Category Archives: Meeting Blog

A summary of the previous night’s meeting, plus MCC updates.

30 January 2025 (Set Subject Round 1 – Buildings)

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Our last meeting in January was the first round of our 3-part set subject competition, on the theme of “Buildings”. Mike Clark had kindly volunteered to judge this competition. 

There were 42 entries from 14 members.  Mike described what he liked about each image and also gave some suggestions for improvement. He particularly liked images where the photographer had thought outside the box to post something unusual, such as Karen Woodcock’s unusual view of a building that made it look like a face looking down or Gavin Marshall’s “Witches Cottage” decorated for Halloween. Mike commented on the composition of each image. There were some compositions where there was a path that was cut off at the edge of the frame and it would have been be nice to have see more of that path. He also pointed out some distracting objects that were cut in half at the edge.  Mike recommended that we try to compose an image so there is a separation between the components. Could a different viewpoint have separated those overlapping chimneys or towers, for example? He also commented on some converging verticals and recommended that long buildings that dominate the horizon be photographed straight on, so they will look more natural on a straight horizon.  Overall, members had submitted some good quality and innovate images, and there were a lot of high marks. The top scorers were (in reverse order):

  • 5th place (50 points)
    • Carol Edmond
    • Jim Innes
  • 4th place (51 points)
    • Steven Beard
    • Gavin Marshall
    • John West
    • Karen Woodcock
    • Melanie Gallacher
  • 3rd place (53 points)
    • Malcolm Roberts
    • Jennifer Davidson
  • 2nd place (55 points)
    • Derek Muller
  • 1st place (57 points)
    • George Todd

The top images were:

  • Corbiere Lighthouse (George Todd) – 20 points
  • Dawn (Jennifer Davidson) – 20 points
  • V and A Dundee (Melanie Gallacher) – 20 points
  • Toronto (George Todd) – 19 points
  • Old to New, Boston (Derek Muller) – 19 points
  • Are you looking down on me? (Karen Woodcock) – 19 points
  • Natural History Museum 1 (Malcolm Roberts) – 18 points
  • Himeji Castle Member (Malcolm Roberts) – 18 points
  • Botanical Gardens (Steven Beard) – 18 points
  • Baltimore Lighthouse (Steven Beard) – 18 points
  • KotelInicheskaya (George Todd) – 18 points
  • Reflective Towers (John West) – 18 points
  • Hospice of Soutra (Carol Edmond) – 18 points
  • Jedburgh Abbey Sunny Day (Jim Innes) – 18 points
  • Small Buildings (Derek Muller) – 18 points
  • Taj Mahal Sunrise (Derek Muller) – 18 points
  • Clifftop Buildings (Jennifer Davidson) – 18 points

Well done to George Todd, who wins the right to judge next year’s competition. And well done to everyone who entered. This is just the first round out of 3, and the overall winner is the one who has the highest marks from their best two rounds. So the competition is still open, and there are a lot of members following closely behind the leading pack.

16 January 2025 (Gordon Rae: Wild at Heart – A Photographer’s Journey)

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This week we were delighted to welcome award-winning wildlife photographer Gordon Rae to Musselburgh to talk to us about “Wild at Heart – A Photographer’s Journey”. Gordon had last visited a year ago when he judged our human portrait competition and gave us a short talk on the “Birds of Iceland”. Gordon explained that he had started as a farmer in South West Scotland with an interest in landscape photography. A local magazine liked his landscape photographs and signed him up. His career in photography took off when he began photographing the local wildlife, joined Dumfries Camera Club and began giving tours for other photographers. He now gives 10 tours a year. Gordon uses a Nikon camera with a 200-400mm lens and 1.4x teleconverter. He likes to take his shots from close to the ground, which makes it easier to get a narrow depth of field. He also likes to use space in his shots to show the creatures in their environment. You can find some of Gordon’s work on his web site:

https://www.gordonraephotography.co.uk/index.html

Gordon began by showing the wildlife photographed in his local area, including birds and hedgehogs in his garden. Gordon travels around his farm on a quad bike and uses it as a tool to get close to wildlife. His strategy is not to use a hide, but to keep repeating the same actions until the wild animals get used to him and realise he is not a threat. The local hares will let him get close as long as he doesn’t get off the bike. As well as great shots of hares, dippers and kingfishers, there were some unusual dark squirrels and a fantastic shot of a grumpy sparrowhawk. Gordon then took us further afield and showed some fabulous shots of ospreys, grouse and mountain hares taken in Scotland.

