Tag Archives: photography

Kendal v Morecambe Annual Photo Battle 2023

This year the battle was held at Morecambe Camera Club. Thirteen Kendal members made the journey to Heysham Library for the event.

Each club submitted 30 images divided into 3 categories Open Colour, Open Mono and Nature. The competition was expertly judged by David Gibbins of Beeston Camera Club.

First Round was Open Mono and was a close competition, with three images for Morecambe and three images for Kendal held into the final judging. Both clubs achieved an 18 ,19 and 20. Kendal’s winning images are below.

  • Egg Heads 20
  • Airborne Attack 19
  • Lake Manyara 18

The total scores in the Mono round placed Morecambe in the lead with 168 points to Kendal and 172 to Morecambe.

The Second Round to be judged was Nature. David had a very difficult task as the standard of the images was outstanding. This was reflected in 10 images being held to final judging with five from Kendal and five from Morecambe.

Kendal’s Leading images were:

  • Dalmatian Pelican and Fish         20     
  • Arctic Dreams 19        
  • Brown Pelican     19        
  • Barn Owl         18        
  • Dalmatian Pelicans Feeding 18

The round was extremely close with the Kendal achieving 178 points to Morecambe’s 173.

After a well organised coffee and tea break with good biscuits and a raffle, it was the final deciding Colour Round.

The standard of images was again very high with David holding 7 Images into the final judging. Kendal was doing well with 6 of the 7 images held and it was all looking very good for a possible overall win.

Kendal’s images achieved;

  • Wintering         20        
  • By dawn’s early light         19        
  • The Horse Box 19        
  • Hot Dog         18        
  • Trees framed         18        
  • Rocky staircase         18     

These strong images gave Kendal a Colour Round score of 176 points to Morecambe’s 163 .

The overall win went to Kendal with a total score of 522 to 508.

A big thank you goes to David Gibbins for his time in providing considered comments on the images and for judging the competition. A thank you also to Morecambe Camera Club for their warm welcome and hospitality.

Morecambe Club have also provided a link to a zoom video of the evening which can be accessed for a week. The link is in the members area of the website along with the full score sheets for the event.

Thanks to all members who attended Morecambe, it was a very enjoyable evening.

Next week it is the final Club Open Print Competition of the season. This will NOT be zoomed and members are asked to bring their prints on the night to the hall. The Judge is Phil Hodson of Poulton le Fylde.

Members are also reminded that entries for the next and Final PDI competition of the 22-23 season are due in by Wednesday to Dave .

Talk by Linda Bembridge

Abstract with a bit of Landscape’

On Wednesday 18th Jan 2023, we had a guest speaker, Linda Bembridge who gave a very enjoyable talk on her specific styles of photography.

Linda takes an image and works it in different ways, adding colours, gold painted layers and texture.  Linda takes the same image and changes the perspective, rotates the image changes the colours.  She produces several individual images from one original raw file.  She never duplicates an image or runs off more than one print.

Linda also makes panels from her images, we normally think of a panel of three images mainly landscape.  Linda makes all her images in the panels square by squashing up the image.  A panel may consist of anything from two images to twenty images all square format, all linked in some way by colour or pattern.

Linda has written a book detailing her photographic journey called “Belief”.

During her talk Linda asked us to think of one word to describe our photography. Several words were running through my mind, that I need to input into my photography workflow, “organised” “productive”, “profitable”,” focused” (in more ways than one). Maybe focussed is the word I need at the moment.

Linda’s talk was enjoyed by members and we would like to say a Big Thank You.

Linda’s website is https://www.lindabembridge.me/gallery/

This weeks Guest Blogger was Ann Dallaway. Guest bloggers are always welcome, let the webmaster know if you wish to write a blog.

Next week is competition night and Kylie Martin is our judge for the evening. The topic is ‘Trees’. As always join us on Zoom or at Castle Street. Visitors always welcome.

Repairing Old Photographs with Photoshop

November 23rd saw a return visit to the club of Richard O’Brien. Richard previously shared a zoom presentation earlier in the season on architectural photography.

Richard’s return visit provided an informative evening on repairing and recolouring photograph.

Richard demonstrated how he repairs old family photographs using tools within photoshop. The techniques used and the tips provided will be equally relevant to many photograph editing situations.

Richard’s clear communication style and wealth of photoshop knowledge was appreciated by members.

Richard has again provided pdf notes of his talk, which I am sure members will return to as they try out some of the techniques demonstrated. The pdf is available in the Members Protected Area of the website.

