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David Boag has been a professional wildlife photographer for over 40 years. He has travelled the world and he has written eighteen books for a variety of publishers and large corporate organisations. On 17^th March he gave an entertaining and humorous account of his career as a photographer, and the approach he takes to wildlife photography, to Keswick Photographic Society.

 

David first became interested in photography in the late 1960’s when the development of cameras capable of relatively fast shutter speeds enabled the capture of animal behaviour. Then in the 1970’s electronic flashes were invented which allowed him to take high speed action shots. He was regarded as a pioneer in this field and his first book, which featured Kingfishers, was published in 1982. His next book was on puffins which included underwater shots. In those days there were no water tight housings for cameras available so David had to build his own. The difficulties of wildlife photography then should not be underestimated. Shutter speeds were still relatively slow compared to those possible today with digital cameras and images could not be seen instantaneously on the back of the camera. Instead, it would take up to three weeks to a month for David to have his film processed and developed. Only then could he view his images.

 

In the 1990’s David produced a series of books on four different habitats in Britain; woodland, river, coast and garden. In these he emphasised that it was important to link images together to produce a story.  He also shared some of the tricks of his trade such as using props to attract animals in to his garden. A later project undertaken was to document the natural world of a quarry and this led to a major commission in America for the quarrying industry. This involved producing five books and took four years to complete. He visited the USA four times a year for three to six weeks each time to capture the changing seasons. With all expenses paid he said, tongue in cheek, that it was a hard life!

 

In recent years, following the introduction of digital cameras, potential income purely from the sale of images has shrunk significantly so, in addition to his books, David makes a living by giving lectures on cruise ships, leading safaris and teaching photography.  He has produced a series of tutorials which are available for purchase on his website. He is extremely modest about his own standard of photography and says that it is his enthusiasm that is the secret to his success. As a professional photographer he does not often have time to wait for perfect conditions but just has to make the most of the situation.

Throughout the evening it was David’s enthusiasm that shone through and he gave us a most enjoyable and interesting evening.

Julie Walker

The Society’s Fourth Open Competition took place via Zoom on the evening of Wednesday 10^th March. This was the last of the four Open Competitions that constitute the league for the 2020-21 season. The judge was John Fare from Workington. John is a Northern Counties Photographic Federation judge.

Thirty members entered a total of eighty-eight digital images which were all given a score out of twenty. For this competition all the images were required to have been taken in the British Isles but there was still a wide range of photographic genres submitted, including nature, creative, landscape, sport and portraiture. At the start of the judging, John commented on the excellent quality of the images which he stated was to be expected from a club that did so well in external competitions, such as those held by the Photographic Society of America. He added that all the images scoring eighteen and above he would class as excellent.

Over one-third of the images achieved scores of eighteen and above. Four images by three members achieved a top score of twenty. These were ‘Wide Eyed and Over’

 

and ‘Hermes’

both by Bob Given,

‘Summer Storms’ by Ken Rennie

 

and ‘A Pine Marten’ by Simon Roberts.

 

An impressive score of nineteen was awarded to fourteen members for their images and these were ‘A Foxy Look’ and ‘Bringing Home Dinner’ both by Simon Roberts, ‘Kingfisher, Failed Catch’, ‘Gannets, Bempton Cliffs’ and ‘Mountain Hare’ all three by Carol Minks, ‘Alium with Love in a Mist’ by David Woodthorpe, ‘Kestrels Fighting Over a Mouse’ by Alan Walker, ‘Backlit’ by Tony Marsh, ‘Water Vole Washing’ and ‘Waiting For the Bus’ both by Julie Walker, ‘The Orange Cloud’ by Carmen Norman, ‘Scale Force’ by Ken Rennie, ‘Badger at the Pool’ by Ronnie Gilbert and ‘Weather over Wythburn’ by Chris Burgess. A further fourteen images received scores of eighteen and these were ‘Anticipation’ by Julie Walker, ‘Iceworld’ by Marcus Mackay, ‘Trees in the Mist’ by Patricia Martin, ‘Night Bright’ and ‘A Good Day’s Work’ both by Sue Rugg, ‘Sunset on the Crags’ and ‘Let it Rain’ both by Keith Snell, ‘Barn Owl with Vole’ by Ronnie Gilbert, ‘The Balancing Dipper’ by Gordon Train, ‘Goldcrest’ and ‘Juvenile Pied Wagtail in the Rain’ both by Tony Marsh, ‘Sulking in the Rain’ and ‘Red Fox Hunting’ both by Alan Walker and ‘Looking Towards the Mighty Buachaille Etive Mor’ by Fred Bell,

At the end of the judging, John chose his top images from some of the different photographic genres represented and these were ‘Wide Eyed and Over’ by Bob Given (Best People), ‘Summer Storms’ by Ken Rennie (Best Landscape), ‘Mountain Hare’ by Carol Minks (Best Nature)

 

and ‘Waiting for the Bus’ by Julie Walker (Best Creative).

