The year 2007 is now upon us and whilst sitting at my computer the rain is lashing against the windows for yet another wet day, ... but just a moment the sun has popped out for a few moments, which reminds me that the Salisbury Exhibition, this year is a great success with 39 Clubs entering the print section alone and 31 entering the slide section. We were fortunate in having both Galleries this year giving so much more space to view the members work, being able to stand back to admire the prints instead of tripping over someone’s feet in the process with the print boards down the middle. Whilst I have already thanked the many who helped to arrange and hang the Exhibition it has to be said again as the same ones toiled to unhang and repack in boxes .... boxes, yes you would not believe it but a few Clubs had the cheek, (other words came to mind) to present their members work in plastic bags without any protection at all, so in future all Clubs entering will have to use the boxes, every Club surely can afford £16 or so to protect the work. So no Box no acceptance, all obtainable from our very own BOX shop, Jennie Pearson, from Alton C.C. At the time of writing it isn’t possible to report on the Bi-annual Slide Championship but there the same number of Clubs entering as the last one, but it is to the Digital File Championship that I am looking at, the Western Counties Photographic Federation, held their first one in 2006 and they had 32 Clubs entering, a week before the number was 20. I know that the WCPF is a very large federation but the percentage is very high, so PLEASE all who read this copy, get your Competition Secretary to beg steal or borrow those digi-files and get on up to Newbury on the 25thMarch. Why Newbury, do I hear you ask, well for many years all competitions have been held at Romsey, and our Northern Clubs felt enough was enough, so have transport will travel. The venue is very comfortable, plenty of free parking, again, a bar, yes a bar, see the advert for more details. Judges, I know that they get a lot of stick from member clubs. ‘He wouldn’t know a good print if he fell over one’, ‘only 7 and I went all the way to New Zealand to get that shot’, ‘judge he should be hung like the other bloke was’ ..... many clubs that I visit are asking Judges to spread the marks which is not always an easy task, when we in this federation mark out of 10, other regions mark out of 20 ... and some don’t have marks at all ... where do we go???? I would remind you that all our Judges give of their time totally free, so on a cold wet winters evening, they may have driven 25-55 miles to get to your venue, spend from 2 - 2 1/2 hours on their feet giving constructive advice on perhaps 60 - 80 prints, plus slides and digital files... all for free, gratis... they do not ask, or are not allowed to charge, other than travelling costs, for their expertise, then drive home arriving far later than you do .... and a letter of thanks goes a long way to them when it drops on the mat a few days later, thinking yes it was a good evening, nice of them to remember .... a dig at Club Secretaries, yes why not ... for myself I get many letters of thanks from the WCPF clubs, and our own Fed lacks in this direction, I, make no apology for this remark. The Federation Council is still looking for new blood, to serve, we nearly give blood as well!, and I know that there are a lot of people out there who are able to give advice and some criticise the work of the Council, but without their help, we cannot help you and again its a free ride, but it is very rewarding when something like the Exhibition succeeds, and we do well in the Alliance at Warwick University, or at Connors Quay, the Annual Slide and Print National Championships and the Council, as it stands, works very hard with and for everyone, so why don’t you join us you will be made most welcome there is a big family out there to look after!!!! our names are in the handbook, give us a call and have a chat, about how you can help out and don’t forget, we are all members of the Southern Photographic Federation, not just your own club..... I look forward to a successful year for all the Southern Photographic Federation and its Members, good Digital hunting........ Ian Bigg, LRPS CPAGB. |
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Editors Notes A Happy, Healthy and Prosperous 2007 to all the members of the Southern Photographic Federation and their families. It was suggested at the last Representatives meeting in November that the print in the newsletter be enlarged, so I am trying to produce this newsletter with a minimum of 11point throughout. Obviously the adverts will be out of my control and there may also be a few white spaces where things do not quite fit exactly, but we shall see. There is always a rush of items for inclusion in the newsletter at the last minute, could you help by perhaps sending items a little earlier as it allows me to get a little sleep rather than burning the midnight oil, trying to fit everything in. I do have a deadline in getting the finished newsletter to the printer so that they can have it ready for us at the next Reps. meeting. I still have certificates for the winners of the last online competition and will get them to you as quickly as I can. The new online competition is now live and will run until 30th June 2007. All images should be sent to Trevor at webmaster@southphotographicfed.org.uk and should be a maximum of 500 pixels on the longest side at 72dpi, or can be posted to 123 Aylen Road, Copnor, Portsmouth, Hants. PO3 5HE. Please include your details i.e name, address and Club you represent as well as the title of the image. Happy Snapping Trevor Any errors should be notified to or by post to 123 Aylen Road, Copnor, Portsmouth, Hants. PO3 5HE. Any copy for the Newsletter should be sent to Trevor by January 12th. |
