On Tuesday 27th October, Jeanette Lendon gave us a presentation over Zoom entitled Smartphone Photography. This was very much a session for those who want to do more than take selfies and pictures of their food. Indeed she showed us images detailing how she uses her smart phone for corporate and commercial assignment as well as for her own pleasure.
Initially a primary school teacher, Jeanette retrained as a photographer in the early noughties and spent 13 years doing corporate and commercial work, initially using a DSLR. In 2015, when the iPhone 6 was released and she saw advertising billboards with images taken with it, she reassessed her views on phone cameras and started using hers more and more. Having seen Lara Jade’s images on the Cheap Camera Challenge (DigitalRev TV) and David Loftus showing food photographs taken with a smart phone, she attended an exhibition at Waddesdon Manor where Nick Knight was presenting smartphone images taken in his rose garden. She entered 2020 Rankin on Sky Arts and was short listed for both the show and Rankin’s book. And she entered the Urban Photo Race and came 3rd despite being the only photographer using a smartphone.
So, Jeanette started by showing us how to control exposures when using the camera’s phone app by touching the screen and moving her finger up or down. She repeatedly came back to this technique, saying that reducing the exposure helps to bring out colours in the image.
For close-ups, she recommended slowly bringing the camera closer to the subject and letting the camera work out the focus. Example images of this technique included a spider, a moth, fungus and a snail. For the snail, she had turned the camera upside down and rested it on the ground to get to the same level as the snail’s head. She also mentioned that clip-on lenses can be purchased very cheaply which can be used to get extreme close-ups, as in her image of a snowflake.
Jeanette showed us several wonderful images of reflections taken around London and shared her technique with us. She recommended finding some water, such as a river or puddle, or make your own puddle from your water bottle! Turn your camera upside down and rest it on the water, compose your image and shoot. One great reflection image of St Pancras station (right) was taken using this technique but on a shiny black cafe table top instead of water. She also showed us a vertical reflection taken by placing her camera against a window.
To take a long exposure, Jeanette suggested switching on “live” which will take a 2 sec video which can be used for various effects. Having kept still for 2 seconds to take the picture, swipe up on the image to view the effects and go to the end to view the “long exposure”. She illustrated the outcome showing a shot of a water feature in London.
At the end of her presentation, Jeanette showed us a series of images that she called London Lockdown. These included empty trains and stations, a closed skate park on the South Bank, deserted streets including Westminster Bridge, The Strand and Trafalgar Square, and Covent Garden and the Millennium Bridge without a soul in sight.
To round off the evening, Jeanette did a live demonstration of how to edit smartphone images using the Snapseed app which was eagerly followed and raised a number of questions.
After a further question and answer discussion, our Chairman, Steve, thanked Jeanette for a very entertaining and informative evening and there was general agreement and applause from the audience. DF

Ralph Snook ARPS DPAGB EFIAP/b was welcomed back to the club where he has judged competitions many times before. Ralph said he always looked forward to seeing all the nature entries as the standard was always very high. This makes it difficult for him to judge as he has to make tough decisions and leave many excellent images out of the awards.
There were 62 entries from all 3 competition sections so well done to all especially those in the Beginners section. The print section of the Annual Nature competition could not be held this year so members could send in 4 digital entries instead of the usual 3. 
 Ralph gave his usual helpful comments to point out the good and bad points in each image. Focus is extremely important for nature subjects and in some cases Ralph pointed out where a wing on a flying bird or insect was not quite in focus. Nature photography is difficult anyway so there is usually not much time to check everything at the time! Over sharpening and noise in the background were other issues that marked images down. Ralph said that some entries were ‘pictorial’ and would have done better in an Open competition as he was judging mostly on the nature content.
After giving his comments and holding 19 images back he finally gave the results.

Not surprisingly first place went to ‘Sidewinder Adder’ by Robert Harvey ARPS EFIAP and Ralph commented it was an excellent image and he had already awarded it a gold medal in another competition. The limited tonal range perfectly camouflaged the snake in the desert sand with the eyes in sharp focus. Robert also gained 3rd place with a sharp macro image titled ‘Tortoise Shieldbugs’ - the colours were good with a muted background. Well done also to Robert for Highly Commended’s for ‘Barn Owl in Flight’ and a different version of his ‘Verreaux’s Sifaka’.
A delightful image by David Wilkinson was awarded second place. The judge said the colours in ‘Brown Hare sitting in Stubble’ blended perfectly and it was an excellent capture. David also was awarded 2 HC’s for images featuring an emperor dragonfly and great - spotted woodpeckers.
The judge awarded Tim Tapley 3 HC’s for his well taken close up’s of insects and Martin Stokes impressed with his Black-backed Gull and Puffin both taken on Skomer.
Insects were the chosen subjects of Sue Wadman’s 2 awarded images as was the Peacock butterfly by David Fraser. A hare was the subject in David Eagle’s image and a roe deer by Richard Atkinson being all awarded HC’s. The only wild flower to win an award was an unusual view of a Burnt Tip Orchid by Dave Gray. The close up of a young goldfinch by David Evans completed the list of the 16 images awarded an HC.
Many congratulations to all and thanks to all those who entered.

Club Chairman Steve Hardman thanked Ralph for his judging and for giving such helpful comments. Steve said he was blown away by the quality of the entries and the club was lucky to have such talented photoraphers.
Thanks to Competition Secretary David Eagle for organising the entries and for running the evening using Zoom. PM

Full list of results      All the awarded images can be seen in the Galleries.          Members can log in to see the 20-21 points tables

Club members and visitors were enthralled by the presentation by fellow member Robert Harvey  BA ARPS EFIAP MCIWEM CSci CEnv. which was based on his latest book ‘Photographing Wiltshire.’
Robert was commissioned by the publishing company ‘fotoVue’ to write and illustrate the Wiltshire edition of the series of books which give information on the photographic opportunities to be found in the county. Lavishly illustrated with over 500 superb images with all the technical information and details of location make this book a must for photographers who live in or are visiting the area.
Robert said that he started researching the county when he moved here 20 years ago. The rolling chalk hills, meandering river valleys, ancient woodlands, quaint villages and of course the wealth of ancient monuments all gave him endless photographic opportunities. From well-known attractions such as Stonehenge and Avebury to little known gems that Robert has himself discovered.
Robert has researched in great depth the geology, history and natural history of the county. The wealth of natural habitats gives endless photographic possibilities with some of the best bluebell woods in the country to rare snakeshead fritillaries, impressive fields of poppies, chalk downland flowers and wildflower meadows. A wide variety of flora and fauna can be found in the counties diverse habitats.
From ancient tracks to modern roads, canals, rivers and the railway have all been explored by Robert giving us new ideas. The wealth of interesting villages and towns make the county a haven for photography. The county has so many quirky features such as the chalk cut horses, the unusual follies and monuments and even the crop circles that the county is famous for!
The book is full of comprehensive information on how to find the best viewpoints, the best time of day, the best season and even the best days to take the most impressive photographs. In one instance there are only two short periods in a year when the rising sun lines up with the Caen hill flight of locks so photographers taking his advice, get to the exact spot to take the image.
Robert advises making use of frost, snow or mist to enhance the landmarks, look out for interesting skies to add interest to a landscape. Using night skies can give a different take on familiar structures and buildings.
What a wonderful county we have with such inspirational locations – whether its grand country houses and gardens, churches and monastic buildings or the wider landscapes with the hilltop beech clumps and ancient monuments. Robert’s images make us realise why he loves his adopted county so much!
Summing up, the club chairman Steve Hardman said what an astonishing amount of detail was in the book and it makes one want to go out and explore more of the county.
Thanks to Robert for giving us such an entertaining, inspiring and thought provoking evening. PM
See the website to obtain your copy of Robert's book.
Images © Robert Harvey

The club was delighted to welcome Sue Morris who is a professional photographer from Hampshire. Sue explained to members using Zoom, that to pay the bills she photographs weddings and portraits but her real passion is wildlife – especially big cats.
After a visit to Alaska and taking with her a fairly basic camera, Sue decided to take her photography more seriously and got hooked on wildlife photography. Sue has won many prestigious awards since and had many of her wildlife images published.
The presentation this evening concentrated on photographs taken on her many visits to Tanzania and the Serengeti National Park area.
On one of her first visits she managed to follow a female cheetah and her four young cubs for several days and became very attached to this very special family. On returning the next year she was delighted to find the whole family were still in the area and thriving. Sue showed us the many wonderful images she took as the cubs played together, the mother brought in food and told of the tough life that cheetahs have in the wild. It’s interesting to witness the circle of life as hyenas and vultures are quick to finish any remains from the kill.
The visits were made in the dry season so the herds of wildebeest have gone and there is very little game for the resident cats to hunt. The grass is golden at that time which gives the images a very pleasing subdued colour palette. There were some impressive portrait shots showing the deep orange eyes of the cheetahs. Other cats also featured with some impressive big maned male lions, playful lion cubs and family groups. Sue was lucky to have many encounters with the elusive leopards and captured some amazing images. She also showed a selection of elephant images with their family groups and the playful youngsters.
Sue showed us some photos of other African animals and birds to see if club members could identify them. Many of the club members have also travelled to that area so it was nice to see again the variety of photogenic subjects to be found there.
Sue advised getting as low as possible when photographing animals so that you can have eye level contact when possible. Cameras have to be set up quickly and be ready for the action which can happen very suddenly. Lighting cannot be controlled so photography can be difficult when the light is low. Sue uses a bean bag to support her camera as a tripod is not practical in a vehicle.
Africa is a country you can easily fall in love with and want to return time and time again.
Steve Hardman thanked Sue and said that her presentation showed her passion for the big cats. The images were stunning even when the lighting had been difficult. PM

