The Bamford Community Arts and Crafts group has now obtained funding for a creative art project based around this new Derbyshire Wildlife Trust reserve. If you have any relevant interest or skills and would like to get involved, please contact David Allwood. There will be a kick-off Zoom meeting about it in early March (probably Wednesday 3rd).
2020 YearBook Copies of the 2020 YearBook are now available to purchase. It’s an historic edition as it contains a special section on ‘Lockdown’ that’s been put together by Ray using images which Members had submitted. If you want a copy please contact our Chairman, Roger.
CHVPS Facebook Page Roger reminded us that the Society has a FaceBook page that is maintained for us by Susan Hughes. Not only is it a useful source of information, members can post images on our FaceBook page So why not look out one of your favourite images, and post it on our page for others to see.
Then Roger introduced our speaker for the night: Malcom Sales, After a difficult time failing to get to grips with the technology, Malcolm (https://buttercrossphotography.wordpress.com) eventually entertained us with an eclectic set of images taken on his Smartphone – mostly of lockdown scenes in his local vicinity. His two main messages were: “the smartphone is a real camera” and “don’t forget the basic rules of photography“.
Malcom then illustrated that with care and attention, whilst following the same rules as using a conventional camera, it’s possible to produce images taken from a smartphone that are interesting and can also ‘tell a story’. The first part of Malcolm’s presentation covered iPhone images of empty streets during lockdown. Showing how people maintained (least at the start of the lockdown) social distancing, The second part of his presentation showed images taken on his iPhone and then also processed using the various Apps and software shown above.
Yet again, Covid19 meant that this was a virtual meeting, courtesy of Zoom. So for those who couldn’t attend (neither in spirit, nor in body) here’s a synopsis of what’s what and who’s who in this new year. I’ll pop this year’s programme onto our website when it arrives. Joan – our outgoing Chair – thanked everyone who has helped to keep the Club and Zoom meetings going through this most unusual year. Ray, our President then went through the AGM formalities, including voting in officers for 2021 If you’d like to see full details, scroll down to the bottom of this web-post.
So now that I’ve reported the formal bits, here are names and images of those who did well this year.
Ian Stanyon was justifiably proud of being awarded a NEMPH Highly Commended – and such commendations are only awarded for exceptional images
You’ve got to have lots of talent and done lots for our club to be awarded an Honorary Life Membership of C&HVPS
Stephen is one of the very best landscape photographers in our region
Wayne’s creative image won him the Denis Thorpe Trophy
It’s a tradition that the second part of our AGM for each new photographic year is opened by our incoming Chair – entertaining us with some of their photos/images. As well as being an an acomplished photographer, Roger is an academic, well practiced in making presentations. Without exception, since Roger joined the Club 16 years ago, he continues to be a fascinating and entertaining presenter.
A screenshot of Roger and a selection of virtual attendees as our 2021 Chair gave his Zoom presentation.
Roger broke down his presentation of “My Photographic Journey” into parts. Firstly talking about and showing us images he’d taken over the years in and around the Jurassic Coast, where Roger spent his formative years; West Malvern where he and his family live; their holiday home in Castleton (the base Roger uses for the department he heads up as a professor, at Sheffield University. Roger also paid tribute to Kate Brown, who passed away in December 2020) and Kate’s love of flowers by showing a mosaic of images he’d made from Kate’s images.
Roger showed lots of other fascinating images, including the panel he’d made for successful submission to the RPS for his ARPS. Towards the end of his presentation Roger showed two of his audio visuals, including an AV he’d made at the Orchid Garden in Singapore. A fun evening that transported us temporarily away from our homes and lockdown.
Roger’s panel that he submitted to the RPS in 1994, when he successfully applied for and was awarded the distinction of being entered into the RPS as a ARPS
Here’s a selection of Roger’s images, presented during our first meeting (virtual) of 2021:
Ray Fowler continues as our President, with Keith Brown continuing as Vice President
Our new Committee members are:
Chair – Professor Roger Moore ARPS
Chair Elect (and Programme Secretary) – Vice President Keith Brown (FRPS & many other distinctions/awards)
Covid19 put paid to our plans to hold our annual Christmas Party celebrations, where members and partners normally meet in a convivial setting, whilst dining and chatting over food and wine. Sadly Covid19 put paid to these plans. The Zoom party was marred by the recent death of Kate Brown (see my web post in memory of Kate above). In lieu of a Christmas party gathering our 2020 annual competition judge Christine Hodgson ARPS CPAGB kindly agreed to give a presentation of some of her images, including some that Christine had prepared for her FRPS entry.