In the second half of the talk. Gordon described his adventures on a bear-watching trip to Silver Salmon Creek in Alaska. The journey there was an adventure in itself, with the site only accessible by a small aircraft which landed on the beach! Visitors to Silver Salmon Creek Lodge live and move within the habitat of the bears and need to be constantly on watch. Gordon described some hair-raising encounters with the bears. He witnessed a mother defending her cubs, a bear running towards him to pounce on a salmon, and a bear that came so close that other photographers had turned their cameras on him! The results were some truly breath-taking images. Gordon finished his talk by showing us photographs he captured on a trip to Churchill in Manitoba, Canada. After arriving in the autumn, he witnessed how quickly the Hudson Bay can freeze. This time polar bears were his main subject, although he also captured some images of the local foxes. The polar bears were photographed from the giant tundra vehicle, and the driver was happy to position the vehicle to capture the bears against a more interesting background. Gordon left us all inspired to improve our wildlife photography.

  • Next Thursday we will use our Members Evening slot to have another studio portrait session. We can practise some of the advice we learned from last week’s portrait competition. It will be similar to last year’s studio night, except this time we’ll concentrate on the lighting. Derek will bring along his studio lights, and we can move the lighting around and see how it affects the final result.
  • Please bring your camera on Thursday, plus a tripod and a flashgun if you want to experiment with those.

09 January 2025 (Human Portrait Print Competition)

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In a last minute change, David Ferguson, president of Falkirk Camera Club, visited us for a second time this year to judge our Human Portrait Print competition. David had previously judged our Digital Projected Images competition. David is an expert on portrait photography and well qualified to judge this competition, but he pointed out that any marks given are just his opinion. He has himself had the same print given a widely different mark on different occasions. David mentioned that portrait photography is often described as “capturing the personality of a person or group of people using lighting, a background and props”, but portrait photography can be much more than that. It can cover any situation where people are the main subject. The eyes are the most important part of any portrait, and the general rule is that the eyes must be sharp, and at least the eye closest to the camera must be sharp. David explained how lighting can affect the mood of a portrait. Many of the portraits entered had been made under soft, balanced lighting, which works well for female subjects, but male subjects often look better when lit more strongly from one side to enhance the contours of the face. He also suggested some of the male portraits would also have looked better in black and white. He also warned that lighting a face from below eye level can be unflattering and should be avoided, unless it is done for special effect (as in some horror movies). He suggested experimenting with the lighting when taking a portrait and try several variations until you find one that works. David also commented on the pose of some of the entries. Arms can be difficult to pose naturally, and he recommended avoiding poses where arms or elbows point towards the camera, as they can look distorted and distracting.

39 prints had been entered by 13 members. Some of the portraits were of other club members, taken during last year’s studio night, and we were amused to see the same hat coming up again and again. David judged each image on its lighting, pose and sharpness, and whether the composition told a story. Although it is good to crop out distractions in the background, David felt that some images had been cropped a little too tightly to tell the full story. Sometimes it’s good to see the whole outfit. Some portraits were a little different. Charlie Baird’s portrait of a woman “Looking out to sea” broke the rules by not showing the eyes, but it still worked because of the strong narrative. John West’s double self-portrait “Is COVID behind us” also had a strong narrative. Hovhannes had blurred the boundary between art and photography by entering a series of innovative prints which combined photographs with ink drawings on plastic. The top scorers were (in reverse order):

  • 5th place (49 points)
    • Joe Fowler
    • Charlie Baird
  • 4th place (50 points)
    • John West
  • 3rd place (51 points)
    • Carol Edmond
  • 2nd place (53 points)
    • Hovhannes Hovhannisyan
  • 1st place (55 points)
    • George Todd
    • Melanie Gallacher

The top images were:

  • Siddharta Guardian of the Hoogly Imambara Temple (George Todd) – 20 points
  • A Quiet Moment (Melanie Gallacher) – 19 points
  • The Pessimist (Hovhannes Hovhannisyan) – 19 points
  • Anastasia (George Todd) – 18 points
  • Breakfast Time (Carol Edmond) – 18 points
  • Ayla (Melanie Gallacher) – 18 points
  • Little Man (Melanie Gallacher) – 18 points

Well done to George and Melanie who share the trophy, and well done also to new member Hovhannes on a well-deserved second place, and to Carol for achieving her usual high standard. Thank you to everyone who entered and thank you to David Ferguson for judging the competition for us at short notice.