The first competition of the season was judged by John Hudson ARPS SPSA DPAGB ASPS who is a freelance photographer from Bristol and has won many photographic awards. He was introduced by David Wilkinson who said it was a great privilege to welcome him to the club.
As it has to be nowadays the competition had to be shown using Zoom. The club is grateful to Dave Eagle as Competition Secretary who has to not only juggle with the DiCentra software to show the images but is also the host for the Zoom meeting.
This is John’s first time judging for Devizes CC and he explained that judging photographs is very much a personal view. After going through the positives and negatives for each image the final awards go to the images that meant something to him or those that told a story he liked. John gave a detailed critique of each image pointing out the good points – then there came the ‘but’ when he said what improvements could have been made to improve the image. Often it was some cropping of unwanted areas or else the background was too distracting. The comments are a great help for members in order to try to avoid similar problems when they enter competitions in future.
The Beginners section is for new members who have not entered club competitions before even though many of them might be quite experienced photographers. Starting with the 20 entries in the section the judge explained in great detail what he liked about each image and then the improvements that could have been made. Flower and nature images appealed to him most with a stunning image of birds awarded first place. John said that ‘Western Cattle Egret’ right by Penny Clarke was an image that he wished he had taken! The lighting on the bird was excellent and the movement well captured so very well done to Penny.
Second place went to a macro shot ‘Hoverfly on Scabious’ by Hilary Tapley and third place to ‘Summer Flowers’ by Bridget Codrington. Images by Hilary and Bridget were also awarded Highly Commended as were images by Jennifer Skjoldbro and Helena Chambers. (see full list below)
Only nine entries in the Intermediate section with Martin Stokes taking first place with a beautiful forest scene. The judge commented that ‘Forest Trail’ left was 'an image to die for’ - the light on the trees, the lead in and the foxgloves to add a bit of colour was wonderful. Dave Eagle was awarded both second and third places with a landscape titled ‘Lone Tree, Babbacombe’ and an unusual close up of seaweed and pebbles titled ‘Fresh from the Sea'.
After the break was the biggest section with 30 entries. The Advanced group are those that have worked their way up through the sections and the judge expects to see ‘perfection’.
The image that caught John’s eye for first place was ‘Fishing for Crabs’ right by Richard Atkinson AFIAP. It was a rather unusual image and John chose it because it told a story with lots of people enjoying the seaside and concentrating on the fishing.
Second place went to a delightful image ‘Goldfinch amongst the Hawthorn Berries’, the judge said it may be ‘a bird on a stick’ but in this case it was a well caught image with a good uncluttered background.
John remarked that there were many really good landscapes entered in the section that it was difficult to judge. Third place went to what John felt was the best landscape and that was ‘Franschhoek Valley’ a pleasing view over a lake by David Fraser. Ten other images were awarded highly Commended – see full list below.
Summing up David Willkinson said many congratulations to all those with awards and he thanked the judge for giving his very detailed critique.
A ‘virtual’ competition did not have quite the same ending as our usual face to face meetings when we can applaud the winners but nevertheless it was good to be able to run the first competition of the 2020-2021 season! PM
Full results             All the awarded images can be seen in the Galleries

Nicki Douglas-Lee is a professional photographer based in Devizes and gave the club a Zoom presentation showing the various sports events that she photographs both locally and further afield.
Nicki explained that it is not easy being a professional sports photographer and it requires knowledge of each sport, dedication, commitment and often long hours!
With any type of photography, you need to get to know as much as you can about the subject in order to capture the best images. Nicki herself has had experience of many sports and has played rugby, canoed, been involved in equestrian sports and has her own motor bike so has first-hand knowledge of a wide range of sports.
Starting with a local annual event, Nicki showed images of the Devizes to Westminster Canoe Race which she has photographed for a number of years. She showed images of individuals and pairs that take part and being a portrait photographer as well, that helps her capture expressions and the concentration on participants faces.
Nicki’s sports photographs are often published in local and national and international publications. Usually there is a very short turnaround so editing has to be kept to the minimum.
Knowing the sports well, she can often anticipate what might happen and capture the moment which may be good look of triumph or it can be bad moment such as a capsized boat or a fall from a horse.
Local ladies and men’s rugby matches are well portrayed showing the action and sheer determination on the faces. Nicki captures the dramatic action and the essence of the game and the interaction between players.
Next Nicki showed us some of the equine events that she photographs starting with horse trials where dramatic images can be captured as the horses negotiate the fences and water jumps. The superb looking horses used for racing and eventing make wonderful images and often the special harmony between horse and rider is portrayed. Nicki says it is all about observation – get in the right place and wait for just the right moment to press the shutter.
Next Nicki showed images of a different type of horse power – this time with wheels! Trail riding where riders have to slowly negotiate a very difficult course over rough terrain and then the fastest sport – drag racing where the bikes and cars can go at 300 mph and you need a very high shutter speed to catch the action! Seeing the variety of specially enhanced vehicles that take part and some very atmospheric night shots was amazing.
To go onto the track, you need special permission and insurance but good photographs can be obtained from behind the barriers. See Santa Pod Raceway for events if you would like to have a go yourself.
Thank you Nicki for giving such an interesting insight into taking images of the sporting world and you have probably inspired others to have a go themselves. PM

The club was pleased to welcome Leigh Woolford AWPF EFIAP DPAGB BPE3 HonFWPF to give a presentation using Zoom of his photographs taken on his many visits to this land of ice and fire. The journey he showed was from the town of Keflavik in the West on the coast road to Hofn towards the West. Using photos’ videos and maps Leigh gave facts in great detail about this amazing country. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe, the roads are almost empty so driving is a joy and many of the most scenic areas can be viewed from the roadside.

As soon as you land near Reykjavik you become aware of the geo-thermal activity in the area with the massive power plat and the thermal pools. After a short look at some of the impressive sculpture and buildings in the capital city Leigh set us off on a photographic journey along the south coast road.
Leigh showed us images of amazing waterfalls often with rainbows over, massive geysers spewing steam into the air and the largest glacier in Europe. Leigh said the weather could change in an instant and it was often raining and overcast so many of his images conveyed the moody nature of the country by being shown in monochrome.

Many images were shown of the impressive basalt rock stacks and cliffs taken in all directions from the black sand beaches in the area. There were many views of a much photographed, photogenic church near Hellnar set against the dramatic coast.

As the glaciers reach the coast large chunks of ice break off and float on the lagoons. In the right light the ice can take on beautiful blue hues and reflect the colours of the sky. Leigh showed many photos of the ice as it was washed up on the black sand beaches giving dramatic contrasting tones. The air is clean and unpolluted so amazingly clear photographs can be taken of the mountain ranges and glaciers in the distance. The sea is often very rough and Leigh showed images of the waves breaking over the rocky shoreline.
Leigh was lucky enough to see a really impressive show of the Northern Lights on one of his many visits.
As a change from the many landscapes Leigh showed images of the Icelandic horses with their thick coats and long manes to protect them from the severe winter cold.
Leigh was thanked by chairman Steve Hardman for showing us the diverse landscapes in this hot, cold, and beautiful country. Steve said it made him want to revisit this amazing area. PM
Images © Leigh Woolford

Using Zoom, Jane Lazenby BA(hons) fine art, CPAGB, LRPS, LMPA, BPE3*, EFIAP, ASEA, QTFE(2)was able to give the club a detailed insight from her home in Yorkshire, into how she transforms her images. Jane started her career as a painter but found that she became more and more interested in photography and the techniques that allowed her to be creative.
With a passion for horses she found that her enhanced images were very popular and did very well in photographic competitions and gained many distinctions. She now uses photography for her creativity looking for romance, intrigue and originality in her images.
Many of her images showed amazing spirited horses that appeared to be wild and free but Jane let us see the original photographs that showed the handler, fences and other clutter in the background. Very cleverly the original image has been changed using textures that gave the image a Fine Art look. The difference between the images as taken strait out of the camera and then the versions she had enhanced was amazing. Unwanted backgrounds were removed and the whole image blended to give a painterly appearance and an overall consistency of colour.