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EXHIBITION BOXES. Looking after your exhibition and to help Geoff Kelland, so that the Southern Photographic Federation has a showcase in the annual exhibition held in the Salisbury Library Gallery each year. We find that one of the main problems is the receiving of the print exhibits, three quarters of them arrive in good hard boxes, this is ideal as they receive all the protection that is required. The other 25% make a lot of work for us, making sure that the exhibits do not receive damage due to the wrapping in which they are packed such as plastic bags, brown paper etc; and some not even marked to know which club that they represent. It would be nice if your club would think about purchasing a hard box (the ones from the Federation are around £15.00), they are excellent, can be used for other competitions throughout the year, keeping the prints safe and sound and most important of all, easy to transport. “YOU KNOW IT MAKES SENSE“ George. |
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SANDOWN, SHANKLIN and DISTRICT CAMERA CLUB The Club was founded back in 1947 in the days when 35mm was the new format and 120 film the popular size. Colour film was available, but for most, black and white film was the norm. As for cameras; Leica and Contax, for example, were top of the range for 35mm, Rollei and many other German cameras for 120, while makes such as Agfa and Voigtlander occupied the middle of the road. Many members processed their own films at home and produced prints for discussion workshops, competitions and exhibitions. So what has changed in our club in the past sixty years? Answer - mainly technology and fashion. Today, we are a group of enthusiastic photographers who use digital and film cameras to produce images to the highest standard we can, assisted by computers in many cases. The so-called split between film and digital is about 50:50, although some film users use computers to scan their 135 or 6x6 images. Fashion and style have definitely changed. Just take a look at your grandparents’ photographs. Today, in our club competitions, we find fewer portraits, not much reportage, but there are more landscapes, manipulated images, wildlife and seascapes. Several competitions are usually based on a theme or subject. One major advantage of our club for its members, is our high performance cube computer and projector. We acquired the kit early in 2006 after a successful application to the Awards for All organisation. This means that all our members have access to this facility for editing, learning new techniques or projecting their images. A mix of photographic, software and computing skills make life much more exciting – or filled with a little apprehension at new techniques and technology. This means we have two projected images competitions; slides and digi-slides – but not together. We are also able to use it with other groups to give shows of their own images. A pottery lecture at Carisbrooke Castle and another talk about on natural history, are just two examples. Other specialist groups such as local history, archaeology and gardeners are just a few examples of enthusiasts who take digital photographs, and could benefit from using our technology. Training at Club evenings is always a lively event, as there are always two or three ways of manipulating imaging software for the optimum picture. Also, those members who may not want to buy upgrades, can use the Club’s kit – and also benefit from alternative thinking from other members. Of the future; Sandown Bay is going to improved, Ryde terminal renewed, and Ventnor is becoming more attractive by the week. The Island needs record photographs to be taken and archived, and who better than the members of SS+DCC! Our Vice Chairman, Stephen Wake is preparing his one-man exhibition; “Exhilaration of Speed and Moments of Serenity” to be at Dimbola Lodge Museum at Freshwater from 26 January for seven weeks (stvwake@aol.com or administrator@dimbola.co.uk). We are mounting an exhibition during September incorporating prints from members over the last sixty years. We are always keen to welcome visitors and new members to our weekly meetings in Newchurch, so if you feel you would like to come along, we meet at 1930 on Tuesdays at The Pavilion in Watery Lane. Why not ring or e-mail our Secretary; Chuck Eccleston at 01983 405817 (wwi@btinternet.com), to find out much more. Mike Penrith, Chairman |
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CENTRAL SOUTHERN DIGITAL IMAGING GROUP RPS ROYAL PHOTOGRAPHIC SOCIETY Programme 2007 January 14th “Capture, Manipulation and Output” February 11th “Digital Photography Workflow from Exposure to Archive” March 25th “Advanced Photoshop” August 12th “Underwater Photography” September 23rd “Not a Lot of People Know That” October 28th “Digital Imaging Tips and Techniques” December 2nd Annual General Meeting followed by a committee members’ presentation session led by Jeff Lawrence. In the afternoon there will be the Millennium Cup Competition. All meetings are “all-day” events and commence at 10 am for 10.30. Free refreshments are available but attendees should bring a packed lunch. Central Southern DIG is a regional group of the Royal Photographic Society which is open to all, whether nembers ot not. Meetings which are held at the Coopers Hill Community Centre, Crowthorne Road North, Bagshot Road, Bracknell, Berkshire RG12 7QS . Attendance charges not RPS DI Group members and non-members respectively are £15.00 and £18.00. To aid with cash flow, Season Tickets are available at a substantial discount of £35 and £50. There is a one-off discount of 20% on the single meeting charge for an introductory first visit, and reduced charges are available for registered students. For up-to-date information on the group and its programme, please refer to the group’s website: www.csdigital.co.uk |
