Blog

Keswick Photographic Society held its first set subject competition of the season on Wednesday 11^th November. The subject for the competition was “Using Monochrome for Impact”. These competitions are judged by our more experienced members and are intended to assist through the constructive criticism of images in an informal and friendly environment. The judge on this occasion was Alan Walker who is an experienced photographer. He has judged many competitions at club, national and international level.

Alan explained at the outset that, in judging the images, he would be taking in to account the extent to which they made good use of monochrome.  As the evening progressed, he offered well targeted and helpful advice to members on how to improve their images by appropriate cropping, adding contrast to achieve a good range of tones from white through to black and enhancing compositions by choosing strong focal points. In a few cases he felt that the images would have been better left in colour.

There were sixty-nine entries in total by twenty-three members, which included a number by this season’s new recruits. The images covered a wide range of subjects including landscapes, portraits, creative images and natural history.  After critiquing each image individually Alan selected thirty-one that he felt would score well in open competitions. Included in these were several images from relatively new recruits Ann Healey, Chris Burgess, Sue Rugg, Antony Melling, David Leighton, Marcus Mackay and Gordon Train. The high standard of their work augers well for the continuing success of the Society. In addition, amongst the best, there were images from longer standing members Fred Bell, Carol Minks, Marilyn Woodthorpe, David Woodthorpe and Ken Rennie.

Alan awarded “Overall Best” to Keith Snell’s “Exposed to the Elements” an exquisite fine art nude image of a young woman posing on a rock.

 

In accordance with a recent decision to introduce a wider range of awards Alan also selected Fred Bell’s “Diamond Beach Iceland” as “Best Landscape”, a beautiful image of water flowing around ice taken with a slow shutter speed.

 

Deborah Tippett’s “Mr Pan”, a well-lit and highly competent image of an Asian gentleman smoking a pipe, was awarded “Best Portrait”.

 

Richard Jakobson’s “The Pour” was awarded “Best Creative”. This was an image of steaming water being poured in to a glass cup which looked as if great care was needed to avoid being scalded.

 

Finally, Tony Marsh’s “Dunlin”, a beautiful high key image, was chosen for the “Best Nature” award.

 

All entered images can be viewed on our gallery pages at

2020-2021 Competitions

 

 

On Wednesday 4^th November Keswick Photographic Society members were treated to two fascinating talks by John and Rosamund Macfarlane titled: “Living with the Nomads and Eagle Hunters of Mongolia, and Lake District Reflections Above and Below the Water Surface” . Both are well known to the Society as Rosamund is a past Chairperson while John remains a member. John and Rosamund have travelled extensively, taking photographs as they go, and they have both achieved many photographic distinctions and awards.

John and Rosamund have visited Mongolia twice and their second visit, in the late winter of 2018, was the topic for the first half of this talk.  John began with a brief history of Mongolia which has been independent for less than 30 years. He described how they travelled in smelly, battered four-wheel drive vehicles, visiting both the central and far west areas of the country and how they stayed with several nomadic families in their traditional homes known as Gers. He went on to talk in detail about the nomadic way of life. This is now under threat, partly because of social pressures, but also because of climate change that is leading to harsher winters and drier summers which make it harder for the livestock, on which they depend, to survive.

 

Rosamund then provided a detailed insight in to the life of the Kazakh eagle hunters. Horses are essential to their way of life and children are taught to ride as soon as they are able to walk. She explained that there is a long tradition of hunting on horseback with eagles for foxes and wolves which provide food during the winter.

 

After a short break Rosamund presented a selection of her images of reflections taken in various locations in the Lake District.

 

John then talked about a number of images that he had taken from the unique perspective of below the water’s surface. John described how he had achieved these original images which involved, in many cases, swimming in the icy waters of the Lake District’s streams and tarns. Definitely only to be undertaken by those with a robust constitution.

 

This was an absorbing evening of two contrasting halves, both illustrated with superb, high quality images taken by Rosamund and John.  Both sections of the talk were full of interest and the more intrepid travellers amongst the society’s members will, no doubt, have been inspired to visit Mongolia while some of our more adventurous photographers may try John’s below the surface techniques for themselves.

