Summer club outing and evening meets 2018
Our summer club outing this year will be on June 10th to Alnwick Castle, the Gardens, and Hulne Park.
Ian Oliver has kindly agreed to drive the mini bus again this year. Could all members who wish to go on the trip to reply to Alistair Peacock’s email by the 18th of April and also advise if you are bringing a partner? Mini bus hire and fuel costs for the day will be shared between all.
A few members usually get together during the summer at monthly evening meets from May to September. It is usually just a wander around with cameras for an hour or two. This year the meeti points are as follows:
Wednesday 2nd May – Harestanes, Meet in the visitor centre car park at 19:00. For directions click here. Please wear suitable footwear as conditions could be slippery under foot.
Wednesday 6th June – Kelso Town, meet in the public car park in front of the Cross Keys Hotel at 19:00. For directions click here.
Wednesday 4th July – An evening bug hunt at Ashiestiel/ Glenkinnon. Meet in the Forestry Commision public car park at 19:00. For directions click here. Please wear suitable footwear as conditions could be slippery under foot.
Wednesday 1st August – Lindean Loch. Meet in the wee car park next to the loch at 19:00. For directions click here. Please wear suitable footwear as conditions could be slippery under foot.
Wednesday 5th September – Bowhill House, Selkirk. Meet in the public car park opposite the main house entrance. For directions click here. Please wear suitable footwear as conditions could be slippery under foot.
If you wish to come along and have no transport please email Alistair and he will try to find someone who is attending and if they could offer a lift.
The Annual – 2018
GALASHIELS CAMERA CLUB – ANNUAL COMPETITION
The club’s annual competition was held on Wednesday 28th March. The standard was, as usual, particularly high. The judge commented that he’d had a difficult time deciding on the winners. A good turnout of members were treated to a display of the best images of the year. This year’s entries were judged by Ian Oliver of Tweedside Gallery, St Boswells.
This year we also held a raffle the first prize in which was won by Fiona Jamieson who gets a free clay pigeon shooting lesson kindly donated by Bisley at Braidwood near Midlem.
Special thanks judge Ian Oliver for all his hard work and for inspirational comments. Thanks also to Gordon and Christine Swalwell for organising the competition, thanks to Jim Paxton for the catering, and thanks to all who came along to support the club. Well done to all who entered.
The full results are as follows:
PROJECTED IMAGES
Nature
Beginners
3rd – Fiona Kilgour – Incoming
2nd – Fiona Kilgour – Jay
1st – Fiona Kilgour – Double Fish Supper
Standard
Commended for Ford Renton, Fiona Kilgour, Alistair Peacock (2)
3rd – John Frater – Who Killed Cock Robin?
2nd – Gordon Swalwell – Nectar Collector
1st – Ford Renton – Land of Plenty
General
Beginners
3rd – Fiona Kilgour – Building up a Sweat
2nd – Fiona Kilgour – Suffolk Punch
1st – Fiona Kilgour – I hear those voices
Standard
Commended for John Frater, Christine Swalwell, Neil McLean, Ford Renton
3rd – John Frater – Breaking Formation
2nd – Neil McLean – Mud Pluggers
1st – Alistair Peacock – Dew Points
Landscape
Beginners
3rd – Fiona Kilgour – Aldeburgh Roof tops
2nd – Fiona Kilgour – Fishing off Arran
1st – Fiona Kilgour – Leith Reflections
Standard
Commended for Richard Lillico, Lisa Kerr, John Frater, Ford Renton
3rd – Richard Lillico – Oban Winter Festival
2nd – John Frater – Lightning on the Gold Coast
1st – Ford Renton – Galactic Smailholm
People
Beginners
3rd – Fiona Kilgour – A Day at the Races
2nd – Fiona Kilgour – Keepy Uppy
1st – Fiona Kilgour – For the Match
Standard
Commended for Jane Bell, Alistair Peacock, Fiona Kilgour, Neil McLean, Gordon Swalwell
3rd – Gordon Swalwell – Carousel Keeper
2nd – Christine Swalwell – Where did you get that hat
1st – Gordon Swalwell – Parts Manager
PRINTS
