Last week’s meeting Tues 7 October: Projects, Zines and Photobooks with Stewart Wall Before the Stewart began his talk, we welcomed seven guests: Karan, Russell, Gail, Mark, Margaret, Amna and Josephine (apologies if I got people’s name wrong). Stewart gave a short-potted history of his engagement with photography. He was a staff photographer on the Essex Chronicle from 1978 to 1986. He then moved on to the Evening Gazette for a year, then became a freelance photographer for three years working for the Daily Express, the Sun and the Sunday Times.

We had a tremendous showing of superb images to choose from, and the worthy winner was Alan Lewis. Many thanks to everyone who put in their images and special thanks to Jill for her rapid totting up of the scores and ensuring those who unfortunately could not attend were scored the same way as all entries. Please see final totals.

Last week’s meeting Tues 23 Sept: What Makes a Photographic Project with Philippa James Philippa gave us a fascinating glimpse of the highs and lows of a successful photographic project, and was keen to emphasise that her project journey was not a blueprint – every project is different. She did though have some very good instructional pointers. It first starts with what she called ‘an itch’. This ‘itch’ will be personal to you, something that is unresolved.

Last week’s meeting Tues 16 Sept: Digital Projected Image Competition no. 1 with Colin Mill as judge …and the winners were: First Keith Worthington Cheetah Stalker in Long Grass Second Dave Belcher Red Arrows Hanna Break Third Dave McKay Iberian Lynx H. Commended Dave Belcher Curious Fox H. Commended Phil Warrington Hare on the Move H. Commended Dave Belcher Falling Rider Commended Pete Warrington Light-ship Double Exposure Swansea Commended Phil Warrington Sk8ting Commended Helen Stewart Chapel Under the Stars Commended John Boteler Birling Gap High Tide

Last week’s meeting Tues 9 Sept: Photography Through The Seasons with Daniel Trim Daniel had given us a talk some years ago about his photography which started as young man going to Thailand, not for the usual tourist attraction, but for spending hours laying in mud taking photos of mud skippers. This talk was about how he approaches the British climate through each much and was full of advice and tips as well as some stunning photography.

Last week’s meeting Tues 2 Sept: Phil Joyce – Why Look at Animals? And Show & Tell post summer We welcomed new members Matthew and Kevin and welcomed Uwe back after he missed a great deal of last season’s programme. Phil started his talk with a little history of his interest in looking at animals which started while he was a young child on family outings to Bristol zoo. He loved the excitement of seeing animals and he showed photographs taken on a Kodak Instamatic in the 1960s. These showed terrible conditions in the zoos for the animals. Concrete flooring in the animal enclosures, little stimulation for the animals etc. Zoo have come a long way since then.

Last week’s meeting Tues 20 May: Ten Best of Year followed by members’ Show and Tell We were treated to a slide show of an astonishing array of superb images from 20 odd members who put in their 10 Best of the Year. What an amazingly talented group of photographers you are. This was followed by a ‘show and tell’ session where we enjoyed images for Jill, Dave M, Les, Pete W and Phil W.

Last week’s meeting Tues 13 May: Print Competition Our judge was Kathy Chandler and the results were: Colour First Place John Boteler: Gypsy Lad Second Place Pete Warrington: The Old West Pier Brighton Third Place Dave McKay: Concentration H. Commended Ian Bray: Dolce et Decorum est Pro Patria Mori H. Commended Rob Ferrands: Nelson Mandela H. Commended Alan Lewis: Iberian Lynx Commended Les Gordon: Cormorants Neck and Neck Commended Adrian Cubitt – Lynx Young Male Commended Keith Worthington – Little Bee Eater Commended Pete Warrington – Bosco Surf Monochrome First Place John Boteler: Broken Oak Second Place Ian Bray: Tulip Third Place Sandra Devaney: Late for School H. Commended Pete Warrington: The Light on the Beach H. Commended John Boteler: Passing Strangers, Weston H. Commended Dave Belcher: Contemplation Commended Sandra Devaney: Bubble girl Commended Dave McKay: Hokkaido Winter Commended Dave Belcher: Fountain Abbey Commended Les Gordon: AR 55 Congratulations to all who entered the competition.

Last week’s meeting Tues 6 May: Outdoor portraits with Brian Worsley and Matild Mati We all assembled on the corner of Merton Street not far from the Mercure Oxford Eastgate Hotel and Brian introduced Mati and explained what we would be doing. The light was still very good, and the enthusiastic posse of photographers began snapping away. Mati was an excellent model and posed very professionally. At times she was not sure who was shooting as so many of use were pointing our cameras at her from various angles.

Last week’s meeting Tues 29 April: Jonathan Vaines – Little Print Show Jonathan had over 50 prints – highly original and totally different to what we see at camera clubs – on display. The vast majority were processed in-camera at the point of taking rather than in Photoshop or Lightroom. Hence his advice to ‘think inside the box’. He takes photos of anything that catches his eye and usually very local to his home. He will focus on a particular detail of the subject he is photographing and take 25 similar shots of the detail, moving his camera slightly and/or turning it 90 degrees.