Jane explained that textures are simply photographs that are overlaid over the original image and by using various blending techniques can transform an image. You can easily make your own textures by photographing subjects such as old stone, concrete, rusty metal, peeling paint or anything else that you might find useful. Canvas or old paper texture can give an ordinary image the look of an oil or watercolour painting. The texture chosen can make or break an image and change the mood entirely. A soft texture can give a photograph of a model an ethereal feeling but the same image with a rather more rugged texture can make it look quite menacing.
After the break Jane did some live editing showing in great detail how she achieves the effects.
Jane has kindly made some free videos available from her website so that you can follow step by step.
Demonstrating on a landscape image she showed how a texture can change the mood and colours.
Using ‘Photoshop’ Jane showed us the infinite range of blend modes and said her favourites were Soft Light, Screen and Multiply, but to try out other variants as they can give many different effects depending on the original image.
Jane showed how the cluttered background of a dog image right was transformed by painting it a suitable colour and then adding a complimentary texture.

Images enhanced using these techniques can be entered in Open and Creative club competitions so maybe members might like to have a go and rescue some good images that formerly would have ended up in the bin and make them amazing!

Frank thanked Jane for the fascinating insight into how a good image can be enhanced and changed into something really special. PM    Images © Jane Lazenby

Our 2020/21 season started with a bang on Tuesday 1st September with the welcome return of Guy Edwardes with his latest presentation entitled Seeing the Light. Despite still having to conduct our meeting's over Zoom!,
Guy set his stall out saying he had over 300 images to get through so directed us to his website for background on his photography career.
Guy started in his native Dorset with images including Colmer’s Hill, Corfe Castle and Sturminster Mill. Showing a picture of Man O’ War Bay in winter, he explained that he doesn’t use graduated filters now, preferring to take 7 bracketed images and blending them in Lightroom. An image of Durdle Door in the snow, taken with a fish-eye lens demonstrated his technique with this lens of setting the horizon in the centre to reduce distortion at the edges.
Some wide field astro photography images followed including Kimmeridge Bay, Dorchester Hill and Portland Bill. Guy explained the use of a (relatively) cheap Star Tracker to enable shots to be taken at lower ISO and aperture settings to improve the quality and structure of his photos.Guy showed us a number of images taken from a drone which helped to place the subjects in their surroundings. These included Old Harry Rocks and several Iron Age Hill Forts.
Some photos taken in the New Forest were followed by images in Cornwall and the Brecon Beacons. Guy recommended the Magic Seaweed App to obtain information about storms and wave heights, demonstrated in pictures of Longships Lighthouse and Portcawl. Showing landscapes in the Brecon Beacons, he explained how he uses Live View and the DOF button to achieve hyperlocal focusing.
Then on to Northumberland with images of Northern Lights and Sycamore Gap, Dunstanburgh Castle and St Mary’s Lighthouse. And then to Scotland including images at Glencoe, Etive More and various locations on the Isle of Skye and the Outer Hebrides. Many of these images demonstrated his use of slower shutter speeds to show the movement of water and to create additional drama.
After a breathtaking race around a range of world-wide locations, including Namibia, Iceland, Finland Tuscany, Provence and Slovenia, where Guy has led photography workshops, we paused for a cup of tea and a break before the second half focusing on Wildlife.
Starting in Costa Rica, Guy’s favourite wildlife location, he showed us a range of stunning images including frogs humming birds and bats. He described the range of equipment he uses from head torches, Godox flash units, soft boxes and snoots, to water pumps, reflection pools and a range of artificial backgrounds to achieve images focusing on the wildlife without too much of a cluttered background.
Many images were taken with very long lenses and extenders. Guy is aware that people have difficulty with achieving sharp images with such a combination and recommended using LensAlign to calibrate cameras, lenses and extenders for improved focusing and sharper images.
He also talked about the difficulties of photographing animals in the gloom of the forest canopy with high ISO, fast shutter speeds and wide apertures leading to excessive noise. He recommended using Topaz Denoise AI in post-processing to remove noise and enhance detail.
We saw lions and zebra in Africa; red foxes, red-crowned cranes and sea-eagles in Japan; snowy owls in Canada; pelicans in Greece; and golden eagles and griffon vultures in Bulgaria. Guy described which lenses he uses in which situations and how he approaches post-processing on his return. He often has little time for post-processing so he has to be very disciplined when assessing the 20-40,000 images he has, reviewing shots in groups, choosing one to check and deleting all but the best.
Guy finished by talking about his approach to macro photography, showing amazing images of spiders and fungi. With a macro lens and extension tube fitted, he uses the in-camera focus stacking facility to take lots of images with slightly different focus points and then blend them using Helicon Focus software. For example, an insect image from 25 shots at f/5.6 in 10 seconds resulted in an image that was sharp from front to back of the insect with a diffused background.
This was a wonderful, fast-paced presentation with so many high-class images it is impossible to do it justice in this article. After a question and answer session, Steve Hardman thanked Guy for a great evening and many comments from members backed up this sentiment. DF
Images © Guy Edwardes

Following days of inclement weather, on the 29th August a good day was forecast which allowed 12 of us to meet at St Mary’s Church at Calstone for the Annual Summer Social. Having only seen each other over zoom since lockdown it was particularly lovely to meet everyone in person again. After a brief catch up in the car park where we were able to obtain a copy of his new book (Photographing Wiltshire), Robert Harvey our organizer for the day, led the group to Calstone Combes.

Here Robert gave us a brief history on the formation of the Combes and we set forth up the slopes towards the end of Calstone Down to try and find one of Britain’s rarest insects the Wart-Biter Cricket.

The Wart-Biter appears to be very allusive but other grasshoppers, spiders and a variety of blue butterflies were much in evidence. We even spotted a green lizard but it was too quick to identify and too shy to have it’s photograph taken.

With a morning’s photography under our belts we sat and had our picnic catching up on where people had been out photographing and what they had been doing since lockdown.

After lunch a few left due to other commitments but the majority stayed and started climbing a more sheltered hill looking for blue butterflies. With the weather now a bit cloudier, bringing with it more wind, a game of hide and seek commenced and I think that the butterflies won.

Back at St Mary’s Church we had a quick look around the inside of the church, which is very pretty with its barreled ceiling.

Final goodbyes were said with everyone looking forward to seeing each other for our greatly anticipated zoom meeting with Guy Edwards on Tuesday. PC

Images by Gerald Clarke - Top Calstone Combes  Right- Grasshopper  Left- Adonis Blue Butterfly

This was the 7th and final Zoom session of the club’s summer season.
Many thanks to Frank Collins for organising such interesting topics and next week we start our full programme for the 2020-2021 season. Thanks also to David Eagle for hosting the Zoom meetings which helped members keep in contact with each other.
This evening was an opportunity for members to share and discuss some of their own recent Nature and Macro images and get feedback from other Club members.
Many members had used the lockdown as a chance to spend some time trying out new cameras, lenses and extension tubes and it was also a time when many members tried out some new ideas. The difficult task of capturing insects in flight was the aim of some of the members and they showed some amazing close-up images.
60 images were shown from 13 club members with a diverse range of insect, bird, mammal and flower photographs.
Helena Chambers summed up how many of us had been feeling when she showed an image of woodland flowers - right. 

"This is my favorite image from the Lockdown months, not because it is photographically brilliant, but for it's therapeutic value at the time of taking it. One month into Lockdown, and I heard we could drive a short distance to go for a local walk, so I went to a local wood to catch the end of the bluebell season. I re-live the overwhelming sense of freedom tranquility and peace I experienced when I look at this photo, after 4 weeks of solitary living, and walking the streets for exercise. Everything was wrong about it! I had the macro lens on, 45mm, on F5.6, so depth of field was too narrow, the composition was tricky as there was so much going on, and hard to pinpoint a subject, and the light was poor as it was overcast and dull. I spent 2 glorious hours there before returning to my confinement, but happy in the knowledge I could return here every day if I so wished. "

Flowers were an interest for Gina Gordon and she showed some really well beautiful images including an Agapanthus just as it emerged from its bud -left

Marlis Rawlings had spent some of her time experimenting with encasing flowers in iceand photographing them as they gradually thawed - right

Tim Tapley showed some really detailed close-ups of insects and a Zebra Spider was particularly striking. Also into close-ups was Gill Cardy who had spent many hours patiently watching the insects that came to her pond.

Birds were an interest for David Fraser with images of woodpeckers, pheasants and a sparrowhawk that posed nicely for him.

Wildlife of all sorts had caught David Wilkinson’s eye with a delightful image of a deer and young and lots of insects that came to his newly dug pond as well as some interesting birds.

Robert Harvey showed some excellent unusual images including a Marbled White butterfly against a full moon and a view up through his meadow flowers using a fish-eye lens. Richard Jones had been experimenting with new lenses and Megan Boardman said had been taking images of insects for the first time.

David Eagle showed us an excellent image of a hare and also a deer as it looked up in a golden field of rape. Brian Appleby had several wildlife images to show and I also spent a lot of time in the garden discovering lots of insects I had not really noticed before.

