Newport Photographic Club
Ian Dunning made a welcome return to the club on 5 May when he gave us a talk on the techniques of Night Photography. As usual, Ian’s talk was full of useful advice, tips, examples of his own work and good humour. A planned practical session organised by Gordon Allison went slightly awry when there was some confusion over dates. We are hoping to rearrange the practical session for a later date.
The third Open Competition took place on 12 May. John Bissel was the judge and provided some useful tips & suggestions on how to improve the images on display. His choice was as follows:
1st Rod Bunyan Puma (puma concolor)
2nd Jim Shaw Speckled Bush Cricket Egglaying
3rd Ade Moore Cheeky Monkey
4th Charlotte Nadin Coastal Flow
5th Graham Burns Wet Weston
6th Barbara Collins Eye to Eye
1st Richard Greswell Beech Tree
2nd Jim Shaw Red Kite
3rd Richard Greswell Last Cast
4th Martin James Elijah
5th Howard Broadbent Morton Bay Fig Tree
6th Graham Burns Silver Back
There continue to be problems with members using incorrect procedures and format when submitting projected images for competitions. Please read the comprehensive instructions on the website and save Bob from having to do extra work. If the situation does not improve we may have to consider disqualifying entries that are not formatted correctly. If you are not sure about how to get your pictures into a projectable format, please contact Bob or me.
Gary Williams made a welcome return visit on 19th May when he gave another of his excellent talks on the art of wedding photography. Gary had many useful tips and suggestions on how to improve the photography on the “special day”. His talk was very well received and there were lots of questions about technique, correct exposure and how to get the informal shots that everyone seems to want.
The results of the manual camera were shown on 26th May when last year’s winner, Ben Haywood did the judging. Richard Greswell produced the best image. Support for the manual camera exercise has been dropping off in the last few years, so we will not be doing it again.
The final month of the season starts with Annual Print and Projected Image competition on 2nd June. The rules for this competition are slightly different. It is an open competition, so the subject can be anything you want. Members may submit a maximum of 2 colour prints, 2 monochrome prints and 2 projected images in the relevant classes. Members may re-submit images which have already been placed in that season’s competitions, or previous competitions. The only exception is that prints and slides which have won “Print of the Year” or “Slide of the Year” in previous years may not be re-submitted. This means we should be getting the best of the bunch. At stake are 3 of the trophies – Best Colour Print, Best Monochrome Print, Best Projected Image.
On 9th June we have the AGM. There will be no door charge for this evening. This is an opportunity for members to comment on the way the club is run, the competition rules, annual subscriptions, door fees, how we are spending the clubs funds and the re-election of club officials. If you have any questions or suggestions on how the club is run, the committee would like to hear them. So that we have an opportunity to think about any suggestions you might have, it would be helpful to have your ideas by 2 June. I have appended the club constitution at the end of this newsletter, together with the minutes of the last meeting, and the agenda.
The final event of the year will be the Annual Social and Prize giving on 16th June. This will be at the Lilleshall Golf Club. We are heavily subsidising the event to the tune of £7.50/person (member and partner). So come along and get a high quality meal in great surroundings with friendly people at £15/couple.
Next Season. (repeated from May newsletter)
Following feedback from the members, there are a number of new initiatives that we are working on for the next season.
1. We hope to be trying a new system for projecting the competition prints at the same time that the judge is looking at the print on the lightbox. With a large audience it is difficult for those at the back to see the print that the judge is looking at. We are hoping that if we put a Projected Image on the screen at the same time as the print is being judged, the audience will be able to better appreciate the judge’s comments. The logistics are still being worked out and it will mean yet more work for Bob. It will also mean that when members intend entering prints they will need to send Bob a copy of the file in projectable format so that both can be viewed at the same time.
2. We intend setting up a “Peer Review Group” to enable members to get comments on their images without going through the formality of a competition judging. The idea is that members who want to take part will be organised into groups of about 8 people. Each member will provide a print (any size, mounted or unmounted). The prints will be circulated in a box within the group and each member will make comments on the pictures – how they could be improved, good points, bad points etc. After about 8 weeks everyone in the group should have made their comments and the box can be started again with new prints. If there is more than one group, members could swap between groups to get different members to comment. Alternatively, groups could swap boxes at the end of the circulation. I emphasise that this is a purely voluntary system and it’s success will depend on how many members want to use it.
