Chairmans News Winter 2007
Yeovil Camera Club Chairman’s News Update Winter 2007
Foreword
In this my first update since May I have briefly covered the events of
The summer, the first few weeks of the current season and placed
rather more emphasis on the future where you will see that we are
about to enter what I hope will be a new and exciting phase of the
Club’s development. I urge you to read the section dealing with that
aspect (even if you bin the rest!) to avoid unnecessary disappointment.
Summer Programme
Despite the weather which threatened to wipe out the organiser’s efforts the overall event proved a great success. The President’s Barbecue drew 20 dedicated “Nibblers” including one member who, having read the programme without their glasses, turned up 6hrs late!! There was still enough food left for their needs!!
The New Season
This began with a “Bang” when 28 members came to the first meeting despite holiday absences. This rose to 33 by the third event and has settled at an average of 28.7 (Who is the 0.7, and do they get reduced membership costs?). Overall membership is 48 and there are still a few who are “Sampling the goods”, a healthy state of affairs.
In external competitions we have acquitted ourselves well despite the usual diversity of judges views.
Bradford Abbas Shield
We were second to Wincanton in a very close scrap. Only 1 point separated the two teams.
Wessex Colour Cup
In fourth place out of eight we were just 3 points adrift of the “Podium” with 68.5 points behind Wareham 70.5; Bridport 72 and Dorchester 74.5. Yet more impressive still were the marks of Ahmed’s Mayfly and Norman’s Candlelight at 10/10 and Mike’s Nubian Girl at 9/10 with the judge dithering over 9.5/10 for this one!
John converted the digital files to slides for some of our entries and there was no discernable loss of quality. Thanks John.
The Battle of Sedgemoor
As holders of the trophy we had a tough time against Mid Somerset and Sydenham. Sydenham were runaway winners, we were only two points behind Mid Somerset but still third. Our slides had too much to do to pull back the deficit in the print section. Revenge is available next year so prepare your prints! The projected images will be digital for the next couple of years followed by a review of entries.
It provided a fascinating insight into judging. Mayfly again scored a full 20/20 but candlelight was down to 12 and Nubian Girl to 10.Let’s see what the WCPF DPI panel of judges say in Feb.!!
After 2mins heavy criticism the print of “Riff’s Country” (Sand Dunes) was classed as “Namibia ,which we’ve all seen, not red enough, wrong time of the day (Tour operator’s fault) and with digital in photo shop the shadows could have been improved “ It was actually Morocco, Kodachrome, too red and time dictated by availability of hire car!! Still it received 14/20 so I can’t complain.
Our Internal Competitions have been well supported causing judge fatigue due to long evenings!! It is still better to have this problem than too few!
The showing of slides along side DPI s has worked pretty well thanks to Mark’s efforts. We are still learning.
Future Events.
Immediate matters are covered in your programme. If you don’t have a copy contact Eric.
External Competition now hinges on the WCPF DPIC to be held in February. We need 25 “Crackers” for the entry so get clicking ( Oh I forgot Digital cameras are very quiet!). Slides can be accepted and digitized as we did last year.
Club Development
Now that we have initially digested the Digital projection equipment it is time to expand our training activities.
Last year we introduced the idea of “Helping Hands” for our members and a copy of the notes of this initiative are attached for new members and for those who had forgotten, mislaid their copy or never received one!
This year two additional features are being developed. They are :-
Member Led Workshops
The organization of these is entirely in the hands of the members themselves although the committee will help facilitate them as necessary by arranging use of the Barn Club and YCC equipment, but not by providing funding. The specifics are as follows;-
Audio Visual discussions led by David and Mike and they can be contacted directly at home or on club nights.
Photoshop Workshops led by Keith. His notes are also attached.
Close Up Photography Richard will handle this specifically in addition to his “Helping Hand” role.
Previous page: News
Next page: Competitions Results