Blog

This week saw the start of the 49th season and the resumption of physical meetings.  After months of zoom it was good to have the personal interaction badly missed by many of the members. The society provided a simultaneous zoom transmission for those not able, or uncomfortable with attending such a gathering.

As is tradition, it was The Chairman’s evening, and David Woodthorpe presented some of his favourite images taken during three visits to India, the country which has captured his heart. India, he explained, is a place where everything that bombards the senses of western visitors and appears to be extraordinary and at times quite shocking to us, is in fact quite normal.   Unlike European countries which differ in quite minor ways, India is a world apart in terms of the history, religion, culture, behaviour and sheer number of people.  With a population of 1.3 billion it is more than 20 times that of the UK.

 

David began by showing images from some of the iconic Sikh and Buddhist temples in Delhi, Guwahati and across Rajasthan explaining how many of the temples prepare and provide thousands of free meals a day to the poor, hungry and homeless of the city, funded by donations. During the pandemic as the numbers of needy grew the Gurudwaha Bangla Sahib Sikh Temple in Delhi increased its provision of meals from around 30,000 to an eye watering 100,000 meals a day and expected to increase that number. One of David’s favourite buildings is the Lotus Temple in Delhi, a Baháʼí House of Worship.

 

Many of the temples are of a scale difficult to comprehend, with for example, the Ranakpur Jain Temple having 1444 individually and uniquely carved marble pillars supporting 80 domes over 29 halls.

In Varanasi, possibly the oldest inhabited city in the world, it is normal from the banks of the mother river Ganges, to launder clothes, to bathe, to drink and to cremate bodies.  It is difficult for the western visitor to comprehend these simultaneous activities.  But every evening the Aarti Festival, a well-choreographed ceremony restores peace, calm and tranquillity to the Ghats.

 

India has retained an enormous wealth of ancient buildings, maintained in superb condition and accessible to all.  Members were shown images of a wide range of forts, castles, palaces and historic monuments.  But it’s the very talented, colourful, characteristic, often beautiful or handsome and happy people who really make any visit to India unforgettable.  David showed many portraits and scenes of people carrying out their everyday activities, whether at home, in markets, at work or simply relaxing or playing.

 

Rajasthan is a land of colour with the Amber Fort, The Blue City of Jodhpur, the Pink City of Jaipur and the White City of Udaipur, all of which are populated with colourful characters.

 

Of course, no presentation would be complete without reference to the special wildlife and David showed images of One Horned Rhino, fearful Monitor Lizards, Gharials, Crocodiles, colourful birds and Butterflies from across Northern India.

 

David concluded his presentation with some amusing examples of the transport system from the Toy Train of Darjeeling, goats on Motorways, incredibly overloaded vehicles and the rather dangerous habit of farmers choosing to drive the wrong way along the fast lane of motorways!

 

Such is the captivating sub-continent which is India.

The Society’s fourth Set Subject Competition took place via Zoom on the evening of Wednesday 30^th June. The competition was the last meeting of the extended season. Members were invited to enter up to three digital images according to the theme ‘Isolation’. The judge was Robert Given MPAGB FBPE EFIAP EPSA, a Society member based in Belfast who is a renowned and talented photographer. Seventeen members entered the competition resulting in a total of forty-seven images for Bob to judge.

People, animals, plants, structures and transport all featured within the ‘Isolation’ theme. One particularly poignant image by Carol Minks featured a view of central Keswick deserted by people as a result of the pandemic.

 

Before starting the judging, Bob commented on the exceptionally high standard of the images that he had received. He then gave a critique of each image and, on occasion when needed, suggested where improvements could be made. Marks were not awarded but at the end of the judging Bob revealed his chosen first, second and third images as well as seven further images he designated as being within the Highly Commended/ Commended category. In first place was ‘No Escape’ by David Woodthorpe.

 

This was a strong graphic image with a viewpoint looking up towards the top of two intersecting, extremely tall, concrete walls. The feeling of isolation was intensified by the rungs of a ladder fixed to one of the walls failing to reach ground level so being out of reach to someone standing on the ground within the walls. Bob pointed out how well this superb graphic image illustrated the theme of isolation. In second place was ‘No Boundaries’ by Alan Walker, a beautifully captured snowy scene with an S-shaped line of fencing leading up to three distant deer on the far horizon, the whole image anchored by a fence post just peeping out of the snow.

