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Notes
for Friday 27 April 2018
Annual Exhibition
Friday
27th April and Ards Camera Club held its Annual Exhibition and
Prize Giving at the Londonderry Pavilion. Viewing commenced
at 7-00 pm and by the start time of 7-30 pm all seats were taken
with those unable to find seats standing adjacent to the refreshments
table.
Chair Irvine Ferguson welcomed everyone and amplified that welcome
to chief guest and judge Hugh Rooney from Bangor & North
Down Camera Club. Hugh has recently been elected to the post
of Vice-President of NIPA and with three former Past Presidents
also present, there was a sizeable contingent of NIPA 'top brass'
in the audience.
The programme for the evening commenced with an overview of
the display of printed images by the judge, who then gave a
critique of a selection of the ones that caught his attention.
This was followed by the display of projected digital images
(PDIs) and again, the judge gave his comments on his favoured
selection. While the images were still fresh in everyone's thoughts,
the placed images were announced and presentations made. Ted
McKee's image of 'Early Morning Orange Tip' was placed First
in the Advanced Section and Sian Kerr's image of 'Watching'
was placed First in the General Section.
An overview of the Club's year was presented to the audience
where the Chair highlighted the many successes in competition,
especially the third place overall achieved in the five NIPA
rounds and the Top Print achievement of Michael Loane in the
Roy Finlay Natural History Competition.
A break for refreshments followed, accompanied by member's Audio
Visual projections on various themes.
The final part of the evening was given over to the much anticipated
announcement of the placed images together with the presentation
of medals and certificates. The First Place and medal winners
were :- Claire Russell General Section Mono for 'Runny Honey',
Richard Cowan General Section Colour for 'Keeping an Eye', Alan
Reid Advanced Section Mono for 'Sophie' and Patricia Mackey
Advanced Section Colour for 'The Plains of Bagan'. Top Print
went to Alan Reid for 'Sophie'.
Also, Certificates of Honorary Life Membership were presented
to Carole Watson, Peter Knott and Mervyn Mackey for their exceptional
service and dedication to Ards Camera Club.
The Chair concluded the evening with thanks to all those who
had attended, supported and contributed to the Club for its
Exhibition and congratulated all of the members who had entered
images.
Notes for Friday 20 April 2018
Triptych and
AV Competition
Friday
20th April and the club had its last programmed night with a
fun Triptych and AV Competition. Entries for this competition
were not excessive, but the items on show were well worth the
free entry.
First on were the Triptychs, with a range of subjects featuring
small block plastic people, rusty steel hawsers, overseas street
photos, squirrels, flying fairground things and family.
Next were the AVs where the subject matter was slightly more
diverse. The items covered infrastructure, Italian lakes and
mountains, Wells Cathedral, Nepal, Belfast, Antrim Coast, snow
at Stormont and a journey through the Cosmos.
After very little debate and head scratching, Sarah Shaw was
declared winner of the Triptych Competition with her trio of
expertly taken photographs of steel hawsers in various states
of rusty decay and Martin Conroy won the AV Competition with
his equally top quality images of the sun rising over the Antrim
Coast. Well done to Sarah and Martin for their successes and
also well done to everyone who took the time and put in the
effort to enter the competition.
Ards Camera Club's Annual Exhibition takes place next Friday
27th April at the Londonderry Pavilion, starting at 7-30pm with
viewing from 7-00pm where the culmination of the season's work
will be on display.
Irvine
Ferguson
Chair - Ards Camera Club
Notes for Friday
13 April 2018
Guest Speaker - Paul Hanley
Friday
13th April and our programme of guest presenters reached its
conclusion with a visit from Paul Hanley to entertain us with
his unique take on architectural photography. Also, following
a very successful year in NIPA Competitions, Paul display a
number of his starred images covering many other topics.
Being much travelled, especially in Germany and Spain, the images
taken both above and below ground, gave us an insight into the
buildings of mainly Berlin and Barcelona. Paul specialises in
symmetrical and asymetrical compositions and his visits to the
BMW Showroom and Museum, the Berlin Parliament Building, various
other Museums and Art Galleries and Gaudi's Cathedral provided
many 'fantastical' photographs.
The foregoing images were taken above ground, then there were
the equally amazing photographs taken below ground in the Berlin
u bahn subway stations, all taken hand held in low light and
all of a quality as if taken on tripod. To complete this section,
there were staircases and walkways, photographed from top to
bottom and bottom to top, giving many compositions of aspects
not usually observed when they are used for their intended function.
The evening concluded with a display of the previously mentioned
competition successes which were obviously well deserving of
their starred and top print status.
Many thanks to Paul for such a comprehensive display of architectural
photography which gave much impetus for looking at buildings
with a more creative perspective.