  • Don’t forget to send your 3 JPEG images on “Buildings” to George Todd before the end of the weekend.
  • Next week we have a talk from wildlife photographer Gordon Rae, who judged last year’s portrait competition. Although we can’t get a reply from Gordon, we are in his talk schedule:

    https://www.gordonraephotography.co.uk/section807167.html

    Gordon describes his talk “Wild at Heart – A Photographers Journey”, as “A far from boring presentation that takes you on what can only be described as a wonderful wildlife journey“. Fingers crossed that it goes ahead as planned. I’m looking forward to it.

05 December 2024 (Black and White Print Competition)

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This week we had the pleasure of welcoming Gordon Scott of Mid Calder Camera Club to judge our Black and White print competition. Gordon told us his liking for black and white photography goes back to the days when black and white film was easy to develop. The medium lets you concentrate on the form and texture of a subject independently of its colour. Some of Gordon’s work can be found in his Mid Calder gallery:

https://www.midcaldercameraclub.org.uk/gallery-gordonscott

47 prints had been entered by 16 members. There were some landscape images, black and white portraits, photographs of buildings and monuments, clever still life creations, and even a black and white wildlife shot. Gordon liked the composition of most of the prints, although he felt some could be cropped or could do with more space. He felt some shots that were almost but not quite symmetrical would have a bigger impact if made symmetrical. A few of the shots could be improved with a little more contrast. Gordon preferred portraits where you could see a connection between the subjects, or a connection between the subject and the photographer. There was plenty of time at the end to discuss the prints over tea and sandwiches, provided by Jennifer Davidson and Carol Edmond. Mike Clark’s “Another Great Dive” was admired as a unique portrait of a diver, showing the diver’s face through his helmet. There was also a discussion about the composition of Liz Sowler’s print “Security Alert at the Sculpture Gallery”, which stood out with its contrasting areas of white and black. John West’s striking, back-lit image of a dandelion in a glass also had a lot of impact. The top scorers were (in reverse order):

  • 5th place (49 points)
    • John West
    • Jim Innes
    • Jennifer Davidson
  • 4th place (50 points)
    • Steven Beard
    • Kevin Johnson
  • 3rd place (51 points)
    • Carol Edmond
  • 2nd place (54 points)
    • Joe Fowler
  • 1st place (56 points)
    • George Todd

The top images were:

  • The Farrier (Joe Fowler) – 20 points
  • June (Kevin Johnson) – 20 points
  • 10th Lanarkshire Rifles AKA “The Glasgow Highlanders” (George Todd) – 19 points
  • Leo (George Todd) – 19 points
  • Clansman (George Todd) – 18 points
  • Just Dandy (John West) – 18 points
  • Rasta Biker (Carol Edmund) – 18 points

Well done to George Todd for winning, to Joe Fowler for a close second, and to Carol Edmond, who’s great portrait “Rasta Biker” secured her third place. Well done also to Kevin Johnson for earning 20 points with his lovely relaxed “June” portrait, and to John West, whose “Just Dandy” ranked amongst the best images. Thank you to Gordon Scott for judging the competition.

  • Next week come along to the Fisherrow Centre at 7pm on Thursday, 12th December for our annual quiz night, presented by Gavin Marshall.
  • If you have 3 mounted prints to enter for our Human Portrait Print competition, please bring them along on Thursday and give them to George Todd. Please also email a JPEG version of your 3 images to georgetodd1957@me.com.

21 November 2024 (Match An Image Competition)

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This week we were delighted to invite North Berwick Photographic Society to Fisherrow for the “Match an Image” competition. The competition was judged by Simon Wootton of Midlothian Camera Club. Images were displayed in pairs, and Simon’s task was to judge whether the second image shown matched the first, and in the case of a match to judge which was the better of the two images.

North Berwick started the competition with a strange, distorted shape which turned out to be the reflected image of the bow of a ship. Musselburgh responded with an image of a laughing duck which, astonishingly, was declared a match because the duck’s beak and tongue had a similar shape! Musselburgh responded with the first of a series of John West paperclip creations: a grid of paperclips. North Berwick replied with their image of an array of prayer wheels, which contained the same number of rows and columns. Another match! The evening continued with North Berwick challenging us to match their variety of telephone images and Musselburgh challenging them to match our selection of indoor abstracts. We got lucky when North Berwick shows us a picture of the glowing balls at Newhailes House & Gardens which we matched with a picture of some light bulbs. North Berwick flummoxed us with their arctic scenes, as we had no snow scenes in our collection. The best we could do was try to match their polar bear with an otter (another animal on water, although not necessarily frozen). At the tea break North Berwick were just ahead by 16 points to 15.