 

In third place Bob chose ‘Restriction’ by Marilyn Woodthorpe. This was a very strong side-lit image of a man with piercing blue eyes and a mask staring out from behind a grid, the mask adding an increased sense of foreboding to the image.

 

Bob’s chosen Highly Commended/Commended images were ‘Winter’s Solitude’ by David Stephenson, ‘Isolated Church’ by Alan Walker, ‘Lone Penguin in Blizzard’ by Julie Walker, ‘Arctic Isolation’ and Icelandic Isolation’ both by Keith Snell, ‘Lockdown Hair Cut’ by Barbara Keen and ‘Alone Again’ by Ken Rennie.

All the images submitted can be viewed on our gallery page:

Isolation images gallery

David Woodthorpe, the Society Chairman, thanked Bob for his hard work giving a critique of the images. David also pointed out that the range of images entered covering the theme of isolation certainly justified having set subject competitions. The Society now has a summer break before starting its 49^th season on 1^st September with a meeting titled ‘The Magic of India’ given by David Woodthorpe CPAGB. If you are interested in joining our friendly club for the next season either as a beginner or as a more experienced photographer please email us at contactkeswickPS@gmail.com.

Tricia Rayment

We were privileged to have an evening with David Clapp on 12^th May. David is a professional landscape and travel photographer from south-west England. He has recently been giving talks all over the world via Zoom and in normal times he runs numerous workshops and photographic trips both close to home and in countries further afield. As well as being an award-winning photographer David is also an accomplished musician and he has spent the last few months perfecting his technique on a vintage banjo.

 

David is a highly entertaining speaker and he showed us numerous examples of his superb work starting with landscapes. His normal technique is to take seven or so images in portrait mode which he then stitches together to create a panorama. This creates a huge file which allows him to select smaller areas of the image without any loss of quality. David went on to explain the importance of the proportions in his images. Careful alignment is also essential which he demonstrated in his architectural images taken in India. He had carefully positioned his camera in these to achieve a symmetrical image. The direction of the light is also important, his preference being for side lighting. It is his attention to such details that have contributed to his success. David also presented several infra-red images taken on a camera converted for this purpose. Theses included some beautifully tinted photographs of the Taj Mahal.

 

During the second half of the evening David talked about a visit to a refuge camp in Palestine which had clearly made a deep impression on him. He had been accompanied by local guides and was able to access areas of the camp that might otherwise have been impossible for a European. His aim had been to document life in the camp and as such he had only used a small and discreet camera.

 

This visit had influenced the direction of his photography and he was now determined to carry out more project-based work.

David’s advice to other photographers is that they should avoid seeking to please others but instead focus on developing their own creativity. He also believes that impactful images can only be achieved through observation. It was important to capture the moment, particularly in travel photography. This ability had to be learned. He also considered it important to experiment in order to develop an individual style and unique images.

 

Our season has been extended until the end of June and we will be meeting via Zoom twice a month until then. Our next meeting will be held at 7.30 p.m. on Wednesday 26th May when we will be holding a fun battle with Northallerton Camera Club which will be judged by Ross McKelvey, an award-winning photographer from Belfast.

Julie Walker

Tonight, a panel comprising three of the Society’s most experienced members commented on members’ images.  Alan Walker, Bob Given and Keith Snell are all award-winning photographers who also judge club, regional, national and international competitions.

Photographers often find competitions and critiques intimidating and can be deterred from submitting their images, however this can be one of the best ways to improve. To encourage members to participate in tonight’s event it was made less threatening and more friendly by allowing the authors to remain anonymous.  Fifteen members, including novice, intermediate, and experienced photographers, took advantage of this opportunity and in total forty-five images were submitted. Landscapes predominated but there were also images from a number of other genres including people, wildlife, flowers, abstracts, travel and astrophotography.

 

The majority of images had been taken locally but some were from more distant lands including Sri Lanka and Iceland. The panel members agreed that, overall, the quality of the images was very high.

A number of lovely landscapes were seen during the evening. The authors of these had made a considerable effort to achieve them. Many had risen early to take advantage of the dawn light and in some a mist had further enhanced the image.

 

Another member had spent the hours of darkness in the cold photographing the Milky Way from Crummock Water.