Irvine
Ferguson
Chair - Ards Camera Club
Notes for Friday
6 April 2018
NIPA Novice Competition
Friday
6th April and Team Ards Camera Club travelled to Bangor to support
their members who had entries in the NIPA Novice Competition.
In recent years, Ards Camera Club Novices have supported this
event with many entries and much success. This year the trend
continued with a 2nd Place, two Commended and two Highly Commended.
In the Mono Section, Sian Kerr achieved 2nd Place with her image
'San Sebastion Speakeasy' and Sarah Shaw achieved Commended
status with her image 'Hope'.
In the Colour Section Sian was again successful, achieving Highly
Commended for 'Keeper of Goals'.
Success continued in the PDI Section with Sian achieving Highly
Commended for 'Watching' and Richard Cowan achieving Commended
for 'Silent Anger'.
Very well done to Sian, Sarah and Richard. Also, well done to
Jacqui Agnew, Marlene Hazelhurst and Claire Russell who had
some excellent entries in the PDI Section, some of which received
very encouraging comments from the judges.
Thanks to the rest of the Club members who as usual gave great
vocal support and also, thanks and well done to NIPA, especially
the judges who performed well, doing such a difficult job for
the first time.
Irvine
Ferguson
Chair - Ards Camera Club
Notes for Friday
23 March 2018
Members Night
Friday
23rd March and after the euphoria of finishing third overall
in the 2017-18 NIPA competitions it was fitting that there was
another evening of member's presentations.
Campbell Brown continued where he left off last week with yet
another display of images from his back catalogue of photographs
taken on film. Highlight of this collection was a series of
pretend military men on manoeuvres in a stream! Such was the
quality of the images that the exercise looked like the real
thing. Portraiture as always was to the fore, with a particularly
good image of one time champion boxer Chris Eubank.
Sinclair Adair continued the presentations and instead of his
usual entertaining audio visuals, showed his incomparable talent
with a display of film era images that could readily have been
entitled 'The Ones That Should Have Won'. A mixture of photographs
straight out of the camera and those with post production work
carried out in both the dark room and on computer provided an
amazing display of photographic brilliance. (The writer is trying
to redeem himself following a slight issue over timing on a
previous occasion!) Sinclair finished with three images of food
portraiture equal to any on display last week.
Ted McKee was next to display his work with a projected show
of images taken at Castle Espie where he is an accredited photographic
member. The photographs on show ranged from the obvious resident
population of wetland birds, migratory swans, visiting wild
owls, frogs, fish, insects and a diverse selection of other
flora and fauna. Also, in a departure from the usual, there
were some architectural images of the buildings in the complex
together with some portraits of the staff. As always, it was
a quality show of nature at its best.
The member's night concluded with a presentation by David Williamson
on restoring/transforming a seventy years old black and white
photograph using Photoshop. The original was damaged along the
top edge, had been folded in a few places, was scribbled on
with a pen and was generally in an age worn state. David demonstrated
how the process commenced by scanning the image and then applying
the various processes available in the software to produce a
sympathetic update of the photograph, rather than making it
look like a recently taken shot. In consideration of the questions
asked during the presentation, this is obviously something that
will require further detailed examination at a future date.
Many thanks to Campbell, Sinclair, Ted and David for displaying
their talents in a diverse set of presentations to the club.
Irvine
Ferguson
Chair - Ards Camera Club
Notes for Wednesday
21 March 2018
NIPA Inter-club round 5 adjudication at Catchlight Camera Club
Congratulations
to all those involved tonight at the final NIPA Adjudication
of 2017/18. This was an excellent showcase of everything good
about club photography in Northern Ireland - inspiring, imaginative,
artistic, creative and occasionally very peculiar!
To our delight (and a little surprise) Ards Camera Club finished
this season as the third best camera club in NI! Every member
who has helped or taken part during the year is to be congratulated
for our combined success. Also Ards finished 2nd overall in
the Beginners Mono and Beginners Colour competition which bodes
well for the future. Tonight’s three winners with starred
prints were Martin Conroy with Prawn Party and Raphael Clarke
with Curry Me (both Colour Prints) and Richard Holmes with Peppers
PDI.
Congratulations
also to CPA for becoming the top Club in NIPA and to Catchlight
for following close behind.
Notes for Friday
16 March 2018
Members' Night
Friday
16th March and we had the first of our members' nights. These
nights are for members to present aspects of their own work
or address topics of relevance to their own or the club's photographic
involvement.
First to present her work was Jacqui Agnew, new to the club
this year and keen to tell of her journey into photography and
demonstrate her undoubted progress since joining. Jacqui give
a display of projected images of family, holidays and her particular
interest of arena shows. Very impressive were her photographs
from trips throughout Europe and beyond, together with shots
featuring dancing and ice skating from the shows.
