First meeting of the winter season, Tuesday 10th September 2019

Hi Folks,

The first meeting of the winter season took place on Tuesday night at the club’s community hall in Weston Turville.  Chris welcomed many new members along with other regulars  to the new season of club photography.

Chris introduced the committee to the new members and each did a little talk on their role in the club.

Club membership fees remain the same as last year and can be paid for in two ways

one single payment of £90

or

an initial £40 and £2 a week towards  coffee / biscuits and cost of the hall.

Only paid up members can enter the competitions.

Last year was a very good year for the club and ending with Imagez for the first time in the club’s history winning the Rosebowl inter club competition.

There is a new enrolling system on the internet with a box where club members can give their permission for Imagez to use their in house competition entries for the following year’s Rosebowl competition and with Chenxi help organising them, we hope to win it again. So no pressure then Chenxi lol.

Our club also runs the Chiltern competition which was very popular with many other Chiltern clubs entering last year and all the chosen prints were exhibited at the Queen’s Park Centre.

Next Tuesday the club will meet at a local members barn where prints from club members will exhibited for an open exhibition on the following weekend. It is hoped that members will bring along family and friends to promote the awareness of the club in the area

The club’s programme for the year is already being pencilled in with several entertaining speakers already booked. There are still one or two gaps but if anybody has a request to put on a popular event please contact Chris.

Because there is such a variation of skills and experience in the club from beginners to experts the programme has been designed to suit everybody. Chris said, that even though experienced members may know a subject there are always pieces of information that comes out from others  that one will find useful.

Some of the winter programmes will take place on the same evenings.

David will again be running the beginners course for those that want to get up to speed or those that would like a refresher course on the basics of photography. The beginners course will be in the back room  whilst in the main hall other events will be taking place, so the choice is yours as to which you pick.

Although during the winter various activities will be taking place each week at the community hall during the summer the club goes out once a fortnight to different locations for the taking of photographs. Any member that has ideas of suitable locations please speak with Chris as he is open to ideas and may be able to include them in the summer programme.

The rules for entering the club competitions with the themed subjects are listed on the club’s website. Also there is a gallery for club member’s pictures but you will need to speak with Chenxi to have them added.

Lastly, Brian mentioned about the club’s lighting equipment and calibration device which are available for hire to club members for free.

So an early coffee and a break.

In the second half of the evening club members did a presentation of photographs and things that interested them over this last summer period.

 

Brian W

Gave a talk first about  new models he had photographed. Here he was in an old place which had an industrial feel to it

 

This was a new model photographed on West Wycombe hill using natural light, the model suggested sitting on this log which worked well

Brian was also in Finland photographing the World rally champion in competition

 

Next Carol

On our summer meetup at Marsworth reservoir Carol took these shots and using various filters in software

created different looks to the images

 

Next Chris gave his talk

This year he was in the Dolomites and there were no breakdowns

 

He also got up early to capture the chimneys coming down in Didcot.

Chris said the sound of the explosion came after the towers started falling

 

Also he was in St Petersburg to help his daughter studying Russian and German. Chris thought the reflections

in the puddle would make a good shot. Apparently it rains a lot but Chris was lucky with three days of sunshine.

 

 

Next was David G

David said he was at Rickmansworth  Aquadrome taking this dragon fly

 

A kingfisher flew around for 5 minutes and landed where he captured this superb picture

 

Then another day at the Ragpits he photographed these butterflies

A painted lady, a peacock and a flotilla

 

Next was David J

David visited Waddesdon

and took this picture of a hogwort but decided to make it a little different

 

Then on this thistle he spotted a bee, which ended up with most of his summer taking bees lol (been there)

 

Also at Tidworth farm on a club shoot he took his first model picture

 

Then I did a talk on a walk that slightly took me out of my way.

 

Four years ago I attempt to climb / walk the mountain and did a recce to find the start of the climb

 

high up in a mountain village I found a fountain that has a Myth where ladies who drink the water become pregnant,

so I needed to slow the shutter speed down to see what could be in the water

with a target mission to find this hill that I passed by on my recce four years ago

 

Next was Jan

who had a visit to Norfolk and whilst sitting in a cafe saw a bush move. The field mouse seemed unaware of Jan and just kept eating

 

Also in Jan’s garden a pair of wrens had made a nest and Jan said they were wonderful to watch

Jan was tipped off that the fledglings leave the nest early in the morning, so Jan got up at 5:30am each morning.

Only to find they appeared at 9:30am one morning (never work with children and animals lol)

Next was Lynn

This was a turtle photographed by Lynn in Indonesia whilst diving for sharks

 

This was a harvest mouse taken on a photo shoot

 

Whilst in Swanage, Lynn took this picture of the pier but said she was a little disappointed as she thought the structure was not sharp at the bottom

 

Next was Mel

who went to the Lake District and took this slow shutter speed of a river

 

Also this dragon fly that hovered around for ages

 

Also in Edinburgh where she took this shot. Chris said having the people in it shows the dimensions of the building

 

Next was Nick

Nick said he has been well taught by Brian on the lighting of models and this summer has been experimenting

with the club’s lighting

 

Nick does sporting and music events as well

 

Next was Peter

Peter took this in Weston Turville early morning in a cornfield next to the reservoir

 

Peter likes taking shots of the grebe’s at the reservoir especially when they come up with some food

 

Peter was in Exmoor when he disturbed this pony. Peter said the ponies down in Exmoor are not so friendly.

However, the pony bolting disturbed three crows.

 

Last was Sue

who has taken some flower shots this summer

 

And Lacey Green windmill changed to an olden time

 

Birmingham shopping centre

 

and finally Thornham Norfolk

 

Thank you to all member’s that took part, there were certainly some lovely photographs shown last night

 

Next week remember we are not at the Club Hall but in a member’s private barn

The ImageZ Exhibition