Julie Walker

Tonight’s speaker was Bob Given, MPAGB from Northern Ireland who talked about his love of sports photography. Bob lives in Belfast and he belongs to the prestigious Catchlight Camera Club.

Bob began by pointing out that it is useful to have a good knowledge of the sport you are photographing as choosing the right moment to press the shutter is critical. His advice was “if you see it in the viewfinder you’ve missed the shot”. He also advised that thorough preparation for the event is essential, especially ensuring that you have the right equipment with you.

Line Out Mayhem:

 

Bob showed a large number of images during the evening which covered a wide range of sports including athletics, cricket, American football, netball, tennis, table tennis, baseball, cage fighting (otherwise known as mixed martial arts), Australian rules football and rugby. Many of his images had won awards and some had been included in his successful panel for a Master’s distinction with the Photographic Society of Great Britain, the highest award that can be achieved.

Third Change:

 

While Bob’s superb and prize-winning images made sports photography look easy, he made it clear that it is not and there are many pitfalls to be avoided.  The first of these is simply in choosing, and gaining access to, a good position to take images, both to achieve the best angle for shooting the action but also to avoid distracting backgrounds. Bob pointed out that in a number of sports the low level of lighting could be a problem.  Some sports could involve potential for injury if the photographer is not in a safe location. The javelin and hammer competitions, for example, pose particular threats and it is essential to ensure that you stand well out of reach.  Bob’s advice was always to seek permission from the organisers of sports events and to follow their instructions on where to stand.  The dedicated sports photographer also has to go out in all weathers no matter how bad the conditions. Indeed, some of Bob’s best shots were taken in torrential rain.

All Hands:

 

Despite the limitations of Zoom Bob gave us a most enjoyable an inspirational evening which contained much useful information. While presentations given via Zoom are not quite the same as those given in person this technology does allow talks to reach a wider audience and on this occasion the evening was shared with members of Dumfries Camera Club.

Julie Walker

The Society’s First Open Competition of the new season took place via Zoom on the evening of Wednesday 14th October. Our judge was Kevin Hilton from Hexham. Kevin is Vice President of Hexham & District Photographic Society and is a Northern Counties Photographic Federation judge. Twenty-four members each entered three digital images and there was a wide range of photographic genres represented, including nature, macrophotography, creative, landscape, cityscape, travel, portraiture and sport. Kevin was sent the images a fortnight before so he was able to view the images and decide on his scores without having to come to quick decisions on the evening.

Four images by two members achieved the top score of twenty. These were ‘No Turning Back’ by Sue Rugg

 

‘Luskentyre Pony’ by Sue Rugg

 

‘Sitting Gracefully’ by Julie Walker

 

and and ‘Pelican on Ice with Fish’ by Julie Walker.

At the end of the judging Kevin chose ‘Luskentyre Pony’ as his overall winning image.

An impressive score of nineteen was awarded to eleven members for their images and these were ‘In the Enchanted Glade’ by Keith Snell, ‘Christine’ by Julie Walker, ‘Fighting Iguanas’ and ‘Contemplating Nature’ both by Alan Walker, ‘Evening Trees’ by Ann Healey, ‘Dramatically Delicate’ by Carmen Norman, ‘Confrontation’ by Ronnie Gilbert, ‘Red Squirrel in the Snow’ by Carol Minks, ‘Banded Demoiselle on St John’s Wort’ by Tony Marsh, ‘Early Morning at St Michael’s Mount’ by Ken Rennie and ‘Vidaredi’ by Deborah Tippett. A further thirteen images received scores of eighteen and these were ‘Out of the Deep’ by Sue Rugg, ‘White Throated Dipper’ and ‘Rabbit’ by Gordon Train, ‘Cimon della Pala’ by Carmen Norman, ‘Misty Morning Dead Vlei’ by Graham Smith, ‘Juvenile Robin’ by Tony Marsh, ‘Inversion on Derwentwater’ by Michael Rowlinson, ‘End of the Day’ by Marilyn Woodthorpe, ‘Deepdale’ by Ken Rennie, ‘Awakening’ by Deborah Tippett, ‘Reclining in the Evening Light’ by Alan Walker, ‘Mountain Hare by its Form’ by Carol Minks and ‘Family Group’ by Ronnie Gilbert.