The next presentation was from Campbell Brown, long time member
of the club and passionate user of the Canon brand. On view
was a display of both film and digital images, including many
past competition entries that obviously would still fair well
today. As we all know, Campbell is very much a people person
and this showed in the array of portraits taken on his travels
to various events throughout the UK.
Third member to present their work was Marlene Hazelhurst, also
new to the club this year and also keen to give a presentation
of her progress from a general interest in photography to participating
in club photography. Marlene, like her friend Jacqui, give an
overall display of various aspects of her work and concluded
by focusing on her impressive progress in post processing.
The break for refreshments was next on the agenda and featured
birthday celebrations for our dedicated lighting technician
Graham Mackey. Best wishes to Graham for a great birthday and
thanks for being the best light switcher in the club.
The evening officially concluded with a Power Point presentation
from Brian Widdicomb. As always with Brian we know to expect
the unexpected and were entertained and perhaps confused in
equal measure with some exploration of how the brain works.
The work of Picasso and others was included in the presentation
and overall, Brian left us with much food for thought.
Many thanks to Jacqui, Campbell, Marlene and Brian who obviously
put much thought and preparation into their presentations. All
in all a very entertaining evening, although the timing of the
proposed schedule went slightly astray which was gleefully pointed
out to the Chairperson by nonagenarian Sinclair Adair.
Irvine
Ferguson
Chair - Ards Camera Club
Notes for Friday
9 March 2018
Guest Speaker - Geoff McGrath
Ards
Camera Club's Programme continued on Friday 9th March with the
visit of Geoff McGrath. Although well known in photographic
circles, Geoff is not so well known for presenting his work
to Camera Clubs, so it was great to have him visit and demonstrate
his expertise in Landscape Photography, Fine Art Portraiture
and iPhone Photography.
Geoff initially provided an overview of his journey into photography,
with images of himself as a youth posing for his wedding photographer
Father. This developed to assisting his Father and from that
learning all about film photography in the pre-digital age.
Much travelling to various corners of the planet helped hone
his skills and after settling back in N. Ireland, continued
his photographic learning, now in digital format, at various
training courses.
Geoff then focused on the aspects of photography as previously
mentioned and there followed an evening of mainly audio visual
(AV) presentations of his work.
Landscapes of various scenes in Ireland featured with processing
to suit a slightly darker application that he explained he applies
to most of his work.
iPhone photography was shown next, with an AV display composed
of images that were processed mainly on his phone.
Last but by no means least, Geoff presented his cosplay portraiture
for which he is currently best known. 'Perps Portraits' as they
are termed are portraits of people in costume, representing
the various characters from the likes of the Marvel Films/Comics
and Starwars, etc. The screen was filled with portraits of Spiderman,
Batman, Batgirl, Black Panther, Captain America, Darth Vader,
Judge McBride, to name but a few. Such is the quality of this
work that many have featured on the covers of Empire and Cosplay
Magazines.
Many thanks to Geoff for a very entertaining evening and for
giving us an insight into a genre of photography that some didn't
know even existed.
Irvine
Ferguson
Chair - Ards Camera Club
Notes for Friday
2 March 2018
Club / NIPA Competition Round 5 'Food Photography'
Friday
2nd March was the NIPA Round 5 Competition with the theme of
'Food'.
Due to a technical hitch and the absence of a scribe, there
was no report of the competition published. So, for those still
interested, especially as the attendance was low due to the
'Beast from the East' and 'Emma' from the South, it turned out
to be a low key affair with a smaller than usual entry. There
was a noticeable absence of entries from the Advanced Section,
obviously no appetite for food photography! However, the General
Section was well supported with some excellent photographs and
PDIs of great calorific value. Judging was carried out by the
club members and the marks added and verified expertly by David
on his spread sheets.
Well done to all who made the effort to participate in the competition
and very well done to the following members who had images placed:-
Jacqui Agnew, Raphael Clarke, Martin Conroy, Richard Cowan,
Sean Evans, Marlene Hazelhurst, Richard Holmes, Linda Hutchinson,
Keith Malcolm and Claire Russell. Those members who then had
their images selected to go forward to the NIPA Adjudication
were Raphael Clarke, Martin Conroy, Richard Cowan, Richard Holmes,
Linda Hutchinson, Keith Malcolm and Claire Russell. We wish
them every success at the Adjudication which will be hosted
by Catchlight Club on Wednesday 21st March.
