First Meeting of the New Year

Our first meeting of 2017 was attended by over 40 enthusiastic photographers – most of whom actively contributed to the many slideshows of the night.

The session started with a quick topic item directed to DSLR owners. Ian Dickinson demonstrated how to calibrate our lenses to ensure precise accuracy in focusing. The procedure utilized a small focussing target mechanism which can be down loaded freely from this Lens-Calibration-Tool link.

The first slideshow centred on our closest celestial orb – namely the moon and, in particular, the recent series of SuperMoons over the past few months. These images demonstrate the trade-offs photographers must make when capturing something so bright, quite often at the darkest hour of the night.

Our annual Show & Tell had participation from about a dozen of our members and featured everything from the latest mirrorless camera models to an antiquated dual lens film camera from sometime "BC". We were shown a number of very handy widgets including a photographer vest (converted fishing variety) and a clamp for securely supporting your camera when/where tripods are not appropriate.

 

The first half concluded with a slideshow of Part 1 of our Members Choice theme challenge. Over 260 images were submitted and as such it was decided to separate it into two slideshows. The quality of the imagery was incredible, featuring photos from exotic far-away places and those much closer to home.

Starting the second half of our meeting, Bert Jenkins depicted the cold majesty of our nearby Sandbanks dunes and shoreline (The Other Sandbanks) during the din of winter. Bert’s use of Black & White imagery not only suited the icy subject matter but also led nicely into our main art feature of the evening – a presentation by Margaret Liddon entitled The Art of Black & White Photography. Margaret touched on the importance of lines, shapes, shadows, patterns and contrast in achieving an effective monochrome image.

 

The final slideshow of the evening was a longer version of Part 2 of the Members Choice theme challemge. Slides from this meeting have been posted to our public Facebook page for your viewing pleasure. In addition, the two presentations will be available on our Youtube channel.

 

The themes for the next 60 days were handed down – Winter Ways – Pathways, Laneways, Roadways, ... for January and Our World – First in Colour, Next in B&W/Poly for February. For this later theme, we are asking for 4 pairs of images, first in full colour and then the same images in B&W.

Thanks again for all the participation and support.