David Woodthorpe, the Society’s chairman, thanked the judge for all his hard work awarding the scores and giving a critique of the images, all done under the constraints of a virtual meeting.

Tricia Rayment

All the entered images can be viewed via the gallery page of the website:

2020-2021 Competitions

On Wednesday 7^th October Keswick Photographic Society entered into Battle with Catchlight Camera Club.  With a membership of 65 accomplished photographers and based in Belfast, Catchlight is the current champion club of both the Northern Ireland Photographic Association and of the Irish Photographic Federation. They have also excelled in the Photographic Alliance of Great Britain competitions for several years!

One of the few positive aspects of Covid-19 is that, conducting our meetings via Zoom, the usual obstacles of geographic distance have been removed. So, not only were we able to enter into competition with a Club located in Belfast but our judge for the evening, who lives in the New Forest, was able to conduct her assessment of our images from the comfort of her home. Sue Sibley is a judge of some renown with many photographic distinctions. She is the current President of Southampton Camera Club and Chairman of the Southampton International Exhibition.

Sue was provided with a total of 70 images sorted alphabetically by title of the image so she had no idea from which club the photographs originated. They represented the work of 60 different photographers thereby ensuring that the competition reflected the work of the whole membership of the two clubs.

It is not possible within the limitations of this article to describe the range of photographic genres included within the competition and the incredibly high quality of many of them. Suffice it to say that landscape, natural history, wildlife, both artistic and quirky creative compilations, portraits and the human form, photo journalism and travel images all made appearances.

Sue Sibley gave enthusiastic, incisive, well reasoned and very positive assessments of the images, often indicating how she felt the images could be improved for future competitions, though recognising that some were just brilliant as they were!  She had been asked to score images out of 20 so the maximum score for each club was 700.  We were not surprised to come second in this competition being a club with half the number of members, but we gave them a run for their money. The scores were 606 to Catchlight and 591 to Keswick; a very close call.  Catchlight were worthy winners having submitted some really excellent images right across the board. KPS members can feel very proud of themselves for competing so well against such illustrious company. Five of our entries received the top score of 20. It was a very successful evening all round.

Sue was invited to nominate the best image in four categories and she chose ‘Milky Way, Namibia’ by Keswick’s Richard Jakobson as the best landscape

 

and ‘Three Against One’ by Keswick’s Alan Walker for the best Nature image.

 

Catchlight’s Joanne McGuiness won the best Portrait category with ‘Sunflower’:

 

and Gerald Gribbon also from Catchlight won the Creative Image category and the overall winning image with “Butterfly Rescue”

 

 

Keswick Photographic Society continues to hold meetings via Zoom. Although it would not seem possible to give a practical demonstration via this medium on Wednesday 30^th Carmen Norman, one of the Society’s members, did just that.

 

The topic for the evening was still life photography and, had we been able to hold a normal meeting, we would have taken our cameras with us and under Carmen’s expert tuition we would have attempted to produce our own images.  Although not quite the same as trying this out for ourselves, Carmen kept us amused by demonstrating from her own studio how to photograph a strawberry as she dropped it in to a glass of water. Her set up was very simple. She used a light tent with a black background with a couple of desk lamps as the light source and the glass of water was placed on a mirror to provide a reflection. As Carmen dropped the strawberry, she took several shots in quick succession using the motor drive on her camera. This ensured that she captured the strawberry in mid air as well as the splash as it entered the water.

 

She then demonstrated how she processed the images by first selecting two that she liked and then combining them using Photoshop software.  This enabled her to include the strawberry as it fell through the air, as well as the splash when it entered the water, in one image. She repeated the demonstration several times using different shaped glasses and lighting.

As well as the practical demonstration Carmen showed us a number of other still life images that she had taken using the same light source and tent. These included images showing flour being sprinkled over a cake, which had proved to be rather messy,

 

and another of a light bulb with sparklers in the background.  She encouraged members to have a go themselves at home, to experiment and above all to have fun.

 

The evening was very informative and entertaining and we look forward to seeing members’ own still life images inspired by Carmen’s talk at a future meeting.