Irvine
Ferguson
Chair - Ards Camera Club
Notes for Friday
23 February 2018
Print Battle - Ards v City of Belfast - Hosted by Ards CC
Friday
23rd February and Ards Camera Club went into Battle for a second
time this season. This time, it was the Annual Print Battle
against City of Belfast Photographic Society. Ards were the
hosts and although the visiting support from Belfast was a bit
thin on the ground, their arsenal of competing images was impressive.
These images were pitted against the selection that produced
the decisive victory for Ards at Westcourt earlier in February.
Back in the mists of time, City of Belfast evolved from Belfast
YMCA and the Print Battle with Ards was for the Beginner's Trophy.
However, as the Beginners developed into seasoned photographers
the Trophy retained its title, but continued to be competed
for at a general club level.
Guest judge was John Belshaw who had the unenviable task of
critiquing and scoring the competing thirty colour images and
thirty black and white images. A difficult job at the best of
times, but as usual on such occasions, there was a modicum of
suggested assistance from the 'experts' in the auditorium which
as usual was totally ignored by the experienced and battle hardened
John.
After much consideration and a break for tea and cake to mark
Keith's Birthday, the scores were counted and agreed. Ards proved
too strong for their gallant opponents from Belfast and were
declared winners and retained the much coveted Trophy.
Much thanks to Honor Ross and Peter Knott for their input to
the Print Battle on behalf of City of Belfast Photographic Society
and to John Belshaw for judging, especially as he agreed to
be the judge at short notice.
Saturday 24th February was NIPA Competition Round 4 Adjudication
at Strabane and District Camera Club. Congratulations to David
Williamson and Ted McKee who achieved star status for their
images. Also, well done and thanks to those members who made
the long journey to Strabane as representatives of the Club.
Irvine
Ferguson
Chair - Ards Camera Club
Notes for Friday
16 February 2018
Guest Speaker - Reinis Babrovskis - Motorsport Photography
Friday
16th February and returning by popular demand, our programme
tonight featured Reinis Babrovskis to enlighten us further with
his expertise in car and motorsport photography. As usual, he
provided a clear and detailed account on how car and motorsport
photography is achieved, together with a superb display of images.
This time, Reinis featured mainly on car photography, showing
images of cars in the rare, luxury, super luxury and eye wateringly
expensive categories. The images covered many replicas from
film and TV, shot on locations to suit their status, cars set
in cityscapes, carparks, by the sea, up mountains, in aircraft
hangers to name a few, situations all expertly thought out to
suit the particular car.
Of great interest and providing much mirth were some of the
tips of the trade, including 'human smoke machines', black bin
bag anti reflectors and cars being pushed by hand that looked
like they were going at their maximum speed. A full house thoroughly
enjoyed the presentation and I am sure will nod knowingly the
next time they flick through a car magazine.
Many thanks to Reinis for educating and entertaining in equal
measure with his display of narrative and wonderful images on
car and motorsport photography.
Notes
for Thursday 8 February 2018 - Print Battle with Westcourt Camera
Club
and
Friday 8 February 2018 - An Evening with Sinclair Adair
Print
Battles between camera clubs are a regular feature in their
programme of events. This is when a club presents a selection
of images to be judged and scored against a similar selection
from another club. Naturally the highest score wins. So, in
this tradition of Print Battles, Ards Camera Club set off for
Belfast on Thursday evening 8th February to do battle with newly
formed Westcourt Camera Club. A great night of camaraderie and
hospitality ensued as Vittorio and Shelly expertly judged and
scored the array of quality images.
At the end of the evening when the scores had been added and
verified, Ards came out on top and were declared winners of
this first Print Battle between the clubs. Many thanks to Westcourt
for hosting the event and every success to them as they establish
this new club which obviously has the potential to be well placed
within the NIPA affiliated membership.
Back on home turf for Friday 9th February and the highlight
of our season's programme took place with the combined Birthday
Celebration and presentation of his audio visual work of honorary
club member Sinclair Adair.
In spite of the usual helpful and maybe not so helpful advice
from the assembled members and visitors, a few initial technical
glitches were soon sorted and the show got underway. The creative
imagination and masterly ability to produce such amazing audio
visuals never ceases to amaze and the evening proceeded with
a variety of psychedelic works of art, cloned animal menageries,
train crashes and much more.
Following a break for Birthday cake ( 94 candles was deemed
a fire risk so one symbolic candle was deemed sufficient ) and
other treats the evening concluded with a further array of entertaining
and sometimes confusing images. 'Trips to Holland and fast food
outlets will never be the same again!'
As always on these occasions it was a night of much mirth and
entertainment and the club's best wishes for a very Happy Birthday
and thanks for an outstanding performance were bestowed on Sinclair.