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Southern Photographic Federation Standard Model – 21” x 17” x 1 5/8ths”. PRICE - £14-75 Orders in writing and with cheques payable to J. PEARSON The next order date has not been arranged yet. Boxes to be collected at the SPF Quarterly Meeting Jennie Pearson. Alton Camera Club. Tel:- 01420 88743 |
World Pinhole Day I am a pinhole photographer and lecturer living in Bristol and every year I volunteer to be the UK publicist for World Pinhole Day, an event to get as many people as possible around the world to take a pinhole photograph on the same day (The last Sunday in April). Last year 2267 people from 60 different countries took part and uploaded their pinhole photograph onto the Pinhole day website www.pinholeday.org I am writing to ask if you could pass on this information to the members of your Federation and so giving them the opportunity of taking part and potentially attracting new members. I hope this is of interest and I will gladly answer any queries you have on this event. Many thanks Justin Quinnell
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A meeting with Views, but maybe not yours. Just a little snippet of what goes on at the SPF Club Representatives meeting and why someone from your Club should come along. The room was buzzing with activity and the atmosphere was great, the President used his gavel to bring order to the assembled members. The usual reports were given - about the PAGB and the discussion on digital projectors - the forthcoming Exhibition having 39 panels of prints this time and 32 of slides, again being held at the Salisbury Library, all this to be judged this coming Sunday at Sparsholt - details of next years handbook were shown, and the webmaster informed us of changes taking place with the website, dates of the next newsletter - Leagues are progressing the first round now completed - the thorny subject of child photography and the taking of pictures in public place was the subject of a very long discussion with many of the members having an input, the PAGBs view and the RPS. Members of a certain club had been interviewed by CPOs (child protection officers) then again by a police officer, and they took pictures in a public place to!!! New rules apply to any club having under 16yrs of age members. We are talking about areas like football clubs, sports associations, scouts, youth clubs etc. The last on the agenda was the print sizes and why? The meeting closed on a happy note as the members were invited to join the President and council for a pre Christmas drink, yes wine and mince pies, sausage rolls, crisps and nuts etc. This was a thank you to all the Club reps who give up their time during the year to attend the quarterly meetings, and also to meet other club members, if you didn’t attend then you missed a great evening. The animated discussions that were going on around the hall, with laughter, serious issues, exchanging of e-mail addresses, all this and we shut the doors just after 10pm ... an excellent evening had by all. I hope that your club secretary has read out this which was distributed via e-mail and asked your club for one of you to represent the club at future meetings. It is only 4 times a year and the opportunity to learn about what is happening at the Federation level, finding out about other clubs, what are they doing, is that speaker good. what do you think about ??? as a judge, all these things are discussed and it is your chance to be the one who knows and get your own club involved. Oh yes, by the way there is a mistake in the Exposure newsletter. The Digital Championships are to be held at Newbury Camera Clubs home, not at Basingstoke as described - a freudian slip. Ian Bigg. CPAGB LRPS |
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A Plea from the Chairman of the Southampton International 2007. As is common with so many exhibitions, there never seem to be enough eager volunteers from the host club, for all the various committee posts. For anyone who is interested in helping out please conatct the Chairman or one of the Committee. |
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Wigan 10 Foto Club World Champions For those of you who visit the PAGB Club Slide Championships at Warwick in July you will be well aware of the stunning work this club produces which has won them the UK title for the past two years. Well, they have gone one better! FIAP organised is first “Club World Cup” in early December and Wigan Ten won it by a mile! The other club which represented the UK was Beyond Group, which is a small group (similar to Wigan 10) of dedicated photographers based in East Anglia. The positions were:- Do not forget I have a CD of Wigan 10 Exposed, as part of my PAGB Recorded Lecture Service. If any club wants a very cost effective evening - and to see some World class work - it is available, please contact me for available dates. Remember this is NOT a slide/tape lecture. Leo |
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| WINCHESTER PHOTOGRAPHIC SOCIETY The 74th Annual Exhibition of Winchester Photographic Society will take place from 5 May to 16 May 2007 in The Saxon Suite at The Guildhall, Winchester. The closing date for entries is 22 March 2007 and entry forms can be obtained from the Exhibition Co-ordinator, Roger Buchanan Tel: 023 8025 2963 or e-mail roger@roger-jane.co.uk . Entry forms will be sent out to all photographers who have entered the last two exhibitions. Entry forms can also be downloaded from the exhibition rules page on the Winchester Photographic Society website http://www.winphotosoc.co.uk . The judge will be Derek Dorsett FRPS, EFIAP. Winners of the Open Classes will be invited to the official opening on Tuesday 8 May at 7:30pm. |