Joan, our 2020 Chair opened the meeting by welcoming everyone, facilitated by Ian S, wearing a splendid set of Christmas specs and a Santa hat. Joan asked our Secretary Ann to say a few words to express the loss that we feel for Kate. Our hearts go out to Kate’s husband Keith and her two sons, Alex and Sam. Kate donated a cup to our society, called the Catherine Cup. In part to commemorate another member lost to cancer – Catherine Nicklin. Catherine Nicklin and Kate (christened Catherine) Brown will be remembered for decades to come, as the Catherine Cup is now one of our annual photography awards.
So here’s what a selection of our Christmas Party members looked – courtesy of a Zoom screenshot:
I’ll let Christine’s photos speak for themselves – a tour de force of talent and sometimes surrealism:
Covid19 restrictions meant that our penultimate meeting of the year was once again a Zoom meeting, Zoom allows ‘virtual attendees’ to sit in front of their computers, laptops or tablet devices. Allowing members to chat with each other prior to the presentation by Peak District based professional photographer Karen Frenkel. I was fascinated to see that quite a number of members and guests were clutching glasses filled with (mainly red) wine!
Our Chair Joan welcomed Karen, members and guests. Joan has known Karen for 20+ years, recalling that this is the third time that Karen has made a presentation to C&HVPS. An indication of the quality of Karen’s images and her quiet way of speaking about her love of the countryside and her fascination with photography. Karen was an academic for some years, later exchanging academia for the outdoor life of a landscape photographer. Karen’s first camera was a Nikon SLR, given to her by her father when Karen was 12 years of age. Here’s one her first photographs, taken with monochrome film, high up on Great Gable:
Prior to the main event of the evening, Ian S showed our programme for the remainder of the year.
Then we settled down to enjoy Karen’s first public presentation of her ‘Mountains & Coasts’ images. Mainly focussing on the English Lake District and Scotland. Here’s a selection of those images. But firstly, I must apologise, I photographed the images from my computer screen, thus there’s a few rogue reflections. But these reflections hopefully don’t detract from enjoying Karen’s spectacular landscape images. If you’d like to see more of Karen’s images click onto www.karenfrenkel.info
It’s my pleasure to report that Ian Stanyon has been awarded ‘highly commended’ for the image entitled ‘An ill wind blows’ that Ian submitted to NEMPF for their recent competition. For an image to ‘make the cut’ to be to be judged at NEMPF’s annual competition, it has to be a really high standard image. Thus any image awarded a Highly Commended is by definition an exceptional image.
You can view the full results of the NEMPF competition by clicking on to: https://photoexhib.co.uk/nempf/results-2021/results.htm. The website contains details of all the accepted images together with the award-winning images, including Ian Stanyon’s image.
Our Chair Joan opened another of our virtual meetings, conducted by Zoom. It now seems unlikely that we will hold a ‘real’ meeting at Castleton for the remainder of this year. A smiling Joan welcomed everyone to the well attended digital meeting. Then Joan updated us on our upcoming event diary, particularly noting that Covid19 had forced the cancellation of our traditional annual Christmas party meal & gathering. Instead the meeting will be held virtually, via Zoom, so we can forget about drinking and driving, whilst enjoying a presentation by Christine Hodgson. The diary covering forthcoming events and updates is shown below, courtesy of Ian S.
Joan welcomed the 8 ‘Beat the Clock’ members who were going to shown as many images as they wished within a strict 10 minute time limit. Ian Holmes; Margaret Drabble; Paul Hatt; Ian Ord; Richard Clemons; John Sampson; Christine Noon; Stephen Elliott. I’d like to thank our Chair Elect Roger for his role as Zoom-master for the evening, as well as spending time in advance coaching those who were less familiar with Zoom, allowing them to select and present their images through their home computers.