3. We also want to try a mentoring system. Again this would be voluntary and members could take advantage of it or not, as they wished. If members wanted to take part, the aim would be to pair them off with a (hopefully!) more experienced member who would answer their questions, help develop their photographic skills, comment on their pictures, think up projects to encourage new members to try new techniques etc.
4. We are going to trial a slightly different approach to the workshops. For the first workshop of the new season we will try a split workshop. One of the challenges with workshops is to find topics that appeal to all levels of experience. Some workshops (e.g. mounting of prints) are useful to new members, but are not particularly interesting to members who have been doing for it for years. He split workshop will mean that we will run 2 workshops in parallel. Members can choose whichever one they want.
Workshop 1 will be a tutorial on mounting prints, preparing prints for competition, presentation of prints and resizing of images.
Workshop 2 will be Intermediate Photoshop
Newport Show
The
Newport Show will be held in the Deer Park at Chetwynd on Saturday 18th
July. There is a competition class for photography. Prizes are £3.50, £2.50 and
£1.50.
The
subjects are:
Class
701 Classic Vehicle
Class
702 River Deep Mountain High
Class
703 Feathered Friends
Class
704 Autumn Scene
Class
705 Modern Building
Class
706 Black & White
Max
size 10” x 8” including mount
Class
707 4 photographs of Newport
Show Past & Present. Each photo 10” x 8” max including mount. Prize £10
For
entry forms go to www.newportshow.co.uk
. Send your entry forms to junetavernor@hotmail.co.uk.
If
you are an exhibitor you can get an entry ticket for the show for £5
The new projector screen, funded by Telford & Wrekin Grass Roots fund, was put up on 23rd May. Many thanks to Bryan Lloyd, Graham Burns, Philip Hawkins (and a bit of help from me!) for turning to and undertaking the work, which was not quite a straightforward as we had anticipated! Thanks also to Michael Pejcic who alerted us to the fact that the Grass Roots scheme was looking for voluntary organisations and clubs who could benefit from their money.
At the end of July we will be taking delivery of a small PA system which will be in use next season. With our increasing membership it can be quite difficult for people at the back of the hall to hear speakers & judges and this system should help to make sure nothing is missed.
4 June 2008 Newport Photographic Club
1. The Club shall be called the Newport
Photographic Club and shall be composed of persons interested in Photography.
2. (a) The annual subscription for
membership and the charge for weekly meetings for the coming year shall be
decided at the AGM.
(b) Subject to Rule 2 (c) all
subscriptions shall be due on the date of the first meeting of the Winter
Season and be in respect of the financial year ending 31 May following such
date.
(c) The subscriptions of any person
first becoming a Member after 31 May and before the date of the first meeting
of the Winter Season shall be payable on election. Any person becoming a Member
after 31 January shall, on payment of a full year’s subscription, remain a
Member until 31 May of the following year without payment.
(d) Any Members whose annual
subscription is not received by 1 January following shall cease to be a Member
of the Club from that date.
3. (a) All officers shall be honorary and
shall consist of Chairman, Vice Chairman, Secretary, Competition Secretary,
Social Secretary, Treasurer and Club Website maintainer
(b) The Committee shall consist of
the Officers and 2 co-opted members from the Club membership
4. All officers and Committee Members are
eligible for re-election each year.
5. Prospective Members shall be subject
to approval by the Committee.
6. The Club shall meet at 7.45pm on
Tuesdays and upon any other evenings as decided. Special meetings shall be convened
on a requisition signed by 8 members, stating the object, and sent to the
Secretary fourteen clear days before the date thereof.
7. At committee meetings five shall form a
quorum
8. The Secretary shall keep the minutes of
all meetings and conduct the general correspondence of the Club. The Treasurer
shall collect all the subscriptions and monies owing after authorisation by the
Committee. The Treasurer may delegate the collection of subscriptions to other
club members approved by the committee.
9. An Annual General Meeting of the Club
shall be held in June of each year, or at such other time as the Committee may
deem expedient; at which meeting the committee shall present a statement of
accounts for the year to 31 May, and a report of the position of the club and
its progress during the past year.
10. The Club may be wound up by a
2/3-majority vote at a special meeting, or at the Annual General Meeting in
which case all the Club assets will be donated to charities to be decided.
11. No alterations or addition to these
rules shall be made except at the AGM or at a Special General Meeting in
accordance with Rule 6
12 At the Annual General Meeting rules for
the Club’s competitions will be reviewed
NEWPORT PHOTOGRAPHIC CLUB
1. Opening Remarks
The Chairman opened the meeting at 8.00pm and welcomed members to the Annual General Meeting.