Thanks to all who showed their photos and made a really successful evening to end the summer season of meetings. PM

The club was given the special opportunity to see the accepted and awarded images from the 107th Southampton International Exhibition of Photography which is organised by Southampton Camera Club. Entries were open to any photographer, amateur or professional, who lives anywhere in the world. The competition was judged in earlier in the year and usually there are a number of roadshows organised to show the awarded images, the exhibition and the award ceremony but due to the pandemic these had to be cancelled. Luckily they were able to hold the judging in February and get the catalogue printed before the lockdown.
Sue Dunham CPAGB APAGB, chairman and organiser of the digital roadshows has been involved with the event for the last 17 years. Using Zoom, Sue was able to give members an interesting insight into all the work involved sorting over 5,000 entries digital and print entries from 45 different countries!
Entries are divided into 6 Categories – Open print and PDI, Nature print and PDI, Mono print and Landscape PDI.
Sue recalled the difficulties sorting out entry forms wrongly completed, translation problems and even entries from photographers on the banned list - these are photographers who have been caught cheating by not following the rules or even entering other photographer’s images as their own!

Clive Rathband FRPS FPSSAEFIAP DPAGB and Joan Ryder Rathband FRPS FPSSA AFIAP DPAGB, both members of Devizes CC were invited to be judges for the Nature Print and PDI’s and also the Landscape PDI’s. Clive and Joan were able to give their comments on the judging and remarked how well Southampton CC organised the Salon. Clive said it was interesting seeing the images from so many different countries. A new innovation is the use of drones which can give very different landscape views not seen before.
Sue explained how the salon type judging works with each of the 3 judges having just a few seconds to decide whether to award 2,3,4 or 5 points. No titles or authors are shown so the images need to have impact or have something special about them for the higher points to be given. The 3 judges scores are then added so that those over 11 points gained an acceptance. The top scores are then looked at again, this time with more time to decide on the awards and winners in each category. A range of awards are given - medals, ribbons and certificates of merit as well as awards for special subjects within each category. Camera technology has moved on making it easier to take good photographs but the standard of entries has soared making it a great achievement to gain an award.
As with all judging it is subjective and judges all have their preferences.
Devizes club member, Robert Harvey ARPS EFIAP entered the competition and gained 5 acceptances so very well done to him.
Frank Collins thanked Sue for sharing the images and for giving a little insight into what goes on behind the scenes and all the work it entails. Members were reminded that they could send in their Salon acceptances and awards and compete for the club Ryder Rathband Trophy. PM
Images © Robert Harvey - 'Sunrise, Vale of Pewsey' and 'Verreaux's Sifaka'

Through the use of technology, travel photographer Chris Upton was able to give his presentation from his home in Nottinghamshire. The lockdown has resulted in the use of Zoom for virtual meetings so that we can enjoy presentations from those speakers normally too far away to visit us for a normal club evening.
Although travel is very much restricted for the time being, a good number of members and guests very much enjoyed hearing Chris’s information and tips on how to prepare for a photographic trip – whether that is a family holiday or a specific photographic trip.
Starting with the planning, Chris said do as much research as you can before you go, plan the locations and the images you would like to take to make the best use of your time away.
Organise and pack your kit carefully and check that you have everything you need. Chris emphasised that you should get to know your camera really well before you go so that you instantly know what settings are best in a variety of situations.
Landscapes can show the iconic views and give a flavour of the country you are visiting but also consider photographing the local people. Close-up portraits of interesting characters make good images but showing some of the background gives context. Learning a few words in the local language can help engage with people.
Chris showed us a large selection of his images excellent taken at trips around the world, amazing landscapes, iconic buildings, chaotic street scenes and interesting portraits. He explained what had appealed to him about the images - how he set up his equipment and some of the settings he used. He gave lots of very useful tips about how to take the best photographs during your trip.
Chris said that travel photography is all about what we see – not what we have come to see.
Follow your plans but also be flexible the weather is sometimes against you and the sunset you planned did not happen. If it rains look out for interesting reflections. Seek out unusual details, look up or try different angles. Keep it simple and avoid background distractions.
Arrive early at your destination so that you can pick the best spot. Check before you press the shutter that the framing is correct and gives the subject some breathing space and check that the subject is exactly symmetrical if appropriate.
Try to capture the atmosphere of the area. Look out for festivals or local customs for some interesting subjects. Use a tripod when possible but nowadays the image stabilisation allows you to take excellent images hand held.
Hopefully when travel restrictions are lifted everyone can put Chris’s useful tips into practice!
Chris was thanked for a fascinating evening which showed the considerable planning involved in a successful photographic trip. PM
Images © Chris Upton  Chris Upton's website

On 14th July, Glyn Dewis joined us on Zoom! to give his presentation on The Power of Personal Projects.
Glyn told us he started as a Photoshop retoucher in TV before moving on to take his own photos. Early advice he received as a photographer was a) if you don’t know what to photograph, then photograph everything and b) set yourself photographic projects.
Having a love of wildlife, Glyn began taking photos of animals, mostly in zoos and wildlife parks. He would then use his knowledge of Photoshop to recreate the images to show the animals in a different context, for example his images of elephants at water holes. An encounter at Monkey World with an ape that had experienced a particularly hard life led Glyn to appreciate the power of facial expressions, as seen in his image of the ape.
After seeing the film Dad’s Army, he contacted the Oxfordshire Re-enactment Group and, with their help and enthusiasm, started learning how to photograph people in uniform. Using these contacts, he contributed images to a book for a church group showing individuals with photos of themselves as young children in wartime.
This experience led Glyn to decide that he wanted to take images of British veterans of the Second World War in their homes as a full time project. So he started what became his 39-45 Portraits Project and his images can be seen on his website. 
Glyn talked us through his encounters and the stories behind the people in his photographs. The Horsa glider pilot who landed in at Pegasus Bridge in Normandy on D-Day; the 90 year old lady who, at 18, had been a radio operator in Normandy with SOE; the 99 year old who had become the youngest spitfire pilot during the Battle of Britain; to name just a few.
Glyn also talked about how he sets his subjects at ease in front of the camera, uses a remote release and silent shutter with a steady light so that the subject is not always aware of photos being taken. This was particularly useful, he said, when photographing a veteran who still suffered from PTSD after a shell landed at his feet before exploding. He also presented a short video to show how to set up lights to create a Rembrandt effect.
During the second part of his presentation, Glyn talked us through a number of Photoshop techniques, including how to create and use Look-up Tables, how to use sharpening selectively, and how to select and replace a sky. Glyn kindly provide links to his websites, Facebook and YouTube channels for his galleries and tutorial sessions which have since been made available to DCC members in a recent email.
In thanking Glyn for a wonderful presentation, Frank paid tribute to Glyn’s obvious passion for his project and the people and stories behind his images. Comments were heard on Zoom! such as “fantastic evening” and “inspirational” as everyone chimed in with their thanks to Glyn. DF

The club was delighted to have a Zoom presentation by multi award winning photographer Polina Plotnikova. Steve Hardman introduced her by saying she was a picture maker rather than a picture taker in that she starts with a blank canvas with an idea in her mind and then finds and arranges the subjects to create the image.
Polina showed images from some of the artists and photographers that inspire her. An example was the simple white backgrounds of the flower paintings by Pierre-Joseph Redouté which inspired the superb ‘White on White’ images. Another example were classical Flemish artists whose images depicted flowers, fruit and insects on dark backgrounds and Polina showed us her superb photographic versions.
Polina was recently made a Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society with her panel of flower images titled ‘Past Perfect’ which very cleverly showed the beauty of the colours and forms as they aged. She explained it was not as easy as just taking images of dead flowers – she looked for the interesting shapes and textures as they decomposed and the best ways to depict them.
Her favourite photography subjects are flowers and still life as she says she is a ‘control freak’ and these subjects do not move about and she can arrange them to get exactly the appearance required. The overall composition, background, colour scheme and lighting are all very carefully thought out beforehand.

We were shown how the subject is set up in her studio, the lighting carefully arranged and the camera setup so that she can see the camera image on a computer screen. Everything is perfected before she takes usually just one photograph. Just a minute adjustment makes all the difference and Polina takes great care over every tiny detail. Every part of the image has to be correct – the colours must blend and the viewers eye must flow around the arrangement.
Polina experiments with different lenses that can give her the image she has in mind. The Lensbaby is a favourite as the area of focus can be adjusted and soft focus can give an ethereal effect. Another technique is ‘Dancing Flowers’ where an in focus image is combined with deliberate camera movement. Most effects are taken in camera although occasionally she uses textures in post processing to give the required effect.
After the break Polina showed the work of some of the historical artists that inspire her still life photographs.
She visualises her images and then goes about finding exactly the right objects that fit her vision.Every object has to be just the right shape, size and colour to fit perfectly into the envisaged still life setting. Every part of the arrangement must harmonise and be adjusted to show to prefection.
Great care is taken with the lighting the background and the arrangement of all the props. Every object is important for the composition – anything misplaced can ruin the composition.
Members were impressed by the quality of her images and the dedication that goes into them.
Steve thanked Polina for her absolutely fascinating and inspirational insight into her approach to photography and members showed their appreciation with many messages of appreciation. Maybe members will be inspired to try out some flower and still life photography for themselves. PM