Irvine
Ferguson
Chair - Ards Camera Club
Sinclair Adair celebrating his 94th Birthday
with friend and fellow photographer Stanley Matchett
Notes for Friday
2 February 2018
Club / NIPA Competition Round 3 'Infrastructure' - Judge Darren
Brown
Friday
2nd February saw NIPA Secretary, Darren Brown, join us from
Bangor & North Down Camera Club to guest judge the fourth
round of the combined Club and NIPA Round 4 competition. Back
on familiar territory with an ‘Open’ round, the
entry extended over onto the new display boards around the side
of the Clubhouse. It is great to see so many members participating
in the competitions and, as Darren observed, a particularly
strong Novice section!
Accompanied
by his dogs, Darren provided an excellent critique of all the
images on display. Subsequently, there has a lot of feedback
about how much everyone enjoyed his judging and the positive
comments and encouragement he gave everyone, especially the
novices.
As is usual for an Open round, there were photographs covering
many topics ranging from lighthouses (!), landscapes, portraits,
sports photography, natural history and travel. A stand out
image was a self portrait of our Competition Secretary, David,
looking like he was mid way through adding up the scoring for
the evening!
After
much consideration the following members had their images placed:-
Jacqui Agnew, Michael Loane, Rusty Adair, Bobby Graham, Sarah
Shaw, Linda Hutchinson, Richard Cowan, Sean Evans, Sian Kerr,
David Williamson, Ryan Patterson, Ted McKee.
Well
done to the successful entrants and many thanks to Darren for
judging.
Notes for Friday
19 January 2018
Guest Speaker - Ryan Simpson - Landscape Photography
Friday
19th January and Landscape Photography was elevated to new heights
by guest Ryan Simpson's presentation of his Mountain Photography.
A full attendance, enhanced by visitors keen to view Ryan's
photography, were treated to a fantastic display of scenes taken
mainly in The Mourne Mountains, Norway and The Faroe Islands.
As a result of many solitary overnight camps spent in the Mournes
at all times of the year, Ryan displayed photographs of the
mountains, the sky and clouds, taken at varying times of the
day and night, together with the accompanying sunrises and sunsets.
A great feature of Ryan's work was his time lapse photography,
where the changing light and cloud formations could be appreciated
as they moved according to the varying weather conditions affecting
them. In comparison to other mountain ranges, the Mournes are
relatively small, however the photographs on display showed
they have a massive diversity of beauty in a landscape that
is on our doorstep.
Ryan followed with photographs from a marathon trip to the North
West tip of Norway that contained scenes of fjords, mountains,
deserted beaches and of course, being so far North, the Aurora
Borealis (Northern Lights) at it's magnificent best.
The presentation continued with photographs from Ryan's most
recent trip to the Faroe Islands where the landscapes can only
be described as looking like amazing photographs from 'Middle
Earth' as depicted in the 'Lord of the Rings' films.
Many thanks to Ryan for this very accomplished presentation
of Mountain Photography.
Now
that our 'Life in Mono' project is underway, well done to the
fourteen hardy members who assembled on a grey, damp, cold,
miserable Saturday morning, for the first outing to take some
local photograph at Island Hill and Comber. Highlight of the
day was breakfast/morning break in Comber. We look forward to
seeing the resulting photographs on Wednesday.
Irvine
Ferguson
Chair - Ards Camera Club
Notes for Friday
12 January 2018
Guest Speaker - Hugh Wilkinson - 'Photography My Hobby'
The
Christmas break is now but a memory and our Programme resumed
on Friday 12th January with the rearranged visit of Hugh Wilkinson,
award winning photographer and stalwart of Catchlight Camera
Club. Hugh's presentation was well worth the wait, as Keith
Malcolm writes:-
"What
an enjoyable and entertaining evening at Ards Camera Club, where
a full house enjoyed the outstanding images captured and displayed
by Hugh Wilkinson. An amazing variety of images in a range of
genres, all reflecting the experience and expertise of a very
talented photographer who deserves all the success he has gained
on an individual basis and as a member of Catchlight.
The success of the evening was added to by his entertaining
commentary and quick witted banter, and the audience appreciated
all the advice and explanation he readily shared about the techniques
used to capture the images as well as the methods used during
processIng.
At the end of the evening I left feeling very inspired (as I’m
sure everyone else did), and impatient to get out with my camera
in the hope of raising the quality of my own photography."
Many
thanks to Hugh for providing us with an entertaining, educating
and inspiring presentation and thanks also to Keith for this
narrative of the evening.
