Author: Keswick Photographic Society

On 29^th January Keswick Photographic Society members enjoyed an inspirational talk by Bill Pickard on creative photography. His main subject was Intentional Camera Movement (ICM) whereby the camera is moved very slightly while taking an image to produce an artistic image but he went beyond this to describe how he processes his images using other creative techniques. Bill’s talk was illustrated with an extensive selection of his superb images.

Bill photographs a wide range of subjects including street scenes, landscape, wildlife, flowers and sport. One of the most imaginative but simple images he presented was of two pieces of electrical wire, not a subject that many photographers would think of taking.

He explained that he usually carries two cameras, one of which he uses to take straight images and the other for ICM. He showed a number of straight images and then versions of the same subject taken with ICM and used these to illustrate what he referred to as the magic of ICM, the ability to transform something mundane into something special.  He described some of the other advantages of ICM as being the opportunity to create impressionistic art, the ability to hide distracting details and its versatility.

In particular this technique works well in low light when normal photography would be difficult. His images were taken in a variety of locations, some as nearby as his own garden, Morecambe and Blackpool and others further afield such as France, Italy and Iceland.

Bill wowed us with his enthusiasm for his subject and his lovely images. He gave members numerous tips on how to achieve a variety of different images. In conclusion he recommended ICM to us as a means of achieving totally unique images. This was a totally absorbing evening especially for those members who particularly enjoy creative photography.

Julie Walker

On the 22^nd January Keswick Photographic Society was given a presentation titled “In His Element” by landscape photographer, Mark Gilligan. He now lives in Cheshire from where he can access both North Wales and the Lake District for his photography work.

Mark has worked professionally in varied photography and videography roles for over 35 years but now concentrates on landscape photography, including workshops in Cumbria and Snowdonia.

The presentation title, “In His Element” refers to his ability to capture stunning, evocative landscapes irrespective of the weather conditions. Those conditions varied from bright cloudless, midday sun, often a “no-no” for landscape photographers, to dark brooding skies with landscapes punctuated by shafts of light.

Mark showed many of these images, most taken in the Lake District and Noth Wales. He encouraged feedback from the audience on the night and his commentary included advice on equipment and technique as well as a liberal sprinkling of humour.

Our first speaker of 2025 was Kevin Pigney who delivered a real masterclass in wildlife photography, not only showing some of his superb images, but explain very clearly how he made them.

Many were from his home patch in East Anglia and almost all of the rest from within the UK (rather than the “trophy” images we often enjoy seeing) and he was able to describe the work needed to find the subjects of his photography. He described the planning as well as execution of both projects and individual shots, with some comments on his philosophy and post-processing.

Even the most well-rehearsed advice bears repeating – like his advice on developing the fieldcraft to get near (and low) enough to the subjects – as Robert Capa famously said: “If your pictures aren’t good enough, you’re not close enough”!

There was an excellent balance between advice on the art and technical science of wildlife photography which not only entertained, but educated members and there was something in it for everyone from the relatively inexperienced to the old pros.

We hope to be able to invite him back in person from East Anglia for another talk in coming seasons with the added bonus of seeing some of his prints.

Simon Roberts

Our meeting was the 3rd open competition of the 2024/25 season .
John Fare(from Workington Camera Club ) was our judge for the evening. He commented how difficult the judging was due to the high standard of images submitted. Consequently separating the images often rested on looking at minor technical details and all the images scored highly. There were 7 images  awarded the maximum 20 points.
8 images were given “best in category” awards:
Jeremy Malley-Smith for White Tailed Eagle Flying – Awarded Best print and Best Nature .

Robert Given for Tacking – Awarded Best PDI .

Annie Given for Lexi – Awarded PDI Best People .

Ken Rennie for Summer Storm – Awarded Best PDI Landscape .

Julie Walker for On The Beach – Awarded Best creative .

Tony Marsh , Wren With Prey – Awarded Best PDI Nature .

Keith Snell for Xenia- Best Print, People

Ken Rennie for Brampton Sunset – Best PDI Landscape

All the entered images can be seen in our gallery pages:

2024-2025 Competitions

In the first round of the Photographic Society of America’s international Nature Interclub Competition, KPS photographers were awarded two Honorable Mentions and a prestigious Merit Award. Six photographers’ images were entered and the club currently sits in third place in the top league (Group A) of this competition.”

