Tag Archives: beeslack

06 February 2025 (Audio Visual Evening)

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This week members of Musselburgh Camera Club travelled to Beeslack Community High School to meet with members of Beeslack Penicuik Camera Club for our annual audio visual evening. Beeslack’s usual room was occupied by a Taekwondo class, so we started the evening in a small classroom.

Musselburgh started with an introduction to ICM photography in Butterdean Wood, created by Steven Beard, based on the club photoshoot from July 2024. Then, Beeslack’s presented a history of coal mining in Scotland, based on information and materials picked up from a club visit to the National Mining Museum, supplemented by club photographs and drone shots. There was a change of mood with the third presentation, when Derek Muller showed a video entitled “Birds Having Lunch” featuring some great shots of wild birds feeding. The change of mood continued when Beeslack showed another beautiful and calming creation by Brian Nicolson, featuring photographs of trees and woodland enhanced and blended with art filters from paint.NET. Musselburgh followed with a presentation compiled from photographs taken by club members on a photoshoot to the Balgone Sunflower Trail. This was followed by Beeslack’s presentation on the history of East Lothian, which used to be known as Haddingtonshire. The presentation took us on a journey through time, from the battles for dominance between the tribes of ancient Scotland and the construction of castles, to the witch trials and the impact of all this history on the modern landscape of East Lothian. Melanie Gallacher followed with a musical video in celebration of her daughter, and then Beeslack finished with an inspiring collection of long exposures of a fire dancer, set to Stravinsky’s The Firebird. And on that note we finished the evening and retired to Beeslack’s usual room for tea and biscuits. Thank you Beeslack for hosting us.

  • Next week (Thursday 13th) we have another flexible Members Evening. I propose that we have a session on camera skills. Please bring your camera (plus a macro lens and a flash if you have one). If you have any interesting small objects to photograph, bring those along as well. I’m especially interested in moving objects (such as a pendulum or a dancing robot), if you have any.
  • I am planning to demonstrate the settings on my Nikon camera. It would be good to have volunteers to cover Canon, Sony and Panasonic cameras as well.

See you next week.

19 March 2024 (3-Way Inter-club Competition)

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There was an extra club meeting this week. On Tuesday, 19th March Musselburgh Camera Club visited Haddington Camera Club to take part in the annual 3-way competition, along with Beeslack Penicuik Camera Club. The meeting took place at the Poldrate Mill, Haddington, where we were treated to a lavish spread of sandwiches and cakes.

The competition was judged by Gordon Scott of Mid Calder Camera Club. Each club submitted 15 images each, making a total of 45 images. Musselburgh got off onto a good start and were 1 point ahead after the first round. We maintained that narrow lead and by the break had 134 points to Beeslack’s 133 and Haddington’s 130. We kept our lead through the second half. In the final round Haddington sneaked ahead of Beeslack, but Mike Clark’s “White Mountain Hare in the Heather” secured top marks and guaranteed a good win for Musselburgh. The final scores were:

  • First place (252 points) Musselburgh Camera Club
  • Second place (244 points) Haddington Camera Club
  • Third place (243 points) Beeslack Penicuik Camera Club

The top Musselburgh images were:

  • White Mountain Hare in the Heather (Mike Clark)  – 20 points
  • Woodpecker feeding (Joe Fowler) – 19 points
  • Harvest Queen (Joe Fowler) – 19 points
  • Sea Eagle with Catch (Mike Clark) – 19 points
  • Hunting Sparrowhawk (Jennifer Davidson)  – 18 points

Well done to Musselburgh Camera Club for a great win, and thank you to Mike, Joe and Jennifer for helping us to achieve that win.

  • This Thursday, 28th March, we have our joint meeting with Musselburgh Art Club. We will be meeting in room F1 in the Fisherrow Centre, not our usual room. To reach that room you need to go upstairs and follow the signs to F1. Come along and see what the art club members have created this year.

15 February 2024 (Audio Visual Evening)

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This week we hosted our annual audio visual evening with Beeslack Penicuik Camera Club. Two years ago we had hosted this meeting by Zoom in room G3, but this year we were fully back to normal. Members of both clubs met in room G6 of the Fisherrow Centre and were treated to tea, sandwiches and cakes by Liz Sowler, Ed Robertson and Carol Edmond.