Images © Polina Plotnikova   See more images on Polina's website

In the second of our Zoom! Summer Programme, Devizes Camera Club welcomed Mark Pain to deliver a presentation on Sports Photography. A Nikon Ambassador, Mark is a multi-award winning sports photographer, having won the Sports Photographer of the Year Awards in 2005 and 2011. He covers a wide range of sports including football and rugby World Cups, golf Ryder Cups and athletics World Championships. He has also been involved in 4 Olympic Games, winning the Olympic Photographer of the Year award from British Airways in 2012.
Splitting his presentation into two halves covering his day-to-day activities in the first and images from the Olympics in the second half, Mark emphasised the need to be prepared before the event from a physical, technical and mental standpoint. Several of his stories associated with the images demonstrated the hard work he puts in to preparing and planning for capturing fleeting moments in the sports he attends.
Mark started by showing us an audio-visual entitled Capturing the Moment. This was a compilation of stunning sporting images taken during the course of his work, covering a full range of sports including footballers celebrating goals; rugby players at the moment before touchdown; the start of the Epsom Derby; a bobsleigh racing past a mother and child in St Moritz.
One particular image was of Tiger Woods at the Ryder Cup at Celtic Manor in 2010 (see inset). Mark told us how Tiger was struggling in the heavy rain and had hit his drive way left into the rough. The marshals formed the crowd into an arc around him with the cameramen further forward encroaching on Tiger’s eyeline. Tiger then shanked his shot and the ball flew straight at Mark, hitting his camera on the front of the lens and dropping to his feet. Mark was also struggling with his camera equipment in the rain, but, having pre-focused his camera on Tiger’s head, using back-button focusing, setting his desired aperture, shutter speed and ISO, he was able to get the shot without the camera trying to focus on the ball.
During the break, Mark was asked what his favourite sport was. He said that he didn’t really have a favourite, but that he learnt about manual focusing shooting basketball in Kingston with his first camera at the age of 14. He had also enjoyed photographing table tennis in Bracknell during his youth.
During the second half, Mark talked enthusiastically about his love of photographing at the Olympics. Again, he showed us an audio-visual compilation of wonderful images as an introduction, and he told us not to give up on the picture you want and to keep going back till you get it right.
He told us how it took him 3 days of trying to get an image of a relay runner through the heat haze of the Olympic flame. How he took 4 days to get the picture he wanted of a paralympian table tennis player about to serve. And how, having failed to get a place on the photographers’ podium, he retrieved his 400mm lens and x2 converter, found a place in the crowd, pre-focused his camera and waited for Zara Phillips to lean forward to receive her silver medal from her mother, Princess Anne. He said that he just could not have got a picture like that from the photographers’ podium as he would have been looking at the back of Princess Anne’s head.
Asked what his favourite image was, Mark said that his image of a diver at the Beijing Olympics would have to be his choice (see inset). The photographers had been given seats at the 10m level (the height of the board) but the backgrounds were too messy and distracting. But this guy, who didn’t towel himself dry between dives, always had the spray of water as he tumbled through the air. So, Mark went back early the following day to see if he could photograph during the practice session. He got access to the VIP seats with a perfect view of his subject. As it was early, the auditorium lights had not been switched on which meant the background was dark with no distractions. The result is a fabulous image that is obvious reward for perseverance.
Final messages form Mark were to remember to check all your camera setting, especially when moving from one environment to another. He also said that we shouldn’t be afraid to fail as long as we work out what we did wrong and learn for next time.
Chairman Steve was effusive in his thanks, as always, saying that he had been blown away by the many of the images and had learnt a number of techniques to try out in the future. DF
images © Mark Pain

Members were welcomed to the first of the DCC Summer bonus meetings and this one was to be a special masterclass by Clive and Joan Ryder Rathband on the use of Photoshop. Clive and Joan are both Fellows of the Royal Photographic Society and give frequent tutorials and lectures.
Nearly 40 members logged in to the meeting including some invited visitors from South Africa
Joan began the tutorial by saying that if members only learn one little thing during the evening then it will all be worthwhile! It was to be a practical hands-on in-depth demonstration of some of the Photoshop editing techniques that Clive and Joan use.
First of all, the six images chosen for the demonstration from the recent club battle which Clive and Joan judged were shown. Joan explained that she would show her method of making them ‘glow’ by using adjustment layers and the very comprehensive tools in PS. 
Joan said that the latest version of Photoshop has amazing features and was well worth the monthly charge.
After opening the image in PS then you should always remember to duplicate it before starting ant editing so that the original is always safe.
Every image is different but Joan said that she always starts by using ‘curves’ on an adjustment layer as the histogram can be carefully tweaked to increase the contrast. Go slowly and make changes bit by bit and don’t panic if anything looks wrong because you can always go back.
Using more adjustment layers and masks, areas of the image can be enhanced as needed, colours can become more saturated, using dodge and burn tools and using a soft brush, areas can be lightened or darkened. Use the opacity slider to reduce any effects if needed. Using overlays, you can further adjust the image using soft or hard light blend modes. Skies can become more defined and features made more prominent. Experiment and see the differences.











Shown are the images before any editing and how they 'glow' after editing

Take your time and use your eye to decide how far the image needs to be enhanced.
After all the adjustments the image can be sharpened but do make sure not to overdo it or halos and pale lines will appear around edges.
Always edit in colour even if you intend to convert the image to black and white. Further adjustments may be needed to enhance the contrast in monochrome images.
Finally, Joan advised members to never flatten edited images so that at any time you can go back and do further changes if required. You can look back at your original image to see the difference the editing has made.
Joan did say that there was a lot to take in during an evening especially if you had not used Photoshop before but members should repeat the process over and over to gain confidence. With a lot of repetition, members will find their preferred method and it will become much easier.
Many thanks to those whose images were edited by Joan and Clive for the tutorial. They were impressed and said that their images appeared much improved. Although, as Joan said it is up to the photographer to decide exactly how their final image should appear.
Several members had questions about using layers in PS which Joan answered. Many had not used the software before and others asked about the best way to sharpen an image. A member asked how to show 2 images side by side for comparison – Joan has since found that you click Windows/ arrange/choose - this may be useful to know.

Members thanked Clive and Joan for showing them how their images could be brought to life using the tools in Photoshop 2000.
Steve Hardman thanked Joan and Clive for the huge amount of work they had done editing the images and that it was a very worthwhile evening.
Thanks to David Eagle for hosting the meeting. Members - do log in to see the interesting speakers that the club has arranged for the next couple of months. PM

The club AGM was rather different this year as members could not actually meet face to face as usual but had to meet up in a rather different 'virtual' world.
Club Chairman Steve Hardman said that it had been quite a year in many ways being busier than ever with a myriad of changes and problems, none of which could have been foreseen in September.
The club took the decision not to hold club evenings at the Sports Club from March 17, before the Covid 19 lockdown was eventually forced upon the club. At this stage it was becoming clear that it would be some time before we could meet in person again, so the committee looked at a way that we could continue the programme with ‘virtual’ meetings. The committee thought it was a good idea so, after some trials, the club has been using Zoom for competitions and speaker presentations and it has proved very popular. Using the new technical knowhow the club hopes to be able to provide “hybrid” meetings in future whereby those members who cannot attend in person can still see the evening’s
proceedings. How things will pan out during the next year is not certain, but the club is in a good position to move forward.

There were just two resolutions for members to vote on, the first proposed greater clarity of General Competition Rule 1.2 over what is and is not permissible when including other people’s ‘art’ within an image entered for competition. The resolution was unanimously approved and images submitted for competition must be entirely the work of the photographer and in composite images royalty free image banks and clipart, are not permitted. See the competition rules.

The second resolution of the evening was to clarify the charge made for Zoom meetings. Up until now members could voluntarily contribute the £2-50 charge usually paid for meetings. To maintain the quality of our programme, it is important that all attendees pay the on-the-night charge. The fees are an important revenue stream for the club, which over the year pays for our visiting speakers and judges. The vast majority of members voted to pay the charge but there was a great deal of discussion about how and when the fees could be collected whether they attend in person or via an internet meeting service such as Zoom. The club treasurer and committee will decide the best way forward.

The election of officers followed with only a couple of changes from the previous committee. Lynda Croft will take over as club treasurer and Gerald Clarke will take on the joint role of Competition secretary together with David Eagle and David Wilkinson. The full list can be seen in About Us.

Steve announced that virtual meetings will be held fortnightly during the summer.
Programme Secretary Frank Collins has  managed to very quickly find interesting topics and presenters to lead the meetings so members are very much looking forward to those. See the Programme for details.
 
The club committee decided to ask members to submit ideas for a new club logo and 2 designs were put forward for a vote. The chosen design is by Pam Mullings and is a take on the glass elements in a lens and can be used on club information whenever required.

David Eagle was thanked for all his work setting up the Zoom meetings and also congratulated on his move from Beginners to the Intermediate section. Also congratulated were Sue Wadman and David Wilkinson who move up to the Advanced section.

Finally, the club was not able to present the members with their trophies in the usual way so we will very much look forward to holding that event at a future date. See the list of 2019-2020 trophy winners. PM

Almost the end of the 2019-2020 season and the last competition was a ‘battle’ between the ladies and the gents of the club. Billed as a ‘fun’ event, nonetheless members do take it very seriously and both genders are all out to win!
Entries are sent in to the two captains and then with help from others a selection is made. All members may enter and those in the Beginners and Intermediate sections get a bonus of 2 points to encourage entries from those groups. As there are many more men in the club than ladies then their entries are limited to two each.