 

Others had endured less than perfect weather conditions to create some very atmospheric images.  All demonstrated the important part that the quality of light plays in producing landscape images.

 

The panel took care to draw out the positive aspects of each image as well as making suggestions on how each could be improved. In the main they were in agreement but in a few cases the three panel members had a lively discussion on their different ideas on how to enhance the image. Overall, their suggestions fell in to a number of different categories. The first of these was to remove any obvious defects such as bright spots, out of focus areas and other distractions.

 

Cropping was suggested in several of the images, sometimes to eliminate distracting elements, but in others to simplify the image or to emphasise the main point of interest. In several cases square or letterbox formats were suggested.

 

Another was to add contrast to some images by selectively lightening or darkening different areas. It was also important to ensure that images were sharp but not to over sharpen. The fifth was to ensure that the colour was natural by correcting any colour casts and to avoid oversaturated colours which can be a problem with digital photography. Digital noise and artefacts also need to be avoided.

 

The evening was both instructive and very entertaining. The panel members worked well together as a team and demonstrated that simple adjustments could be made to most of the images submitted to enhance them.

Our season has been extended until the end of June and we will be meeting via Zoom twice a month until then. Our next meeting will be held at 7.30 p.m. on Wednesday 12^th May when David Clapp, a well-known professional landscape and travel photographer will talk about his work.

Julie Walker

KPS has entered the Photographic Society of America, Projected Image Division, Interclub Competition for several years now. We have steadily worked our way up the 6 leagues and now compete in Division One of the competition. Clubs from the USA and many other parts of the world compete in this competition ( as far as I am aware there are no plans for a breakaway European Super League!)

We were successful again this season finishing second to Greater Lynn Photographic Association from Massachusetts. Finishing so high in the competition several of our members images received awards. Julie Walker received the highest award of the season for “Pelican on Ice with Fish”

 

Other award winners in the Open Competition included Bob Given for “Together”

 

Simon Roberts for “Osprey”:

 

Alan Walker for “What are you looking at”:

 

and Ronnie Gilbert for “Evening round up  on the marsh”:

 

KPS have also entered PSA Nature Division Interclub Competition over recent years and compete in the first of three divisions. This season we came second and were again, like the PID, pipped to the post by Greater Lynn Photographic Association.  Members images which received awards in the Nature Division included Ronnie Gilbert for Grizzly Bear Fishing:

 

David Woodthorpe for Snow Hare washing:

 

and Alan Walker for Long-eared Owl with Kill at Dusk:

 

And finally for the first time  KPS has entered the PSA, Photo Travel Competition this season. The competition has two divisions and we finished sixth in league B. Award winners included Ken Rennie for “The Raven”:

 

Fred Bell for “The Witches Hat”:

 

Carmen Norman for “Alpe di Suisse”:

 

and John Macfarlane for “Over the high pass into Zanskar”:

 

Thanks to Alan Walker, Keith Snell and David Woodthorpe for organising the entries for the Open, Nature and Travel competitions respectively.

Richard Jakobson

Our meeting this week was held on Monday as we took part in an interclub fun competition with Lancaster Photographic Society which was hosted, via Zoom, by them. This was a return battle for one hosted by Keswick last season. The judge for the evening was Carol McNiven Young who is a fellow of the Royal Photographic Society and an award-winning photographer.

Each club submitted thirty-five images which were then scored out of twenty. Keswick chose at least one image from each member of the Society who had submitted an entry and, as a result, the work of twenty-five members was represented. The standard of work from both clubs was high and the scores, which ranged from thirteen to twenty, reflected this.

Carol awarded five images the maximum score of twenty. Four of these were by Keswick members which included “Anna Clears”, a sports image by Bob Given:

 

“Summer Storms”, a landscape by Ken Rennie:

 

“Long-eared Owl Hunting at Dusk”, a wildlife image by Alan Walker:

 

and “Waiting and Hoping”, a charming image of a child peeping around a door by Sue Rugg. The latter was chosen by the judge as her favourite image:

 

The fifth image score of twenty was awarded to Christine Armstrong from Lancaster Photographic Society for her image “Brown Hare”.

Carol also awarded scores of nineteen to four images. These included a backlit squirrel by Tony Marsh from Keswick:

 

a second image from Alan Walker, this one was of two kestrels fighting:

 

and another image from Bob Given, this one was of an attractive female model:

 

The fourth score of nineteen was awarded to a member of Lancaster for a moody landscape of The Struggle near Ambleside.