In the second half we hit them with a series of flower pictures which gained us a few match points and bonus points. But they replied with a series of animal images that became harder to match as we ran out of examples. Then we exchanged some portraits. Carol Edmond’s portrait “Hi There” was matched but declared the best image. It became harder to match images in the second half, but Simon also wanted to reward the high quality images that were coming up, so the matches became more tenuous. Yes, we matched their silhouette of a soldier holding up a gun with two hands with our image of a kayaker battling the rapids and holding a paddle. But they matched our image of a man on a tricycle in an alley with a street image because the diagonals were the same. By the end Musselburgh clinched the competition by 33 points to North Berwick’s 29 points.

Thank you Simon for some entertaining judging. It was great fun. Thank you to everyone who submitted their images for this competition. You helped us win it! Next year we’ll be travelling back to North Berwick.

  • Unfortunately, the speaker we had booked for Thursday, 28th November can’t make it. So next week we’ll either have a Members Evening or something Derek can put together at the last minute.
  • Derek is arranging a photoshoot at the National Museum of Scotland this Saturday morning, 23th November, at 10:30am. If you’d like to come, please meet Derek in the foyer some time between 10am and 10:30am. Let’s hope the snow holds off.

20 November 2024 (4 Way Inter-Club Competition)

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On Wednesday, 20th November 2024, MCC members fought their way through the delays on the Edinburgh city bypass to join Stirling, Edinburgh & Kirkcaldy at the Birds and Bees restaurant in Stirling for the annual 4-way interclub competition. The competition was hosted by Stirling & District Camera Club and judged by Eddie Telford of Milngavie and Bearsden Camera Club.

Each club had submitted 15 digital images, making a grand total of 60 images. The competition began with Edinburgh’s image of a firefighter tackling a forest fire, which achieved 19 points; then Stirling’s image of an American wren caught in mid flight approaching its nest hole, which scored the first 20 points of the night. Next up was Musselburgh’s still image of a nuthatch on a tree, which couldn’t compete with the dynamism of the wren and received just 16 points. This was followed by Kirkcaldy’s beautiful landscape image of a lone tree against a mountain background, which got 18 points. This first round summed up what was in store for the rest of the evening. We had some good images, but the other clubs’ images had something more. For example, George Todd’s portrait of the boxer “Kalon” was beaten Kirkcaldy’s image “On Target” of two boxers caught in mid fight. In the second half, you could hear the disappointment from Musselburgh members when Carol Edmond’s portrait “Hi There” received a very positive description but was awarded a disappointing 17 points. By contrast, Stirling surged ahead with four of their 15 images receiving 20 points and another 19 points. Edinburgh managed a 20 and a 19 and Kirkcaldy a 19. It just wasn’t Musselburgh’s night. 😦 The final scores were:

  • 1st place: Stirling and District Camera Club, 267 points.
  • 2nd place: Kirkcaldy Photographic Society, 258 points.
  • 3rd place: Edinburgh Photographic Society, 253 points.
  • 4th place: Musselburgh Camera Club, 248 points.

None of our images achieved the top spot this year, but one came close:

  • Harvest Queen (George Todd) – 18 points.

Although we were unhappy, Stirling cheered us up by offering a lovely selection of drinks, sandwiches and cakes. We were up against some very strong competition this year, especially from Stirling who had a cracking selection. Strong competition lowers the scores, so well done to George, Joe, Derek, Mike and Carol for scoring 17+ points against such odds. We’ll be back next year and ready for a much better result.

14 November 2024 (Colour Print Competition)

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We were delighted to welcome Colin Joyce to Musselburgh to judge our colour print competition, braving the evening rush hour traffic on the Forth Bridges to visit us from Dunfermline. Colin is both an artist and a photographer, whose work can be seen on his web site:

Portfolio

His work will also be on display during the weekend beginning 30th November at the Edinburgh Macmillan Art Show at St. John’s Church in Edinburgh. Colin said it was a privilege to have the opportunity to view other people’s work and had enjoyed the variety of ideas shown by our members. He doesn’t like the term “judging” when assessing images, as he’s simply expressing his opinion. He said all of the prints entered are worthy of display.

