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This week the society held its annual ‘Short Sets’ competition.  This is a contest judged by the attendant membership on the night.  There were 12 presentations each lasting up to eight minutes. The entries comprised either a selection of still images or an audio visual (AV) display.

The evening began with seven AV presentations commencing with Ken Rennie’s wonderful Waterfalls.  An avid and accomplished landscape photographer, Ken had accumulated hundreds of high quality waterfall pictures over the years and this presentation treated the audience to a masterclass in photographing moving water.

Keith Snell followed with a summary of his winter trip to Iceland.  His presentation included some excellent records of Iceland’s iconic landscapes, geysers, ice, snow, shorelines and the inevitable photogenic isolated churches in the snow.

John Macfarlane stepped away from the norm in that his AV was composed entirely of short video clips from his recent winter trip to Yellowstone National Park.  His entry included snow covered ruminating Bison as well as rather warmer specimens amongst the hot springs. There were clips of Otters, Elk, Moose and Wolves trying to eke out a living in this harsh environment

Julie Walker’s entry stemmed from her visit in 2015 to Myanmar where she was introduced to a unique culture and religious idiosyncrasies with gold leaf covered giant Buddhas, elaborately decorated Temples, painted faced children and market traders.  There were many cultural and traditional elements depicting the rural way of life.

Ronnie Gilbert, not surprisingly, provided some stunning photographs of the wildlife in and around the Chambal river in India.  This is one of the last refuges for that pointed nosed fish eating Gharial which lives alongside the Mugger Crocodile.  The river environs are also home to River Dolphins, Terrapins, Painted Stork, Ibis, Kingfishers, Thick Knees and many more species, few of which escaped Ronnie’s camera.  Ronnie’s AV was voted second in the competition.

David Rayment successfully added a pre-recorded narrative to his AV entry describing aspects of his visit to Venice.  He focused on the architecture, the Gondolas and the Gondoliers. Tongue in cheek, he showed how the boredom on the face of a Gondolier shifts to interest when an attractive lady passes by!

The final AV, and the winning one, was ‘A swift journey through Namibia’, prepared by Richard Jakobson.  In addition to the landscape images, Richard, unusually became a wildlife photographer including showing some stunning images of Elephant troops, Leopard, Hyena, Giraffe, colourful lizards, Pelicans and much more. His night sky images over the dunes of the Namib Desert were quite captivating, and I’m sure quite rightly contributed significantly to his success.

After a short break the competition moved to still images with David Woodthorpe’s Short Set entitled, The Indian Selfie, which was placed second in this part of the competition. It was a light hearted look at the Indian obsession with ‘selfies’.

 

Many people were seen to be holding and speaking into one smart phone whilst taking selfies with the other and taking selfies at tourist hotspots.

 

This was followed by Stephen Harris’ presentation of the Terracotta Army showing the enormity of the site of the discovery of the terracotta soldiers. He showed the extent of the excavation and described the structures which concealed the original work.

 

He explained that many more are yet to be revealed and his photographs showed many of those sculptures that were intact amongst those which were far from perfect.

 

Carol Minks showed us arecent trip to the edge of the Artic Circle.  Her presentation of Svalbard and the area around it included some spectacular landscape and wildlife images.

 

For two of the days she was unable to venture out of her cabin, such was the ferocity of a storm. Carol still managed to capture wonderful images of Walrus, whales and a distant Polar Bear, seabirds and waders.

 

Heleen Franken-Gill was the only contributor during the whole event whose photographs had all been taken in the Lake District, or indeed the UK! Heleen’s images were captured on a foggy day, commencing with a visit to Castlerigg Stone Circle where atmospheric and some minimalist landscape photographs were successfully captured.

 

Particularly stunning was a picture of an illuminated snow covered Causey Pike peeking through cloud and mist.

 

The final entry, and the winning one in this category, was called Division and Democracy by Deborah Tippett.  Deborah’s monochrome collection of still images captured during a recent trip to Berlin documented some of its tragic history.