To avoid shouts of bias the club asked both Clive and Joan Ryder Rathband to judge the competition – both are very experienced judges and both are Fellows of the Royal Photographic Society amongst many other distinctions.
This had to be a virtual battle so Zoom was used very successfully to show the images and hear the comments from the two judges who had assessed the entries separately. Mostly they agreed on the merits or otherwise of each image but occasionally there was a gasp from one as the others score was announced!
Clive and Joan gave very informed comments on each image before giving a score out of ten. The scores were added and the bonus points added and then Frank Collins announced each score and kept a running total. The first 30 images were shown and at the break the Ladies were ahead 232 points to 222. The Gents caught up during the second half and it was very close until the last couple of images when the Ladies ended up with a total of 471.5 and the Gents very close behind with 467 points. Congratulations to the Ladies and commiserations to the Gents for loosing for the second year in a row!

Many of the comments by the judges related to the removal of distracting areas in the images.
Members were advised to look very carefully for any light spots or other distractions in the background. Unless the image was entered in a nature or landscape competition where specific rules apply, manipulation is allowed and blemishes etc. removed by cropping or carefully cloning or darkening down any light spots. The advice was to look closely at the background as well as the foreground and also make sure you tease out all the details and colours you can from each image. Also try flipping an image left to right and then comparing the two views as often the eye ‘reads’ an image better from the opposite view.

No image gained the full 10 points each from both Clive & Joan but very well done to Bridget Codrington who was awarded a 10 and a 9 plus 2 bonus points making 21 points in total for a night scene titled ‘Tower Bridge’above left. Both judges said that it was taken at the perfect time – that is just at dusk in order to get some colour in the sky and that the highlights were very well handled
‘Male Snow bunting’ above right by David Wilkinson also did well with a 9.5 and a 9 plus 2 bonus giving 20.5 points. Clive and Joan both thought it was an excellent image of the bird in a good pose showing great detail.
A striking image by Gill Cardy FRPS EFIAP DBAGB titled ‘Burnt Tip Orchid’ left gained a 10 and a 9 from the judges making 19 points as was Robert Harvey ARPS EFIAP with 19 points for ‘Storm Ciara’ right – both without any added bonuses as they are both in the Advanced section.
Other images with high scores were a close up study ‘Portrait of a Bluebell’ by Sue Wadman with 19.5 (9.5 + 8 +2) and a well taken ‘Common Puffball’ by Craig Purvis with 20 (8.5, 9.5 +2).

Summing up Steve Hardman said the club was fortunate to have such experiences judges as members and thanked them both for giving such helpful comments and for answering some questions about how to achieve the ‘sparkle and glow’ that they said they always look for when judging an image.

Thanks to the ‘captains’ Bridget Codrington and Dave Gray, to Frank for the scoring and to all the others that helped choose the entries.
Thanks once again to Dave Eagle for showing the projected images as well as running the Zoom meeting. PM
Members scores

All the images that have been awarded a 1st, 2nd or 3rd in the 2019-20 season are entered in this last competition for the judge to choose the best of the best. This is a particularly difficult task as the images have come from a range of different genres – nature, landscape, monochrome, creative as well as all those entered in the Open competitions. Ralph Snook ARPS DPAGB EFIAO/b has judged many times for Devizes and said that it was good that the club was still able to run competitions although in a rather different way.

The judge was in Bristol and 40 club members in their own homes so it had to be another virtual meeting. Competition Secretary Dave Eagle did an excellent job juggling with DiCentra software on his computer to show the images as well as running the meeting using Zoom.
The awarded Prints in the 3 sections had to be judged as Projected images on this occasion. Starting with the Beginners Ralph commented on each image and gave some tips about cropping uninteresting areas in the images to make the main subject more prominent.
First place went to ‘Broad-bodied Chaser’ right by Dave Evans. The judge said it was very sharp close-up image with the light showing up the veins in its wings.
A very different image was second with ‘Dawn Breaking – Winter Solstice, Avebury' by Bridget Codrington showing silhouetted people against the sky. In third place was a misty forest scene titled ‘Bird Box No 7’ by Dave Eagle.
Next came the Intermediate print section which Ralph saying that all the images were strong making it difficult for him to just pick out 3 for awards.
The impressive coloured sky and colours reflected in the water in ‘Venetian Sunfire’ left earned Craig Purvis first place.
The judge said that the image ‘Fox on the Alert’ by David Wilkinson was very well caught. He commented that the fox was not aware of the photographer and gave it 2nd place. Another image by David Wilkinson was third – this time a snowy scene titled ‘Mountain Hare’ The judge liked the textures and the detail in the snow.

Next came the Advanced group with a wide range of subjects.
Images by Robert Harvey ARPS EFIAP gained most of the awards with ‘Overlooking Petra’ right in first place. Ralph said it was a very strong image and particularly liked the complimenting colours of the figure on the rocks. In third place was a striking image by Robert of a very colourful creature against a black background titled ‘Parson’s Chameleon’ Robert also had an HC with ‘White-tailed Sea-eagle Hunting which the judge said was caught at just the right moment.
Just stopping Robert sweeping the board was ‘Fantasia’ an image by Pam Mullings gaining second place. Ralph said that although creative images were not his thing he said this one grabbed his attention and he liked the complimenting colours.

After a short break we went on to the images that had won awards in the Projected Image competitions.
The images in the Beginners section were shown with again Ralph giving his helpful comments on each one. Five images were picked out for awards with first place going to an image which Ralph said showed a lot of emotion. The expressions in ‘Sometimes being a Mother’ left could be interpreted in many ways - who knows what was really going on in the mother and baby’s minds.
Second place went to a dramatic seascape. ‘Storm Dennis’ by Dave Evans showed the action of a huge wave as it swept over the lighthouse – Ralph hoped the photographer did not get too wet!
Another nature image was third with ‘Mummy, feed me please’ by Mark Somerville and Mark also gained an HC for a monochrome image of a motor biker ‘Guy Martin’
An HC was also awarded to Jennifer Skjoldbro for an interesting sunset scene ‘Beauty and the Beach’ with its well caught reflections.
Nature subjects were the winners in the Intermediate section with ‘Skylark with Bugs’ right by David Wilkinson in first place. The judge liked the detail and that the bird had a ‘bug’ in its beak.
Second place went to Craig Purvis with ‘Red Cracking Bolete’ a striking image of a mushroom with morning dew in the foreground moss. Third was a close-up of paired butterflies ‘Leopard Lacewings’ by Steve Hardman. The image was sharp with a clean uncluttered background.

Last but not least was the Advanced section with Ralph saying that all 16 entries were of a very high standard so it was hard for him to choose the winners. Again it was Robert Harvey who very nearly swept the board with a first, second and 2 HC’s.

The swirling sand and the textures in ‘Sandstorm, Namib Desert’ left impressed the judge and it was given first place. In second place was a nature image ‘Common Darters in Tandem’ which Ralph said was pin sharp and a very difficult subject to capture. Robert gained HC’s for another Namibia image ‘’Milky Way over Grandidier’s Baobab’ and a snowy image ‘A Rabbit Before Me’
Another creative image by Pam Mullings slipped into 3rd place ‘Bolt from the Blue’ was something a bit different said the judge.
Many congratulations to the winners in each of the 6 sections - the Trophies will be presented when we can meet up again.

Steve Hardman thanked Ralph for judging and commenting on all the 76 entries and hoped that next time he would be able to come and judge in person.
Thanks were given to Dave Eagle who has done such a good job of running the virtual competitions so successfully.
An interesting competition with a wide range of subjects that hopefully everyone enjoyed watching. PM

All the awarded images can be seen in the Galleries        Club Awards for the 2019-2020 season