Carmen runs landscape photography courses, workshops and photo walks in the Lake District and is an accomplished photographer. More information about Carmen, her work and the courses she runs can be found on her website carmennorman.co.uk.

On Wednesday 23^rd September Keswick Photographic Society’s members enjoyed a presentation given by one of their own members, Dr Keith Snell. The title of the talk was “But is it Art?”. Keith began by explaining that while in America photography was treated as an art in Britain this was not generally the case.  He therefore set out to persuade the audience that some genres of photography are indeed art.

Keith began by examining the differences between art and photography. He said that photographers generally just capture reality and detail while an artist starts with a blank sheet. However, Keith argued that there is a more artistic side to photography. Concentrating on how artistic effects can be achieved in the camera he looked first at how photography can be used to present objects in a graphical way. He used a number of his own images to illustrate this point looking at patterns and abstracts in both the natural and manmade world.

 

Next Keith described how he creates moods such as isolation, independence, infinity and hope in his landscape photographs.

His next subject was figurative art. While photographs are often just a likeness Keith demonstrated that moods such as contemplation, wistfulness, preoccupation, dejection and distraction could be portrayed if the photographer carefully chose appropriate lighting and poses for their models.

After a short interval Keith looked at the development of impressionism in photography initially by using multiple images.

 

He then looked at the use of intentional camera movement.

 

To illustrate the effect of these techniques, Keith showed examples of his own work, as well as that of others, including impressionist images of trees and water that he had taken both locally and abroad.

 

This was an entertaining, inspirational and informative evening illustrated by a selection of Keith’s sublime images that would not have looked out of place in any art gallery. By the end of the evening there seemed no doubt that some photographs, including the many examples shown by Keith, could be categorised as art.

Keswick Photographic Society was pleased to welcome Gary Langley as the first outside speaker of the season at their normal Wednesday evening meeting time but in the new pandemic format of an online Zoom presentation from the speaker at his home.

Gary hails from Nottingham and has been a member of a number of camera clubs in that area, including a stint as Vice-Chairman of the prestigious Rolls Royce Photographic Society of Derby. He is sponsored by Paper Spectrum, a company renowned for its Pinnacle photographic paper range and Gary was at pains to lament the fact that his presentation was digital rather than his preferred physical display of photographic prints.

Although he had titled his presentation Faces and Places, in the event Gary also included fauna and flora as an added bonus. But he did indeed start off with images of faces, in a series of unconventional portraits. These were mostly off-beat characters set against equally off-beat graffiti-laden backgrounds, some of which were introduced in Photoshop post-processing to give composite images. He readily admitted that his style was not always appreciated by judges used to traditional approaches. The ‘grotesque’ treatment was accentuated by his choice of lens, Instead of the normal 50-75mm focal length range which portrait photographers favour, he uses a 17-40mm lens which inevitably introduces facial distortions into an image. This worked quite well for some of the punk-type characters with facial piercings and exotic hair styles. His image of the ‘Punk Couple’ showed this effect in practice; the couple in question were in fact separate portraits with the match-making accomplished in Photoshop.

 

Gary then moved on to Places, with the exact placements often being suggested by research of his intended travel location on photographic websites. As he confessed, the location of the images tended to fall into two types – those where his wife drove him to in the British Isles (he doesn’t drive) and more exotic overseas locations where he took his wife on holiday for her birthdays. Perhaps I should mention that his presentation was entertainingly peppered with this deadpan humour! Of course the British landscapes and places were far from mundane and included Southwold, Brighton, the Sage and Millennial Bridge in Tyneside, Bamburgh Castle in Northumberland, the Peak District and the Isle of Harris, Cairngorms and other highlands of Scotland. The overseas locations featured Western Australia and Singapore amongst others.

Some of his images were an interesting departure from the standard landscape format by having a camera converted with an infrared sensor. In particular this tends to bleach out the greens in a landscape so that fields and trees appear to be cloaked in snow. An example from Swaledale in north Yorkshire was an image which showed the effectiveness of this technique.