 

John also revealed his overall winning image of the competition and this was Bob Given’s ‘Wide Eyed and Over’, a brilliantly captured pin-sharp image of an athlete performing a back over jump as she crests the top of the bar, eyes staring ahead and hair flowing.

David Rayment thanked the judge for all the time he spent on our images and for his in-depth analysis and suggestions for improvements.

All the entered images can be viewed in our Gallery pages

This week the society held its annual ‘Short Sets’ competition.  This is a contest judged by the members on the night.  This was the first time it had been conducted via Zoom which  presented a few challenges. There were eleven contestants, each of whom had eight minutes during which to impress the voting audience.

Entries could be either a selection of still images (PDIs) on a theme which the contestant explains as the images are projected, or it is an audio visual (AV) display set to music.

The evening began with John Macfarlane’s ‘Nature’s Show’, an AV composed of short video clips, stills and some excellent time-lapse photography of the north-western fells showing  day turning to night and some dramatic winter scenes.

He was followed by Ann Healey’s take on the summer of 2019 with a couple in top hat and tails captured singing in the grounds of Snowshill Manor, before a Morris Dancing troupe performed on a village green, in the picturesque Broadway in The Cotswolds.

‘A road trip around Washington and Oregon’ by Julie Walker began with the wonderful undulating countryside of The Palouse, before moving through the dramatic canyons landscape and concluding with glorious coastal seascapes.

Ken Rennie then presented a monochrome sequence of soft, long exposure waterfall images with very dark landscape environs. The milky water cascading over rocks and into rivers and streams delivered such peacefully smooth shape and form.

Richard Jakobson’s ‘Sky at Night’, the winning entry in the AV section, began with a wonderful panoramic skyscape around Castlerigg Stone Circle before moving to Crummock Water and Seascale Beach.  Richard then moved into much more telescopic detail of several distant constellations and some weird and wonderful nebulae; including The Veil, Heart and Soul and Crescent. The AV concluded with a tracking of the Comet Neowise.

Philip Cartwright’s ‘Seasons Medley’ was a selection of photographs of landscapes, flora and fungi through the seasons, culminating in some wonderful winter scenes.

Marilyn Woodthorpe’s AV described the peace of living in Grange during lockdown and centred upon the flora and birdlife in her own garden, concluding with images of a Red Squirrel.

Alan Walker’s Oregon Rodeo images complete with lively cowboy music and very dramatic, and painful looking, rodeo experiences completed the AV line-up.

Fred Bell’s PDI presentation was a selection of very high quality colour and monochrome landscape images from a recent holiday in The Outer Hebrides, Skye and Glen Coe.

This was followed by Edward Richardson’s ‘Newcastle by phone’, which explored the historical and iconic sites and sights of his regular walk through the city.

The final, and winning PDI Short Set, was David Woodthorpe’s presentation ‘A month of change on Grange Crag’.  The images of views overlooking Grange, Derwentwater and Castle Crag showed the dramatic changes in the weather from an ethereal cloud inversion, to snow scenes through to warm light on trees and rocks from late winter sun.

It was once again a pleasure to see so many of our members’ fascinating photographs.

This week Zoom meeting was the judging of what is known as the Three Way Battle. This is a yearly low key and fun competition between the three camera clubs based in Penrith, Carlisle and Keswick. Each club enters fifteen digital images with only one image allowed per photographer, and the images are scored out of twenty. The judge for the event was John McVie, a well-respected and experienced photographer and judge from Dumfries. Interestingly, out of the forty-five images more than a third were of natural history.