On Tuesday 28th April, the camera club’s Zoom meeting was attended by over 40 people to listen to Josh Cooper’s talk - What f-Stop for Antarctica?
Josh started by explaining that, on retirement a couple of years ago, he and his wife decided that it would be a great idea to go on a “trip of a lifetime” beyond their usual constraints of Europe. Having aborted a prospective trip to Australia and New Zealand, they eventually settled on Antarctica.
Their first stop was Buenos Aires which, contrary to their expectations, they found was surprising European and friendly. Josh later discovered that much of the city had been designed along the same lines as Paris.
On to El Chalten in Patagonia where Josh thought the mountainous landscape was magnificent, although he bemoaned the changeability of the weather and the lack of opportunity to explore compositions. He did, however show us a few great cloud enshrouded mountain images. Next on their journey came El Calafate where they had an excursion walking on the massive glacier leading into Lago Argentino. Josh’s images illustrated the wonderful blue colours of the ice sheet.
From El Calafate right  they travelled on to Ushuaia, on the Beagle Channel, where they embarked on a small ship carrying 100 passengers bound for the Falkland Islands. At West Point Island the party boarded Zodiacs, not for the last time, and headed for shore. Despite Josh’s claim that he rarely takes wildlife images, we saw some great shots of albatross, fur seals, rockhopper penguins, and even some turkey vultures sitting on the roof of a farmstead that had been built in 1879. At Blanco Bay, Port Stanley Josh told us that there was still evidence of the 1982 war and that mine clearing was still going on. He also showed us some great images of the Lady Elizabeth, an iron barque that was badly damaged rounding Cape Horn in 1912. She limped on to the Falkland Islands but hit a rock and limped into Port Stanley where she was eventually declared a wreck in 1913. In 1936 her mooring lines broke and she drifted into Whalebone Cove in Stanley Harbour, where she still lies.
After 2 further days at sea, and crossing the Antarctic Divergence, when the sea and air temperature dropped dramatically, the ship arrived at South Georgia where the group visited 10 separate locations. Josh told us that the whole party were subjected to very rigorous bio-security checks before and after landing on the island. Josh was mortified when a seed was detected on a piece of velcro among his camera kit, but, after cleaning it away, he was allowed to accompany the party!
At Stromness Bay, the destination for Ernest Shackleton’s rescue journey, the old whaling station has been converted into a repair shop. He also showed us images of the surrounding 3000m mountains which Shackleton had to walk over to reach the whaling station, including shots of mountain streams and the views of the bay taken as the party walked over to Jason Harbour in the next bay. Here they all went kayaking amongst the fur seals and Josh found it very challenging trying to take photographs without capsizing. He took images at the largest King Penguin colony in the world at St Andrews Bay and managed a few shots of the surrounding mountains glimpsed through the clouds.
At Grytviken, the largest whaling station on South Georgia, Josh found loads of photo opportunities among the industrial remains and ruined boats. They also visited the South Georgia Museum and Sir Ernest Shackleton’s grave.
The last stop on South Georgia was Cooper Bay, where they started to see icebergs and where Josh took a series of images of macaroni penguins and fur seals. Josh seemed frustrated that he was unable to take more images of the wonderful landscapes, but he was obviously hampered by low clouds or the movement of the ship. But he did show us a lovely panoramic shot of a headland which he had taken as 5 vertical hand-held shots stitched together in Lightroom.
Josh told us of the Citizen Science project that they became part of on board the ship. Observations and photos of weather and wildlife were sent off for logging, tracking and comparison with other reported sitings. When an animal that had been logged by the group was reported elsewhere, they would receive a notification so that they could see where the animal had moved to.
The next destination was Elephant Island, just off the Antarctic Peninsular, where Shackleton’s team spent 4 months waiting to be rescued. The landscape amounted to massive sheer cliffs and glaciers, but Josh showed us images from their travels down the peninsular of humpback whales, leopard seals, Weddel seals, chinstrap penguins and orca. There were pictures of huge, tower block sized icebergs with amazing shapes and colours, capsized icebergs with even more amazing shapes gouged by the water, a moonrise over the South Shetland Islands, and kayaking in the brash ice to get nearer the icebergs and whales. To finish this sequence Josh showed us a video taken in a kayak as whales swam and surfaced around them.
In conclusion, Josh said that the trip had been challenging photographically as he was constantly taken out of his comfort zone. He loved the landscapes in Patagonia, he has become more enthusiastic about wildlife photography, and he thought Antarctica was amazing and such a different pace. And in answer to his original question “What f-stop in Antarctica?” he said “start with f/8 and adjust according to the conditions”.
Steve, our chairman, heartily thanked Josh for a wonderful evening with some fantastic images, saying Antarctica is a place he would like to go to in the fullness of time.The Zoom audience agreed and applauded. DF
Images © Josh Cooper

In a first for Devizes Camera Club, on Tuesday 21st April we used the Cloud Meetings App, Zoom!, to host Roger Crocombe ARPS and his presentation entitled 'The Sea and Me' as the Coronavirus lockdown prevents us all from travelling.
By way of introduction, Roger explained that he had grown up in Worthing and used to love wandering along the shoreline, beach-combing and enjoying the waves. In recent years, he has moved back to the seaside and has settled in Bognor Regis some 50 yards from the beach. Although he does research the tides, mentioning apps that he uses, he can hear what the state of the tide is from his house and can be on the beach within 2 minutes of leaving his front door!
Roger often carries his Fujifilm XT2 with an 18-135 mm lens and an ND filter (about 6 stops) and takes hand held images using ICM (Intentional Camera Movement). Using shutter speeds in the range of 0.5 to 2 seconds, he said his aim was to highlight the different ranges of colours he sees on different days, but to blur details of the detritus on the beach, such as seaweed, footprints and irregular stones. Carefully moving his camera in horizontal sweeps of 15-30 degrees, he follows waves to ensure there is lots of movement while retaining some detail in the image. He emphasised that this technique only really works well before dawn, as once the sun is up it is too bright for the slow shutter speeds he uses.
Roger also carries a Canon 5DS which he tends to use for more traditional images using a tripod. Still using slow shutter speeds, he showed us images of spring tides with the water rushing and swirling around obstacles such as groynes and storm outlets on the coast near his home. He also showed some macro images of rusty bolts and teak posts worn away by the power of the sea.
He showed a range of images of stormy skies over the sea, including a series he took at Luskentyre Beach on Harris and Trebarwith Strand in Cornwall. There was one sequence of storm clouds gathering over Bognor Regis beach that didn’t bring any rain. It turned out that this was the remnants of a Sahara dust storm which left surfaces covered in orange dust.
He showed how backwash can produce interesting pictorial shapes. For example, waves receding around rocks on the tideline or water swirling in a depression in rocks as it returns to the sea. He likes photographing crashing waves, but as there are no rocks near his home, he showed us images form Hartland Key and Trebarwith.
However, following a presentation from Rachel Talibart at his photography club, he headed off to Newhaven to take images of waves there. What you need, he said, is a spring tide, a westerly force 8 gale, a rising tide and (preferably) some sunshine! Using a 400mm lens on TV at about 1250th sec at between 2 hours and half an hour before high tide, you will shoot some awesome crashing waves on the harbour wall.
Following some lovely images taken at dusk, showing the sun variously reflecting off wet sand, rocks and the underside of clouds, Roger moved on to what he called Imagined Landscapes. Heading off to Chichester harbour when boats are hauled of the water for cleaning, he takes close-up photos of sections of the weathered hulls, especially at the water line. He then takes these home and uses the colour mixer in Photoshop, and a large dose of imagination, to create images that can be interpreted as landscapes and seascapes. He has also started using his wife’s silk scarves hung on a washing line to achieve similar effects.
The last part of his presentation, which he called Displaced Landscapes, was much more technical (at least to your scribe!). Using Filter>Distort>Displace in Photoshop, he takes pixels from one image to displace pixels in another image. Well, anyway, the results were fascinating and looked very much like impressionist paintings.
This was a thoroughly enjoyable evening, even in lockdown. Our chairman, Steve, thanked him profusely and we look forward to seeing Roger again next year, when he has promised to bring a range of prints along to the club. DF
Images © Roger Crocombe

Again the club was able to have a ‘virtual meeting’ to show the sequences entered in the club Audio-Visual competition. Postponed from earlier members were able to view and hear the comments of the judge Tony Byram ARPS DPAGB APAGB. There were just 4 entries and the judge said they all came under the category of ‘Photo Harmony’ meaning that they had no storyline but the still images linked to sound must flow in a pleasing progression.
The first sequence was ‘Barcelona’ by Chris Wilkes Ciudad ARPS and as the titled suggests it showed the distinctive architecture of the city. The judge thought the individual images were good but there were some distracting fades and split screens.
Next came ‘Namib’ by Robert Harvey ARPS EFIAP which showed classic views of the dunes together with the wildlife found in the desert.
Of particular note was the clever sequence where the sidewinder adder emerged from the sand left
The judge was very impressed with the quality of the images and the whole AV was expertly put together.
Another AV from Chris was next – this time showing images taken in the Lake District.
The judge said that the mono images fading to colour worked well.
Finally, we viewed a sequence by David Wilkinson titled ‘Wildlife through the Seasons.’
Starting with sound of birdsong it showed excellent still images but the judge said it was let down by the construction but very well done to David as it was probably the first time he had attempted to make an AV.

The award of the AV trophy went to Robert for ‘Namib’ so many congratulations on the superb AV sequence.

After a short break members were treated to a constructive presentation by Robert about what photographers can do under the current rules due to the Coronavirus pandemic.
‘Let’s celebrate what we can still do’ said Robert. We can still take photographs from our homes and gardens and on our permitted exercise walk.
Robert said there might be a restricted range of subjects for us to photograph at the moment but we have more time to study them and take the opportunity to persevere and try again and again to get better images. There is an incentive to try something new such as macro or astrophotography.
Maybe on your walk take time to explore the area close to your home – look for country lanes and nearby woods. Find joy in small things!

Starting with garden photography Robert showed his impressive garden where over the years has been planted with native trees and hedges to attract the wildlife. With two wildlife ponds and a hide made from a garden shed Robert can photograph wildlife at eye level due to the ingenious raised bank and reflective pool. With wildflowers and garden plants attracting a wide range of insects and bird feeders bringing the birds in close there is always something to photograph.
There are so many interesting subjects to be found in any garden even all you have is just an average size suburban garden!
Robert has started a facebook group ‘Outdoor Photography under Lockdown’ and there are many contributors from all over the country showing the diverse range of subjects on members doorsteps.