Richard’s work can be seen on his website http://www.richobphoto.co.uk/.

Once again, a big ‘thank you’ goes to Richard for an informative and enjoyable evening and hopefully we will see another return visit in the future.

Competition Time

Next week is a print competition. (Not available on Zoom).

Please bring your mounted print images on the night. Two colour and two mono images will be judged by Harry Emmett CPAGB.

PDI images on the ‘Sports’ theme need to be with the PDI Competition Secretary by Wednesday 23rd November.

‘My Journey in photography so far’ by Kylie-Ann Martin

On Wednesday the 2nd November we were joined via zoom by our guest speaker Kylie Martin with her talk “My Journey In Photography….So Far”

Kylie took us on her photographic journey from her first image in 2006/7 upto the present day, below is just a small selection of her images.

Despite barriers due to health restrictions, which have impacted on her photography Kylie-Ann has earnt a number of distinctions, EFIAP, BPE 2 and LDPS.

The talk was well attended in the hall and via zoom with Kylie-Ann sharing her images which contributed to all the exhibition acceptances and some of the stories behind them.

Kylie-Ann explained some of the techniques behind how she created one of the award winning images and ended the evening sharing her CPAGB panel.

Despite a few technical issues in the hall we all enjoyed a very eclectic mixture of photographs and no doubt some of us will be trying out some of the techniques in the near future. A big thank you to Kylie Ann for a very enjoyable evening.

Wednesday 9th November

Next week we will have our 2nd Monthly PDI competition with a subject ‘Minamalistic’ which will be judged by Caroline Preece.

If you would like to join us as a guest cost £3.50 please follow the link below. https://kendalphotographyclub.co.uk/guest

Please note Ann Street will now be closed for up to four weeks

‘Wood’ by Daniel Bridge

On Wednesday 26th October we were joined by our guest speaker Daniel Bridge for his talk titled “Wood”

Daniel Bridge is a full-time professional photography tutor and nature photographer running photography workshops and provided private photography tuition helping around 300 people a year get more from their photography.

Daniel’s love of woodland inspired the talk, which was not only based around the plants and animals found within them but also the wood itself, either in its natural state, or used as a building material. Talking about the techniques employed, and the reasons for shooting,

Daniel showed us over 120 photos, covering macro, wildlife, abstracts and more, talking about the techniques employed, and the reasons for shooting them.

A big ‘thank you’ goes to Daniel for a very enjoyable evening which was enjoyed by members at the hall and via zoom.

Below is just a small selection of the images from the evening

Wednesday 2nd November

Print Competition: Open

It was great to see so may entries on display for the 1st print competition of the season. Members brought their mounted images to be judged live on the night by Nick Hilton, DPAGB EFIAP BPE5* from Southport Photography Club and being both a L&CPU and PAGB judge, Nick provided comprehensive feedback for all the images in addition to the scores. With print competitions not being available on zoom it was also fantastic to see so may people back at the Castle street venue on the evening.

We’ll start with Club mono where big congratulations go to Karen Carruthers who was awarded 20 points for ‘Metal Mane-ia’ Ann Bench coming a close second with 19 points for ‘The Larder is Stocked’. Congratulations to Ann Bench who became the overall winner with 36 points for her two images.

In the Club colour section, a big well done to Karen who scored her second 20 of the night with ‘Splash of red at Glenridding’. Second place went to Ann Bench scoring 19 with ‘Lake Peyto’. Martin Rowe’s ‘A View from my window’ was also held back and scored 17. Congratulations to Karen Carruthers who came first with 38 points for her two images.

On to the Advanced mono section, with a well deserved win for Bill Pickard with ‘Elterwater in mist’. Second place was awarded to Laurence Thurlow for ‘Scout Scar’, and third place was shared between two of Peter Kennedy’s images ‘Set of three’ and ‘Waiting for a signal’ which both scored 18. Bill and Peter shared the top spot with a total of 36 for both of their images.

Last but not least our Advanced colour section. Well done to Bill Pickard with ‘Arnside Promenade’, second place was shared between Peter Kennedy’s with ‘Male Banded Demoiselle’ and Phil Drayton with ‘Brimham Rocks while third place went to Bill Lowis with ‘Steaming through the Dales’. Bill Pickard took the lead scoring 37 with his two prints.

Next week we are being visited via Zoom by Derek Doar, with his talk entitled ‘More Shared Moments’. Guests are very welcome to join us either at the club or on Zoom – please see our membership page for prices and how to book. Look forward to seeing you all next Wednesday 😁.