Beeslack began the evening with a beautiful presentation created by Brian Nicolson, made from photographs of woodland scenes in Midlothian paired with inspirational music. Musselburgh then resurrected a presentation made by Steven Beard in 2012 describing his 2008-2009 trip to the Cerro Paranal Observatory Chile to commission the VISTA Infrared Camera. The place had also been used as the secret lair of the villain in the James Bond film Quantum of Solace. The VISTA Infrared Camera was decommissioned in 2023, bringing the story to an end. Beeslack then showed their club presentation which celebrated the “Environs of Penicuik”. It featured a selection photographs from historical monuments and scenic places to visit around Penicuik taken by their club members.

The meeting then changed tack and showed a YouTube video created by Musselburgh member Derek Muller entitled “Getting Started in Screen Printing”. The video showed us how to use a MiSCREEN silk screen printer to transfer an artwork or black and white photograph onto paper, or a T-Shirt, etc… Derek creates his videos with a camera or iPhone and edits them using iMovie. Beeslack then showed a supplement to their club presentation which demonstrated the artistic filters applied by Bill Baird. Photographs of the Midlothian countryside were transformed into artworks before our eyes. This was followed by a short video showing a visit to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe by Musselburgh member Kevin Johnston and then a presentation showing a visit to Alicante, Spain in 2019 by Beeslack member Mike Walby.

The evening finished with three short presentations. Derek Muller showed a video of the waves crashing onto the shore at Portobello beach, which featured some lovely slow motion effects and a passer by who looked like they were going to get soaked but escaped. Then we watched a Beeslack video showing the Fells, Becks and Lakes of the Lake District. Beeslack also chose the perfect presentation on which to close the evening: a celebration of Valentine’s Day created by Gordon Peerless. We finished with a discussion over tea and cakes.

Thank you to Beeslack for visiting and showing their presentations, and thanks again to Liz, Ed and Carol for the catering. Next week Eddie Telford will be returning to give a talk on “Around the World in 80 Images”. See you there.

23 February 2023 (3-Way Inter-club Competition)

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This week Musselburgh Camera Club welcomed Beeslack Penicuik Camera Club and Haddington Camera Club to the Fisherrow Centre in Musselburgh for our first face to face 3-way interclub competition for 3 years. The previous two competitions had been held by Zoom only.

The meeting was broadcast on Zoom for members who couldn’t make it.  Those who could attend in person were treated to tea, biscuits and cakes, thanks to catering by Jennifer Davidson, Liz Sowler and John West.

The competition was judged by Stephen Lipton who had judged our black and white print competition a few weeks earlier.  Stephen once again entertained us with his stories and invited us to comment on his assessment of each image displayed.  Each club submitted 15 images each, making a total of 45 images.  The competition began with the 3 clubs neck-and neck. After the first 12 images, Beeslack and Haddington had 68 points and Musselburgh had 67 points. When we reached the half way point, Musselburgh were starting to edge ahead on 136 points to Beeslack’s 130 and Haddington’s 131. The trend continued, and when Musselburgh secured the top image of the night with George Todd’s “Durbar Monk” there was no going back. The final scores were:

  • First place (257 points) Musselburgh Camera Club
  • Second place (244 points) Haddington Camera Club
  • Third place (241 points) Beeslack Penicuik Camera Club

The top images of the night were spread amongst the three clubs:

  • Durbar Monk (Musselburgh Camera Club) – 20 points
  • Centre of Heart Nebula in Constellation Cassiopeia (Haddington Camera Club) – 19 points
  • More Than Breezy (Beeslack Penicuik Camera Club) – 19 points

The top Musselburgh images were:

  • Durbar Monk  – 20 points
  • Mountain Hare in the Snow – 18 points
  • Owl In Flight  – 18 points
  • Lovely Cup of Tea – 18 points

It was a delight to be able to entertain Beeslack and Haddington face to face again. Thank you to Stephen Lipton for judging the competition and for timing his presentation to let us finish in time for an early tea break.  Well done to Musselburgh Camera club for a decisive win.

  • George Todd is collecting prints for the Human Portrait print competition this weekend. Please contact George if you are planning to enter and haven’t yet given him your prints.
  • George has his work cut out, as this Thursday, 2nd March, he will be judging our final set subject competition on “Landscape”. Come along on Thursday to see the conclusion to this competition.
  • I have been informed there is also a Wex Photographic Open Day taking place in Edinburgh at 10am-5pm on 2nd March.

