Louth Photographic Society
Good Morning All Last week at the club we held our PDI competition for March, with the categories of "Including the Moon" and "Open" judged by Mike Bennett. It was a very good night with some excellent photographs entered in the competitions, especially the Open. There were three twenty points awarded out of twenty photographs in each subject, Tony Gaskins had a very good night winning both the subject and the Open. All the results are on our website under competitions. The NEMPF PDI Inter - club competition went ahead recently, not so many clubs entered this year, I think there were only three LPA clubs who had entered, Louth came 11th, I'll leave it there. Thank you to Harry for organising our entry. This week, Wednesday 26th March it is a committee meeting for committee members only to attend. To keep you busy though you could prepare your prints for the next print competition, with the categories of "Curves" and "Open". Regards Graham
At our meeting last night we held our Projected Digital Image (PDI) competition with the categories of "Including the Moon", and "Open". The judge for the evening was Mike Bennett. Mike skillfully judged the 33 submitted entries in the "Open" category, providing excellent feedback on the various images. After the break Mike appraised the 18 images in the "Including the Moon" category, this had been a difficult subject for members to photograph, and was also challenging for the judge. Congratulations to Tony Gaskins for his first placements with "Moonbell, Mablethorpe" in the "Including the Moon" category, and "Dawn, Whitby" in the "Open" category. As is usual, the Competition page of the website has been updated with the top three placements in each category, and full results. Many thanks to Mike Bennett for judging the competition, and Dave Mann for providing the refreshments.
This morning I took my used OM Systems OM-1 camera, and the used Olympus M.Zuiko Digital 75-300mm, f/4.8 -f/6.7 lens, recently purchased for £249, with me for a photographic walk around the nature reserve at Gibraltar Point. The weather was excellent, and I'm pleased with the resulting images of the various birds to be seen. I believe the bird reflected drinking from the pool is a Common Chaffinch, and the other bird perched on a log appears to be a Dunnock.
One of our members, Richard Hildred is holding an Exhibition, and workshops in Fydell House, Boston, Lincolnshire. See attached posters for further details.
Good Morning All Last week at the club Dave Mann showed us what he had been photographing lately, Dave had been visiting Chesterfield, Devizes, Bath and Boston. Dave showed us photographs he had taken on his phone as well as his camera. There is a full report on our website. Thanks to Dave, and also to Derek for doing the door and Harvey for setting up for the break. This week, Wednesday 19th March, we are holding the monthly PDI competition, with the categories of "Including the Moon" and "Open". I found Including the moon quite a difficult subject so it will be interesting to see how other members tackled the subject. The judge for the evening is Mike Bennett. I mentioned the first two subjects for the new program and just to remind you here they are again, May, PDI competition, Seasons and Open and June , print competition, Britain's coastline and Open. Regards Graham
Dave Mann gave an excellent presentation of last years outings to Devizes, and Bath. Dave showed many photos around the town of Devizes, and the incredible engineering construction feat of 16 locks that form the steepest part of the Devizes flight at Caen Hill which is a scheduled ancient monument, Caen Hill (pronounced ‘cane'), is one of the longest continuous flight of locks in the country. With a total of 29 locks with a rise of 237 feet over two miles with a 1-in-44 gradient. In Bath, Dave showed many photos from around the city, and the stunning Pulteney Weir, featured in the released film of Les Misérables. Part of the scene where Inspector Javert commits suicide by jumping into the River Seine was filmed there in October 2012. Everyone knows of the famous Roman Baths in Bath, however Dave showed us photos of the less well known Cross Bath, all the thermal spa baths in Bath are fed by hot springs in Bath, from which the City derives its name. The springs are a wonderful, natural resource which deliver over one million litres of mineral-rich water every day, and uniquely in the UK, the mineral water is hot. Dave completed the evening with some more local photographs from Boston, Lincolnshire. Thank you Dave for a fascinating evening.
Good Morning All Last Sunday I went to Mablethorpe to watch and photograph the sand racing. It was a bright sunny day, perfect for photography with plenty of action. There is another meeting next Sunday. Last Wednesday at the club member Harry Kerman gave us an excellent talk on bird photography, Harry gave us technical and equipment advice as well as showing us over 100 of his photographs. There is a blog on the evening on our website. This week, Wednesday 12th March, it is the turn of member Dave Mann to show us what he has been photographing lately. Don't forget to send your PDI's for the next competition, with the categories of "Including The Moon" and "Open" to Harry by Midnight Friday. Regards Graham
At our meeting last night one of our members, Harry Kerman introduced us to his genre of choice, bird photography. Harry’s talk was educational, informative, and entertaining, he very obviously has invested time, and money into his bird photography. Harry brought along the three Canon cameras, and his collection of superzoom lenses for achieving the excellent images of birds that he captures. The images of bird photography that Harry has managed to capture were stunning, with rich colour, and detail in every image. Many thanks Harry for an excellent presentation.
Good Morning All Last Sunday four members including myself went to North Kyme to photograph the Taekwondo group that meets there and take some action shots. We all enjoyed our day and took plenty of photographs, some of which we will send to the Taekwondo group. Last week at the club, member Richard Hildred took us back in time to the early days of photography and showed us the Cyanotype process. It was a lot simpler than I had thought and the blue toned images we produced on the night using Richard's equipment were quite a surprise as most of us had not expected such an old process would produce such good images. There is a full report on our blog, and I have attached one of my Photographs. A big thank you to Richard for all his hard work putting the night together. At our meeting this week, Wednesday 5th March, member Harry Kerman will be showing us how he goes about photographing birds. Regards Graham
A workshop was held last night with Richard Hildred demonstrating the Cyanotype photographic printing process. The Cyanotype process is one of the earliest photographic techniques being originally developed by Sir John Herschel in 1842. It is best known for producing bright blue images, a result of its unique reaction with special chemicals. This process gained popularity for creating inexpensive and durable pictures, and it was famously used by the botanist Anna Atkins in 1843 to produce the very first photographic book ever published, featuring cyanotype images of algae and plants. Cyanotypes are often referred to as “blueprints” in architectural circles. At the start of the evening Richard presented a slide show appropriate to our level of understanding, giving a brief description of the history of the process, and the process technique. Richard tonight used Bockingford traditional watercolour paper, although any standard art paper can be utilised, the paper is hand brush coated with an equal mixture of Ferric Ammonium Citrate, and Potassium Ferricyanide ideally prepared beforehand and kept in a darkened container until needed. A photographic negative is placed over the coated paper and exposed to a timed ultraviolet source for exposure. After the timed ultraviolet exposure, the paper is removed and members were able to wash their images in a tray of tap water, the next tray contains a dilute Hydrogen Peroxide solution, two further washes of tap water later the paper is removed and dried off with paper towels to complete the process. A massive thankyou to Richard for his time, and expenditure to bring this workshop to members, it was an absorbing, and fascinating evening.