2. Apologies for Absence
Apologies were received from Dave Chadwick, Rob Adams, Don & Margaret Marshall, John & Joan Macey, Kathy Flanagan, Barbara Collins & Charlotte Nadin.
3. Minutes of Previous AGM
The Minutes of the AGM held on 5 June 2007 were agreed without amendment.
4. Matters Arising
Matters arising from the previous minutes were as follows:
a. Amend Competition Rules & Trophies to reflect new requirements. Completed. The Competition Secretary had issued amended Rules as e-mail.
b. Replacement Manual Camera to be investigated. Complete. A Praktica camera is now in use.
c. Update of Website. Completed. The website is now being operated by Howard Broadbent & Sue Walford.
5. Chairman’s Report
The Chairman then presented his annual report.
“A wonderful year for the club with membership now in excess of 60 and more members becoming involved with the everyday running of the club. One of the high points was the winning of nearly £3k of lottery grant which has enabled us to acquire a number of items for use in the club including a digital projector and lap top. Many thanks to Sue and Howard for all the work that they had to put in to achieve this as well as their normal duties.
Talking of Sue and Howard, they are now out joint webmasters having taken over the responsibility of the website from Geoff, who has run the site for us for a number of years, for which we are indebted. They are busy bringing the site up to date and will appreciate your help.
Thanks must also go to the other members of the club who have helped out over the last year.
Barbara and Fran for looking after Cosy Hall.
Dave for standing in for me.
Bryan and Mike for sorting out the canteen.
Bob in his first year as Competition secretary.
Val for her role as Social Secretary.
We can never give enough thanks to our president, Geoff Sellars, for all that he has done for us in the past and continues to do so.
Both Dave (Vice Chairman) and Sue (Treasurer) have said that they want to stand down next year, so we will be looking for volunteers to fill these positions. We will also be looking for volunteers to assist Bryan and Mike on a rota basis with the tea making and to help Michael looking after the Print Mounting Stands.
Competition-wise we had a better year, beating Whitchurch and morally beating Tettenhall Wood. (They actually said to me that we were robbed). We hope that we will officially win against both clubs next year.
We are currently going from strength to strength and we need to keep the momentum going so that we can become the best club in the area as well as the biggest.
Next year will be another big change for us with the introduction of the projected Image category in competitions.
A final thanks to all the members without who’s attendance (especially tonight) the club would not exist.
6. Secretary’s Report.
The Secretary then presented his annual report.
“The highlight of the year as far as I was concerned was the grant we received from the Lottery Fund to buy a digital projector and all the bits & pieces that go with it. This was very much a combined effort with many members of the club having an input.
As far as the programme was concerned, we tried to stick to the published programme but the inevitable hiccoughs meant that there was a bit of dodging and diving. In spite of last minute cancellations we managed to maintain a full programme and I hope everyone found something to interest them.
Next year’s programme is now agreed and I think that with all the suggestions made by you at the Planning Meeting we have an interesting year ahead. One of our major events will be a talk from Ben Osborne, who is last year’s winner of the Shell Wildlife photographer of the Year. We are holding this in the Performing Arts Centre at Adams Grammar School to try to get a large attendance. I hope you will all bring your friends and relatives and support the club. It is costing us nearly £600 for the night so we need a good turnout.
The increase in club membership over the year is encouraging, and with the increased subscription income we are planning to spend more of the club’s money next year on things that will benefit the club members.
With the increase in membership there is more to do and I am hoping we can recruit a band of helpers to assist in some of the routine jobs.
The operation of the club’s website has now been passed to Sue and me. If you would like a gallery of your images, talk to me and I will tell you how to do it. If you have any suggestions about the website, please mention it to Sue or me. You may have seen that the monthly newsletter is now on the website, and will not be sent out by e-mail in future.
Finally, I would like to thank you all for your support over the year and especially to Bob, for taking all the competition stuff off my shoulders and for organising the new Projected Image class of competitions. I would also like to single out our President for thanks for all his support, advice and willingness to put himself out on the club’s behalf.”
The Competition Secretary presented his annual report.
“This has been a season of high activity reflecting the
increased membership.
We were hosts for the two battles against other clubs,
winning against Whitchurch, but once again failing to beat Tettenhall Wood
(although comments such as “you were robbed” indicated that we put up a good
fight.). Next year we will need to enter projected images as well as prints in
these battles.
