Change of Venue
The four way competition on 1st November will be held at Halliburton Community Hall, Galashiels instead of our usual Red Rom at Langlee. The reason for the change is we are expecting more attending than the maximum allowable capacity specified by Langlee’s community centre.
Its on the left as you turn off the A7 by Salon 55.
First Competition of the year – Open
Thanks to Graham Riddell for judging our Open Competition last night (11/10/17). Great comments and very helpful.
Congratulations to the award winners who were :-
Beginners DPIs –
3rd Fiona Kilgour with “Singing Wren”, 2nd Louise Mair with “Greece1”, 1st Fiona Kilgour with “Double Fish Supper”
DPIs –
3rd John Frater with “Sunderland Air Show”, 2nd Lynne Grant with “Summerlight”, 1st John Frater with “Fish Supper”
Prints –
3rd Ford Renton with “Rolling Fields”, 2nd Gordon Swalwell with “Southern Hawker”, 1st Gordon Swalwell with “Quiet Corner”
There were commendations in the DPIs for :-
Christine Swalwell (2), Fiona Kilgore (2), Brian Stark (2), John Frater (2), Louise Mair, Paul Dytor (3), Alistair Peacock, Richard Lillico, Ford Renton (2), and Neil McLean.
Commended in the Prints were –
John Frater (2), Ron Bell, Ford Renton, Christine Swalwell and Brian Stark
Practical Nights
In a change of syllabus, Don Lee’s Practical Studio Photography night is on 22nd November 2017. He’ll be using our own newly acquired studio kit. Bring your cameras and have a go.
The content practical night on 7th Feb 2018 will include Print Mounting and Basic Photo Editing using a few different software packages and file formats.
Opening Night 2017
What a great opening night we had on Wednesday 20th September.
The meeting was opened by our chairman Ron Bell who then followed his introductions with a presentation on resizing images for competitions. We were particularly pleased to welcome no fewer than four new members.
As always, several members brought along a selection of images showing what they’ve been up to, photographically speaking, during the summer break. Images covered a wide variety of genre from portraits to landscapes, sport, nature and photographs of the heavens. A selection of the images is shown below.
We hope members old and new will enjoy what we have lined up this season.
New Equipment Update: (19/9/17)
All the new studio equipment has now arrived, been tested, and available for members to use.
For those used to operating studio equipment it is easy to set up however, it is best you watch the Elinchrom tutorials a few times to familiarise yourself with the setup and operation.
The package consists of two holdalls for the lighting and one holdall plus a long roll for the back drop. Other than the backdrop roll, it is very portable.
If you have never used studio lighting equipment before then we suggest you wait for Don Lees’s practical demo on November 22nd before borrowing. As well as getting a practical demonstration of the setup and operation he’ll be going through the basics of studio lighting techniques.
NB1: The Octagonal Softbox reflector is awkward to assemble and takes some practice. Great care should be taken when inserting the metal rods as they could easily puncture the reflector if mishandled. Ford can show you how when collecting.
NB2: The backdrop roll is 2.5m long so won’t fit in a small car. Ford can deliver if enough notice is given. It is made of reasonably tough vinyl material, black one side, white the other. However, please take care when walking on, or placing props, stools, etc on the surface as it may tear. Don’t wear stilettos!
Please contact Ford (01896758577) if you’d like to borrow any of the club’s equipment (see below and “Equipment for member’s use” page) (Ford won’t be available from 5th to 13th October)
New Equipment for member’s use
We now have available for members to use an X-Rite ColorMunki Photo colour calibration kit which, can colour calibrate your monitor screen, projector and printer.
In addition to this we should have available in a week or so Elinchrom Studio D-Lite 4/4 Twin Softbox to go equipment, with back drops, for members to produce stunning portraits. We’ll update once its available.
Ford has donated a tabletop studio set comprising of a light tent, 4 coloured backdrops and two lights.
Click here for details
The new season is nearly upon us – Opening night is Wednesday 20th September.
Ford Renton has now officially taken over AGRi organisational duties. A revised AGRI entry form and rules have been uploaded to our Competitions page.