 

Finally we were introduced to his love of the natural world. Gary showed an array of bird portraits, taken with a telephoto 70-300mm lens, which were incredibly detailed in their plumage and other anatomical details whilst having sympathetically-coloured non-intrusive backgrounds which is the hallmark of an accomplished wiildlife photographer. Mammals included otters, water vole, red squirrels, prairie dogs and kangaroos. But his self-confessed passion for insects was what captured his imagination and our admiration. There were pin-sharp butterflies, staghorn beetle and a wolf spider, but the star of the show was the praying mantis. Gary’s photograph showed how perfectly these insectivores can imitate the twigs on which they perch while they lie in wait for their prey to inadvertently come within reach.

 

Inevitably Gary had to address the challenge of lockdown and he embarked on a new project of flower and plant still life portraits taken indoors using studio lighting. Mostly they were  photographed against plain, mostly white, backgrounds which showed off the architectural detail of the plants and flower arrangements as well as their colours. Some portraits were combined with textured layers in Photoshop to give a more artistic presentation and the subjects included wild flowers as well as cultivated plants and flowers.

The audience were left to acclaim the quality of the images on show and the creativity with which Gary approaches his photography by a visual display of applause on their Zoom screens. While this is not the same as a physical presence, the online approach to presentations at least provides the opportunity to enjoy seeing the work of other photographers and to gain inspiration from hearing their approaches to their art.

Keith Snell

This evening we joined Dumfries Photographic Society for an inspiring talk given by David Keep via Zoom. David is an award-winning photographer based in Chesterfield. His talk, titled “Underwater Photography 2 – from Manatees to Crocodiles”, covered underwater adventures he undertook in 2019. His subjects included Manatees, Whale Sharks, Hammerhead Sharks, Atlantic Grey Seals, Saltwater Crocodiles and Gannets.

David has been a keen diver all his life. On retirement, five years ago, he took up photography and has since combined these two hobbies. It has taken him some time to become proficient at underwater photography and this is not surprising given the difficulties associated with this and the specialist equipment needed. To say, however, that his photographs are superb is an understatement. He has won numerous awards but probably his highest achievement was a gold medal and a best in exhibition in the FIAP World Cup in November 2019 for an image of diving gannets. As well as taking still images David also takes videos underwater and these show the viewer exactly what is involved in achieving his photographs.

Of particular interest were the measures David took to photograph sharks and crocodiles. Extensive research was necessary to make arrangements to photograph these species. In the case of sharks, he used a company that specialises in taking tourists to dive with, and to photograph, them off the coast of the Northern Bahamas where they congregate in a relatively shallow area of water. The larger sharks, including Tiger Sharks and Hammerhead Sharks, are fed by hand by an employee while customers take photographs.  The video showed just how close the sharks came and one even touched David as it swam past. Despite the dangers David described sharks as his favourite creature saying “they are so photogenic”.

 

Photographing Seawater Crocodiles was an even riskier undertaking. David said that since watching Tarzan on television as a boy he had been fascinated by crocodiles. Again, he undertook extensive research and discovered that the best chance to photograph them was in the shallow water of the mangrove swamps off the coast of Cuba. It takes considerable nerve to enter the water when a crocodile is present and even David admitted to being nervous but his guide would only allow him to enter the water when a suitably sized crocodile had been found, one not too small and especially one not too large. They can grow up to five metres in length. Apart from the danger involved, photographing the crocodile was tricky. The light had to be right, not too sunny, the water not too shallow and he had to be careful not to stir up the muddy seabed as this would cloud the water. Despite the difficulties David succeeded in taking some magnificent shots. The shoot however was not without a moment of danger when David had what he described as “a far too close encounter with a crocodile” when returning to the boat. Unsurprisingly, David admits that he has no desire to get back in to the water with a crocodile again.

 

David’s other subjects were of a much less threatening nature. He described the Manatees he photographed in Florida as “very friendly creatures” and the Atlantic Grey Seals he found around the Farne Islands as “super cute and inquisitive”.  To photograph the seals David had to wait on the seabed until the seals approached but, once they arrived, he was able to have a close interaction with them.

Finally, David showed his images of diving gannets taken off the coast of Shetland. These are his own personal favourites for which he has won numerous awards. Before entering the water, David’s fear was that one of the gannets might hit him as they dive at speeds in excess 60 mph and could do considerable damage. But the birds are so skilled not one touched him. David said this was one of the most exhilarating experiences of his life.

