16 November Meeting Notes

We all braved the cold to take photos of Phil risking life and limb to provide entertainment and a photo opportunity.



Later at the children's play park Derek provided the illuminations for attachment to various moving objects (and people).


2nd November Meeting Notes

I hope those who came to Marcus MacAdam's talk last night went away inspired - maybe to feel braver about talking to people on their travels (before taking images of them!) or maybe just to put a (re)visit to Skye on their 'places to go' list!!  

19 October 2017 Meeting Notes

Derek started the meeting by reminding us that at the next meeting we had a guest speaker, Marcus Macadam, who would be talking on Photographing your local landscape and Travel photography. Corsham had been invited and several of their members intended coming along, and members’ guests were also welcome. All guests to pay £2.

On 29th October we are having an autumn shoot, meeting at Westonbirt Arboretum at 10.30 at the welcome building. Please let Sue know if you are intending to come along so that we don’t walk off without anyone.

A little problem then needed resolving before we could review our Action pictures. Our reliable laptop and projector guardian had, we think, disappeared into the wilds of Exmoor. 2 laptops and an iPad were rummaged from member’s belongings, and we gathered in groups to review the images. 

An excellent set of images were submitted and each member talked us through their image and answered questions from the floor and a positive discussion ensued over each image. In a funny way, it was a more intimate appraisal, and everyone very supportive of a make shift review evening.


After tea break we again gathered round in groups of roughly 4 to critique images brought in by members. Once again this small intimate approach worked exceedingly well. Certainly my group were positive and informative with added suggestions on techniques to use post production to enhance aspects of the images. 

5 October 2017 Meeting Notes

Derek welcomed Robert Harvey, our guest speaker to talk about his selection of images “By The Sea”.

Derek reminded everyone that at our next meeting we will review images of “Action” and that these need to be submitted via Goggle drive no later than Monday 16th October. He also reminded us that the next meeting would be an active critique evening and for everyone to bring in 4 prints of either their own, or images that they have selected, to critique.

We then proceeded to enjoy Robert’s presentation. His images are from all around the British Isles, and he stressed the importance of doing homework with regard to tides and the moon phase, the position of the sun and times of sunset and sunrise as well as the time of year. Calm seas and wet beaches for good reflections, long exposures to enhance calmness and reflections, and also rough seas for dramatic waves. He also stressed the importance of the geology of the rocks and the topography of the shoreline and using foreground detail to enhance an image.

After a very enjoyable 2 hours Peter thanked Robert for his stimulating talk and we all showed our appreciation.

Robert concluded with a reminder that Charlie Waite was speaking at Bradford on Avon 11th November and that tickets were available at £15 per head. 


He also gave details of his workshops should anyone be interested.

September 21 2017 Meeting Notes

Derek welcomed everyone to the Club and said that Pete would be giving a presentation, Phil would be showing us some AVs and Bob would also be showing us an AV.

He also said that Bob had put the book library on Google Drive and if anybody would like to borrow a book to please send him an e-mail and he will arrange to bring it to the next available meeting.  

Derek said he would be arranging a couple of Autumn Photo sessions at Westonburt on Sundays in October and would let everybody have the details shortly.  He would also be arranging a session at Bradford on Avon at the end of November/December.  

Robert Harvey would be giving a presentation to the Club at the next meeting on the 5th October with a theme of ‘By the Sea’.  

On the 19th October and theme of the meeting will be ‘Action’.  If you would like to take ‘Action’ photographs there is a practice motorcycle race at Box on the 8th October, Derek will advise you of the times.  Also Bowood Country Fair will be on this Saturday 23rd September and also on the same day the Country Comes to Town Fair will be held at Devizes from 10am onwards.

Pete gave a good presentation on Lightroom and demonstrated how to improve your photographs.  He took a number of questions, this will help everybody get the best results from their photographs.

David told everybody about ‘We Transfer’ which will allow you to transfer large files via e-mail.

Bob gave us a presentation on ‘Fake News’.

Phil gave a slide show titled ‘Brown Eyed Girl’ about a rabbit, ‘Knights In White Satin’ with pictures of white birds and ‘What a Wonderful World’.



Thanks to everybody who contributed. See you all on the 5th.   

September 7 Meeting Notes

Derek the Chair, welcomed everyone back after the summer break and also welcomed the potential new members.

Derek covered the fact that we could no longer use Wiggio as our communication platform and that Rich had kindly set up Google Drive which Phil Male and Sue Power will oversee. Details prepared by Rich on having a gmail account and then how to use Google Drive had already been sent out to members but would be sent again as needed. Rich was thanked in his absence for all his hard work.
A few questions were raised from the floor and were answered by Derek, Phil and Sue. Phil also gave a demonstration of Google Drive and how to use it.