The new season’s syllabus should be available very soon.
Thanks to funding from the Scottish Borders Council Community Grant Scheme we have been able to purchase a new projector and laptop for the club. No more poor colour or dodgy aspect presentations. We now have a “ColorMunki Photo” calibration kit for members to use. This will create colour profiles for Monitors, Projectors and Printers. Please contact Ford Renton for details.
New Digital image submissions should be SPF standard 1600 x 1200 instead of the previous 1400 x 1050 format
We hope to purchase a studio kit for members to use in the very near future. Don Lees is currently working on a presentation on Studio Photography during which we hope to be able to demonstrate the new kit.
Summer Evening Meet – Fatlips Castle – 2nd Aug.
Summer evening meet – Stow – 5th July
A wee wander around Stow. Meet at Stow Town Hall 18:30-19:00. Members from Gala Water Camera club will also be joining us.
Annual Outing
June the 4th saw 10 of our members embark on a magical mystery tour of South of Scotland’s Gardens.
We set off from our various pickup points to Dawyck Botanical Gardens outside of Peebles, with a brief stop for coffee in Innerleithen. Members filled up their memory cards until mid afternoon when we set off for Craigieburn Gardens and Carrifran Woodland, via Moffat, before stopping for our evening meal at the excellent Gordon Arms.
At Carrifran Woodland
We were fortunate with the weather as by all accounts it had been horrendous back in Galashiels. Other a few showers at Dawyck its was generally good.
Here’s some of the shots returned so far:
Summer meet – 3rd May – Smailholm
Several of our members met up in the evening at Smailholm Tower. It was a lovely sunny evening although a bit on the chilly side. A few good shots were had although most of our time will be spent cloning out other photographers in post processing.
A few, well probably just Ford Renton, were hoping for clear skies late on for a bit of Astro Photography. Sadly, cloud spread in from the East so we all headed home about 21:00
Annual competition 2017
The results are in:
This year’s Annual completion was judged by Hawick based professional John and Sandra Parris. John and Sandra are worldwide acclaimed photographers and have a string of awards and achievements between them. Their critique and advice on our images was very much appreciated and made for a very entertaining and informative evening. Our sincere thanks go to Sandra and John for giving up their valuable time to judge our competition. For a real visual treat why not visit their website at http://www.parrisphotography.co.uk/.
The turnout for this year completion was a little down on previous years however, given that the school holidays have now started it was entirely understandable. Never the less, a total of 185 images were submitted by members and were of a very high standard. The results are the listed below a very well done to all entrants.
This was the last meeting for this season. The club resumes again on the 20th of September 2017. Our new syllabus will be published soon on our website along with images from this year’s Annual Competition. Come and join us then, you’ll be made very welcome.
Digital Projected Images:
General:
1st – Gordon Swalwell – Spoleto Walkway; 2nd – Gordon Swalwell – Cyclamen; 3rd – Ford Renton – Yellow Brick Road;
Beginners – 1st -Alistair Kevan- Steel wool Photography 2nd Emily McCulloch – Dandelion Fluff
Commended: Christine Swalwell, Alan Kennedy, Alistair Kevan
Landscapes:
1st – Alan Kennedy – Night Fall; 2nd – Lisa Kerr – Caught in a Blizzard; 3rd – David Usher – Reflected Landing Stage;
Beginners: – 1st – Lisa Kerr – Caught in a Blizzard; 2nd – Emily McCulloch – Mountains and Trees (Well done to beginner Lisa Kerr in achieving 2nd place in the Standard class too)
Commended: Alistair Peacock, Ford Renton, Alan Kennedy
Nature:
1st– Ford Renton – Hovering Tern; 2nd – Gordon Swalwell – Eyes on the Food; 3rd – Gordon Swalwell – Grazing Avocets;
Beginners: 1st – Lisa Kerr – Tiger Lily
Commended: Alistair Peacock, Lisa Kerr
People:
1st – Alan Kennedy – Days Gone By; 2nd – Ron Bell – Lifelong Friends; 3rd – Neil McLean – Evening Stroll;
Beginners – 1st Alistair Kevan – Girl in the City, 2nd Lisa Kerr – Matrix
Commended: David Usher, Alistair Kevan
Printed Images:
General:
1st – Gordon Swalwell – The Gallery; 2nd – Alistair Peacock – The Storm Jar; 3rd – Ford Renton – Quarry Pool;
Beginners – Lisa Kerr – Swing Bridge
Commended: Neil McLean (2), Christine Swalwell, Ford Renton
Landscape:
1st – Ford Renton – Hazy Morning; 2nd – Alan Kennedy – Room with a View; 3rd Alan Kennedy – Tranquillity;
Beginners – Lisa Kerr – Spittal
Commended: Ford Renton (2), Alan Kennedy
Nature:
1st – Ford Renton – Fish Supper; 2nd – Ford Renton – Skater; 3rd – Ford Renton – Face First
Commended: Christine Swalwell (3)
People:
1st – Alan Kennedy – Christmas is All Around; 2nd – Ford Renton – Slow Steam Ahead; 3rd – Ford Renton – Homeless
Commended: Christine Swalwell
Trophies: (awarded for best images in both DPI and Print category)
Best Black and White Image: – Ford Renton – Hazy Morning
Best Colour Image: – Alan Kennedy – Room with a View
Best Digital Image: – Alan Kennedy – Days Gone By
Best People Image: – Alan Kennedy – Christmas is All Around
Best Landscape Image: – Ford Renton – Hazy Morning
Best General image: – Gordon Swalwell – The Gallery
Best Nature Image: – Ford Renton – Fish Supper
Best Home processed print – Ford Renton – Hazy Morning
Best Overall Image “Burns Trophy” – Ford Renton – Hazy Morning
Best Newcomer in annual competition – Lisa Kerr
Highest Points in Monthly Competition – Digital Image – Gordon Swalwell
Highest Points in Monthly Competition – Prints – Ford Renton
Highest Points in Monthly Competition – Beginners – Lisa Kerr
Download or open a .pdf of full results and entries here
Annual General Meeting – 29th March 2017
The club held it’s AGM on 29th March. The minutes of the meeting will be distributed shortly and the website updated accordingly.
Acting chairman Alan Kennedy returns to the post of Vice chairman, Ron Bell was elected as the new Chairman. Gordon Swalwell takes over from Ron Bell as Competition secretary. All other posts remain unchanged.
A new four person sub committee was formed to arrange and organise practical nights.
Our annual competition exhibition and prize giving is on Wednesday 5th April at Langlee Community Centre. This is the last meeting for the club for this session. We will resume with a welcome night on 20th September 2017.
Borders Digital Challenge 2017
A total of 13 club participated this year:-
Abbey CC, Amble PG, Berwick CC, Dumfries CC, Earlston CC, Galashiels CC, Hawick CC, Kelso CC, Liddesdale CC, Morpeth CC, Musselburgh CC, Peebles CC and Selkirk CC.
Hosted by Hawick Camera club the images were shown in The Tower Cinema on a very large screen indeed.
And the scores are in…..
1st Place Morpeth CC 140
2nd Place Dumfries CC 138
3rd Place Musselburgh CC 137
4th Place Galashiels CC 132
5th Place Kelso CC 127
6th Place Liddesdale CC 126
7th Place Peebles CC 124
8th Place = Hawick CC 123
8th Place = Amble PG 123
10th Place = Berwick CC 122
10th Place = Earlston CC 122
12th Place Selkirk CC 119
13th Place Abbey CC 116
Two images earned the maximum 20 points – “Slow Day” from Dumfries CC and “Highland Pony” from Liddesdale CC
Gala individual scores were, out of 20:
“Auld Reekie” Alistair Peacock 16
“Days Gone by” Alan Kennedy 16
“Full Tilt” Neil McLean 19
“Hovering tern” Ford Renton 16
“Milky Way over Lindean” Ford Renton 16
“Nuthatch” Gordon Swalwell 15
“Spoleto Walkway” Gordon Swalwell 15
“Swallowtail” Christine Swalwell 19
Heres’ the Gala CC front row:-
Syllabus Night
The provisional syllabus for next season, starting 20th Sept, will be published in a few weeks.