Irvine
Ferguson
Chair - Ards Camera Club
Notes for Friday
8 December 2017
Christmas Dinner
Friday
8th December and it was Christmas Dinner Night at the Chef &
Manager Restaurant. Not withstanding the Arctic weather, there
was a great turn out of members to enjoy the good food, good
craic and the usual exchanges of good humour that is now standard
practice when we get together. A ballot for the framed and signed
image that was donated by our friend and guest presenter Tuck
Goh, together with the customary bottle of wine, raised over
£100, a portion of which will go to one of Tuck's charities
at the Ulster Hospital. The draw was made by the 'real Father
Christmas' and the winner was Carole Watson who was surprised
and delighted in equal measure.
Since the dinner, there have been many photos and expressions
of thanks and good cheer posted, displaying the camaraderie
that underpins the success of all aspects of the Club this year.
Thanks to Patricia for organizing the dinner and attending to
the long forgotten choices from the menu.
Some
of you I will see again before Christmas and some not, so I
take this opportunity on behalf of the Club, to wish you all
a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Irvine
Ferguson
Chair - Ards Camera Club
Notes for Friday
1 December 2017
Roy Finlay Memorial Natural History Competition
Friday
1st December was a busy and as it turned out, a very successful
night for Ards Camera Club. The Club was co-host with the Northern
Ireland Photographic Association (NIPA) for the Annual Roy Finlay
Memorial Natural History Photographic Competition.
Now in its 34th Year, the Judge for the event was Mr Jack Malins
ARPS, Chairman of the Irish Photographic Federation Nature Group
and a specialist in Natural History Photography. Also present
was Mr Neil Finlay, his wife Kerry and Mr Billy Snoddon representing
the Finlay Family.
The Competition had its orgins in 1983 when Roy Finlay, a past
President of NIPA and stalwart of Ards Camera Club, tragically
lost his life following an accident on a photo-shoot while pursuing
his passion for nature photography. Roy's wife Rosemary instigated
the Roy Finlay Competition in his memory and each year supported
it with the provision of a trophy for the winning photographer.
Sadly Rosemary passed away this year, but her son Neil confirmed
that on behalf of the family he would continue supporting the
event, in memory of his Father and now in honour of his Mother.
The Competition had been prejudged and on the evening, Judge
Jack Malins gave an overview and critical commentary on both
the printed and projected images. Jack's critique was firm,
to the point and decisive, clearly demonstrating that in this
competition, a very high standard of photography is a basic
requirement.
As previously alluded to, it turned out to be a very successful
event for Ards Camera Club with three members achieving recognition
for four of the placed images.
Michael Loane whose image of 'Toad Headed Agama' was placed
First in the Printed Image Section and First Overall for the
Competition. In the Projected Image Section there were three
Highly Commended Images; Michael Loane was again successful
with 'Honeycomb Moray', Ted McKee with 'Ringlet' and Keith Malcolm
with 'Common Terns with Sand eel'.
Michael was unable to attend the Competition and his trophy
of the Perpetual Silver Tray and Langham Glass hand crafted
crystal 'Avocet' presented by Neil Finlay was received on his
behalf by Club Chairman Irvine Ferguson.
Congratulations and well done to Michael, Ted and Keith and
to all of the entrants who had images placed. Also, many thanks
to the members of NIPA and Ards Camera Club who put in a lot
of hard work to ensure the success of the Roy Finlay Memorial
Natural History Competition.
(Copies of the successful images are not yet all available and
will be posted as soon as can be arranged)
Irvine
Ferguson
Chair - Ards Camera Club
Notes for Friday
24 November 2017
Club / NIPA Competition Round 3 'Infrastructure' - Judge Louise
Borbely
The
combined Club and NIPA Round 3 Competition with the theme of
'Infrastructure' took place on Friday evening 24th November.
Guest judge was Louise Borbely who noted her delight to be visiting
the club in spite of the daunting task of judging the diverse
interpretations of infrastructure.
At the time of writing, the results are unavailable, however
they will be posted in due course.
First observation from Louise was of the exceptionally high
standard of the images from the General Section which contains
our novices and those relatively new to club photography. As
always with themed competitions, the title give way to many
ideas of what may be relevant.
A selection of the images on show included electric pylons in
various settings, light houses from various angles and with
diverse post production applications, bridges ancient and modern,
straight, curving and s shaped and constructed from concrete,
stone and steel (most in focus but some not so much!), dockside
cranes in silhouette and ships loaded with wind turbines, city
bicycles and cars in tunnels, brightly painted gas containers
in refineries and of course planes and boats and trains. Then
there were the clever ideas from those thinking beyond the normal
interpretation. There was an image of a satellite dish situated
above the door of a cattle pen in foreign parts (indicative
of infrastructure in that economically deprived area) and a
cityscape created as a silhouette of a pile of stationery items!