 

Barred basement windows, bullet scarred walls and intense graffiti on remnants of the Wall were images set against the very positive and democratic icons which now define the unified Germany.

 

The very high standard of the Short Set competition was the best in memory and any one of the contributions would have been regarded a worthy winner.  Many attendees confessed that they really didn’t know which entry to vote for. It was a thoroughly enjoyable evening enhanced by Deborah and Richard’s excellent entries.

David Woodthorpe

(Chairman)

In view of the further developments and government advice regarding the Covid-19 pandemic we now have no option but to cancel the remainder of this season’s meetings. There will be no meeting this Wednesday.

The committee will look at alternative options for getting results and feedback on the 4th Open and whether the Portfolio competition can be run remotely.

Further to the last website post our members were canvassed by e-mail on how they wished to continue with the rest of this season in view of the impending health crisis. The majority of members who replied indicated that they wished to continue as normal but keep the situation under review.

Consequently next Wednesday’s meeting will take place as planned ie judging of the 4th Open Competition. It is requested that you bring any entries for the Portfolio competition with you and send the digital copies and any entries for the PDI section of the Portfolio competition to Tricia Rayment as usual. Rules for the Porfolio of the Year Competition can be viewed in the Members Area of the website.

Entries for the NCPF annuals competition will also be collected on Wednesday 18th.

The situation and advice from government is obviously changing rapidly and any decisions about further meetings will be relayed to members by e-mail and on this website.

After consideration of the rapidly progressing Covid-19 situation the committee of KPS has taken the decision to cancel the meeting scheduled for the evening of March 11th.

Members have been canvassed to get their views on how to manage the rest of the season. Once these decisions are made we will let you know.

Richard Jakobson, Web Manager and committee member

The annual competition between Carlisle Camera Club, Penrith Camera Club and Keswick  Photographic Society was this year held at Carlisle on February 25th. It was judged by George Ledger, a freelance sports photographer based in Consett.

Each club submitted 15 digital images from 15 different members so that the competition tried to capture the broad range of photographic talent within the three clubs. Each image was scored out of 30 so that 450 points were available to be won by each club.

As has been the custom over recent years Keswick won the event with 356 points. Penrith were second and Carlisle third. Keswick’s winning cohort of images can be viewed on our gallery page:

2019_2020 competition images

The third Set Subject competition of the season, titled ‘Posed or Unposed’, took place on Wednesday 12^th February. The judge for the competition was a society member, Dr Keith Snell, who holds distinctions with the Royal Photographic Society, the Federation Internationale de l’Art Photographique and the Photographic Society of America. Keith is a Northern Counties Photographic Federation judge and he judges at both club and inter-club competitions.

For this competition, members could enter up to three prints and, in total, 39 prints were submitted. Keith had chosen the title of the competition and not surprisingly people featured in the vast majority of the images, although a few animal species were also represented.  Keith commented on the excellent quality of the prints stating that he would have given practically all of them a score of at least sixteen out of twenty. Because of this he had decided that whilst commenting on the prints he would only announce the marks of those with scores of nineteen or twenty. Keith spent time on each print referring to the composition, technical aspects and, where appropriate, the storytelling quality of the image.

Four prints received top scores of twenty and these were ‘Sat Waiting’ by Julie Walker:

 

‘Careful – I Have a Reputation’ by David Woodthorpe:

 

‘The Bygone Hollywood Era’ by Alan Walker:

 

and ‘Undoubtedly Posed’ by Richard Jakobson:

 

Nine prints received excellent scores of nineteen and these were ‘A Hard Life’ and ‘Unmasked’, both by Richard Jakobson, ‘Beauty and the Beast’ and ‘Trio Hanging Loose’, both by David Woodthorpe, ‘Little Auk’ and ‘Hey!!! Do You Mind’ both by Carol Minks, ‘Anti-establishment’ by Alan Walker, ‘She’s Nothing to do with Me’ by Julie Walker and ‘Sultry Soul’ by Tom Stenhouse.