Scores of eighteen were awarded to four images from Keswick Members. These were: “Gramps and Grandkids”, an unusual family portrait by David Woodthorpe, “Male Stonechat on Gorse” by Tricia Rayment, “Osprey with Trout” by Ronnie Gilbert and “Chaffinch Domestic Quarrel” by Keith Snell. Four Lancaster members were also awarded eighteen for their images.

Overall there was a wide range of subject matter, including abstracts, still life, landscapes, architecture, portraits and wildlife. This was a keenly contested competition but on this occasion Keswick was the winner by forty-five points.

Julie Walker

Keswick Photographic Society held its Annual General Meeting via Zoom on 7^th April. The meeting lasted no longer than fifteen minutes and following this five of the Society’s members talked about the photographic projects they had undertaken during lockdown.

Julie Walker spoke first about how lockdown had provided an opportunity to spend time experimenting with different techniques in order to convert her photographs to more painterly images. Julie showed a number of examples of her creative work including images of animals taken in the Kalahari in South Africa, tall ships on the river Thames and ballerinas.

 

Sue Rugg was next to talk. She had been inspired by Keith Snell, another club member, to experiment with Intentional Camera Movement. This involves moving the camera as the image is taken. Sue showed some lovely images of water and also of woodland taken with both vertical and horizontal movement of the camera. She had been particularly pleased with the impact of this technique on the colours in the images.

 

Tony Marsh then talked about an online community called the Wild Bunch he had joined. This had been set up by Andy Rouse, a well-known wildlife photographer.  Members of this group are regularly set challenges which during lockdown have included Autumn, Garden Macro and Close Ups, Two’s Company, Silhouettes and Slow Shutter Speed to name a few. Tony showed the various images that he had considered for these challenges as well as his final submissions.

 

Richard Jakobson followed. He explained that, inspired by Tony Marsh’s macro work, he had set up a studio in his conservatory and his first project had been to photograph snowdrops. In order to achieve a sharp image from back to front he had taken a number of images focused on different areas of the flowers. He had then stacked these together using software that detects the sharpest areas in each image and then combines them. He had then tried this technique on various other subjects.

 

David Woodthorpe was the final speaker. He explained how four members had particularly influenced his work. Inspired by Carmen Norman he had purchased a light box which had enabled him to take portraits of family members as well as still life images of flowers.  Richard Jakobson’s work had encouraged him to take photographs of the moon and he had also been inspired by Keith Snell to experiment with Intentional Camera Movement. Tony Marsh’s work had also led to him experimenting with macro work and focus stacking.

 

Our season has been extended until the end of June and we will be meeting via Zoom twice a month until then. Our next meeting will be held on Wednesday 28^th April when members’ images will be critiqued by three experienced members of the society who are also judges.

Julie Walker

Keswick Photographic Society’s annual Portfolio of the Year competition was held via Zoom on Wednesday 31^st March. It was judged by Stephen Fowler, a Northern Counties Photographic Federation judge from Ryton. The competition normally consists of prints and digital images but this year, because of the limitations caused by Covid-19, entries were restricted to digital images only. Members entered four images with each one of the four being of a different photographic genre. Entries were marked out of twenty and an award is given to the member achieving the highest combined score for his or her images. Twenty members entered the competition, giving a total of eighty digital images. These can all be viewed in our gallery pages:

KPS 2020-2021 Galleries

The eighty images featured the following photographic genres: nature (fauna and flora), landscape, weather, creative, sport, the hand of man, people and portraiture. Before awarding a mark, Stephen gave a critique of each image. Three images achieved top scores of twenty and these were ‘Rajasthani Lady’ by David Woodthorpe:

 

‘White Tailed Sea Eagle Landing with Catch’ by Alan Walker:

 

and ‘Radiant Smile’ by Tom Stenhouse:

 