All of the work was very well presented with some new ideas
apparent with the positioning of images within their mounts
and varying colours of mount card used in accordance with the
contained image. Overall, Louise was very impressed with the
entries on view and gave an excellent display of judging being
clear and concise in her critique and decisive in her selection
of the placed images. Well done to the successful entrants and
many thanks to Louise for judging.
Irvine Ferguson
Chair - Ards Camera Club
Notes for Friday
17 November 2017
Guest Speaker - Tuck Goh talks us through his facinating images
Friday
17th November, week twelve of the programme and our guest presenter
was Tuck Goh, doctor and much travelled photographer specializing
in street photography. Tuck resides in Ards and is a long time
friend of Ards Camera Club and many of the members. So, a full
house was in attendance to hear of his journey in photography
and see many of his expertly taken images.
Tuck explained how he travelled to N.Ireland initially to study
medicine, but following qualification embarked on a career in
photography! However, after a few years as a commercial photographer
he returned to medicine and 'focused' his photographic interests
in street photography during his overseas travels.
Much to the amazement and horror of those with the latest high
spec DSLR cameras,Tuck explained that he uses a compact fixed
lens camera and displays his images mainly in black and white.
The presentation of his many themed collections of street images
taken in places such as Singapore, Malaysia, Belgium, Paris
and USA, included many from his recent exhibitions in the Ulster
Hospital and Ards Arts Centre. The presentation was punctuated
with many questions, explanations and 'the usual witty exchanges
that sometimes/frequently occur'!
Very many thanks to Tuck for such an entertaining and informative
evening that was thoroughly enjoyed by everyone.
Irvine Ferguson
Chair - Ards Camera Club
Notes
for Friday 3 November 2017
Members' Night - Neal Ritchie
Last
night was one of our members nights and it was club secretary
Neal who took up the challenge and what a great night it was.
Neal started the evening by telling us something of the great
work that Habitat for Humanity does and in particular his trip
to Cambodia where they built houses on stilts to prevent flooding.
It was interesting to hear about Neal's trips and to see the
photographs that he took that are a great record of everything
that they do there.
Neal
then moved on to give us all valuable advice about travel photography
such as what to consider when choosing and packing your equipment,
the importance of keeping back ups of your photographs in separate
luggage and traveling as light as possible. Neal illustrated
this part of his talk with some examples of his photographs
to show how you should consider recording the general view and
then moving in closer to record the detail.
During
tea break, we had our usual ballot but with proceeds going to
Neal’s charity, Habitat for Humanity. Together with other
donations on the night, we raised a fantastic £308 pounds
so a big thanks to all the members for this great effort. I
think Neal is still in shock over the amount raised !
After
tea, Neal finished off the evening with some fantastic images
from one of his photo trips to China. This showed how dependant
we are on the weather for our travel/landscape photography but
also how you need to put the effort in and do some hiking to
get to the great view points.
All
in all, a great night.
John
McKernan
Vice Chair - Ards Camera Club
Notes
for Friday 27 October 2017
Club / NIPA Competition Round 2 'Open' - Judge Gerry Coe
Friday
27th October and Club activity continued tonight with the Open
Category Round 2 Competition. Judge for the event was Gerry
Coe from Bangor & North Down Camera Club. Gerry is renown
for his expertise in iphone photography and was immediately
called into action, not in judgement, but by a request for a
rather scary Halloween photograph!
On to the serious business of the evening and being an open
round, there were photographs covering many topics, including:-
sport, landscapes, long exposure seascapes, travel, portraiture,
street photography, abstract and natural history where the usual
'bird on a stick' photos were seriously challenged by 'a snail
on a stick'!
The standard of photography was as always very high, giving
our judge a big challenge to choose those worthy of placings.
Gerry gave a comprehensive critique to all the images, frequently
offering suggestions for improvement or different approaches
to capturing the shot. After much consideration the following
members were deemed successful and had their images placed:-
Rusty Adair, Raphael Clarke, Richard Cowan, Sean Evans, Irvine
Ferguson, Sian Kerr, Michael Loane, Ted McKee. Ryan Patterson,
Neal Ritchie, Claire Russell, Sarah Shaw and David Williamson.
Congratulations to those members and especially well done to
those who are both new to the club and new to competition.
Many thanks to Gerry for his input, both in judging and positive
commentary as he perused the images. Also thanks to everyone
who put in the time and effort to take and prepare images for
the competition and to David and Peter for their administration
of the event.