Two internal competition themes for next season were agreed to be “Action!” and “Birds, Bugs and Buds”
The summer outing was provisionally set for 4th June. The destination being Dawyck Gardens and possibly Portmore gardens.
Summer evening meets are:
All at 19:00:
3rd May – Smailholm Tower; 5th July – Stow; 2nd August – Fatlips Castle
Other information will be published as soon as it becomes confirmed.
Next week is the AGM a good attendance would be appreciated.
Table Top
15th March 2017
Wednesday night was the results and display of prints and digital images for our last internal club completion of the year on the theme of Table top Photography.
Many thanks due to judge Sandy McVittie, a member of Hawick Camera club for over 30 years, for his hard work and welcome critique.
The results were as follows:
Digital Projected images:
1st “Cyclamen” by Gordon Swalwell, 2nd “In the Limelight” by Christine Swalwell 3rd “Straw Bale” by Ford Renton. Commended were Gordon Swalwell, Christine Swalwell and Alistair Peacock (2)
Lisa Kerr was the only entrant in the beginners section however “Fruit Pizza” was named as her best image.
Prints:
1st “Paper Roses” by Alistair Peacock, 2nd “The Navigator’s Tools” by Ford Renton, 3rd “Fading Beauty” by Gordon Swalwell. Commended were Ford Renton, Christine Swalwell and Alistair Peacock.
As it was the last interim completion the results have been calculated for the highest total point scorers, and therefore trophy winners, for the season.
Digital Projected Images: Well in front and winner of the trophy, Gordon Swalwell
Prints: In a last minute coup, just pipping Christine Swalwell to the honours, and winner of the trophy, Ford Renton
Beginners: With a commanding lead and winner of the trophy, Lisa Kerr.
12 -Way at Newtongrange
On Sunday Gala Camera Club took part the annual 12-way competition held at the Mining Museum Newtongrange. After the event only 9 clubs took part this year. Although we found ourselves in last place after the prints section we came second equal in the digital images section which, as there wasn’t much in it, brought us up to a creditable sixth place overall. Alan Kennedy’s “Days gone by” scored a maximum 20 points. Alistair Kevan’s “Night Life” scored a creditable 17. The scores were: Musselburgh 180, Hawick and Livingston 171, North Berwick 170, Midlothian 169, Galashiels 166, Mid Calder and Beeslack 165 and Biggar 163.
Bill Currie
Wednesday’s much anticipated visit by Bill Currie from Bonnybridge did not disappoint. A large turnout of members, plus a few welcome visitors from GalaWater Camera club and Hawick, were captivated by Bill’s creative process and stunning images.
Bill took us through the facts on digital photography and processing whilst dispelling many of the myths as he went. I dare say there will be a few photographers out and about today full of renewed enthusiasm and inspiration. Haste ye back Bill.
You can see examples of Bill’s work on his website. http://www.billycurriephotography.co.uk/
Change to the syllabus
Please note that the final hand in for “The Annual” is the 15th of March, not 8th as published.
Libby Smith (MPAGB, APAGB, EFIAP, Hon SPF)
Well what a night. Libby Smith returned to continue her presentation on editing our images to produce a better result. Using simple techniques and adjustment layers and masks she showed us how an image can be improved to get the best out of it. She later showed us some of the more advanced and composite images she’d produced. Libby Smith is most definitely and inspiration to us all.
Borders Exhibition, Selkirk – 22nd February 2017
Mark your diaries. Borders Exhibition at Selkirk 22nd Feb 19:00-22:00 held at The Parish Church, Scotts Place, Selkirk.
We have a few members with entries some come along and support the club. As well as some fantastic images on display Selkirk CC always put on a good spread at the end.