Architecture, Exposure to Edit with Richard O’ Brien

On Wednesday 26th September we enjoyed a Zoom talk by Richard who shared his architectural photography with the club. Richard’s work can be seen on his website http://www.richobphoto.co.uk/.

In the first part of the evening we enjoyed images from around the world including public and religious buildings. Richard gave information on the equipment he used. He shared tips for capturing great images in camera.

During the second part of the evening Richard demonstrated live edits of two of his images using Lightroom and Photoshop. He shared his workflow and gave tips and tricks to improve efficiency when editing images.

A big ‘thank you’ goes to Richard for an informative and enjoyable evening.

Richard has provided pdf. notes of his talk, which are available in the Members Protected Area of the website.

Competition Time

Next week is our first competition of the season. Members, please bring your mounted print images on the night. Two colour and two mono images will be judged by Nick Hilton, DPAGB EFIAP BPE5*

Also remember PDI images for the first PDI competition must be email to the PDI Competition Secretary by Wednesday. kendalphotographyclub@gmail.com

An Evening of Audio Visual Sequences

On Wednesday night we were treated to our first talk of the year from an old friend of the club, Dave Bibby, CPAGB, EFIAP, BPE3* of North Fylde Club.

Parking and technological issues were an early feature of the evening but once these were overcome we had an enjoyable and interesting talk.

Dave guided us though his interest in audio visual production from his early use of slide projectors in the days before digital photography to the use of modern software. 

Royal Double slide projector

Dave shared how he creates his audio visual productions.   We had the pleasure of enjoying Dave’s images and his interest in a variety of musical genres which accompany his audio visual sequences.

A big thank you to Dave for a very enjoyable evening.

Next week we have a talk by Richard O’Brien entitled  “Exposure to Edit”.

New members are always welcome in person or via zoom.  Check out the website membership page if you are interested in attending.

2021-2022 Season Trophy Presentations

Last season the club ran a number of competitions which included the Annual Prints and PDI’ competitions, ‘The Cumbrian Trophy’ and Members’ Evening PDI competitions (scores of which are added together to give overall winners for the year),

Our first event of the season was to present the trophies and big congratulations go to the members outlined below 🏆

  • Best Colour Print – Gordon Mills
  • Best Monochrome Print – Bill Pickard
  • Best People/Portrait Print – Ann Bench
  • Best Nature Print – Gordon Mills
  • Best Open PDI – Jeff Bagnall
  • Best People/Portrait PDI – Jo Knight
  • Best Nature PDI – Gordon Mills
  • Best Monochrome PDI – Kim Rigg
  • Lakeland Trophy – Jeff Bagnall
  • Members Evening Club Monochrome – Kim Rigg
  • Members Evening Club Open PDI – Kim Rigg
  • Members Evening Advanced PDI – Dave Nelson
  • Members Evening Advanced Monochrome PDI – Dave Nelson

The second half of the evening ‘Program Secretary’ Jeff Bagnall inspired us with a short film on Minimalistic photography, a theme of one of this seasons Members Evening Competitions and Club Treasurer David Nelson gave us an entertaining demonstration and insight into drone photography. Great start to the season!

Summer Break

On 13th April we held our Annual Print competition for the first time in two years, having previously been unable to meet in person due to Covid restrictions. There were no leagues, with all members competing equally, and 4 categories: open colour, open monochrome, nature and people.

Due to the competition being for physical prints I sadly have no digital images to show you, but huge congratulations go to all our winners which were:

  • Open Mono
    Bill Pickard with ‘Maasai Warriors’
  • Open Colour
    Gordon Mills with ‘Sunset Klong Muang Beach’
  • Nature
    Gordon Mills with ‘Dalmatian Pelicans Lake Kerkin’
  • People & Portrait
    Ann Bench with ‘We Can All Be Different’

In addition, we hold an annual Lakeland Trophy competition which consists of a panel of 3 prints depicting Lakeland or Cumbria, and our 2022 winner was Jeff Bagnall with ‘Wansfell ponies’ – well done Jeff!

Our season has now finished and we are embarking on a summer break. Although formal meetings won’t be taking place, Club members will be meeting regularly in small, informal groups for days out and details can be found on our private Photoshoots Facebook page.

Our 2022/23 season starts in September. Details of the new programme will be available on the programme page of our website shortly. In the meantime, we hope you all have a wonderful summer – fingers crossed the weather will be kind and we can get out and about with our cameras!