33 prints had been entered by 11 members. Colin really liked the strong colours and detailed textures on many of the prints. He suggested some prints with an extensive background could be improved by cropping, and some prints could be improved by toning down a distraction or adding a focal point. But he had positive things to say about all the prints and appreciated the work that had gone into creating them. The top scorers were (in reverse order):

  • 5th place (51 points)
    • Elaine Gilroy.
  • 4th place (52 points)
    • Jennifer Davidson
  • 3rd place (53 points)
    • John West
    • Derek Muller
  • 2nd place (54 points)
    • Joe Fowler
    • Mike Clark
    • Carol Edmond
  • 1st place (58 points)
    • George Todd

The top images were:

  • Courting Great Crested Grebes (George Todd) – 20 points
  • Battling the Rapids (George Todd) – 20 points
  • Where’s that Nut?  (Joe Fowler) – 19 points
  • Come Fly With Me (Mike Clark) – 19 points
  • What Was That? (Carol Edmond) – 19 points
  • Apprentice Welder (Joe Fowler) – 18 points
  • Forrest Nymph (George Todd – 18 points
  • You staring at me? (Mike Clark) – 18 points
  • Anemone Triptych (Elaine Gilroy) – 18 points
  • Fake Fly (John West) – 18 points
  • Hand Made and Home Grown (John West) – 18 points
  • Rubbing hands with devilish delight (Carol Edmond) – 18 points
  • That’s My Nut (Derek Muller) – 18 points
  • Chilling After a Heavy Lunch (Derek Muller) – 18 points
  • Beautiful Young Woman (Jennifer Davidson) – 18 points

Well done to George Todd, winning with 58/60 and also creating “Courting Great Crested Grebes”, which Colin considered the best image overall. Thank you to Colin for “expressing his opinion” for us, and to everyone who entered the competition.

Next week we have two inter-club competitions in quick succession:

I look forward to seeing you again in the coming week.

 

31 October 2024 (George Robertson: Exploring Kathmandu and the Khumbu Valley)

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This week we were delighted to welcome back George Robertson to the club. George had already entertained us with two previous talks featuring stunning mountain photography:

23 September 2021 (Into the Throne Room of the Mountain Gods)

22 September 2022 (George Robertson: The Snows of Kilimanjaro)

This time George enthralled us with photographs documenting a trek from Kathmandu through the Khumbu Valley to the Mount Everest base camp. George is a member of Milngavie and Bearsden Camera Club and has been running the mountain trekking company Mountaintreks for a number of years. George’s photography had begun from a need to record the experiences of the clients on his mountain adventure treks but had expanded into the fantastic collection of mountain landscapes you can now see on his web site:

George Robertson Photography

The journey begins at Kathmandu, a place full of jumbled, multi-colour buildings and picturesque Buddhist temples. The group then catch a flight to Lukla, perhaps one of the most dangerous airports in the world. All flights to Lukla take place early in the morning to avoid the fierce winds, and the short runway slopes upwards at 12 degrees to help aircraft stop before hitting the concrete wall at the end! From here, the rest of the journey is on foot along a narrow, rocky road dotted with monuments and engraved symbols. Literally everything, from luggage to building materials, is carried down this road either by pack animal (dzo) or on someone’s back. George documents this journey with a series of stunning photographs showing the towns and people encountered on the way and the increasingly stunning views of Mount Everest, Lhotse and Ama Dablam. All of George’s photographs were taken with one camera body and a single 18-200mm lens. He didn’t take a tripod but managed to get some fantastic night shots of the mountains by balancing his camera on a rock. The talk finished with the group’s arrival at the Everest base camp and a series of jaw-dropping photographs of the mountains at sunset. Thank you George for entertaining us yet again and showing us why you have twice won a Landscape Photographer of the year award.

  • Next week’s colour print competition has been moved to 14th November, so will have our members evening on 7th November instead. Please bring along any interesting images or ideas you would like to share with other members. We can also take the opportunity to finish the back and white printing.