Standard only, no beginner entries
Nature
Commended for Brian Stark, Gordon Swalwell, Ford Renton, Alistair Peacock
3rd – Alistair Peacock – Walk into my Parlour
2nd – John Frater – Shake it all about
1st – Christine Swalwell – Nuthatch
General
Commended for Ron Bell, Ford Renton, Christine Swalwell, Neil McLean
3rd – Gordon Swalwell – Quiet Corner
2nd – Ford Renton – Train Lines
1st – Gordon Swalwell – The Minster
Landscape
Commended for Ron Bell (2), Alistair Peacock
3rd – Gordon Swalwell – Winter Birch
2nd – Ford Renton – Eildon View
1st – Gordon Swalwell – Wintry Woodland
People
Commended for Alistair Peacock, Brian Stark, Christine Swalwell, Gordon Swalwell
3rd – Christine Swalwell – The Organist
2nd – Ford Renton – Bungee would be fun they said
1st – Alistair Peacock – Festival Salute
The Silverware – Trophies
Best Black and White Print – Alistair Peacock – Festival Salute
Best Colour Print – Gordon Swalwell – The Minster
Best Projected Image – Ford Renton – Land of Plenty
Best General Image – Alistair Peacock – Dew points
Best Landscape Image – Ford Renton – Galactic Smailholm
Best Nature Image – Ford Renton – Land of Plenty
Best People Image – Alistair Peacock – Festival Salute
Best Home Processed Print – Gordon Swalwell – Winter Birch
Best newcomer in the Annual – Fiona Kilgour – Double Fish Supper
Best overall image – Burns Trophy – Ford Renton – Galactic Smailholm
Monthly Competitions, highest point scores:
Beginner – Fiona Kilgour
Projected Images – John Frater
Prints – Ford Renton / Gordon Swalwell
8-Way interclub at Roslyn
The final scores for the Roslyn 8-way competition, previously a 12-way, are:
Musselburgh 181
Livingston 176
Mid Calder 175
Galashiels 174
Midlothian 169
Biggar 162
North Berwick 161
Beeslack 157
It was a close run thing for 2,3 and 4. Galashiels actually won the DPI section. Our two top scorers were Fiona Kilgour for her Kingfisher “Double fish supper” and Ford Renton for his macro fly “Old Red Eyes is Back”
Birds, Bugs and Buds competition, results
The results of the Birds, Bugs and Buds competition, the last of the year:
Beginners DPI:
1st, 2nd and 3rd – Fiona Kilgour
Standard: DPI
1st – Christine Swalwell – Winter Robin.
2nd – John Frater – Red Poll
3rd – Ford Renton – Portrait of a Killer
Standard: Prints
1st – Alistair Peacock – Common Chaffinch
2nd – Christine Swalwell – Robin
3rd – Alistair Peacock – Tight Lines
As that was the last of the “monthly” competitions the winners for the year are as follows:
Beginners – Fiona Kilgour
Standard – DPI – John Frater
Standard – Prints – Joint winners Ford Renton AND Gordon Swalwell.
Energise Galashiels Trust (EGT)
EGT have contacted me regarding social media photos to help publicise Galashiels. They are looking for up to date photographs of, or relating to, Galashiels OR historic photographs of Galashiels which can be published on their social media sites. For Facebook this is listed as “All About Gala”. They have a calendar of social media subject publication for this year, a copy of which is downloadable here: (you will need MS Excel, or compatible app, to open it)
Energise Galashiels Trust Social media calendar
For example: on the 29th March “Bank St Gardens” is the subject. You could send a recent photograph of the gardens. As we are a camera club they would be expecting to receive images of high photographic merit rather than just “snaps”
Send your images, resized for the web, to Emily McGowan at McGowan Marketing.
The photographs can be sent a few days in advance of the listed publicity day and will be credited to the photographer and Gala Camera Club
Participation in this should help promote the club and our activities as well as hopefully help promote our town so please help them out in any way you can.
Borders Exhibition, Selkirk 2018
Here are the full results from Selkirk Camera Club’s Border Exhibition held at Selkirk on Wednesday 21st. Gala members results are presented in bold font. Gala CC did rather well but well done to all who entered.