I’ve tried something new. Instead of asking presenters to email me a selection of their images, I simply photographed my 5K screen with my smartphone. Thus the images aren’t the same quality as the images presented by members, but they give a favour of the evening, including odd reflections from my iPhone.
Yet again, to meet the rules and recommendations relating to public / social meetings, we held another club meeting via Zoom. I counted about 24 members who used their computers, laptops, iPads, etc., to attend our virtual meeting. Ian S led the meeting as Zoom coordinator, handing over to our Chair, Joan, who welcomed one and all, but especially Erica Oram CPAGB,AFIAP,BPE2. Who returned to make a further presentation – following her well received presentation of her printed images in 2019. Erica judged our annual competition in 2018. You can view many of Erica’s inspiring images, if you type Erica Oram into your browser.
But first, Joan covered various announcements and updates, best encapsulated by viewing the calendar shown below. Joan hoped that Covid19 would be under some form of control by December, so that we can hold our annual Christmas party at Castleton Village Hall. However Joan said that if coronavirus was still an issue, arrangements were in place to hold a ‘virtual’ Christmas Party, where we could dine and drink at home, watching events such as our annual quiz using Zoom. Disadvantages – numerous: Especially missing the friendship and fellowship of meeting, dining and drinking with other members just before Christmas. Advantages – only one I can think of: No problems drinking and driving if the virtual party is at home!
Erica is a member of Sheffield Photographic Society. However, Erica is more than just busy juggling her challenging and busy day job, being mother to her young family, with photography. Erica gives lectures and presentations, as well as judging for many photographic societies. Erica doesn’t have much spare time for photography, so she concentrates on being creative, both in camera and in photoshop, to make use of whatever opportunities come her way. Interestingly, the smoke alarm sounded in her kitchen as she was giving her presentation. With Erica explaining that her son was trying his hand at cooking, and had clearly burned what he was creating. I think that the images shown below show that Erica is also creative as well as being highly talented. Thus I imagine that every member attending our Zoom meeting was (metaphorically speaking) glued to their screens, as we jointly enjoyed a thoroughly enjoyable presentation of Erica’s digital images.
In response to Covid19, this evening’s meeting was held courtesy of Zoom. Our Chair, Joan opened the meeting, welcoming all on-line attendees, especially our guest speaker, Martin Addison FRPS. Who would conduct his presentation (courtesy of the wonders of modern technology) from the comfort of his home in Worcestershire. Joan encapsulated events for the coming four months (as shown on the ‘programme’ header section of our main website), drawing attention to the fact that our Christmas party, scheduled for the the evening of Thursday 10th December may(?) have to be revised, subject to government coronavirus advice.
Joan handed over to Chair Elect Roger, who for the remainder of the evening, handled the mechanics of our 4th Zoom meeting. Roger re-welcomed our speaker, Martin, contemplating that he had known Martin for some 40 years, through his and Martin’s affiliation to a camera club in Worcester. To illustrate the fact that the meeting was being conducted via Zoom, I took a (very poor) screen-shot of Martin, at his home,
My wife (Christine) and I joined Castleton & Hope Valley Photographic Society in 2008. During that time we have been privileged to see MANY outstandingly talented photographers, present either their prints or digital images. But we both agreed that Martin’s presentation was one of the most thought provoking and imaginative presentations we had seen. Martin demonstrated the multiplicity of options open to photographers. From conventional shots, using fish-eye or wide angle to long lenses. through to long exposure shots, to shots that were deliberately blurred, or when the camera shutter was deliberately kept open for seconds, whilst moving from one aspect of a scene to another, etc., etc.
Martin demonstrated how we all have the option of using different photographic styles to produce different types of shots, by thinking out of the box and using unconventional methods or perspectives. When (for example) the weather or light isn’t conducive to conventional photographic shots – by simply homing into objects that would often escape conventional photographer’s attention, or by dropping the camera down to knee level, or even right down to the ground. Martin also illustrated how mundane objects, such as weathered roof tiles, could be made visually fascinating, by processing the images through (for example, Lightroom) and dramatically altering the colour, saturation, curves, contrast, dehaze effect, etc. The following images give a hint of Martin’s imagination, allied to his clear and full understanding of cameras and photography.