Keswick did extremely well with the highest total score and the only two images to score the maximum twenty points: Sue Rugg, with a dreamy shot of white ponies on the equally white sand dunes of Luskentyre Beach in the Western Isles,

 

and David Stephenson’s terrific monochrome winter panorama of a churchyard in Iceland, with David’s shot being picked as “Best in Show”.

 

Carol Minks scored nineteen with a shot of a Mistle Thrush on Rowan berries, taken I think in Bells Close car park,

 

as did David Rayment with a Dipper with a beak full of insects bobbing on a rock in the river with its wings outheld.

Pictures from Ken Rennie, Chris Burgess and Alan Walker scored eighteen points.

An enjoyable and satisfying evening which showed the breadth and depth of photographic talent within the society. The only disappointment was that we could not extend things into a chat and a buffet after the judging, something to look forward to with next year’s event.

Tony Marsh

February 17th saw an excellent presentation from Tom Langlands on street photography. Tom is an award-winning photojournalist based in Annan, Scotland who is known for his wildlife and landscape photography as well as street photography.

Tom described how he went about taking images of people on the street and he gave some helpful tips on how to take photographs discreetly. These included blending in to the scene by wearing neutral colours and not pointing the camera in one direction for too long. He illustrated his talk with a wide range of photographs including ones of street musicians and other performers, shoppers, stall holders and produce in indoor and outdoor markets, participants in parades and demonstrations, and people at work.

 

These were taken in a variety of locations ranging from Glasgow, Edinburgh and Dundee to cities further afield including Berlin, Florence and Santiago de Compostela in Spain. In the latter the pilgrims provided a seemingly endless supply of subjects for Tom’s camera.

He explained that the story telling quality of an image is very important and he uses the juxtaposition of people and other elements, such as signs and posters, to achieve this. Light, water and shadows are also considerations when deciding on his compositions and he will often employ unusual techniques such as taking reflections in mirrors, sunglasses and, on one occasion, in a crystal ball.

 

Patience was frequently required, for example he sometimes finds an interesting setting and then waits for a suitable person to walk in to the scene. It is also important to be observant and to look for the unusual.

Towards the end of the evening Tom talked about two projects that he had recently undertaken. The first concerned homeless people. This section contained many powerful and emotive images in which he contrasted the desperate circumstances of the homeless people he photographed with the evidence of wealth all around them such as banks, restaurants and cafes.

 

The second was undertaken in the last twelve months and documented the impact of Covid19 and the associated restrictions on the people and streets of his home town. The images of empty streets and people wearing masks provide an important historical record of Annan during this period.

 

This was a memorable evening with many superb images and an equally entertaining narrative.

Julie Walker

The main topic for the evening was the Society’s third Set Subject competition. Members had been invited to enter three digital images according to the theme ‘Man-made or Woman-made’. The judge was Society member and former Chairman Dr Keith Snell LRPS EFIAP EPSA. Seventeen members entered giving a total of fifty-one images. A wide range of photographic genres was represented, including architecture, landscape, cityscape, travel, still life and food with about one-quarter being presented as black and white images.

At the start of his judging, Keith stated that he marked the images according to how apposite they were to the theme of the Set Subject and how photographically commendable they were. He stressed that the human made element should be the main subject in the image and that the image should tell us something as well. Keith gave a critique of each image often suggesting photographic improvements that could be made. He did not give any scores but he did pick out those images he considered deserving of a top score and also those worthy of Highly Commended and Commended status. He pointed out that his choices were very subjective impressions within the vast excellence of images submitted. Three images merited a top score and two of these, ‘New York Cityscape’ and ‘Man’s Pollution’, were by Alan Walker. Keith described the superbly composed image ‘New York Cityscape’ as conveying a real feeling of claustrophobia with a human figure overshadowed by towering skyscrapers but also featuring at ground level a colourful street scene so typical of New York.

 

In Alan’s second top scoring image, titled ‘Man’s Pollution’, a plastic bottle is shown floating in a bright green patterned liquid, the whole image illustrating the destructiveness of mankind.

 

The third image to be awarded a top score was Richard Jakobson’s perfectly-lit ‘Hand Made’ image, a magnificent study of the hands and braceleted wrists of a Namibian Himba lady making an ochre skin paste known as Otjize. Keith pointed out that this image featured both the made element and the maker. At the end of the judging Keith chose ‘Hand Made’ as his overall winning image of the evening.

