Lacock Positive: 2022

15 DECEMBER 2022

Despite the plummeting temperatures outside, a good social evening was had by all who attended. There were plenty of snacks to enjoy during the halftime break so a big thanks to Jean and Rose for their food preparations and also to those members who brought in additional contributions.

The meeting included a brief introduction to photobooks by member Julia Lloyds-Parks, plus a look at those books that members had made and brought in to show others. There are quite a few publishers of such books now with a variety of formats and papers to choose from but the ease of compilation remains very important.

Images taken during November provided plenty of points for discussion whether taken near or far, inside or out....

Happy Christmas everyone!

Next Meeting: 5 January 2023: A presentation on focussing and images from December and for the letter C

1 DECEMBER 2022

Philip Male opened the meeting with a great presentation on his way of photographing birds in flight, a 'way' that many members would like to replicate! Philip looked back through his images over the past twenty years to show the development of his technical prowess to reach the excellent standard he achieves today. It was also a story of all the cameras he has owned!! Philip delights in the capabilities of his latest mirrorless camera with its eye tracking capabilities and he shared his target list of birds and shots he still aims to achieve.

In the second half of the meeting members viewed and critiqued images that had been posted for the October shot of the month challenge. Captures reflected both the array of autumn colours seen and the unusually still and warm weather experienced.

Next Meeting: December 15: Members' Photobooks, November images and a Social :)

17 NOVEMBER 2022

John Chamberlain, a long-standing member of Bristol Photographic Society, delivered an entertaining illustrated talk to members about his many, many travels to places near and far over the years. His destinations have included repeat trips to Africa (incl Namibia), North America (New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, the Palouse region, Oregon, Florida), Japan, Italy (esp Tuscany) plus Svalbard and South Georgia! John also included images from nearer home (incl North Devon, Gloucestershire and Uist) to show his photographic range as being 'Big Landscapes and Small Details' plus wildlife and monochrome for good measure. Happy travelling for all!

Next meeting: December 1: to include members talking about focussing, birds in flight and showing images from October and November

3 NOVEMBER 2022

We all enjoyed a very good speaker last night: Steve Varman. During his talk he showed examples of his work in a wide range of genres including infrared, street, still life, ICM (intentional camera movement) and composites. An expert in Photoshop through his day-to-day design work, Steve talked through his creative processes and shared tips on 'how to' for some of his studio set-ups and composite images. We were impressed but so have been judges in various international competitions in recent years! Check out Steve's website:
https://stevevarman.co.uk

Next meeting: John Chamberlin will be showing images of people, animals and landscapes from around the world

20 OCTOBER 2022

Every now and then we have a Critique Session whereby we all bring in a few images in whatever form is the most convenient (e.g. print, iPad, memory stick) and share these with others. In tables of four we look at the images together and offer feedback and advice to each other to help improve our photography. From the laughter heard it is also quite a lot of fun!

Next meeting: A presentation by Steve Varman (https://stevevarman.co.uk/about/)

6 OCTOBER 2022

An evening where we enjoyed a great mixture of members' contributions - a couple of earlier shoots, September images and a learning session.

Julia started off the meeting by giving a presentation on multiple-exposure in-camera based on her experiences with Canon cameras, advising members to check the availability of this facility on other camera brands. She illustrated the process with a number of both successful and experimental images from her own collection and encouraged others to have fun and enjoy the surprises that can sometimes result from this technique. (Note: this presentation will be added to the Club's collection of shared learning material).

We had time to catch up with a couple of Club shoots from earlier in the year. Back in July, a walk around public access gardens in Marlborough gave participants a number of surprises - quiet parks, a flower-filled lane, a community allotment and a sizeable Victorian cemetery that is left unmown to encourage wildlife and wildflowers.

Our second catch-up shoot was the one to Brown's (or Browne's) Folly, near Monkton Farleigh, which took place on a hot, bright August evening. We found a strange mix of views across Bath, slopes of wildflowers, quarries, steep drops, a stone folly and goats!

We had a terrific range of images from members' experiences in September covering wildlife, landscape, urban and creative photography. A small selection of those critiqued is shown below.