At the end of the judging, Keith asked the society members to choose a ‘best in show’ image from the four top scoring prints. A show of hands resulted in Alan Walker’s ‘The Bygone Hollywood Era’ being chosen as the best image. This print was a superbly captured sepia toned image of a young lady, the style and treatment producing an image very reminiscent of the 1940s.

Keith was formally thanked by the Chairman, David Woodthorpe, for his excellent critique of the prints.

Tricia Rayment

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

2019_2020 galleries

On January 15th the current Chairman of our society, David Woodthorpe, gave a fascinating presentation featuring his immediate locality.  David  lives in Grange in Borrowdale and for the last few years has regularly repeated an early morning walk around surrounding area.

 

Although his route is not long, perhaps four miles if he completes the entire circuit, it takes him through a wide variety of natural habitats and it is his patience to just stand and watch and listen that makes his walk such a source of satisfaction and pleasure for him.

 

David is a talented photographer and we were able to share, through his photographs, some of the fascinating creatures and plants he has studied, from the tiniest of Leafhopper insects, just a few millimetres long to Roe Deer and the sheep and cattle in the fields he passes through.

 

Such an interest means that his walk has become a gentle wander rather than a route march and he never knows how long it will take him, or even how much of the whole route he will undertake; indeed he has written a very well received book “A Wander to Wonder: The Best Walk in Borrowdale” which is heavily illustrated with his own photographs.

Crossing the iconic double arched bridge over the River Derwent, (we saw photos of the river in flood during Storm Desmond as well as the unfortunate bus that crashed into the parapet),

 

his walk takes him up onto rather boggy fellside, a macro-photography paradise, with damselflies and numerous other insects as well fascinating plants such as the insectivorous Sundew

 

and then up onto Grange Crag which has fantastic views in all directions in spite of its lowly altitude. It is up here that David’s skill as a landscape photographer comes to the fore, at times aided by his ability to scramble into the best viewpoint to look directly down onto Grange village,

 

a sight not enjoyed by his wife Marilyn who was apparently watching fearfully from their house. Dropping down into Troutdale gives him the possibility of spotting Red Squirrels and Woodpeckers

before he emerges onto the Borrowdale road and crossing onto the fields running beside the River Derwent.

It is here that he may come into contact with some of the grazing livestock and he gave, what was for most of us,  new facts about sheep management that he had gleaned in conversation with the local farmers who have become well used to him passing their way. He told us about Sand Martins nesting near the Chinese Bridge

 

and had managed the impressive feat of photographing some of these speedsters in flight. The raised walkway is another habitat altogether and it is an area that David got to know individual birds such as Reed Buntings or Willow Warblers

knowing exactly which branch of which bush he was likely to see them on; and having the patience to wait until they returned as predicted with a mouthful of insects for their young. Such fieldcraft as well as the individual birds getting used to him allowed him to take fantastic photographs.

And so the walk continues over wet and dry areas, past fields and woodland before gently ambling back down the back road into Grange. We were left greatly impressed by David’s enthusiastic presentation of what is the very traditional British trait of an enthusiastic amateur natural historian getting thoroughly to know his local patch, (think Gilbert White and the village of Selbourne from the 18^th century), but with the added dimension of superb photography to record it all.

Our meeting of 29^th January comprised of presentations by ten of our members of ten images, each with the theme of “Memorable Places”. This was organised by Julie Walker who had chosen the theme and had collated all our images.

Tony Marsh started off with photographs all taken one, still, morning last November walking through the woods near Manesty. Tony described how it was memorable for the morning light and the beautifully frosted trees and grasses:

 

Richard Jakobson also showed images taken in Cumbria. Clints quarry is an abandoned limestone quarry which is now a site of special scientific interest managed by Cumbria Wildlife Trust. Richard showed images taken over recent years of the orchids, kestrels, buzzards, dragonflies and other wildlife to be seen there:

 