Steve Hardman thanked Robert for putting his interesting presentation together at short notice and for showing the various ways he has planned ahead to make the most of his garden and its wildlife.

Thanks to all who made it such an enjoyable evening and it’s so good to see fellow members even if it has to be remotely!
Keep safe and enjoy your photography. PM
Images © Robert Harvey ARPS EFIAP

The Open PI Completion 3 turned out to be a new experience as because of the lockdown it had to be judged remotely but due to the wizardry of the internet members could view the images and hear the judges comments from their own homes.

The experience was new to the competition secretary, the judge and the club members but all went well and we were able to continue with the programme of club competitions.
This rather different way of ‘meeting’ using ‘Zoom’ meant that the competition could be run and judged by Peter Weaver APAGB DPAGB LRPS almost as if we were meeting as usual on a Tuesday evening!
About 35 members logged in and followed the competition. Peter remarked on the high standard of images and said that some in the Beginners section rivalled those in the Advanced. Each image was shown and Peter gave his useful comments on each holding back some images for the awards at the end of each section.
First place in the Beginners section was awarded to David Evans for his image ‘Storm Dennis, Porthcawl’. Taken at a favourite place for photographers to catch the drama of the sea as waves break over the jetty and lighthouse the judge said that the image was dramatic and taken at just the right moment. A completely different image was in second place ‘Glencoe’ by Hilary Tapley was a tranquil scene with good lighting. The judge said the depth of field was correct and the strong leading line gave it a good composition. Completely different again was ‘Sometimes being a Mother…’ by Penny Clarke - a delightful portrait of a baboon mother and baby which was awarded third place. Hilary, Dave Eagle and Richard Blackbourne were awarded highly commended.

Next came the Intermediate section with another wildlife image in first place. David Wilkinson’s ‘Red Squirrel’ right appealed to the judge – the image quality was excellent and the squirrel well placed in the frame. An image by Craig Purvis was second – ‘Red Cracking Bolete’ was the title of a fungi image with the judge remarking on the water droplets and the lighting. Third was an atmospheric image by Martin Stokes. ‘St Lawrence Church’ was taken from a good viewpoint with a canal narrow boat in the foreground and the church almost hidden in the mist. Images by David, Craig and Steve Hardman were awarded highly commended.

Next we had a 10-minute break before the Advanced section began. Peter said that the standard was very high and he had difficulty deciding on the awards but finally he decided on another wildlife image this time a bird by Tim Tapley titled ‘Nuthatch’. The judge said it was a high quality image well taken. In second place was ‘Common Darters in Tandem’ by Robert Harvey ARPS EFIAP with the judge remarking that it was a very difficult shot to get. Still sticking with wildlife ‘African Land Snail’ by Gill Cardy FRPS DGAGB EFIAP was in third place. Robert, Dave Gray and Frank Collins gained highly commended. Full results below.
Very many thanks to the Competition Secretary Dave Eagle and other club members for setting it all up and to Peter Weaver the judge for judging in such an unusual way. It was good to get glimpses of fellow members even if we can’t see them in person at the moment!

Club Chairman Steve Hardman summed up the evening saying it had been very successful with a few things to still to learn and he much appreciated those that made the evening possible.
Steve wished the judge a safe journey home as he usually does but in this case Peter was already back at home!
Next week is another ‘virtual’ meeting for members to enjoy. Keep up your photography keeping to the lockdown rules and stay safe. PM
Full results                See the awarded images in the Gallery

In recent years, one of the fixtures in our calendar has been a Four-Way, or Quad, Battle between ourselves, Swindon, Royal Wootton Bassett and Stratton (formerly Highworth) Camera Clubs. This year, it fell to RWB to organise and host.
Each of the clubs submitted 15 of their best images, which were sent off to the judge to mark and prepare comments. However, at this point, Coronavirus intervened, and the Battle as a live event had to be cancelled.

Nevertheless the judge did send out the marks for each entry, though sadly not with any commentary setting out the reasoning. The overall scores placed Devizes in 2nd place as follows:
Swindon Photographic Society – 259 points
Devizes Camera Club – 252 points
RWB Camera Club – 239 points
Stratton Camera Club – 207 points

Congratulations to Swindon on their success.
Within our own entry, congratulations go to Robert Harvey for ‘A Rabbit Before Me’ right
and David Wilkinson for ‘Red Squirrel’ left, both scoring a maximum 20 points.
Robert and David also had images scoring 19 points so well done to them.
There were only 2 other images scoring maximum points on the night. DG

   List of Devizes CC scores       

At this unprecedented time the competition print entries were with the judge but unfortunately our meetings are cancelled. Very kindly the judge Beryl Heaton ARPS, EFIAP, CPAGB agreed to judge the competition and send us notes on each image and give us the awards.
Beryl sent the following message - 'Thank you for inviting me to judge your competition. I have judged at your club once before and I hope to have the opportunity to do so again. I have enjoyed looking at the images. I was particularly impressed by the fact that you have three sections. A lot of clubs strive to do this but are thwarted by lack of numbers. Furthermore, I was impressed by the high standard of work in the Beginners.'

Sadly, there were fewer than usual entries in this print competition – maybe because it is getting near the end of the season or that members are not printing their images as much as they did in the past. This is a great pity as it is a great joy to see a well printed and mounted image.
Anyway the following write up has to be taken from the judges notes. So that members can see all the images entered and the full judges notes they will be added below.

In the Beginners section first place went to ‘Dawn Breaking, Winter Solstice’ right by Bridget Codrington. The judge enjoyed the dramatic with very clear silhouettes of all the dramatic with very clear silhouettes of all the observers and the symmetry. She said it was a ‘wow’ sort of sky with colours ranging from pale yellow to navy blue.
In second place was ‘Bird Box No 7’ by Dave Eagle with the judge commenting ‘What an inventive title!’ Beryl said she enjoyed the atmosphere of the woodland, the mistiness and the image was nice and sharp.
The viewpoint and interesting angles of ’Stairwell’ by Helena Chambers appealed to the judge and was placed third. It works well in monochrome and the square format suits the image.A colourful image ‘Southern Carmine Bee Eater’ by Tony Leach was awarded an HC.

In the Intermediate section ‘Steeple in the Mist’ left by Craig Purvis was awarded first place. The judge said that the mist gives the lower part an air of mystery and at the top we have reality with a lovely coloured sky and trees silhouetted on the hill. The composition works well as we have interest from top to bottom and across the width of the image.
‘Morning Calm Coniston’ by Steve Hardman was awarded 2^nd place in this section. The jetty leads us into the image across the lake and the frost on the jetty and on the top of the posts enhances the scene. Due to the calm water we have a lovely clear reflection and the sky is adding interest. 
A charming image of the fox which looks very alert with its ears up is titled ‘Fox on the Alert’ and is by David Wilkinson. The judge awarded it 3^rd place saying that the pose works well as the fox stands out against the diffused background of a sympathetic colour.
Highly commended’s were awarded to Craig Purvis and Martin Stokes.

In the Advanced section there were just 11 entries.

First place went to ‘Camelias’ by Pam Mullings. The judge liked the composition with flowers on the diagonal. She wrote - they are lovely and sharp and the grainy background adds to the effect as does the unusual way the photographer has framed the image. She said that she always has a border around hers but this is something a bit different and it really works
‘Desert in Bloom Wadi Rum’ - captured this scene well at the right time of day to give interesting shadows. Beryl commented that it is amazing that the flowers can survive in this barren landscape and in such large numbers.Robert Harvey ARPS EFIAP was awarded 2^nd and 3^rd places – ‘First Light in Deadviei’ – was rather different, concentrating on one tree which the judge liked. It was quite minimalistic with some lovely lighting on the branches and nothing in the background to distract.
‘Dancing’ by Chris Wilkes Ciudad was awarded an HC the judge stated that the photographer is attempting to give us a feeling of movement and thought the colours were delightful.

Very well done everyone and a special thank you to the judge for sending us the useful notes as we were unable to have the usual meeting. Thanks to the Competition Secretaries who sorted the entries and arranged for the club to get the results.

All the very best to everyone – keep safe. PM
Results        Awarded Images    Beginners Images& Judges notes       Intermediate Images           Advanced Images

The Committee has been following developments on the Coronavirus outbreak, and has now reluctantly concluded that we must cancel our meetings for the rest of the season with immediate effect.
We have a number of members in ‘at risk’ categories, and there is also a strong possibility of our speakers and judges having to self-isolate at short notice. It seems only a matter of time before the Government recommends all social interaction is kept to an absolute minimum, and several Camera Clubs across the Western Counties have already suspended their programmes.

Our competition secretary team are looking at possible ways we can continue with the remaining competitions using remote judging. We will keep you informed about progress on these, but please submit your entries for the Open Projected Image 3 competition by Tuesday 24th March as currently scheduled.