COLOUR PRINTS
LANDSCAPE
FIRST DAVID NICHOL No Club
SECOND MARGARET RENSTEAD Duns CC
THIRD BERNIE GAJOS Hawick CC
HC RONALD RICHARDSON Duns CC
HC FORD RENTON Gala CC
PEOPLE
FIRST C MCALLAN Duns CC
SECOND FORD RENTON Gala CC
THIRD F MCALLAN Duns CC
HC DON LEES Gala CC
HC CHRISTINE SWALWELL Gala CC
FLORA AND FAUNA
FIRST ALAN YEOMANS Duns CC
SECOND MICHAEL FITCH Selkirk CC
THIRD ALAN YEOMANS Duns CC
HC A PEACOCK Gala CC
HC DAVID NICHOL No Club
GENERAL
FIRST ANNE YEOMANS Duns CC
SECOND BERNIE GAJOS Hawick CC
THIRD N MCLEAN Gala CC
HC J FRATER Gala CC
HC MARGARET RENSTEAD Duns CC
MONOCHROME
LANDSCAPE
FIRST BRYAN JOHNSTONE Selkirk CC
SECOND DENNIS LAING Hawick CC
THIRD FORD RENTON Gala CC
HC GORDON SWALWELL Gala CC
HC MARGARET RENSTEAD Duns CC
GENERAL
FIRST A PEACOCK Gala CC
SECOND F MCALLAN Duns CC
THIRD FORD RENTON Gala CC
HC CHRISTINE SWALWELL Gala CC
HC MICHAEL FITCH Selkirk CC
DIGITAL
LANDSCAPE
FIRST BRYAN JOHNSTONE Selkirk CC
SECOND F MCALLAN Duns CC
THIRD CURTIS WELSH Earlston CC
HC A PEACOCK Gala CC
HC CURTIS WELSH Earlston CC
FLORA AND FAUNA
FIRST J FRATER Gala CC
SECOND DON LEES Gala CC
THIRD ANNE YEOMANS Duns CC
HC ALAN YEOMANS Duns CC
HC Unknown.
GENERAL
FIRST FORD RENTON Gala CC
SECOND CHRISTINE SWALWELL Gala CC
THIRD ANNE YEOMANS Duns CC
HC J FRATER Gala CC
HC CURTIS WELSH Earlston CC
TROPHIES
BEST COLOUR IMAGE D NICHOL NO CLUB
BEST BLACK & WHITE A PEACOCK Gala CC
BEST DIGITAL FORD RENTON Gala CC
BEST IN EXHIBITION FORD RENTON Gala CC
Syllabus night
We had 14 members attending, including a good proportion of beginners which was encouraging. Alistair has plenty of material and ideas to be going on with when preparing next year’s syllabus.
Next year’s two themed competitions are:
“In the Woods”
and
“Leading Lines”
…so get snapping.
Competition update
Wed 24th had the club hosting Earlston and Kelso camera clubs in a three-way competition which, Gala CC won, for the third year running. Judged by Doug Allen of Beeslack Penicuick camera club It was a close run thing though with the scores coming in as follows:
Earlston CC – 245 points, Kelso CC – 258 points, Gala CC – 261 points. John Frater of Gala’s image scored a maximum 20 points.
Open Competition
31st Jan was our third club completion of the year, this time with an Open category so basically any class of photograph can be entered. Each member can submit up to 4 digital and 4 pointed images. A total of 89 images were entered this time which was very encouraging. The judge, Bill Hume of Kelso, was particularly complementary of our beginner entries of which there were quite a few. The results were as follows:
Printed images:
Commended – Brian Stark, Alistair Peacock, Gordon Swalwell (2);
3rd place – Christine Swalwell. 2nd place – Ford Renton. 1st place – Ford Renton.
Digital images:
Beginners:
Commended – Keith O’ Brien 3rd, 2nd and 1st place all to Fiona Kilgour
Standard Class:
Commended – Gordon Swalwell, John Frater, Ford Renton, Christine Swalwell
3rd place – Ron Bell, 2nd place – Christine Swalwell, 1st place – John Frater
Well done all who entered.
Wednesday 7th Feb. is a practical night with Alistair Peacock giving a presentation on Photoshop work flow from camera to finished image. Bring along any images you think may be improved with some editing and we’ll see what our more experienced members can do with them.
Wed 14th February is our Syllabus night. Come along and present your suggestion for thing you may like to see from visiting speakers, practical night themes or anything else you think may be of interest to the members. We need your ideas so Alistair can press on with arranging events for next year. It is also the final hand in for the last club competition before the annual on the theme Birds, Buds and Bugs. See our syllabus for details.
Practical night Feb 7th 2018
Last practical night we covered Adobe Lightroom workflow as a main topic. This time it is planned to do a similar thing with Adobe Photoshop. Alistair Peacock will kick off proceedings with a practical demonstration on image editing workflow of a RAW in Adobe Camera RAW (ACR) then onto to Photoshop itself and the use of layers and adjustment layers.
For a good explanation of what layers are try watching some of Ed Gregory’s tutorials on his Photos in Color YouTube channel. He has fully featured tutorials for beginners to advanced levels in both Lightroom and Photoshop. Well worth a visit and well worth subscribing to.