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Dear SPF Members I write to you in the hope that you can provide me with some information which will enable me to establish some adult education courses in digital photography and image manipulation in Hampshire. I work for The Jeffery-Machin Foundation (JMF). The JMF is a charitable trust which was set up following the bequest of almost £1 million to the Workers’ Educational Association (WEA). We aim to provide exciting and diverse learning opportunities across Hampshire, for adults of all ages and backgrounds. In our first year, we have established the Foundation operationally and run one course – a weekend residential event – which was largely aimed at current WEA members and learners. Since then, working with Hampshire County Council and LCM marketing in Fareham, we have developed and are currently running a County-wide survey to establish what adults in Hampshire are interested in learning so that we can provide the courses that people really want. One of the most frequent suggestions is for digital photography and imaging courses. The WEA doesn’t currently run any such courses in Hampshire which is why I’m looking for partners to help us develop and deliver these courses. Would you be able to recommend or put me in touch with digital photography/Photoshop tutors in Hampshire, particularly people with experience of teaching adults? Any leads would be helpful. Please do ask if you need any more info to proceed. Many thanks Tim Arnold, Events Manager, Jeffery-Machin Foundation, WEA Southern Region. |
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Southern Photographic Federation Annual Exhibition 2007
Many thanks go to Geoffrey Kelland for the magic that he has worked on the exhibition catalogue. The many hours that he has spent in putting it together, and I do mean hours. Also thanks to David Kessel for the advertising. We all know it is like getting blood from a stone, yet he still comes up trumps. We do need this advertising as its our lifeblood in keeping the costs of producing the catalogue down. A very large thank you to you both. As you go around the Exhibition, please note that we are using both galleries this year and we would value your opinion. It obviously creates an extra cost to the Federation, but is it worth it. What do you think? Let the Council know, they value your opinions. Exhibition Results. Exhibition 2008 The committee, having looked at the problems that have occured in previous years, regarding the way that Judges interpret panels or a collection of prints, hsa decided to ask for marks out of ten, the same as is asked for Slide panels. George Walsh and Geoffrey Kelland |
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UNOFFICIAL REGIONAL DIGITAL PROJECTION CHALLENGE. As we were hosting the 1st Round of one of the P.S.A. E.I.D. Digital Projection Leagues, which we knew would not fill an evening nor to a high standard as it was mainly comprised of 1st time clubs in such a competition. Having competed with many out of area clubs in D.P. Battles and the discussions afterwards it was muted that most would like to compete against one another in some way or other. It was with this in mind that the U.R.D.P.C. came to be organised. To fill the evening with work known to be of quite a high standard. It was also thought that the members of Council could see how such an event was run prior to the Federations 1st Club Digital Projection Championship. The date was confirmed as the 17th November 2006 which was acceptable to all including the P.S.A. The P.S.A. was held 1st and this gave the Judges an insight on how to operate the Electronic Scoring Pads, plus a warm up for the main event. As was expected the images were in the main as we had seen from English clubs on a 1st time projection outside their own clubs environment lacking quite a bit in presentation. The U.R.D.P.C. had representatives from all but one of the participating clubs present. The President of the S.P.F. was present in a dual roll. The 1st was to see how such a comp was organised and expedited, as it is almost a one man show. His other roll was as President of the S.P.F. to present to Tristram Reed the Federations Roll of Honour. Ernie Fullbrook. BEM, APAGB |
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Diary Details
February 2007 1st Council Meeting 4th Slide Championships at NEWDIG, Viables Craft Centre, Basingstoke 12th Spring Club Reps. Meeting at Peter Sumonds College Winchester @745pm Collect all work returned from SPF Exhibition March 2007 April 2007 May 2007 June 2007 July 2007 August 2007 September 2007 October 2007 November 2007 December 2007 |
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HERE WE GO AGAIN When I first attended Federation Meetings many, many years ago and held in the upstairs room of the “Mayflower” piblic house, in Southampton. One of the regular points raised for discussion was Slide Projection as quite a number of clubs voiced complaints. It was then said that all clubs competing against one another and using the same projector were being Judged to the same viewing standard. In those days it was the Ladder Knockout System and not Leagues, and was a Programme Secretaries nightmare as you had to have dates available should you progress. In those days Slide Projectors varied considerably in many ways. It was not until the latter years that they became more standardised although there was still some variation. By then most clubs had similar performing projectors and this argument faded away. We are now in the era of Digital Projection and we are