NEXT MEETING: Small table critique session of members' images

22 SEPTEMBER 2022

The evening began with an Extraordinary General Meeting and a discussion amongst members present about a proposed change to the Club's constitution. The amendment, considering the length of service in certain Club posts, was narrowly approved and will be effective from next summer.

Member Danny Wootton then took us on a learning curve with a presentation about Composition as applied to landscapes. A review of composition 'rules' led to a discussion about the importance of thinking where to put the subject and inevitably consideration of when to break the 'rules'. We all agreed that there is no one right or wrong way, but maybe we might consider the 'rules' before having confidence to pursue our own vision of how an image should look.

We concluded the meeting with a look at subjects beginning with the letter B, open to any interpretation. It was good to see newer members posting plenty of images! The session was run as a critique session with feedback and suggestions from members. All good fun and a few images discussed shown below.

NEXT MEETING: 6 October: Member's presentation of Multiple Exposure in-camera, plus reviews of two Summer shoots and images taken in September

8 SEPTEMBER 2022

It was good to start up the face-to-face Club meetings once again, albeit just after the sad announcement of the passing of Queen Elizabeth II. We had plenty to catch up with: friends old and new, plus plenty of images to see! We were also very happy to welcome several new members.

After an initial overview of the forthcoming Club year and a reminder about how to critique, including our own images, from David Sage (Chair), Julia Lloyds-Parks took us far away to Namibia, showing some of her images from her trip earlier this year. Capturing shots of wildlife (large & very small) and the landscapes (including the amazing dunes), Julia used both conventional and impressionistic techniques to illustrate her excellent experience.

All above images © Julia Lloyd-Parks 2022

The first Club challenge we reviewed was entitled 'My Best Picture of Summer'.

Wakeboarding © Philip Male 2022

Bumble Bee on Alstroemeria © Roger Parry 2022

Squirrel © Julia Lloyd-Parks 2022

During the summer break three outside shoots were arranged, The first of these was to Morgan's Hill, near Calne, which is a Site of Special Scientific Interest managed by Wiltshire Wildlife Trust. The evening we had chosen was very windy but the light from the setting sun was magical.

Sun and Wind © Keith Clover 2022

Small Skipper © Sue Power 2022

David had set a rolling challenge of subjects or ideas beginning with a letter from the alphabet. We began naturally enough with 'A', open to anything anybody was inspired to fit in with that letter - interesting interpretations of course!

Ancient Door with Angels @ Rose Porfirio 2022

NEXT MEETING: 22 September, includes EGM

MEETING 30.06.22

Lacock Positive held their AGM and discussed plans for the forthcoming Club year.

The next meeting at the Manor Room, Lacock, will be on Thursday 8 September from 7pm. A number of outside shoots have been arranged during the summer break.

Any enquiries please contact david.sagephotography@gmail.com

MEETING 16.06.22

Pete Shaw kicked the evening off with a detailed look at Photographic Exposure. With the advent of a new generation of mirrorless cameras he advised that we need to be aware of the factors which could influence the final exposure of our chosen subject. A useful discussion followed which could help us think more deeply before pressing the button.

Our review of images taken in the previous month of May followed which showed how widely our members' interests spread. We are blessed with members who take fine images of nature, landscape and travel, and we also have those who prefer 'planes, trains, people and architecture! A great mix of approaches from which we each benefit.

The final part of the evening looked at images mostly taken on a shoot at NT Holt way back in March, a day of surprisingly bright sunshine and breezes. Some dusted off their macro lens, most experimented with depth of field, while some spent time observing the wildlife!

NEXT MEETING

The AGM which includes a discussion of the programme for 2022-2023 and images taken for the Platinum Jubilee celebrations. Do come and join in the fun!

ABOUT US

Lacock Positive, formed in 2009, is for anyone with a keen interest in photography irrespective of skill level and camera type.

The Club meets 7pm - 9pm fortnightly on Thursdays from September to June in the Manor Room, Lacock (adjacent to the Village Hall) for a varied programme of activities. We also arrange outside shoots throughout the year. In addition the Club holds an annual exhibition and manages its own Flickr and YouTube sites.

Lacock Positive is a friendly, non-competitive club and we are happy to help each other to fulfil personal photographic aspirations.

If you would like to join us at a Club meeting, please contact julialp@hotmail.co.uk