If you have any questions or issues regarding phot editing send them to Ron in advance of the practical night and we’ll find someone who can help out.
Photoshop for beginners Pt – 1:
https://www.youtube.com/user/photosincolor/featured
Layers and Layer Masks:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jA-Aw6WWdSE&t=617s
Adjustment Layers:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPn5fTWCZnU
“Action” Competition
Here are the result of our second competition of the year with some of the awarded images. Well done everyone.
DPIs
1st Neil McLean – Wet Race
2nd Richard Lillico – Hold On
3rd Alistair Peacock – Coming Round the Bend
Commended
John Frater – Chasing Shadows and Wing Walker
Lisa Kerr – Gala Day 2017
Neil McLean – Rough Racing
Alistair Peacock – Sandy
Prints
1st Neil McLean – Up and Over
2nd Christine Swalwell – The Death Slide
3rd Gordon Swalwell – Airborne
Commended
Richard Lillico – Blue Rinse
Brian Stark – Eye on the Ball
John Frater – Marathon Man
Alistair Peacock – Focused
Hunter Kennedy (ARPS,MPAGB,EFIAP)
Colds and flu seemed to have taken its toll on our members of late which resulted in a disappointing turnout on Wednesday.
Those who did make it were treated to an amazing presentation of over 100 of Hunter Kennedy’s marvellous images. Hunter took us on a journey from early days of darkroom produced prints to more recent digitally produced images. Members were greatly impressed by the quality and artistry of his work which must surely inspire us to submit more printed images in our competitions.
Haste ye back Hunter.
3-Way Gala – Hawick – Selkirk
30-11-17: In the 3 way, Gala-Selkirk-Hawick competition at Hawick Camera Club, Gala emerged victorious, pipping Hawick by two points, with Selkirk coming third. John Frater’s ‘Who Killed Cock Robin’ image, of a sparrowhawk consuming a robin, scored a maximum 15 points.
Thanks to Hawick CC for their hospitality.
Studio night
A superb night was had by all attending the club’s Studio Practical night. Our own Don Lees gave a short presentation on studio lighting and photography which was followed by group sessions with 3 different studio rigs, including the club’s own new Elinchrom kit. A learning curve for all members and everybody picked up at least a small nugget of knowledge. Here’s a few sample shots from the night.
Change to Syllabus
Don Lees studio night has been changed to 29th November from 22nd. There had been no meeting planned for 29th as we are at Hawick on the Thursday however, as Don had to cancel his night on 22nd due to prior commitments, the committee decided to arrange a studio night on 29th.
The night of 22nd will be an editing / processing night. Bring your laptops and or images to edit.
With the 22nd in mind here’s some of my (Ford) favourite tutorial YouTube channels
Anthony Morganti – https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkHNVO_aPDSqjfIG_XHlYIg
Photos in Colour – https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpCPQcqqmRLPz5xNY-veblw
B&H Photo – https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHIRBiAd-PtmNxAcLnGfwog
Adobe Lightroom – https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7NyBKOKI6vdFDHYzDHlteg
Jimmy McIntyre – https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnUOWBfHNpdQjhTPSd3-0cw
Tim Grey TV – https://www.youthttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCy5SFbyxDPFC_xNFdDUteJAube.com/channel/UC5krVurqyeB_Rks9YpWMlVg
4-Way competition
1st of November was a 4-way interclub print and digital competition between, Gala, Musselburgh, Midlothian and Beeslack/Penicuik. Held in “The Mission” Hall, Halliburton, the night proved to be a great success. Thanks to the Community Hall for use of their facilities and well done to Jim Paxton, who organised the catering.
The results were as follows:
Prints: Musselburgh 81, Midlothian 83, Gala 84, Beeslack 87. A close run thing but Beeslack rightfully came out tops in the print section
Digital Projected Images: Midlothian 78, Beeslack 79, Musselburgh 84, Gala 86. Again close run but Gala came out tops this time.
Overall result: Midlothian 161, Musselburgh 165, Beeslack 166 and Gala 170. Gala were overall winners.
Two images scored the maximum 20/20 points. “Birth, Life and Death” from Musselburgh CC and “Old Red Eyes is back” (not a self-portrait) by Gala’s Ford Renton. Gala’s Fiona Kilgour scored 19/20 with her magnificent image, “Double Fish Supper”, of a Kingfisher capturing two fish at once.
Thanks to our guests from the other camera clubs who helped make for an enjoyable evening. Well done to all clubs.
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.
Annual Outing – 2017
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.
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