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PDI theme

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Report by Marjorie Burge

On Friday 7th December, Paul Parkinson LRPS CPAGB of Aperture Woolwich Camera Club, on his first visit to APS, was judge for our PDI Theme Trophy Competition. There was a good entry and all our photographers had taken great care in putting their images together, some with a story, all with a connection, covering wildlife, wild water, walking with dinosaurs, groynes, hairspray, and many imaginative images captured from walks and holidays. Our judge was quite severe when eliminating some of the entries, and although this has to be done to hold back the best, it must have been quite disheartening to be so summarily dismissed. He wanted more power and diversity, more contrast and energy, and although he expected use of Photoshop, especially to tidy up blemishes, he didn’t want to know that it had been used – quite hot on halos. Some sets fell down on just one image which he felt upset the balance of the others – quality above quantity - and some were simply overta…
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3rd PDI report

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Report by Marjorie Burge.

On Friday 30th November, Ray Bridges LRPS CPAGB ADPS BPE3* of Maidstone and Tenterden Camera Clubs, was our judge for the 3rd PDI competition of the season. Ray is a good friend of APS and a fair and honest judge. There were 76 images to comment upon, spread across three divisions, and Ray was careful to give each image equal attention. He was generous in his praise and obviously delighted with many of the images, giving lots of hints along the way – time of day gives different light, vignetting needs to be unobtrusive, found some images on the soft side, and some landscapes a little flat, and, as always, found many areas he felt would benefit from cropping. He encouraged the use of Photoshop, saying ‘it’s a digital world’, and although conscious that this wasn’t allowed in the many natural history images entered would still have liked to tidy some of them up. The quality of all entries was high, and some really good images fell down on just one small point w…
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Talk by Chris Bell

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Report by Marjorie Burge.

On Friday 23rd November, our invited speaker was Chris Bell, telling the story of his life in photography. Chris, graduated from the Royal College of Art with a Masters Degree in Photography in 1978 and spent his early years in teaching before turning to photography as a full time career. Showing his early images taken in the late seventies, he explained how he approached his reportage photography – ‘making images’ he called it - always be ready for something to happen, don’t wait or you will miss it, and, if possible, get in close. These were images that cannot be repeated. The streets then, in the seventies, were vastly different to the ones we have now – children walking around, playing, teenagers sitting on walls, people living their lives openly, the roads clear of cars and all the clutter that goes with road safety now. And Chris was there with his camera recording it all in black and white. This photography was all before digital and the ease of Photosh…
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Portrait competition

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Report by Marjorie Burge.

Friday 16th November, Jack Taylor DPAGB EFIAP of Seaford & Hailsham Clubs, and a former member of Eastbourne Camera Club, took on the considerable task of judging our Portrait Competition. With 36 PDIs and 28 prints, all of high quality, it was inevitable that many first class images had to be passed over when choosing just three from each section. Our judge was diligent in his approach, giving each individual image his full attention, taking in all aspects - he was concerned with hands, saying how difficult they were in portraits, liked images that showed imagination, and described images as honest, brave and strong. A self-confessed Photoshop addict, Jack wanted everything bright toned down, everything dark lightened, spaces cropped, sometimes models moved; occasionally, I felt, mis-understanding the photographer’s composition and presentation. He admitted he himself was a risk-taker, and wanted our photographers to be the same. A good honest judge, he …
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Talk by George Pearson

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Report by Marjorie Burge.

Friday 9th November, an APS Club Night, George Pearson ARPS DPAGB took us through his recent camera shoot in Romania where he was part of a small group of photographers, under the wing of Intrepid Exposures, driving and walking through the remoter parts of Romania. We were shown beautiful images documenting the way of life where people were self-sufficient, keeping their own animals, growing their own food, spinning, harvesting, and living happily together in an aging community, the younger generation having moved to the cities to lead a more modern way of life.



George is a very discerning photographer, getting to know the people he was photographing, careful not to intrude but making the most of every moment presented for the camera - ‘the story is the important thing’ – and his pictures told their story. Although part of the day was supervised photography, by rising early, George was able to capture some breathtaking images of misty forests, church spires …
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1st print competition

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Report by Marjorie Burge

At our meeting on Wednesday 31st October, we were delighted to welcome Glyn Bareham LRPS CPAGB, a member of Invicta Camera Club and of Seaford Camera Club, and a KCPA Premier Judge, to judge our first League Print Competition of the season. Glyn has been a good friend for many years and is always welcome at APS. Even with just over eighty entries, Glyn gave time and attention to each individual image, commenting generously on the skills of the photographers. He was happy to judge ‘the image placed before him’, and not overly bothered with dark and light areas, but commented that ‘all good photographs need good lighting’.  The quality in all divisions was extremely high. Our photographers had given a lot of thought and time when choosing their entries, and their titles, and this was an amazing start to the season. Glyn said it was extremely difficult to have to choose between such varied and excellent images.

Division 1:

1st George Pearson with Snow Tree and G…
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Talk by Janine Ball

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Report by Marjorie Burge

On Friday 26th October our invited speaker was Janine Ball LRPS BPE1*, from Deal & District Camera Club, with Tips and Tricks on Compositing – or, as Janine put it, ‘having fun with photography’. Janine’s images are created, hand-made almost, using every tool and trick available in Photoshop, coupled with a very enquiring, constantly active imaginative mind. We saw some impressive true landscapes, portraits and street-photography, but her real love lies with making the improbable look possible.


Her computer contains vast files of images which Janine has taken just in case - ‘you never know when it might be useful’ - all captured quietly and unnoticed on her iPhone on her travels through life – violins, books, lamps, pictures, wooden buckets, animals of all shapes and sizes, buildings, skyscapes, landscapes, horizons – you name it, it is there in one of her files, and eventually it will appear in one of her pictures.


We saw a zebradised giraffe, tight-rope …
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