Entries were high for the monthly competitions and the
monochrome print competition, introduced for the year, proved to be a close
contest.
Number of entries
Colour Monochrome
Open 1 53 14
Industry 38 10
Decay 59 18
Shadows 45 16
Eggs 36 23
Second Open 53 14
We also ran the President’s Cup and 5 on a Theme competitions,
both judged by our president.
Following the acquisition of our digital projection
equipment and software we had a successful trial Projected Image competition,
and propose to run Projected Image competitions alongside the Print competition
each month (dropping the monochrome print competition. Members will be allowed to enter two
Projected Images.
We made entries into Midphot (3 prints accepted, one of
which received a commendation) and MCPF Portfolio ( 1 accepted) although the
number submitted in each case was low; I propose to look for ways of
encouraging more entries next year.”
8. Treasurer’s Report.
The Treasurer presented her annual report which is at Annex A
9 Election of Club Officials
Re-election of the Chairman was proposed by Bob Colman and seconded by Mike Foulkes. There were no other candidates and Graham Burns was duly re-elected.
Dave Chadwick stepped down as Vice Chairman. Fran Hartshorne said that Barbara Collins had offered to stand and she was proposed by Fran and seconded by Graham Burns. There were no other candidates and Barbara Collins was duly elected.
Re-election of the Secretary was proposed by Val Johns and seconded by Keith Moore. There were no other candidates and Howard Broadbent was duly re-elected.
Re-election of the Competition Secretary was proposed by Howard Broadbent and seconded by Bob Winfield. There were no other candidates and Bob Colman was duly re-elected.
Sue Walford said she would like to step down as Treasurer because of increased commitments and she did not feel she could spend sufficient time on the accounts. Maureen Baggaley and Barbara Collins offered to act as assistant Treasurers if Sue could stay on. Sue was content with this arrangement and the committee thanked Maureen & Barbara for their help. Re-election of the Treasurer was proposed by Mike Foulkes and seconded by Jim Shaw. There were no other candidates and Sue Walford was duly re-elected.
Re-election of the Social Secretary was proposed by Bob Colman and seconded by Maggie Phillips. There were no other candidates and Val Johns was duly re-elected.
Barbara Collins & Fran Hartshorne agreed to continue as Cosy Hall Co-ordinators.
9. Any Other
Business
a. Refreshments & competition stand volunteers
Volunteers to make the refreshments were Bryan Lloyd (lead), Mike Foulkes, Kathy Boylan, Joan Macey, Fran Hartshorne & Maureen Baggaley.
Volunteers to erect and dismantle the print stand on competition evenings were Mike Pejcic (lead), Martin James, Dave Chadwick, Richard Greswell, John Macey & Jim Shaw. Michael offered to look into the provision of a second print stand in view of the increasing number of prints being entered for competitions.
There will be no formal rota, but it is expected that the respective “teams” will act on their own initiative.
b. Changes to Constitution – add Webmaster position to Committee Members
The members present agreed that the person operating the website should be a committee member. The constitution will be amended accordingly.
c. Review annual subscription & door fees (required by constitution)
After some discussion it was agreed that the annual subscription would remain at £10 and the door fee at £2. The club was building up a significant bank balance which would be used to subsidise club activities in the coming year. If it became necessary to reduce or increase fees, an extraordinary AGM would be called next season.
d. Review of Club rules for competitions (required by constitution)
The Competition Secretary would amend the Competition Rules over the summer break to reflect the introduction of the Projected Image class.
e. Review of when refreshments are served on club nights.
It was agreed that for a trial period until Christmas 2008, refreshments would be served at the mid-evening point. The Competition Secretary and Secretary were asked to make sure that visiting judges and speakers were aware of the new arrangement. This topic developed into a general discussion about the start time for meetings. It was agreed that club notices and general club business would take place between 7.45pm and 8.00pm, with the evening programme starting at 8.00pm prompt. To facilitate this, doors would open at 7.30pm.
Accordingly, members are requested to take note that they should be seated (having paid their door fees) by 7.45pm.
f. Manual camera review
Support for the manual camera exercise was divided. There was sufficient support for a continuation of the manual camera and Rod Bunyan offered to organise it. The committee thanked him for volunteering.
g. Competition Judges
Phillip Hawkins asked a general question on how judges were nominated. This lead to a general discussion on the shortage of qualified judges and the possibility of club members undertaking a training course to become judges. Bob Colman offered to investigate this and to see whether the club would pay for the courses.