Bob Bray requested that the clubs library of books be listed and this was agreed. 
There is a reference area and a members area, the first for information and the second for members use.

Special reference was made to naming images uploaded, and must have the persons name, underscore, subject then number 1 or 2 if more than one image submitted e.g. JoeB_Lacock1.jpg

We then all put our ideas for our photo challenges over the year and 6 were selected at random.

  1. Action reviewed October 16th
  2. Water, reviewed November 27th
  3. Fruit, reviewed December 11th
  4. Coast, reviewed March 5th
  5. Fungi, reviewed April 16th
  6. Trees, reviewed May 30th.

No more than 2 images per person,  preferably not more than 2 mb, photos to be taken on or after 1st January 2017, but the idea is to get out there and take new ones for the challenge!

Images to be actively critiqued at the review sessions, these sessions to be led by a person who has undergone the critiquing training. It would also be nice if the person submitting the image gave their own thoughts on their image.

We then viewed the images submitted from the summer shoots held over the summer.


Sue Power have an a.v. presentation of her holiday to Connemara in the summer. Sue was dogged by constant wind and rain and grey skies, however, undaunted, Sue turned this around and produced the most wonderful set of images of moody skies and saturated (both in colour and water!) wind blown landscapes. It just shows what can be achieved in the most appalling of conditions, and stretches us to work outside our comfort zones, and this was certainly an inspirational collection.

Meeting: Thursday 7 September 2017

Starts at 7pm - see you there!

Summer shoot 6: Thursday 24 August 2017

Three members made it to see Bristol Suspension Bridge in the evening - it was actually quite warm and windless!  Not a great sunset but it was good practice for taking images in diminishing light, trying to get car trails and not over-exposing the lights on the bridge!



©Sue Power 2017


©Pete Shaw 2017

Summer shoot 5: Thursday 10 August 2017

At last, a decent evening weather-wise!  Eight of us parked up near West Kennet Long Barrow and took the walk up the hill to the Barrow with views over Silbury Hill.  There were plenty of swallows flying around and inside the cave - though not sure anyone was quick enough to photograph them! One member's drone kept an eye on us .....  while we found our own way to capture the spirit of the place; for two of us that meant just sitting and enjoying the environment on a calm evening and that's allowed too!


© Philip Male 2017

© Amanda Gregory 2017


© Pete Shaw 2017

Summer shoot 4: Thursday 27 July 2017

Nine members met up in Victoria Park, Bath, on yet another grey summer evening.  Nonetheless we had a go, particularly taking photographic inspiration from the buildings around the Royal Crescent.  We certainly found inspiration in a couple of local bars afterwards! 




© Derek Hawkins 2017


© Sue Power 2017

Summer shoot 3: Sunday 16 July 2017


6 members plus two honorary ones met on a warm afternoon to enjoy the delights of Iford Manor Gardens.  This small and steeply sloping Italianate garden, with Manor and cloisters, lies adjacent to the River Frome, near Westwood.  We sought images of sculptures, butterflies, flowers and anything else that caught our eyes before settling down to afternoon tea! And yes, there was cake....


© Amanda Gregory 2017


© Sue Power 2017


Summer Shoot 2: Thursday 13 July 2017

Six of us found our way to the Avoncliffe Aqueduct for yet another evening of dull skies though it improved as time went on. There was very little canal boat activity but there were lots of runners and cyclists along the tow-path making multi-use a little tricky. Our challenges were to find images for the subjects rustic charm, reflection, woodland and red.  Not sure how far we got with those but it was good to catch up, especially over a drink outside the Cross Guns afterwards!



© Derek Hawkins 2017


© David Sage 2017


Summer shoot 1: Thursday 29 June 2017


After our end-of-year strawberry-eating contest, sorry, social, and a look at photobooks, our thoughts have turned to planning our summer shoots.

The first was in Devizes, the challenge was 'Architecture'.  So seven if us took that on, despite the threat of rain, and picked out a few architectural gems.



© Bob Bray 2017



© David Sage 2017


Meeting: Thursday 15 June 2017

Our last meeting of the season will include the club's AGM, a review of photobooks and a social plus a strawberry or three!

Last night's meeting looked at images taken on mobile phones at the last meeting which have subsequently had some on-phone processing (see last meeting's note below for just a few of them).  It proved to be a lot of fun for those that took part in the challenge - although it took some much longer to process their images than take them!!

There was also a viewing of member's images for Weather and Night Sky.  The former attracted more images than the latter and maybe that is something we need to challenge ourselves with next year.  These were followed by Ruth Baldwin's great images from a recent visit to the Camargue, which included terrific shots of the wild white horses running through the marshy waters.  Made people very envious of her trip!!