Irvine
Ferguson
Chair - Chair Ards Camera Club
Notes
for Friday 20 October 2017
Insight into Judging - Vittorio Silvestri and Martin Spackman
The
Programme continued last night with a visit from the 'top brass'
at NIPA. President Vittorio Silvestri and Past President Martin
Spackman gave a demonstration on the process of judging competition
entries. Details of how each image was given a score of 1 to
5 by each of three judges, with due consideration to all the
expected considerations of composition and accompanying technicalities
was imparted to the now usual full attendance. The ensuing question
and answer exchanges that continued throughout the presentation
enhanced the member's knowledge of the judging method and proved
very helpful when everyone was given the opportunity to score
a provided panel of images. The feedback more or less concurred
with the expected scores, so the approach was obviously being
applied as indicated. Many thanks to Vittorio and Martin who
were both instructive and enlightening in their presentation
and worked hard answering the many questions and observations
directed at them.
By coincidence, it was revealed today that three of our members
achieved 'starred image' grade in the judging of the Round One
Competition. Congratulations to those members whose names will
be made known at the Adjudication Event in the Morton Centre,
Lorne Street, Belfast on Wednesday Night 25th October commencing
at 7-30pm.
Also, continuing with success, Ards Camera Club won the Annual
Quadrangle PDI Competition which was held in conjunction with
Hamilton Club in Scotland, Corby Club in England and Wrexham
Club in Wales. Congratulation and very well done to those members
whose images were selected to represent the Club.
Irvine
Ferguson
Chair - Ards Camera Club
Notes
for Friday 13 October 2017
Quadrangle Competition Judging
Last
night saw Tom Fairley faced with the unenviable task of judging
and scoring 60 PDI images in the annual quadrangle battle between
Ards, Hamilton, Corby and Wrexham Camera Clubs. After having
a run through of the 60 images for those of us at the club we
realised that all the images were of a very high standard. Tom
then gave his very valuable critique of each image and his score
for each one. After scoring 30 images, we took a break for tea
(and a well deserved glass for water for Tom) and then continued
with the second half of the remaining 30 images. David, our
very able Competitons Secretary then announced the scores which
where:
Corby
231
Wrexham 247
Hamilton 248
Ards ( wait for it..........) 259
That
makes Ards the winner of this round but we have to wait until
all the clubs have their scoring completed before we hear the
final results. A very enjoyable night was had by all and our
sincere thanks to Tom for all his efforts prior to and during
the night.
Notes for Friday 6 October 2017
John Miskelly - Landscape Photography
Friday
6th October and we had a full house to see the work of Landscape
Photographer John Miskelly. John presented a remarkable selection
of long exposure seascapes, providing a detailed narrative of
the story behind each image along with a technical insight into
all the aspects of light, exposure and composition in their
creation. Although John has travelled to many corners of the
world on commissions and personal photoshoots he pointed out
that the West Coast of Ireland and the Islands of the West of
Scotland provide the backdrop to many of his favourite photographs.
The presentation was entertaining and educating in equal measure
and thoroughly enjoyed by everyone.
Also, the Club conveyed its congratulations to John for having
his entry placed in the top ten finalist grouping of the Hasselblad
Masters 2018 Competition. The top ten entries will now go to
a public vote. We give John our best wishes for the next stage
and many thanks for his presentation tonight.
There was also a surprise in store for our 'elder statesman'
Sinclair Adair when he was presented with the gift of a framed
portrait of himself. The portrait was expertly photographed
and generously provided by Ross McKelvey of Catchlight Camera
Club. Many thanks to Ross for this thoughtful gesture to Sinclair.
Next Friday is the final judging phase of the Quadrangle Competition
when all the images of the four National clubs are presented
for marking.
Irvine Ferguson
Chair Ards Camera Club
Notes for Friday
15 September 2017
Ross McKelvey - Portraiture and Lighting
Week
2 of our 2017/18 Programme and we welcomed Ross McKelvey of
Catchlight CC to educate and entertain us with a masterclass
in portraiture and lighting. After a brief explanation of how
he gained his own renowned expertise, it was down to business
with details on camera settings and basic lighting setup.
No need for directions to the first selected volunteer model
when veteran master photographer Sinclair Adair took the chair.
Ross demonstrated with a number of shots to check on lighting
and camera settings, then it was over to the members to practice
their skills.
Model number two was Ryan Patterson, always in demand for portraiture
due to his very photogenic 'lower facial hair'. Much more taking
of photographs ensued and undoubtedly much more knowledge in
portraiture photography taken on board.
Many thanks to Ross for a very informative and enjoyable evening
and also to Sinclair and Ryan for their modelling skills.
Irvine Ferguson
Chair - Ards Camera Club
Notes for Friday
1 September 2017
Opening Night of New Season
What
a great start to the 2017/18 Camera Club season! We were delighted
to see old friends and new at our opening night tonight to hear
about our programme for the year ahead and to look back at some
of the highlights over the summer. And not a camera in sight
so the phone photo will have to do.
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