Good Evening All Before you all think I am getting forgetful now I am 60 we were out all today and quite late back from the North York’s Moors Railway Gala day with eleven trains running over the four days. There were also visiting trains Omaha, Pitchford Hall and Eddystone. We took the train from Pickering to Grosmont at the end of their line and worked our way back. There was a freight train running just to photograph but unfortunately it broke down causing a bit of chaos on the line, we were stuck at Levisham station for quite a while until plans were in place to get trains running again as people needed to get back to the station they left their cars. Last week at the club you watched the NEMPF DVD, I missed the night but it usually is a night of very high standard photography. For members who have entered this years NEMPF exhibition could you bring your money in this week if possible. This week at the club we have a Local competition, Local photos taken on a phone or compact camera judged by Chris Birchmore and Open judged by myself. The deadline for entries is midnight tonight. Regards Graham

At our meeting last the N&EMPF Exhibition PDI DVD was shown, this disc is in two parts with the accepted images into the Exhibition in the first part, and after the break the awarded images were shown in the second part. It was interesting that 60% of submitted images into the Exhibition are accepted, so members do stand a chance of an acceptance as Harry Kerman with his "Dahlia" image, and Dave Turner with his "Approaching Storm" have shown. There was a high proportion of sports images, track events from Loughborough University, some dramatic watersports images possibly some of the canoe / kayak were taken at the National Water Sports Centre, Nottingham. The wildlife images shown were simply stunning, various birds of prey, kingfishers, dippers, as well as more commonly seen birds, the swan image by a young photographer was singled out for an award, as the exposure and composition were handled exceptionally well. Fewer landscapes were accepted into the Exhibition this year, however there were several beautiful portraits being shown. When viewing the Exhibition disc do you think "I don't stand a chance of an acceptance?", or, "I'm encouraged to improve my photography, and enter next year?". Personally I was encouraged to improve my skills in portraiture, do more studio work, and improve the lighting on my models.

Richard Hildred is an accomplished photographer, and is a member of the Louth Photographic Society. Why not pop along, and see some of his work?

Good Evening All, It seems I was right after some of our summer outings to nature reserves this year that there seemed to be a lack of butterflies, apparently and worryingly numbers were down statistically by50% this year. Last week at the club we held a PDI (Projected Digital Image) competition, with the categories of "Panoramic Landscapes" and "Open" judged by Bob Mould. It was a very good evening with some very high standard photography on show. All the results and a blog on the evening are on our website but very well done to Paul Gray for his panoramic evening photograph of Bridge to Tromso which won the subject, and Derek Smith who won the open section with his lollipop girl portrayal. This week, Wednesday 25th September, I won't be there but I have left the N&EMPF DVD featuring the 2024 N&EMPF exhibition of PDI’s, these images are of a very high standard and show the best photography from Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, some of Leicestershire and Lincolnshire, you may spot some of our members photographs in the exhibition. Regards Graham

A PDI competition was held last night with the categories of “panoramic”, and “open”. The judge for the evening was Bob Mould, who confessed that he was inexperienced at judging, but in my view he carried out the task in a competent, and professional manner. Bob had been supplied with the competition images before the event, and had written notes on every image submitted, the evening began with the judging of the “open” category which is a difficult subject for any judge, because of the mix of subject matter. How do you compare a record shot, with a stunning monochrome, a portrait, or a landscape? Bob handled this very well with a light hearted critique of each image. Following the break Bob began judging the “panoramic” category, the definition of a panoramic image in his opinion was that the image should be in a 2:1 ratio, twice as wide as the height, which I had never considered before. One of the composition errors that Bob pointed out was an imbalance in the image, with large trees, or rocks being predominant on one side of an image. Some of the submitted images, whilst of a high standard were not in a panoramic format and lost marks accordingly. This was a very successful evening, the panoramic category was a first for the club and it was fascinating to see the different interpretations presented. There was a very high standard of submissions to this competition, and Bob’s assessment of each image will have helped many members with composition tips. Thank you Bob for a practical, informative, and engaging evening.

Good morning All Last week we started back at the club after the summer break with mini lectures, show us what you have been up to over the summer. Looks like some of you did quite a lot of travelling and some members had been to more local events, we had a varied evening with some excellent photography. Thank you to all those who took part. This week, Wednesday 18th September, we are holding a PDI competition, Panoramic Landscapes and Open judged by Bob Croft of Dunholme. The following week we are showing the NEMPF exhibition DVD. Regards Graham

It was our first meeting following our summer break, it felt good to be back. Members were asked to give a short talk, with photos from their activities during the summer. The evening was a fascinating visual treat, everything from planes, trains, automobiles, a music festival, and travel photos from Scotland, via France to the Mediterranean. A big thank you to the seven members who gave us a glimpse of their summer meanderings, which made for a thoroughly entertaining evening.

Good Morning All Binbrook held it’s annual scarecrow day yesterday, we had a walk round later in the day, and there were around thirty scarecrows in the village to marvel at. This week, Wednesday 11th September, at the club we a holding a series of mini lectures by members. I had a very good response and will limit it to the first seven, if you can keep it to no more than 15 minutes please to allow all seven a chance. Our speakers in this order are, Harry Kerman, Paul Gray, Derek Smith, Dave Turner. After the break time, Paul Twomeys, Peter Cory and Keith Rossington. The following week a PDI competition will be held, with the categories of: "Panoramic Landscapes" and "Open", please send your entries to Harry by midnight this Wednesday. We have a new judge for the evening, Bob Croft of Dunholme, who has kindly stepped in due to Martin Joy not being able to judge at the moment. Remember a max of three in each subject with an (R) after one of them in case we have too many entries, max size is as usual 1920px x 1200px. Just a reminder that on 2nd October we are holding a local competition with photographs taken on a compact camera or mobile phone. We will need one or two judges for that one if any member fancies having a go. Regards Graham

The rise of smartphones with the associated improved cameras, and computer aided photography leads to many people asking “do I need a digital camera?” For the majority of people the answer is simply “no”. The smartphone is just so ubiquitous, in everyone’s pocket or handbag, ready to take an image at the click of a button. Even at weddings, social occasions, and events the smartphone is ever present clicking away, and for most people the resolution of the image is perfectly acceptable, especially for social media where these images are frequently used, and shared. However, for those of us, a somewhat diminishing breed of photographers now, a digital camera is an essential tool to capture the very best images, yes it does require learning and acquiring the skills needed to obtain the very best from the camera, but when that stunning image is captured there’s a deep satisfaction in capturing an image that is just not possible with the smartphone. Here's a selection of images that demonstrate what can be achieved with a digital camera, a ladybird on foliage, and a gannet rising out of the sea with a fish in it’s mouth. For comparison this is a photograph taken on the Embsay and Bolton Abbey heritage railway, the locomotive is pictured first with a smartphone pointing into low sun, and the flaring makes this image almost unusable, whereas this image of the locomotive taken shortly after on a digital camera is more controlled and usable. The Louth Photographic Society reopens after the summer break on Wednesday evening 11th September at 19:30, members of the Society will be giving short illustrated talks titled “What you did over the summer”. Come along and see what we do, our Society is a friendly group enjoying photography.