There being no other business, the meeting was closed at 9.15pm
Annex A to AGM minutes of 3 June 2008
|
Opening Balance |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Cash |
|
|
|
145.52 |
|
|
Bank |
|
|
|
2057.77 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
2203.29 |
|
|
Income |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Bank Interest |
|
|
|
0.00 |
|
|
Entries |
|
|
|
1.50 |
|
|
Subscriptions |
|
|
|
2116.00 |
|
|
Membership |
|
|
|
510.00 |
|
|
Misc donations |
|
|
|
2745.00 |
|
|
Summer Social June 07 |
|
|
|
280.50 |
|
|
Annual Dinner |
|
|
|
294.60 |
|
|
Sales |
|
|
|
91.62 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
6039.22 |
|
|
Expenditure |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Speakers and Judges |
|
|
|
340.40 |
|
|
Room Hire |
Yr 06/07 |
|
|
511.50 |
|
|
Miscellaneous |
|
|
|
2734.42 |
|
|
Insurance |
|
|
|
179.29 |
|
|
Refreshment costs |
|
|
|
68.98 |
|
|
Manual Camera |
|
|
|
35.39 |
|
|
Summer Social |
|
|
|
280.00 |
|
|
Annual Dinner |
|
|
|
294.00 |
|
|
Retail |
|
|
|
39.98 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
4483.96 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Balance of income over expenditure |
|
|
|
1555.26 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Closing Balance |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Cash |
|
|
|
90.01 |
|
|
Bank |
|
|
|
3668.54 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
3758.55 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Difference between opening & closing Bal |
|
|
|
1555.26 |
|
|
We started the year with a balance of £2203.29. |
|||||
|
We were fortunate in securing a lottery grant of £2,745, which
together with |
|||||
|
Expenditure amounted to £4,483.96. The biggest expense of £2,734.42 (miscellaneous) includes the
laptop, projector, graphics tablet etc, for which purpose the lottery grant
was received. |
|||||
|
The balance currently on hand, being a combination of cash and
bank balance, is £3,758.55. This is a total increase of £1,555.26. |
|||||
NEWPORT PHOTOGRAPHIC CLUB
1. Opening Remarks Chairman
2. Apologies for Absence Secretary
3. Minutes of Previous AGM Secretary
4. Matters arising from previous minutes Secretary
5. Chairman’s Report Chairman
6. Secretary’s Report. Secretary
7. Competition Secretary’s Report Competition Secretary
8 Treasurer’s Report Treasurer
9. Election of Club Officers Chairman
10. AOB
a. Annual subscription & door fees review (required by constitution)
b. Review of Club rules for competitions (required by constitution)
c. Refreshments & competition stand volunteers
d. Cosy Hall coordinator/s
e. Changes to Constitution
f. Proposals for most effective use of club funds
g. Proposal for club photographic outing during the summer
h. Proposal to provide free admission for member’s partners on speaker evenings
AOB Notes
a. The constitution requires us to review (and revise as necessary) the subscription and door fees at each AGM. The proposal is to keep the annual subscription at £10 and the door fees at £2. Note that members joining after 31 January are not required to pay the annual subscription for the following year.
b. We are required to ratify the competition rules at the AGM. Under this item we need to discuss what to do about Projected Images which are submitted in the wrong format.
c. We need some volunteers to help with making the refreshments during the mid-evening break. We also need volunteers to help put up the stand on competition nights, rearrange seating, put equipment away etc
d. We need volunteers to put up the winning competition pictures in Cosy Hall and keep the exhibition boards there up to date.
e. The constitution needs to be reviewed to make sure it remains up to date.
f. We are building up a healthy reserve in our funds. Some of the funding is earmarked for a replacement digital projector and laptop computer. The club subsidises the purchase of mountboard, the cost of meals at social events, provides the entry fees for individuals to enter other competitions and refunds member’s costs to travel to inter-club competitions and Midphot. We are seeking member’s views on other ways we can use the funds to benefit club members.
g. The committee is proposing that we have a photographic outing in the summer using a coach paid for by the club. We are seeking the view of members on where to go and when to go.
h. The committee is keen to encourage the partners of members to come to club evenings that might be of interest to them – principally evenings when there is a visiting speaker. The proposal is that partners on these evenings would not pay a door fee. This concession would not apply to the annual “key note speaker” evening.