 

Four images were awarded Highly Commended and these were: ‘Hand Finishing’ by Sue Rugg,

 

‘Lloyds Building’ by Richard Jakobson,

 

‘Manmade Bowls’ by David Woodthorpe

 

and ‘Mysore Palace India’ by Tom Stenhouse.

 

In addition six images were Commended and these were: ‘Tanfield Train Sheds’ by Alan Walker, ‘Green Door, What’s That Secret….’ by David Rayment, ‘Memorial in Blenheim Palace Chapel’ by Sue Rugg, ‘1 Poultry’ by Richard Jakobson, ‘Man to Man’ by Marilyn Woodthorpe and ‘Mosaics, Monreale Cathedral, Sicily’ by Tony Marsh. Keith finished his comments by stating that he had enjoyed looking at the splendid set of images and that for the most part members had really addressed the brief. David Woodthorpe thanked Keith for his comprehensive analysis and assessment of all the images.

Tricia Rayment

All the entered images can be seen on our gallery page: 2021 Galleries

The Northern Counties Photographic Federation Club Competition was held on 7th February by Zoom. The competition comprised 20 images from each of 20 clubs in the NCPF. The “judging bar” was set high and no images at all achieved top marks. Nevertheless KPS was the winner of the competition with 236 points and Ken Rennie’s image “Three in One” was judged “Best in Show, scoring 14 points out of a possible 15.

 

4 other KPS members scored 13 for their images. Sue Rugg for Afraid:

 

and for The Homestead:

 

Julie Walker for “Adjusting her Ballet Shoes”:

 

and “Grecian Beauty”:

 

Ronnie Gilbert for “Golden Eagle with Red Fox”:

 

and “White Tailed Eagle Patrolling Forest”

 

and Carol Minks for “Male Bearded Reedling”:

 

 

The Society’s Third Open Competition of the 2020-21 season took place via Zoom on the evening of Wednesday 20^th January. The judge was John Williams EFIAP/b MPSA DPAGB from Penrith & District Camera Club. John is a very experienced Northern Counties Photographic Federation judge and he has judged at Keswick on a number of occasions. Twenty-eight members each entered three digital images and within the entries there was a wide range of photographic genres represented, including landscape, nature, portraiture, travel, sport, creative and macro photography with just over one quarter as black-and-white images.

John commented on the really high standard of photography at Keswick and this was well illustrated at the start when three out of the four initial images achieved top marks. In total, eight images received top scores of twenty with Ronnie Gilbert and Alan Walker each scoring twenty for two of their entries. The top scoring images were: ‘Fall’ by Ken Rennie,

 

‘Adolescent Brown Bear, Finland’ by Carol Minks,

 

‘Gramps and Grandkids’ by David Woodthorpe, ‘Common Buzzard in Snow’

 

and ‘Golden Eagle with Red Fox’ by Ronnie Gilbert,

 

‘Autumn Frame’ by Antony Melling and ‘Leading from the Front’ and ‘Apprehension Before Take Off’ by Alan Walker. An impressive score of nineteen was awarded to four other images and these were ‘Blizzard at Vic Church’ by Fred Bell, ‘Kelpies Arise!’ by Ann Healey, ‘Emma in Pink’ by Julie Walker and ‘Tibetan Toothless Old Man’ by David Woodthorpe. A further twelve images received scores of eighteen and these were ‘Strong Heart’ and ‘Coigach’ both by Deborah Tippett, ‘Great Grey Owl Alert’ by Alan Walker, ‘Yellow Tulips Mono’ by Patricia Martin, ‘Ezekiels Fun Park’ by David Rayment, ‘Fairy Queen Dreaming’ by Keith Snell, ‘Diamond Beach, Iceland’ by Fred Bell, ‘Whitby Piers in Winter’s Late Light’ and ‘Final Lap World Series Triathlon’ both by Sue Rugg, ‘Blea Mirror’ by Carmen Norman, ‘Into the Night’ by Marcus Mackay and ‘Coyote in Midwinter, Yellowstone’ by Carol Minks. At the end of the judging, John chose his top images from some of the different photographic genres represented and these were: ‘Autumn Frame’ by Antony Melling (Best Landscape), ‘Leading from the Front’ by Alan Walker (Best Nature),

 

‘Kelpies Arise!’ by Ann Healey (Best Creative),

 

‘Gramps and Grandkids’ by David Woodthorpe (Best People).