Update: Gala CC did rather well on the night with no fewer than FOUR 1st placed images AND an Overall BEST B&W print. Our member’s share of the honours are as follows:
DPI:
Landscape: 1st Gordon Swalwell, 2nd and 3rd Alistair Peacock, Comm Ford Renton
Flora and Fauna: 2nd Gordon Swalwell, Comm Christine Swalwell, Ford Renton
General: 1st Christine Swalwell, 2nd Gordon Swalwell, Comm. Ford Renton
PRINTS:
Landscape: 2nd Alistair Peacock
People: 1st Alistair Peacock, 2nd Christine Swalwell
Flora and Fauna: 3rd Christine Swalwell, Comm. Alistair Peacock, Christine Swalwell
General: Comm. Christine Swalwell
MONOCHROME PRINT:
General: 1st and 2nd Gordon Swalwell AND Overall Best B&W
Landscape: Comm. Ford Renton
Well done everybody.
Borders Digital Challenge – change of venue
There is a change of venue for the Borders Digital Challenge which will be held on Sunday March 26th at 2 pm. This will now take place at the Heart of Hawick. The full address is Tower Mill Cafe Bar, Heart of Hawick, Tower Mill, Kirkstile, Hawick, TD9 0EA.
JPEGS as is
An interesting evening. Some members brought along examples of their work showing the original image and the edited version.
The merits of different approaches to editing and the software used were discussed.
A reminder that next week is the Borders Exhibition at Selkirk so there will be no meeting at Langlee Community Centre.
Members Showcase night – 8th February
A number of our members presented a showcase of their recent outings and work. Ford Renton briefly covered the subject of Long Exposures using both high density lens filters and software stacking techniques. We were entertained with a guided tour of the US West Coast and Mexico from the view point of a Cruise ship by Paul Anderson. David Usher treated us to a selection of his Botswana Safari images. Alistair Kevan explained how he achieved his light painting and fireball images from last week. A hilarious show of his holiday photographs with the alternative title “A Quick Skite round Cuba” was given by Jim Paxton, and last but by no means least Gordon Swalwell closed the show with stunning images of Rajasthan and Kerala taken by Christine Swalwell and himself. A very enjoyable evening which both informed and entertained.
Next week, in a slight change to the syllabus, is a “JPEGs as is” night. Members are encouraged to submit jpeg images straight out of the camera along with the final edited version of either the jpeg or RAW file showing the pros and cons of either media format. We have a few volunteers already. Please contact Alistair Peacock with your ideas. It is also the hand in for the last club competition, Table Top, before “The Annual” hand in on 8th March.
Here are a few images:
“Jpegs as is” night
15th February
With most digital camera’s these days there is usually image editing software bundled with your purchase. The software allows the user access to such things as crop tools, resizing tools adjustment tools for brightness, highlights, contrast etc.
Tonight is a chance for the unconverted members of the club to see the potential benefits when using editing software to enhance digital images.
I would ask for volunteers to bring along some unedited (or converted RAW to JPEG) images to discuss before and after editing results. An explanation of why you took the image, the lens used and filters, if any would also be beneficial.
The nature of this exercise would be to show what you did to the image from the time of capture to the final presentation on screen or print.
Tonight is an ideal opportunity for members to put forward any questions they may have with regard to the basic elements of image editing and manipulation.
Ford Renton and Ron Bell have kindly offered their services to show examples of their frequently used manipulation techniques.
Open Competition – 1st February
Many thanks To judge Ian Fullerton for his very entertaining critique and most helpful advice.
The results were as follows:
DPIs
Beginners: 1st – Steelwool Photography by Alistair Kevan; 2nd – Moonlight Shining over Leaderfoot Bridge by Lisa Kerr; 3rd – Night Life by Alistair Kevan
Commended: Lisa Kerr for Galashiels Flyover
Standard: 1st – Out of the Darkness by Neil McLean; 2nd – Under the Dragon’s Breath by Gordon Swalwell 3rd – Landing Position by Gordon Swalwell
Commended: Neil McLean (2), Alistair Peacock, Christine Swalwell (2), Alistair Kevan, and John Frater
Here are the prize winning shots:
Prints
Beginners: Spittal by Lisa Kerr was awarded commended. ( No awards are given if there are less than two entrants.