Nine images received impressive scores of nineteen and these were: ‘Gone to Seed’ by Tom Stenhouse, ‘Old Soldier’ by Marilyn Woodthorpe, ‘Golden Dawn’ by Marcus Mackay, ‘Goshawk with Prey’ and ‘Rock Swirls, Painted Desert, Utah’, both by Ronnie Gilbert, ‘Common Buzzard’ by Tony Marsh, ‘Obscured by Clouds’ and ‘Together’, both by Bob Given and ‘Can I Help You Comrade’ by Alan Walker. Twenty-three images were awarded excellent scores of eighteen and these were: ‘Moody Ennerdale Sunset’, ‘Milky Way Core Over Algarve’ and ‘Hazelnut Sorbet’, all three by Richard Jakobson, ‘An Intimate Conversation’ and ‘Hanging On’, both by Keith Snell, ‘I Can Swallow That’, ‘Church of the Spilled Blood’ and ‘Stellar Catch on Ice’, all three by Simon Roberts, ‘Arctic Landscape’ and ‘Medieval Warrior Queen’, both by Alan Walker, ‘Red Squirrel’ and ‘Winter’s Touch’, both by Carol Minks, ‘Anna Ahead’, ‘Autumn Leaves’ and ‘Stripes en Pointe, all three by Annie Given, ‘Green Iguana in Breeding Colours’ by Julie Walker, ‘Black Tailed Godwit’ and ‘Poppy’, both by David Rayment, ‘Moonset Behind Grizedale Pike’ by Tony Marsh, ‘Mist in the Hills’ by Tom Stenhouse, ‘Mick the Dealer’ by Bob Given, ‘Evening Round Up on the Marshes’ by Ronnie Gilbert and ‘Goshawk with Grey Squirrel’ by Fred Bell.

At the end of the judging, Stephen remarked that he had thoroughly enjoyed looking at the images which, he stated, represented a superb combination of the different photographic genres. Stephen chose his overall winning image of the competition and this was ‘White Tailed Sea Eagle Landing with Catch’ by Alan Walker. This image was also awarded the accolade of  ‘Best Nature Image’. Stephen chose ‘Golden Dawn’ by Marcus Mackay as his ‘Best Landscape Image’:

 

‘Autumn Leaves’ by Annie Given as his ‘Best Creative Image’:

 

and ‘Best People Image’ was awarded to Tom Stenhouse for ‘Radiant Smile’.

When the individual authors’ marks were added together, the winner of the Portfolio of the Year competition was Alan Walker with a superb total score of seventy-five out of a possible eighty. In second place, and only one point behind, with an excellent score of seventy-four was Tom Stenhouse. Bob Given was third with a score of seventy-three and in fourth place was Ronnie Gilbert with seventy-two. In all, eight members achieved very commendable scores of seventy or more.

Tricia Rayment

Jo Knight, an award-winning photographer who has exhibited in many different countries, was our speaker tonight. The theme of her talk was the obstacles that she had to overcome in order to progress from a complete beginner to achieving her first distinction with the Photographic Alliance of Great Britain over a period of four years.

Jo only took up photography in 2013 when she decided to take photographs to show her father of the wildlife she encountered on her daily walks with her dog. She bought a third hand camera but found the manual, which was full of technical jargon, hard to understand. She then joined Penrith and District Camera Club and there found the help and support that she needed to progress her photography. She quickly developed her skills and achieved success in club competitions.

 

 

Jo has a disability and she has also suffered from a long-term illness with the result that she is in constant pain. Both her mobility and her energy are limited. While she could cope with photographing wildlife during the warmer months of the year Jo realised that the cold winter months would present a problem so she needed to find another outlet for her photographic skills. She decided to venture in to studio photography and to convert her tiny second bedroom for this purpose. This presented a second obstacle as her budget was limited so she purchased most of her photographic equipment second hand or cheaply through eBay or Amazon.  Instead of hiring professional models, she bribed friends and relatives to pose for her. She then turned to taking photographs of herself often in elegant gowns, again purchased at a low cost, and, using the skills she had developed in mastering processing software, she incorporated these in imaginative and beautiful composites.

 

At first Jo’s images were not appreciated by club competition judges but her huge success in international and other competitions shows the extent to which she has conquered this obstacle. The final obstacle was to overcome her own lack of confidence in her work but she has now learned to trust her own gut instinct.

Jo showed us numerous examples of her exquisite work during the evening and kept us entertained with a lively and highly articulate narrative. She is a talented and creative photographer who has faced numerous obstacles in her life. Her determination and dedication in overcoming these to achieve such recognition and success in the photographic world is an example to us all.

Julie Walker