 

John chose ‘Autumn Frame’, a beautifully captured atmospheric woodland scene, as his overall winning image.

 

Tony Marsh, the Society’s external competition secretary, thanked John for excellently judging the images, especially for pointing out the positive parts of every image as well as, where appropriate, suggesting improvements that could be made.

All the entered images can be viewed on the Gallery pages:

 

Our speaker on 13^th January was Peter Weaver who comes from the Bristol area. He is an enthusiastic member of the Hanham Photographic Society and as well as being their Programme Secretary he also organises club outings. The title of Peter’s talk was “My Digital View” and during the evening he presented a sizeable collection of his images featuring a wide range of subjects.

Peter explained that he prefers to get his images right in the camera rather than spending a huge amount of time processing them on his computer. Unlike some photographers he is happy to go out in all weathers, suitably attired, and he showed a number of images, especially landscapes, that he had taken in the pouring rain. He said that he is a keen walker and he usually carries a camera and two lenses on these walks.

The majority of the images he presented were taken in the South West of England although he also showed some from elsewhere including Northumberland, Kent, Norfolk and Wales. Many were taken at county and agricultural shows and featured people together with their horses, livestock or pets.

 

He makes a point of arriving early when there are fewer people about. He also attends specialist events such as the Chippenham Folk Festival and he showed a number of images of musicians.

 

He also included a photograph from the more unusual Newent Onion Fayre which hosts the world onion eating championships and showed a humorous image of one contestant who, not surprisingly, did not seem to be enjoying the taste of the raw onion! Another source of photographs are the many re-enactments, such as 1940’s events, that he attends. He finds that such events provide many opportunities for photographing people.

 

Peter is also a wildlife enthusiast and he belongs to several nature groups including the Slimbridge Wildfowl Wetland Trust. He presented a number of photographs of birds and animals taken in zoos and wildlife sanctuaries. These included images from various locations including the Seal Sanctuary in Cornwall, the Big Cat Sanctuary in Kent and the Cotswold Falconry Centre.

 

With these he demonstrated that it is possible to take interesting nature images close to home rather than travelling hundreds of miles to more exotic locations.

Throughout the evening Peter’s enthusiasm for all genres of photography shone through.

Julie Walker

The Society’s second Set Subject competition took place via Zoom on the evening of Wednesday 16^th December. Members were invited to enter three digital images according to the themes ‘Something Old, Something New and Something Blue. The judge was Richard Jakobson, a society member. Eighteen members entered giving a total of fifty-four images. Even within the confines of the set subject there was still a wide range of photographic genres represented, including nature, creative, still life, landscape, travel, portraiture, architecture and sport. There were also some novel interpretations of the three themes, including two images from the ‘Something Blue’ section. One image featured Keswick’s Century theatre or as it was affectionately known, ‘the Blue Box’ and another featured a close-up of the head of a Bluefaced Leicester sheep.

Richard judged the images in order, starting with ‘Something Old’ and finishing with ‘Something Blue’. No marks were awarded in this competition but Richard gave a critique of each image, often pointing out ways of improving an image and in some cases using Photoshop Lightroom to illustrate his suggestions. At the end of the judging Richard chose his winning image within each of the three sections. Fred Bell was awarded first place in the ‘Something Old’ section with his black and white image, ‘Abandoned’. This moody image featured a derelict single-storey house in a bleak-looking landscape.

 

In the ‘Something New’ section, first place was awarded to Keith Snell for his appealing image entitled ‘First Steps’. This showed a pin-sharp moorhen chick taking its first vulnerable steps across the surface of a leafy pond, expertly caught with one foot poised ready to complete the step.

 

In the ‘Something Blue’ section ‘Blue Ripple’ by Sue Rugg took first place. This delicate minimalist image of a blue seascape was chosen by Richard as his ‘Best in Show’ and he remarked that he would be very happy to have a print of the image hanging on his wall.

 

Alan Walker thanked Richard for his hard work commentating on the images and for so excellently illustrating his suggested improvements. He also stressed what a good job Richard had done since he took over the role of judge at short notice owing to the illness of the Society’s chairman who was going to judge the competition. A change of judge meant that Richard was unable to show his own images, including his ‘outside the box’ interpretation of ‘Something New’ which was a night time cityscape of New York.

Tricia Rayment

All the entered images can be viewed on our Gallery Page:

Gallery