Standard: Ist – The Driver’s Apprentice by Christine Swalwell, 2nd – The Hypnotist by Paul Anderson, 3rd – Torrent by Ford Renton
Commended: Alistair Peacock, Gordon Swalwell (2), Neil McLean and Ford Renton.
Here are the winning prints:
3_way “Battle” Earlston, Kelso and Gala camera clubs
Justice has been done and honour recovered. The annual 3 way competition between Gala, Kelso and Earlston was this year hosted by Earlston Camera Club. Gala members were warmly welcomed by our hosts.
The scores were:
Earlston 223; Kelso 242; Gala 258
So gala retain the title.
3 images scored the maximum 20/20 they were:
“Days gone by” by Alan Kennedy; “Milky way over Lindean” by Ford Renton; “Full Tilt” by Neil McLean (Will get the title later), all from Gala Camera Club.
Thanks to Earlston Camera club for their wonderful hospitality.
Treasurer Ford Renton will purchase a small trophy on behalf of all clubs which will be presented at future 3-way challenges between the clubs.
4-Way at Musselburgh
Well Gala came a gallant 4th at Thursday’s 4-Way competition between Penicuik, Midlothian, Musselburgh and ourselves.
The scores:
Musselburgh 175; Beeslack 169; Midlothian 166; Gala 160
Only two images scored the maximum 20 points one of which was our own chairman Alan Kennedy’s “Day’s Gone By”, well done Alan.
We’re hoping for a better result against Earlston and Kelso on Wednesday.
Change of Syllabus
Please note that evening presentation of 18th January has been changed to “An Evening of Landscape Photography” presented by club member Ian Oliver of Tweedside Galleries
Bill Currie’s “When getting it right isn’t enough” has been moved to 8th March.
“Serendipity” with Eleanor and Allan Drummond
21st December 2016
The last meeting of the year brought Eleanor and Allan Drummond all the way from Earlston to visit the club with their presentation “Serendipity”, an AV journey across Sri Lanka with Allan providing the visual part with his stunning images and Eleanor doing the Audio part with a very informative and witty commentary on their journeys.
The club reconvenes on 11th Jan 2017, see syllabus
Our Christmas meal is on 6th January at Kingsknowes Hotel, Galashiels. 7:00 pm for 7:30 pm
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all our members.
Club Competition – Patterns in Architecture
14th December 2016
The theme for tonight’s competition was Patterns in Architecture and judged by Dr Richard Bingham, ARPS, EFIAP.
A total of 24 prints and 29 DPIs were submitted by members. Richard gave critique and extremely valuable advice on each image, pointing out where an image may have been improved.
The results are as follows:
DPI – Beginners – 1st place – Lisa Kerr
DPI – Standard – !st place – Gordon Swalwell; 2nd place Gordon Swalwell; 3rd place – David Usher
Prints – Beginners – 1st, 2nd and 3rd place – Lisa Kerr
Prints – Standard – 1st place- Ford Renton; 2nd place – Paul Anderson; 3rd place – Ford Renton
Fiona Cadger – “A Journey with Photography”
7th Dec 2016.
Former club member Fiona Cadger ARPS was welcomed back tonight to give members her presentation “A Journey with Photography”. Fiona took us on an inspirational voyage from her first camera to achieving Associateship of the Royal Photographic Society (ARPS), one of the highest distinctions a photographer can realise. Culminating in a show of her LRPS and ARPS portfolios Fiona demonstrated just what can be achieved with hard work and dedication. Haste ye back Fiona.
Friday 6th is our Christmas meal at the Kingsknowes Hotel, Galashiels (7:00pm for 7:30pm). A link to the menu is on our website in the syllabus page so members should send their meal choices to Jim Paxton as soon as possible.
The club reconvenes on 11th January with a quiz night hosted by Ford Renton, last year’s winner. Get your thinking caps on, it won’t be easy.