Weather © Ros Vickers 2017

Weather © Philip Male 2017

Weather © Amanda Gregory 2017

Night Sky © Rich Bradshaw 2017

Night Sky @ David Sage 2017


Meeting: Thursday 1 June 2017

Plans for our next meeting include showing members' images of the (1) night sky, (2) weather and (3) their mobile phone images (see below) plus a slide show of a photographic sortie to the Camargue.

Our last meeting was about mobile phone photography, increasing used by even the professionals, so yet another area of photography to try and get out heads around.  Chair Derek Hawkins had set a challenge of ten subjects for everyone to take around Lacock and fortunately the evening turned out warm and dry.  

Back at the hall, there was discussion about what people had taken, how they taken the subjects, their interpretations and about useful apps.  A further challenge was for all to work on those images using editing tools on their phones for review at our next meeting.  Member David Sage and Bob Gabbott gave presentations on their mobile phone images, especially panoramas.


Old time © Derek Hawkins 2017


Face @ Howard Morland 2017

Flower © Philip Male 2017

Reflection © Rose Porfirio 2017





Meeting: Thursday 18 May 2017

Our next meeting will look at Smartphone photography and, assuming the weather allows, will include a ramble round Lacock with our phones at the ready!

Our last meeting, on 4 May, included post-Tribattle and post-Exhibition discussions and started our thoughts about future programming and summer shoot locations.

The main part of the evening looked at the subject of timelapse with great contributions on technique and equipment plus examples from both Derek Hawkins and Pete Shaw.  Both simpler and more complex solutions on how to take timelapse were demonstrated.

Three excellent timelapse by Philip Male were also shown - of the mists swirling around Corfe Castle, the dawn in Pewsey Vale and Avebury Winter Solstice.  He sets his alarm clock very early .....

Annual exhibition - the results!

We had a great weekend at our Annual Exhibition with in excess of 900 visitors registering a vote for their favourite images!



The winner of the public vote was 
Philip Male's 'Morning Glory'



Morning Glory © Philip Male 2017



Second place: Image © Irene Stuttard 2017





Third place: Stallions © Ruth Baldwin 2017



Fourth place: Tranquility © Phil Selby 2017



Fifth place: Stag bellowing © Ruth Baldwin 2017



Annual exhibition: 30 April & 1 May 2017




Meeting: Thursday 20 April 2017

David Clapp gave an excellent talk on his career as a photographer, specialising in landscape and travel photography.  His two-part presentation concentrated on British landscape followed by Architecture and was illustrated by many fine examples from his portfolio.  David also discussed technical details, his exploration of film and the colour differences of various film stock, and also his current camera kit - from one extreme to the other in terms of weight and portability!!  We had a splendid evening including welcoming visitors from Corsham Camera Club.

Check out www.davidclapp.co.uk

Results from April 6 and meeting on April 20 2017

Our annual Tribattle with Trowbridge and Lacock Camera Clubs took place on April 6, with Trowbridge taking the crown and Lacock in second place.  Well done to those members who had images selected for the final, especially those below whose images came top in their subject groups:


A Pair of... © Pete Shaw 2017

Birds..... © Phil Selby 2017

British landscape © Philip Male 2017

Industry © David Shaw 2017

Repetition © Derek Hawkins 2017

Serenity © Phil Selby 2017

Serenity © Pete Shaw 2017

Our next meeting will be a presentation by David Clapp, the landscape and travel photographer.

Meeting: Thursday 6 April 2017

Our next meeting will take place in St Thomas Church Hall, York Buildings, off Timbrell Street, Trowbridge BA14 8PT starting 7.30 p.m. for the Tribattle between Lacock Positive, Trowbridge and Corsham.   Entrance to the Hall is by York Buildings; on-street parking is available in York Buildings, Timbrell Street and St Thomas Road.

Member Bob Bray started our Macro evening with a fine slide show of all things small, mostly to be found in Bob's garden - insects, flowers, butterflies and the like - and he finished off with an excellent AV called 'The Ugly Bug Ball'.  Only problem - we kept singing the accompanying songtrack by Burl Ives for the rest of the evening!


© Bob Bray 2017

Pete Shaw followed with an overview of some of the technical challenges to overcome when taking Macro images, particularly getting enough light onto the subject and how to get enough depth of field.  He demonstrated Nikon's latest ring-flash equipment and talked about photo stacking, later demonstrating the procedure with his camera, laptop and stacking software.

Members were then let loose to set up and have a go at table-top Macro with room and additional lighting such as torches and I-Phones.  We managed not to fall over each other's tripods and took images of subjects including plant & seashore material and small figurines with varying degrees of success!  
©  David Sage 2017



© Amanda Gregory 2017

Meeting: Thursday 23 March 2017

We will be taking a look at the Macro world at our next gathering.  Pete Shaw and Bob Bray will guide us through equipment and techniques and Bob will show some of his macro images.  Members are invited to bring their tripod, camera, macro lens or close-up filter and an interesting tabletop item to photograph.

