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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