Digital Battle
On a damp and dull St. Andrew’s night Gala camera club welcomed members from Hawick and Selkirk camera clubs to a 3-way digital image “Battle”. A total of 45 images were displayed, 15 from each club. The images were judged and marked by our guest judges Hazel Mason FRPS and James Frost FRPS. Hazel and James are well known in Border photographic circles as well as much further afield. They gave invaluable and most welcome critique on each image. Although it was a close run thing the contest was won by Hawick Camera club with 238 points. Well done Hawick CC. Second was Gala CC with 218 points followed by Selkirk CC with 193 points.
Two images were awarded the maximum 20/20 they were: “Smailholm Tower” by Ali Graham of Hawick and “Splash” by Gordon Gilfether, also of Hawick.
Next week is the much awaited presentation from Fiona Cadger ARPS “A Journey with photography”
Photosnap night
23rd November 2016. The club held a light-hearted “Photosnap” evening wherein we split into two teams and utilising two display projectors and laptops, matched one team’s images, from a bank of 50 each, against the other team’s images. Images were judged on content by Judge Anne Lilico and points awarded to whichever team successfully matched the other image. An easy task at the beginning but gets much harder as the bank of images is depleted. Consequently some of the explanations for a claimed match were hilarious in their obscurity. Counterclaims were equally tickling. The result was a dead heat between the teams, a fitting score. All led to a fun evening and thanks to Judge Anne for adding to the enjoyment. Also thanks to Christine and Gordon Swalwell for organising the event.
Alan Kennedy has now taken over as club chairman, his contact details have been updated on our Contacts page. Jim Paxton retains the role of Club Secretary. The club also welcomed yet another new member which, brings our membership up to a healthy 30 persons.
The Border Telegraph ran an excellent double page feature on our “Agri” competition. Sincere thanks to Jo Robinson and all at “the Telegraph” for their efforts. Get your copy now.
Next week is a 3-way inter-club competition between Gala, Hawick and Selkirk and hosted by Gala. Judged by Dr James Frost FRPS and Dr Hazel Mason FRPS. Members are reminded to bring along some nibbles to help cater for the event.
The following week Fiona Cadger presents “A Journey with Photography”, something we all look forward to.
Table Top night
Wednesday 16th was a practical night on the subject of Table Top photography.
It turned out to be quite a successful evening. Some members brought in their Table Top kit with a wide variety of cameras and set ups including, flash, fixed lighting, roll backdrops and light tents. It was inspiring to see some excellent home made and improvised mini studios. We had a few props to use so all could have a go using different subjects and different lighting.
Send your best shots of the night to Ford Renton so they can be displayed on the website.
Here’s a couple of Ford’s using a light tent, a mirror base and a black backdrop, and one from Alistair using bounced flash.
The “Agri”
9th of November was the club’s annual Agricultural Photographic Competition.
Although numbers were down a little on last year it was still a great night.
Sincere thanks are due to all members who came along on the night and supported the club, as well as those who gave up their time to help set up, present, cater for, and clear up afterwards. Chapeau.
…and a very special thank you to Gordon and Christine who worked tirelessly to make the evening a success.
For full results and images please visit our Agri page.
George Neilson ARPS – Sports Photography
On Wed. 2nd November members were delighted to welcome back George Neilson who gave an excellent presentation on Sports Photography.
George showed a collection of his superb Sports images accompanied by a very informative narrative on the do’s and dont’s of sports photography. It was also an opportunity for members to do a bit of “celeb” as the collection included images of some very famous sporting characters, golfers in particular.
Haste ye back George.
A Night of Two Halves
A fun night where members judged one anothers images. Entries for prints were on theme of “Blue” . DPIs were on the theme of “The Blue hour”. Technically the blue hour is said to be when the sun is between 4 and 6 degrees below the horizon. It is rarely actually an hour as it varies with time of year and latitude however, it’s that time of day when the classic golden sunrise or sunset is over, or not yet begun, and the colours are predominantly, but not exclusively, blue rather than golden yellows.
The results for DPIs were as follows:
Joint 5th Place Ford Renton and Christine Swalwell.