17 October 2024 (Digital Projected Images Competition)

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Our first competition of the new season took place this week. David Ferguson, president of Falkirk Camera Club, visited to judge our digital projected images competition. David said when he had first started in photography he owned a Kodak 126 Instamatic camera. He shot and developed his own film and once worked in the photography section at Boots. If your print once came back with a “needs improvement” sticker it’s possible that David put it there. 🙂 You can see David’s more recent work on his web site:

David Ferguson Photography

There were 48 images altogether, entered by 16 members, covering a wide range of subjects, including wildlife, landscape, sport, portrait and architecture shots, and some really imaginative still life creations. David commented on the high quality of the entries, which meant there were a lot of high marks. Each image was assessed on its exposure, sharpness and composition, and David suggested changes in the cropping or spacing that may improve the impact of some of the images; although he pointed out this was his own opinion, and other viewers may see things differently. Some images could be improved by lifting the shadows, adjusting the contrast or converting them to black and white. Some studio shots could have been improved by adjusting the lighting to bring out more facial detail or reduce blemishes. Notable images were a paperclip figure beach scene (At the Beach) submitted by John West, which none of us could figure out how it was done. There was also an innovative back of the head shot (Leading the Way) created by new member Melanie Gallacher, which broke all the rules but worked and secured a maximum 20 points. The top scorers were (in reverse order):

  • 5th place (53 points)
    • John West
  • 4th place (54 points)
    • Joe Fowler
    • Jennifer Davidson
    • Melanie Gallacher
  • 3rd place (55 points)
    • Mike Clark
    • Carol Edmund
    • Derek Muller
  • 2nd place (58 points)
    • George Todd
  • 1st place (59 points)
    • Malcolm Roberts

There were many top images:

  • Place Your Bets (Joe Fowler) – 20 points
  • Nuthatch (Malcolm Roberts) – 20 points
  • Tap Dance (Malcolm Roberts) – 20 points
  • Battling the Rapids (George Todd) – 20 points
  • Hi There (Carol Edmond) – 20 points
  • Leading the Way (Melanie Gallacher) – 20 points
  • Caught in the Middle (Malcolm Roberts) – 19 points
  • Osprey With Catch (George Todd) – 19 points
  • Ferrier Working in the Smiddy (George Todd) – 19 points
  • Braving the Rapids (Mike Clark) – 19 points
  • Strong Competition (Derek Muller) – 19 points
  • Carriage Driving (Jennifer Davidson) – 19 points

Well done to Malcolm Roberts for winning with a fantastic 59/60 points! Thank you David for judging our competition, and thank you to everyone who entered.

Next week, 24th October, we will be having a review of this competition. Please have a go at making the changes suggested by David and bring in your edited images. We can also discuss how to “lift the shadows” or “bring out the sky”, or any other adjustments mentioned. Perhaps John could tell us how he created his beach scene? Besides working on your own images, what were your favourite images of the evening?

10 October 2024 (Indoor Photoshoot)

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This year’s indoor photoshoot was based on an idea by Derek Muller, inspired by a video on toy photography:

John, Steven, Jennifer, Joe and Liz brought in examples of their home studio setups, while members were asked to bring in small toys, vases, flowers, mirrors, rocks, shells, glass decorations, and other interesting things to photograph.

  • John West brought in his photo studio tent and his collection of paperclip figures. He also showed us examples of how he sets up his studio at home with LED lights and a curved piece of card to make an infinity curve.
  • Steven Beard brought in his small portable light box, which has built in LED lamps and a selection of coloured backgrounds, a dimmable LED torch and a glass globe. He also brought a selection of close-up lenses, which can be used as an alternative to a macro lens. In particular, the budget lenses can distort the edges of the frame and mimic the effect of the lenses shown in the “toy photography” video.
  • Jennifer Davidson brought a lined box with backdrops, torches and lights, together with a large selection of flowers and objet d’art.
  • Joe brought in some objects which cast shadows and showed how the plain white wall of the room could be used a backdrop to create some stark-looking images. Steven’s torch turned out to be useful for casting the shadows.
  • Liz Sowler showed how you can make a simple, home-made light tent out of a laundry drier covered with a sheet. Objects placed inside the tent could be lit with torches shining through the entrance. Liz had brought a glass eagle which we discovered looked best when lit just by the ambient light.

All in all, it was a very enjoyable evening. I hope our members have had the opportunity to learn from the different setups and take home a good selection of still life images.

  • Next week we have our first competition of the year. David Ferguson will be visiting us to judge our Digital Projected Images competition.
  • Next week is also the hand-in date for entries to the colour print competition. Please bring in 3 mounted prints and give them to George. Don’t forget to send JPEG copies of your 3 images to George as well.