See you on Thursday,

Steven

02 February 2023 (Audio Visual Evening at Beeslack CC)

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The week Musselburgh Camera Club members travelled to Beeslack High School in Penicuik to join members of Beeslack Penicuik Camera Club for an Audio Visual evening.

The evening began with a MCC presentation by Allan Cameron on the “Battle of Prestonpans“, describing how forces lead by Charles Edward Stuart had achieved victory over Johnnie Cope’s government forces at Prestonpans, and showing photographs captured at the battle re-enactment.

Beeslack then presented a historical narrative on the creation and expansion of Edinburgh’s New Town, using a combination of old and new maps and some fascinating archive photographs showing the construction of Edinburgh’s most iconic buildings and the construction of bridges (such as North Bridge and Regent Bridge) spanning difficult chasms that we don’t even notice today.

Musselburgh’s Mike Clark then presented a unique record into the sites and sounds of underwater photography, showing the incredible variety of wildlife living in Scotland’s coastal waters.

Beeslack’s second audio-visual was on the construction and demise of the Edinburgh to Peebles railway, using a clever combination of “before and after” photographs to show how the railway used to look and what is left now. Drone footage showed us how the railway route is still visible in the landscape.

The evening finished with a recording of the Edinburgh Hogmanay Fireworks made by Steven Beard from a vantage point on Blackford Hill to test out his new camera microphone.

  • This week George Todd is accepting entries for the third and final part of our set subject competition. Please send your 2 JPEGs on the theme of “Landscape” to George by Thursday.
  • Next week (9th February) we have our Digital Photo Feedback session. In this session we will include some demonstrations on how to make digital enhancements in Photoshop. So please bring along images that you think could be improved with a bit of tweaking. Joe Fowler will also use this evening to demonstrate how to use the mount cutter.

I have finally written up the presentation that John Glynn gave us a couple of weeks ago. Click the link below if you are interested. See you on Thursday.

19 January 2023 (John Glynn: How to See Creatively)

24 February 2022 (3 Way Inter-Club Competition)

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The 3-way inter-club competition between Musselburgh Camera Club, Beeslack Penicuik Camera Club and Haddington Camera Club took place on Thursday, 24th February 2022. The meeting was hosted by Beeslack via Zoom, with images judged by Simon Allen from Dumfries Camera Club. Musselburgh had come 4th in the 4-way interclub competition earlier in the year, so we were eager to do better this time.

Each club has submitted 15 digital images, making a grand total of 45 images. There were landscape images, wildlife images, horticultural images and portraits ranging from characters at a battle re-enactment to a family beach holiday. The most unusual image was a stunning astrophotograph called “Cygnus Wall”, submitted by Haddington.

Simon mentioned there was a high standard of images overall. There were no bad images, and the marks represented the overall ranking of the images compared against each other. Simon commented on the composition and execution of each image. He described what he liked and didn’t like about each one. The best photographs had a clear distinction between subject and background, and images with bright distractions lost marks. But Simon pointed out that some background objects were necessary to show the whole story. For example, a portrait of a soldier would not have worked without the out of focus image of his musket. Some images had sharp edges in the background which might have been created by selections in Photoshop not being properly feathered.

Musselburgh members watched the competition either from home or from room G3 at Fisherrow. The post-competition chat had to be curtailed for those at Fisherrow because of a change to the Fisherrow opening hours (so apologies to Beeslack and Haddington that we had to leave so quickly at the end). The final scores were:

  • 1st place: Musselburgh Camera Club, 255 points.
  • 2nd place: Beeslack Penicuik Camera Club, 248 points.
  • 3rd place: Haddington Camera Club, 232 points.

So our revamped selection of images was a big success! Here are Simon’s best Musselburgh images:

  • Roe deer on guard (Jennifer Davidson) – 17 points.
  • Glenfinnan Viaduct (Steven Beard) – 17 points.
  • White Tailed Sea Eagle (Mike Clark) – 18 points.
  • Millarochy Bay Sunset (Gordon Davidson) – 18 points
  • Kalia – Green Activist (George Todd) – 19 points
  • Dreaming of days gone by (George Todd) – 19 points
  • Stylish (Carol Edmund) – 19 points
  • Mountain Gem Humming Bird (George Todd) – 20 points

Well done to Musselburgh, thank you to everyone who provided images for this competition, thank you to Simon Allen for judging it and thank you to Beeslack for hosting it.