back to the same moans as slide projection was in those early days. Although many of those voicing their opinion have not had their work projected on any other but there own clubs. My club NEWDIG have been involved in 8 away Digital Image Projection Battles this season so far with more to come. We have noticed a wide variety of projection quality even from those, which are supposed to have been calibrated. We have just accepted it as all entries are judged as viewed on the night. One thing those who complain and make noises do not mention is the number of Pixels their projector does not project Ohps. We have also learnt that images judged on a Computer Screen need to be adjusted differently to those which are projected. Even Laptops to Tower can also make a difference due to the Colour Card used. There can be quite a lot of difference depending on the subject matter too from one projection to another. Those clubs which had the Lottery Grant in those early days are now finding that their equipment is out of date in respect to the specification now on offer, how long will it be for those just purchased to be out of date. We have heard from a reliable source that the 1024 x 768 format will be old hat in a year or so time, and superseded by an even higher ratio. Footnote: Ernie Fullbrook BEM APAGB. |
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Online Photography Competition 2007
The online photography competition is now online and has been since the first of January, but how many entries have we received - well at the time of writing this on the 22nd January, there were two - yes, just two, that is one ninth of the total entries (18) for last year. I am at a loss to understand why the entries appear to have dried up, after all in 2004 there were 57 entries and in 2005 there were 135 entries. All of these images are still on the website and in some cases must offer some inspiration to viewers. This years competition sees some changes, in that the newest images will always appear at the top of the page - no more scrolling down to find the latest entry. They will of course still have a number and the title displayed and when the competition is over, will also show the author and his/her club. Entrants can also if they wish send a short comment about their image(s), upto about 50 words (where, when taken or a little about the subject, perhaps), which will then also be displayed after the competition has closed. Please send your entry and encourage your colleagues to also send them to the webmaster at webmaster@southphotographicfed.org.uk for inclusion in the competition. All images should be at 500pixels on the largest side and at 72dpi. Enprints can also be sent by post to 123 Aylen Road, Copnor, Portsmouth, PO3 5HE, where they will be scanned and placed online. Although there were only 18 entries in 2006, there were some very good ones. The Judge once again was Brian Powell, for which I thank him greatly and I have not forgotten his reward for judging them. Brian’s choice was, Looking forward to receiving your entries very soon. The competition will close at the end of June 2007, so come on, have a go. |
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Southern Photographic Federation - Council email addresses Over recent weeks I have noticed that many emails to Council members have been wrongly addressed. The current addresses have been in force for over a year now, but some of you must still have old ones in your address book. President - Ian Bigg - president Anything else will be delivered to the SPF server and will get picked up eventually and possibly forwarded to the right person, but if you address it correctly to start with, there will be no delay. Thanking you in advance for your assistance in trying to improve communication between Council and Clubs. There are still a few Clubs who do not have an email contact, if your Club has not informed us of a contact and you have one, it would be appreciated to enable the Council to contact you in that way, thereby saving postage. Trevor - News Editor and Webmaster. |
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Web Statistics During December of 2006, the amount of hits on the website was 10,284, which was down on the previous month by almost 6000 hits, but then it was including the Christmas period. Infact between December 22 and 30, the traffic was almost non-existant - I wonder why that was. Strangely on Christmas day we did have 9 hits, presumably Club members trying out their new computers, I hope. Thursday and Sundays were the days for most visitors. Most visitors come to the site between the housrs of 12 noon and 10pm. Though another surprise is that we also got hits betwen 3 and 5am, must be insomniacs! As you would expect, the majority of the hits came from the UK with a 100 from the USA. There were also some Saudi Arabia, France, South Korea, Ukraine, Poland, Australia, China and several other places - worldwide fame. The most used page is the index page but after that comes the Member Clubs page, then the League Competition Rules page, then the Online competition page (well looked at but very few entries - can we change that this year?), then we have Exhibition Judges Info, and Latest News. Links from search engines are mostly from Google with a few from MSN and Yahoo. I hope to include more staistics in the next issue, so get your members using the site even more to increase the site numbers. |
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First - ‘Fire fighting at Dawn’ by John Graney, 
Second - ‘Lunchtime’s over’ by Terry Jamieson and 
Third - ‘Prague Dawn’ again by John Graney. Awards are also waiting for these winners. Congratulations to you all and thank you for taking part. I hope that you will all enter again this year.