Ken Rennie’s Memorable place was Glen Affric in Scotland and he showed us a series of very atmospheric landscape images taken last October.  Several of his images were shot with very unusual light bathing the landscape before the sun had actually risen. There were also photographs of the River Affric demonstrating the colours of the autumn foliage:

 

Keith Snell photographs were memorable for him as they were taken in a location new to him, Liguria, Italy, and also because they were taken on a workshop aimed at honing his creative photographic skills. As well as slow shutter images of Ligurian seascapes there were also photographs combined together in a panel of four showing the varying colours and textures visible in a mountain stream:

 

Deborah Tippett also found Italy memorable, but in a slightly different context. She was travelling around Puglia on a back of a bike. Most of her photographs, by necessity, were taken with a small compact camera. She presented us a range of images from seascapes to ancient olive trees to Puglian villages to local architecture:

 

Italy certainly rated highly in the “memorable stakes” as the next presentation, by Carmen Norman, was of photographs taken on a trip to the Dolomites last October. Carmen showed us a series of landscape images which demonstrated to the full the exceptional beauty of the Dolomite mountains, particularly when shot in wonderful light. Of note was an image of a “fog bow” taken with Carmen’s silhouette centred beneath the bow and a background of the Dolomites in the morning light:

 

Alan Walker’s memorable place was much further afield in Alaska. The journey there involved travelling the final stage in a small plane, which from the photograph he showed us, appeared to be constructed from recycled tin cans and paper clips! The purpose of such a trek was to photograph grizzly bears in their natural habitat. Alan presented a series of photographs of bears and cubs on the seashore hunting for salmon and clams and also in meadow grassland:

 

Further still than Alaska is Hiroshima where Aline Hopkins went in the spring. This was primarily to photograph the cherry blossom but Aline reminded us that this year will be the 75^th anniversary of the atom bomb being dropped on Hiroshima. She showed us images of the Memorial Park  including the iconic Genbaku Dome which is all that remains of a huge hall located there before the bombing. On a lighter note there were also several images of the also iconic, white cherry blossom:

 

The final two memorable places were both in South East Asia. Tom Stenhouse showed photographs taken on a trip from the south to the north of Vietnam. Tom told us he tried to capture the essence of the people of Vietnam as well as the environment they live in, both of which have been impacted by the decades of conflict prior to unification. His photographs included ancient fishing coracles, a barge scooping refuse out of the Mekong river, Vietnamese children in western dress with 4G smartphones:

 

Julie Walker’s images were from Tonié Sap, the largest freshwater lake in southeast asia. Julie’s photographs showed the people who live there and how they live. Due to the normally huge rise in water level in the wet season most live in houses built on stilts or built floating on brushwood rafts. Whilst presenting her images Julie commented on the serious threats to the area due to climate change and overfishing:

 

 

All of the images shown can be viewed on our gallery page:

Images entered into 2019-2020 competitions

The Society’s 3^rd Open Competition took place on Wednesday 22^nd January judged by Richard Speirs, DPAGB, BPE2*, APAGB, a Northern Counties Photographic Federation judge from Wetheral. Richard said how much he enjoyed receiving and judging the images from Keswick because of the excellent quality of the work submitted.

The judging commenced with the thirty-four prints that had been entered. The prints were given a score out of twenty and, before awarding the mark, Richard discussed each image, commenting on the good points and occasionally suggesting where improvements could be made. Four prints received a top score of twenty and two of these were by Ronnie Gilbert. Ronnie’s prints were ‘Leopard in Candalabra Cactus Tree’

 

and ‘The Evening Mud Larks’, the latter a beautifully lit action shot of two horses splashing through shallow water and fast heading towards the photographer!

 

Marilyn Woodthorpe was awarded a top score for her amusing image of a Dalmation pelican titled ‘Cheeky Pelican’.

 

Carol Minks also received top marks for ‘No Fishing!!’, a beautiful image of a kingfisher perched on a wooden sign bearing the words ‘No Fishing’  This image was selected by the judge as his overall winning print. He commented on the beautiful plumage of the bird set against a lovely subdued background, the whole enhanced by the presence of a long branch bearing numerous red berries.