 

This was a fascinating evening of captivating photography and David is to be admired for his skill, courage and patience in achieving the unique images on show.

Julie Walker

It has been a difficult time for clubs such as Keswick Photographic Society which have been unable to meet since the imposition of lockdown in March.  The last few meetings of our 2019/2020 season had to be cancelled together with our summer social programme. Our 2020/21 programme, which normally commences in September, has also been substantially altered. In common with many other organisations, Keswick Photographic Society is now using Zoom to hold meetings.  We successfully held our postponed AGM on 5^th August and this was followed by an appraisal of members’ images.

At the AGM it was agreed that we would reduce our annual subscription to £25 in recognition of the changes to next season’s programme and because we will be unable to meet in person for the next few months.

The Society was again successful over the last year in regional, national and international competitions.  In the Northern Counties Photographic Federation Annuals Competition 2020 Keswick was awarded the Myles Audas Trophy for several years in succession. This is awarded for the best club entry of projected digital images. Two members were also awarded trophies for their individual entries. Alan Walker was awarded the Bryan Gilbert Trophy for the best portrait and Tony Marsh won the Vickers Trophy for the best natural history image. National competitions are organised by the Photographic Alliance of Great Britain and three members achieved success in the 2020 competitions held in January. Bronze medals were awarded to Ken Rennie for Best Landscape Print, to Keith Snell for Best Family in the nature competition and to Julie Walker. The Society also competes in two international competitions organised by the Photographic Society of America in which clubs from around the world compete against one another. In the Open competition Keswick finished in third place in group A and in the Nature competition we achieved fifth place also in group A.

The AGM would normally be followed by the presentation of trophies to the winners of the club’s internal competitions but of course this was not possible. However, the winners were announced. Alan Walker was awarded the Photographer of the Year trophy, he also won both the Print and Digital Image leagues. Julie Walker was awarded the Portfolio of the Year Trophy for digital images. The Society also holds a short sets competition each year and Deborah Tippett won the Stills section while Richard Jakobson won the Audio-Visual section. Richard Jakobson was also awarded the Chairman’s Award for his work in facilitating Zoom meetings. Finally, Marilyn Woodthorpe was awarded the Trophy for the most improved Photographer.

Following the AGM members’ images were appraised by three of the club’s more experienced photographers, Alan Walker, Keith Snell and David Woodthorpe.  Members had been invited to submit up to three new images each and in total 53 images by 18 different authors were appraised. There was a wide selection of subjects including landscapes, natural history, townscapes, people and travel and there was a good mix of colour and monochrome images. The three appraisers gave their views in turn on each image and were, in the main, in agreement although there were some differences of opinion in a few cases. The evening was aimed at assisting members to improve their images and therefore the comments were constructive and helpful advice was given on how images could be improved. Those that were felt to be particularly strong included Wren by Gordon Train, Lion by Julie Walker, Il Pleut, a monochrome image of the Eiffel Tower and people passing by in the rain,  by Sue Longstaff, Going with the Flow ,a beautiful image of flowing peaty water, by  Tony Melling,  Young Grizzly in Downpour by Carol Mink ,  Mallard Duckling by Tony Marsh and Autumn Mist by  Ken Rennie. There were many more but it is not possible to mention them all here. An edited recording of the evening can be viewed via the link below:

Keswick Photographic Society’s friendly members welcome both beginners and expert photographers, either as new members, or as guests, to their meetings and we have set up a mentoring scheme to help everyone improve their photography. We normally meet at the Friends Meeting House, Elliot Park, Keswick, CA12 5NZ, which is opposite the Booths car park, on Wednesday evenings at 7.30 p.m. However, due to the coronavirus pandemic, our meetings will be held via Zoom for the foreseeable future.

Our next meeting will be held on Thursday 27^th August. The evening will be held jointly with the Reflex Camera Club from Bristol and presentations will be given by six of their members and six of ours. Each presenter will choose ten of their own images to talk about for a maximum of ten minutes in total. Details of our programme can be found on our web site www.keswickphotographicsociety .co.uk.

For information about how to join Keswick Photographic Society or to participate in one of our Zoom meetings as a guest please e-mail: contactkeswickPS@gmail.com