Last night was an evening of enjoying the best of the PAGB and it was certainly interesting to see the standard that is required to do well. The tea break went on a while with lots of discussions, which is always nice to see as people share experiences and ideas.
The second half was more great images this time it allowed us to manually progress through at our own pace and there was some discussion as to what made each one a winning image. I think if we do this again it would be nice to make a full evening out of this section and really critique some of these images..especially the ones where the judges clearly got it wrong :)
We are really pleased to have Peter Warne at the club doing a macro talk followed by some practical sessions so bring your cameras and tripods. For those who don't know Peter, he is one of the best speakers on the circuit and his talks are always well researched, informative and interesting. you are in for a good night.
Also, you need to have sent in your images for the portrait competition to dpi@h2photo.org.uk with the subject Portrait by midnight on the 23rd Feb for entry into our portrait competition.
Flickr
You will see from the panels further down that we are really trying to push and develop our Flickr site as a real resource for all of our members. As a committee, we see flicker as a place to "carry on the conversation" allowing the sort of discussion and learning to carry on after the club meetings..plus there is a chance to win a prize.
February is the month to upload some pictures to our Flickr Site. Every image uploaded to our flickr group in February will be entered into our February Flickr competition. The author of the winning image will receive a prize, so now is the time to get uploading to our group.
One way to motivate us to develop and better our photography is to enter the distinction examinations of one of this country's photographic bodies. Both the Royal Photographic Society (RPS) & Photographic Alliance of Great Britain (PAGB) - there are others - run these courses.
And just the entering encourages us out of our comfort zone; to develop new skills, to try different image genres and give us different experiences.
Successful completion does give us a qualification, yes, but more important is the journey we travel whilst creating the images, finding ourselves in a different place, with new skills; perhaps even enjoying our photography more.
More info at www.rps.org and www.thepagb.org.uk
Joel has a distinctive style combing HDR backgrounds and studio work. Do you like his work? do you "get it"? or does it leave you cold? Why not pop over to the discussion thread and make your thoughts known.
Elgol by Stan Chippett
Places to Spend your money
I had a couple of conversations last night about suppliers so I thought I would share the links here.
- Essential Photo is A great place for lighting equipment and kits to get you started in the studio. If you are confused by all the options they are happy to provide advice. You will often hear American photographers talking about Godox gear, the equivalent in the UK is called PixaPro and supplied by Essential Photo.
Keep an eye out for their discount codes or sign up to their mailing lists for further reductions.
- Cotswold Mounts provide ready cut mountboard (and backing board) in the 50cm x 40cm size needed for competition. You can even buy the mounts with the aperture already cut if you don't have a mount cutter.
Graham by Paul Simpkin
Rebbeca by Geoff Yates
Dates for your Diary
Thursday 20 Feb: Peter Warne Macro talk & Practical Saturday 22 Feb: St Ives Interprint Competition Thursday 27 Feb: Portrait Competition Thursday 5 Mar: Talk by Landscape Photographer Dave Peck Sunday 8 Mar: EAFPrint competition
Please note:
The new date for Print of the Year is 21st May 2020.
- Essential Photo 
- Cotswold Mounts