 

Four images received scores of nineteen and there were ‘The Luskentyre Ponies’ by Sue Rugg, ‘Giant River Otter Eating Catfish’ by Keith Snell, ‘Me First’ by Alan Walker and ‘Eagle Confrontation’ by Julie Walker. The prints awarded scores of eighteen were ‘Dipper Dipping’ by David Rayment, ‘Afraid’ by Sue Rugg, ‘Thirsty Jaguar’ by Keith Snell and ‘Sunshine and Shadow’ by Ken Rennie.

After a break for refreshments, it was the turn of the digital images to be judged. Two images achieved a top score and these were ‘Muddy Buddies’ by Sue Rugg and ‘Young Leopard Injured by a Porcupine’ by Alan Walker. Sue’s image was of two women competitors in an obstacle race struggling to free themselves from copious amounts of mud but still managing to look as if they were enjoying themselves!

 

Richard chose Alan’s beautifully lit young leopard with a partly embedded porcupine quill as his overall winning digital image.

 

Three images received scores of nineteen and these were ‘Under Attack’ by Julie Walker,

 

‘Across the Mersey’ by Sue Rugg

 

and ‘Stripping the Bullrush’ by David Woodthorpe.

 

The digital images scoring eighteen were ‘Barnacle Goose’ and ‘Arctic Reindeer, both by Carol Minks, ‘I’m Hungry Too’ by Julie Walker and ‘Tree Sparrow’ by David Rayment.

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

2019_2020 competitions

 

It seems that every organisation concerned with work or play is littered with a plethora of acronyms.  The world of amateur club photography is no different and many of them are confusing.  Additionally, throughout the year Keswick Photographic Society (KPS) takes part in a number of external competitions at local, regional, national and international levels.

So, to kick off 2020 and ensure everyone of our members start the new year with 2020 vision Dr Tony Marsh our External Competitions Secretary took it upon himself to clear away the fog with his usual clinical precision and explain how each competition was managed.  I’m sure the readers of the Keswick Reminder will be quite relieved to know that I’m not going to explain in fine detail those extremely convoluted processes which only bored bureaucrats could dream up.  The processes and rules also differ for each competition seemingly to get tweaked on an annual basis for the sheer aggravation of it (and possibly in a vain attempt to stop Keswick winning!).  Suffice it to say that KPS consistently punches above its weight locally, regionally and internationally.

The Photographic Alliance of Great Britain (PAGB) is divided into a number of regions and Keswick is one of 49 affiliated clubs in the Northern Counties Photographic Federation (NCPF). The NCPF annual competition is made up of 20 categories, including such as Landscape prints, monochrome prints, natural history projected images, beginners etc., etc. for which all 49 clubs compete. Keswick Photographic Society won 9 of the 20 trophies on offer.  This was a remarkable achievement for such a small club. KPS won the club trophies for both colour prints and for projected digital images (PDIs).  Carol Minks, David Woodthorpe, Julie Walker, Tom Stenhouse, Tony Marsh, David Leighton and Deborah Tippett each won individual category trophies.  As the most successful club, this meant that KPS represented the northern counties in the national prints and projected images competitions where the best of the near 1000 clubs competed. We did not finish in the top ten but nevertheless performed creditably in such accomplished company.

On the international stage KPS has also excelled.  The Photographic Society of America (PSA) is open to every photographic society in the world, though clearly not all join.  We joined three years ago to compete in both the open league and in the natural history league and we were initially assigned to the third division.  After two promotions in two years we have now found ourselves competing in the premier division and even managed to achieve third place in the top division at the end of last season.

As well as providing the explanations, Tony showed some images from the national competitions so that we could all get a better understanding of the high standard of those clubs from around the country who are successfully competing at the highest level. Tony was thanked for putting in a great deal of work to produce what turned out to be a very revealing and educational evening.

The next meeting of Keswick Photographic Society is 22^nd January when Richard Speirs will judge members’ entries into our third open competition of the season.

David Woodthorpe