Our last meeting began with a final selection of images for the forthcoming Tribattle with local clubs in Corsham and Trowbridge.  Members voted for the 2 images they each thought best from the four shown in each of the 10 categories.  These will be shown on April 6 at Trowbridge Club's chosen venue.

The second part of the evening included Derek Hawkins' choice of a timelapse video, showing the beauty of and changes in the natural and manmade activity in the Lofoten islands.  This gave rise to requests for a future programme session on timelapse techniques.  In the meanwhile, members were advised to check their cameras, mobiles, GoPro etc for built in timelapse facilities.  LRTimelapse was mentioned as one of the software options for those eager to investigate further.

Pete Shaw followed on with an overview of Lightroom's Library and Import modules.  This gave rise to a whole raft of questions, which were ably demonstrated and answered by Pete and others.

Meeting: Thursday 9 March 2017

Next meeting we will be deciding which images will represent the club at the Tribattle event to be held in Trowbridge on April 6.  Four images in each of ten subject categories have been voted for by members using their home computer screens.  These will be projected on to the larger club screen for a second round of voting to decide which two in each category will go forward to the 'battle' with Trowbridge and Corsham photography clubs.  

Our last meeting took place on the evening of Storm Doris so a smaller crowd than normal enjoyed the practical challenge of Portrait Photography.  Pete Shaw and Philip Male kindly brought in a whole range of equipment - flash and stands, umbrellas, reflectors, backdrops, widgets! - to aid those not so familiar with this type of photography.  There was a good deal of exchange of creative ideas, plenty of advice and regular changes of 'willing' models!!  



Phil S has dark thoughts?
© Derek Hawkins 2017

While Derek has a sparkle in his eyes, oh no sorry, on his shoulder!
© Phil Male 2017


Jean looks for inspiration...
© Paul Hounsell 2017

While Bob goes for the windblown look!
© Rich Bradshaw 2017


Paul H is about to say something surprising...
© Jane Buckle 2017


 Ros enjoys her highlights!
© Phil Smith 2017

Congratulations to Phil Selby who was a runner-up in an Outdoor Photography competition with his image of a flying puffin taken on Skomer. Brilliant!

Meeting: Thursday 23 February 2017

Our next evening meeting will be on Portrait photography led by member Pete Shaw.  We will try not to fall over each other's tripods while trying to take well-lit subjects within the confines of the Manor Room!

The last meeting proved an interesting mix of image review and discussion on several club matters.  We spent most time reviewing our efforts to photograph the Kennet and Avon Canal and the British Landscape.  Both subjects produced good work and will make the choices for the forthcoming Tribattle all the harder.  A few images reflected the weekend's wintry weather!!



Sheep and snow in the Brecon Beacons
© Ruth Baldwin 2017


Snowman fun at Caen Locks, Devizes
© David Sage 2017

We are grateful to the following members who also showed some of their own projects, accompanied by appropriate music:
Philip Male, a timelapse of the Winter Solstice at Avebury;
Derek Hawkins, an AV of Magnificent Men and the Flying Machines, from his collection of photographs of early airplanes;
David Sage, an AV of Autumn Leaves taken at Westonbirt Arboretum

Meeting: Thursday 9 February 2017

We shall be reviewing members' images of British Landscape and the Kennet & Avon Canal for the forthcoming TriBattle, plus looking at a timelapse prepared by Philip Male and AV by David Sage.  We will also be discussing how we are going to replace Wiggio as our Member's Only resource for images and documents.

At our last meeting, Andy Burns spoke on Astrophotography.  Andy is chair of the Wiltshire Astronomical Society and has a great deal of knowledge which he regularly shares with different groups as part of the Society's outreach programme.  For further information about WAS see www.wasnet.org.uk/



© NASA/Andy Burns

Andy took us through excellent images of the moon, the sun, aurora borealis, noctilucent clouds, solar halos, fog halos, comets, meteors, the milk way, galaxies and eclipses!  He shared his knowledge of how to get the best out of compact cameras and DSLRs, the use of different lens and filters plus details of how to work out exposure times.  Andy also brought his specialist equipment to look at - needed if you really get into the serious investigation of space!  

He encouraged us to get out even our non-specialist camera gear to explore the wonders of astronomy, even from our light-polluted back yards.  Though images from Hawaii, Namibia, South Africa, China and Spain looked awfully attractive.....  Andy uses video and freely available software to get sharp definition and often makes labelled drawings of what he finds in the skies.  So do investigate our 11.5 billion year old galaxy sometime soon!