Blog

 

On Wednesday 15th  September members enjoyed three different presentations.

The Chairman, David Woodthorpe, opened the evening with a presentation explaining the complexities of the annual PAGB (Photographic Alliance of Great Britain) Inter-Club Projected Digital Image Championship. As winners of the NCPF Club Championships, Keswick Photographic Society was selected to represent the Northern Counties in the National Championships. Success in rounds one and two carried Keswick into the final round where they achieved 6th place overall. Another fantastic achievement for Keswick. Judges selected ‘White-tailed Eagle Patrolling Forest’ by Ronnie Gilbert for a Silver Medal Award.

 

‘Taking Pictures of the Milky Way’ was presented by Richard Jakobson. His images are absolutely stunning! He captures not only the wonder of the sky at night but includes foreground detail to create spectacular landscapes.

 

Images were shown from Buttermere, Hard Knott, Crummock Water, Ennerdale, Stonehenge, Portugal and Namibia. Richard demonstrated how the galactic core becomes more visible as you travel further South.

 

The need for rigorous planning was stressed and details of Apps and Software that support planning were shared. The time of year, phases of the moon and weather conditions all need to be considered.

 

A tripod is an essential piece of kit, a wide fast lens if possible, and at a basic level a head torch with red lamp, warm spare batteries and several layers of thermal clothing! Finally we learned about processing and stacking and merging multiple images. Richard is leading an Astrophotography group for any club members who would like to learn more about this aspect of photography.

Finally Simon Roberts demonstrated his enthusiasm and expertise in Wildlife photography through a wide range of impressive images taken in locations across the world including India, Svalbard, South Africa, Finland, Norway and closer to home Wales and the Scottish Highlands.

 

Simon’s narrative was both informative and really interesting thanks to his stories along the way. Being at risk of becoming stuck in sea ice and dangling cameras attached to monopods over the side of ships are two that come to mind!

 

Simon left us with some key ethical questions around the welfare of both the animals and the bait that is used to attract them in locations that are specifically set up for photographers.

 

Keswick Photographic Society welcomes beginners and expert photographers, as new members, or guests, to their meetings. Due to COVID live meetings are restricted to members only for the time being. However, meetings are also being broadcast via Zoom and guests may join these. 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.

Sue Rugg

 

This week’s meeting was the second of the new season. Our speaker was David Garthwaite, a fine art photographer from Leeds. His speciality is architecture but he photographs landscapes and does some portraiture work as well. The talk was given via Zoom and most members watched from the comfort of their own homes, but some chose to attend our normal venue, the Friends Meeting House, where we watched via a laptop linked to the television screen.

David began by showing a short video of some of his monochrome images. These included several of the stunning City of Arts and Sciences in Valencia designed by Santiago Calatrava.

Some, taken closer to home, were of the Roker Pier and Berwick Lighthouse. There were images too from London, including an image of The Shard.

 

There were also images from the Netherlands.

 

David researches his locations thoroughly before travelling. Once on site he spends time viewing his subject from every angle and then he decides on the best composition. All this before even taking his camera out of the bag.

 

Unlike many photographers he prefers to shoot on dull, overcast days as this does not create strong shadows and provides a flat image that he can add his own shading too as he sees fit. On bright days he waits until the sun disappears behind a cloud. Sometimes he also uses long exposures to eliminate distractions such as people or vehicles moving through the scene.

David’s distinctive style is largely due to his meticulous approach to processing his images using Photoshop and other software and most of his talk comprised a master class in this.

 

He can spend hours processing one image and he employs such techniques as replacing skies and selectively lightening and darkening parts of the image. While many other photographers also employ such techniques David goes to great lengths to ensure that these changes are employed gradually to ensure they look natural.

 

It was a very informative and enjoyable evening although many of us will need to watch the recording of this meeting several times before mastering his approach.

Keswick Photographic Society’s welcome both beginners and expert photographers, either as new members, or as guests, to their meetings. Due to the COVID pandemic live meetings are restricted to members only for the time being. However, meetings are also being broadcast via Zoom and guests may join these. 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.