4th Place, Ford Renton
3rd Place Lynne Grant
2nd place, Neil McLean
1st Place, Alistair Peacock with “Blue Eildons”
The winner of the print submissions was also Alistair Peacock with “Blue with a Splash of Red”. A clever and quite striking image of colours seen on a door in Eyemouth
The winner of each category, in this case both Alistair Peacock, received a novelty prize of an American Express. not a real one of course but an 8GB USB flash drive you can fit in your wallet. Alistair also has the honour of choosing next year’s themes, if the event is repeated.
Alistair’s image can be viewed below. Well done Alistair.
Results of “Open” competition – 19th October 2016
Judged by Steve McGonnell LRPS from Edinburgh Photographic Society
Well done to all those awarded and to all who entered.
Beginners:
Prints:
1st:- “Eilidh” by Lisa Kerr; 2nd:- “Best Friend” by Anne Tweedie; 3rd:- “Flower” Commended awarded to Anne Tweedie
DPI:
1st:- “Through the Archway” by Lorraine Haddow; 2nd:- “Tiger Lily” by Lisa Kerr; 3rd:- “Quick Shower Ladies?” by Lorraine Haddow
Standard:
Prints:
1st: “Swallowtail” by Christine Swalwell; 2nd:- “Tall Ship on the Neva” by Alistair Peacock; 3rd:- “Nuthatch” by Gordon Swalwell.
Commended awarded to Paul Anderson, Christine Swalwell and Gordon Swalwell (x2)
DPI:
1st:- “Hats Off” by Ford Renton, 2nd:- “Indian Guide” by Christine Swalwell, 3rd:- “The Escalator” by Gordon Swalwell.
Commended awarded to Alistair Peacock, Lynne Grant (x2), Alan Kennedy, Ford Renton, Neil McClean and Gordon Swalwell.
Latest News
Due to the imminent closure of the (free) web hosting for the clubs web site, it has been moved and updated.
It is still at http://www.galacameraclub.co.uk but if you have previously bookmarked the old location www.deanburn.f2s.com you will need to change your bookmark.
The new site is mobile friendly, and can be updated by anyone who has the necessary permissions.
Results of Gala Camera Clubs Annual competition held Wed 6 Apr 2016 and judged by Linda Trickett
DPI’s General Section
1st: Neil McLean
2nd: John Frater
3rd: Ford Renton
Commended. Paul Anderson, Christine Swalwell, Neil McLean
DPI’s Landscape Section
1st. Paul Anderson
2nd.Ford Renton
3rd. Ron Bell
Commended: Ron Bell, Ford Renton, David Usher.
DPI’s Nature Section
1st. Gordon Swalwell
2nd. Gordon Swalwell
3rd. Ford Renton
Commended: John Frater, Christine Swalwell (2)
DPI’s People Section
1st. Gordon Swalwell
2nd. John Frater
3rd. John Frater
Commended: Paul Anderson, Christine Swalwell, Gordon Swalwell.
Prints General Section
1st. Ford Renton
2nd. Christine Swalwell
3rd. Neil McLean
Commended: Paul Anderson, Ford Renton,Christine Swalwell
Prints Landscape Section
1st. Alan Kennedy
2nd Ford Renton
3rd. Gordon Swalwell
Commended: Paul Anderson, Alan Kennedy, Neil McLean, Ford Renton
Prints Nature Section
1st. Ford Renton
2nd. Paul Anderson
3rd. Gordon Swalwell
Commended Ford Renton (2), Gordon Swalwell
Prints People Section
1st. Janet Kennedy
2nd. Gordon Swalwell
3rd. Ford Renton
Commended: Ford Renton (2), Christine Swalwell.
Trophy Winners for 2016
Best Black and White Print trophy winner, Gordon Swalwell
Best Colour Print trophy winner, Ford Renton
Best DPI trophy winner, Neil McLean
Best People Image trophy winner, Janet Kennedy
Best Landscape trophy winner, Paul Anderson
Best Nature Image trophy winner, Gordon Swalwell
Best Home Processed Print winner, Ford Renton
Best Overall trophy winner, Neil McLean
Winner of the trophy for highest points in monthly competitions for Projected Images was Gordon Swalwell
Winner of the trophy for the highest points in monthly competitions for Prints was Janet Kennedy.