Our latest meeting was the 2nd open competition of the 2024/25 season .
John Reed DPAGB ARPS BPE3* was our judge for the evening.
4 images were awarded the maximum 20 points.
5 images were awarded “Best of “:
Simon Roberts – Snowy Fjord’s First Light – Awarded Best Overall image , Best print and Best Nature:

Ronnie Gilbert – Dalmatian Pelicans in Flight Predawn – Awarded Best Pdi:

Robert Given – Layered Defence – Awarded Best People:

Fred Bell – Sundown over Derwentwater – Awarded Best Landscape:

Antony Melling – Sunset Shore – Best creative:

All the images entered can be viewed on our galleries page

2024-2024 Competitions

The first set subject competition of this season was for images obtained using mobile phones only. The technical quality of such images has increased greatly over recent years and this was demonstrated by the quality of the photographs submitted by our members. The competition was judged by our chairman, Tony Marsh. He used his “Olympic” system of marking, awarding the images either Bronze, Silver or Gold. There were 39 images submitted, of which 10 attained Gold standard:

Double by Richard Petty:

Inside a 20th Century Mosque by Alan Walker:

Witch’s Tree Aurora by Paul Rathbone:

Orange Tip on Cuckooflower by David Woodthorpe:

Progress by Keith Snell:

Forever Friends by Almar Marta:

Grass Sillhouette by Alan Walker:

Cumbria Aurora by Keith Snell:

Arctic Cathedral by Richard Jakobson and then rightly flipped horizontally by Tony:

Amanati Muscaria by Paul Rathbone:

All the entered images can be viewed in our gallery pages:

2024-2025 Images

Dougie Cunningham, our speaker on 27th November, is an award-winning professional photographer who specializes in landscape photography. He currently lives in the remote north west corner of Scotland and is the author of Photographing Scotland which contains over 800 of his photographs. This is an essential guide to any photographer wishing to capture Scotland’s dramatic scenery.

Dougie came to landscape photography through a love of the outdoors and adventure sports. His enthusiasm for landscape photography was nurtured in the Lake District and after six months spent exploring and photographing the dramatic landscape of Torres del Paine in Chile he put on an exhibition of his work at the Keswick Mountain Festival. As a result of this he was approached by The Great Outdoors Magazine to photograph the Scottish landscape and he has since become a regular contributor to this publication.

Photographing Scotland was a major project that took him all over the country including the Outer Hebrides, Skye, Shetland and Orkney as well as the mainland, and some places that he’d not visited before. He tried to explore beyond the well-known viewpoints and beauty spots and recommends this to others to escape the crowds. In his talk he described some of the magical experiences that he’d had as well as some of the associated difficulties such as carrying cameras and camping gear to mountain summits, camping on uneven ground and suffering numerous breakdowns of his unreliable but much-loved camper van. His book however caters for all levels of fitness and enthusiasm.

In addition to landscape photography Dougie also photographs weddings, events such as music festivals and other commissions around the country. During the Covid pandemic he updated and extended a couple of local walking guides. Dougie also drives the only ambulance in the remote part of Scotland in which he lives. This takes up three days a week but leaves him time to pursue his photography at other times.

We now break for Christmas. Our meetings reconvene on Wednesday 8^th January when we will hold our third open competition which will be judged by John Fare from Workington.

Julie Walker

The NCPF Annuals Awards Day was held at Clara Vale, Gateshead, on Sunday 17^th November. This is the ceremony for the award of trophies to the winning clubs and individuals from the 50 clubs of the Northern Counties Federation. Keswick Photographic Society won all three of the Club trophies, for its images entered into the Monochrome Prints, Colour Prints and Digital Images competitions. Individual trophies were awarded: to Alan Walker for the Best Monochrome Human Portrait

and for the Best Sport Print;

to Julie Walker for the Best Natural History Print

and for the Best Human Portrait Digital Image;

to Ken Rennie for the Best Monochrome Landscape Print;

and to David Price for the Best Colour Human Portrait Print.

Ken Rennie was presented with his trophy by the NCPF President, Gerald Chamberlain.

The other trophies were accepted on behalf of the other awardees by Dr Keith Snell as the Society’s representative at the ceremony.

Our first open competition of the year was held on 23rd October and judged by one of our firm favourites, Richard Speirs from Morton Camera Club. Once again Richard judged our images with a keen eye, excellent advice and no little wit. He expressed his pleasure at having the chance to see a wide variety of superb images. The best lanscape of the night and also best overall image was “Mangersta Sea Stacks” by Ken Rennie:

Best nature image was “Kestrel in Evening Light” by Alan walker:

Best people image was “Australian Relay Change” by Bob Given:

Best creative was “Memories” by Julie Walker:

Best PDI was “Open Mouthed” by Bob Given:

All the entered images can be seen on our gallery page:

2024-2025 Competition Images