OPS Weekly Newsletter 23 November 2025
- This Tuesday’s meeting begins at 18.00 when you can speak to Canon experts, test the latest gear, ask Eddie about his setup, take advantage of the exclusive discounts. The talk will begin at the usual time.
- On 2 December Show and Tell we will be showing members responses to our ‘movement/motion’ photo challenge so please upload up to three images at PhotoContestPro
- Last week’s meeting Tues 18 November: Wildlife from -15°C to +40°C with Dave McKay plus Show and Tell
Dave started his talk at the coldest end – Alaska in winter. He had gone there with three other club members to photograph bald eagles that congregate to feed on the salmon which have spawned in the river at the Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve. Getting there took several days due to remoteness of the area. There are 300-400 eagles permanently there but in winter there could be up to 3,000.
The challenge was not getting shots of the eagles but temperature control. The camera and lenses had to be kept as cold as possible when indoors to prevent condensation. In such freezing conditions auto-focus wouldn’t work so back to manual control. However there was a feast of opportunities to take shots of the eagles and Dave had some spectacular shots.
Sticking to his freezing theme it was next stop Iceland and the Arctic Fox. We think of them as snow white foxes but those which Dave saw were in brown fur and only a few going a little brownie grey. They live mainly on rodents and have very acute hearing to locate their prey under the snow. They will leap up into the air and pounce into the snow where they have heard the movement of their prey.
Dave was with a group of photographers on a remote island with very limited access to electricity. Everyone had to charge their camera batteries with only three plugs available. The camera shoots used up at least two batteries a day.
We were shown some excellent and very cold shots of foxes in their whited-out habitat.
Next up we were taken to the main island of Japan and the Japanese Macaques, which are also known as Snow Monkeys. They have very thick coats and Dave photographed them at a conservation area which has natural hot springs.
They gather in social groups and groom each other and themselves. The hot springs give off a great deal of steam making the shots atmospheric feel. However most of the action takes place away from the pools and there are good shots to be had as the monkeys cross the snow ladened landscape trying to avoid the freezing snow.
Dave then took us to the northern island of Hokkaido, the home of the iconic Red-Crowned Crane. The bird is very much a national symbol. It appears on the 1000 yen bank note and on the tail fin of the national airline. Though migratory, the population of red-crowned cranes in Japan is mostly non-migratory, with the race in Hokkaidō moving only 150 km to its wintering grounds.
Dave had shots of them displaying in a courtship ritual, lots of jumping up and down, strange posturing and a great deal of honking.
Further north on the island Dave caught shots of the white-tailed eagle and shots of the Blakiston’s fish owl, the largest living species of owl.
Then we were on to the hotter stuff. A trip to Florida with pelicans silhouetted by the setting sun, shoreline shots of egrets, the white ibis and on into the Everglades for shots of the green heron and the spoonbill.
Closer to home there were gannets diving into the sea, a rarely seen bittern near the Humber, hoopoes in Hungary, a lynx in Spain, before we got to Tasmania and its famous ‘devil’, plus the short beaked echidna and the wombat.
Finally we were in Africa. Madagascar first to see the lemurs, ring-tailed ones dancing as they crossed from tree to tree, the indri lemur with its haunting call and the aye-aye which is so endangered that there are strict restriction to access their habitat.
On Africa’s mainland there were shots of migrating wildebeest, one being gorged by a lion, a rarely seen ocelot, leopards, springboks. We were in Namibia and now the temperature got very hot to 43 degrees. There were fighting gemboks as well as zebras and vultures gathered around a carcass.
It was a thrilling talk with lots and lots of amazing wildlife shots.
In the second half we were shown images from the painting with light from Jill, Simon and James. Les showed his firework shots from South Parks, Oxford which he took just after the painting with light evening. Maurici showed us shots of traditional firework evenings in a small Spanish town and John B showed shots of Oxford and places close to his home.
A very enjoyable evening and many thanks to all who took part.
- Next meeting Tues 25 November: 18.00 – Canon Partner Event + at 19.45 – Take a Moment with Eddie Keogh
Join us for an exciting evening of Photography! Try the latest Canon gear. Get exclusive discounts
Hear Eddie Keogh, Football Association Access All Areas Photographer, reveal pro tips, stories & shooting secrets
18:00 Test Drive and Refreshments
Speak to Canon experts, test the gear, ask Eddie about his setup, take advantages of the event discounts
19:45 Take a moment – Eddie Keogh
An evening with Eddie Keogh, England’s official football team photographer and longtime Canon Ambassador. Enjoy an in depth look into the modern world of sports photography plus a few off beat stories from his 40 years as a professional photographer.
Note earlier than usual start time for people wanting to test the equipment.
- Upcoming meetings/events in November
- 2 Dec: Bharat Patel on Photographing Pilgrimage in India plus Show and Tell
- 9 Dec: Digital Image competition No. 2. Our judge will be Peter Prosser
- 16 Dec: Alec Pain on Creating Magic and Poetry – the world through plastic camera, experiments and mistake
You can see the programme up to the end of the year and beyond here and download it: https://oxfordphotosociety.co.uk/programme-download/
- Photographic events in and around Oxford
Wallingford Photographic Club
The Wallingford Photographic Club would like to invite you to join our next on-line meeting at 7:30 on November 26th. “Photographing the Seasons” with Jack Lodge.
Jack is a new star on the landscape scene with a very engaging style of presenting. Through his photography, Jack strives to capture the change of each season, documenting the ever changing landscapes as the light and weather change – capturing the beauty surrounding us. You can see more of his work on his web site at jacklodge.co.uk
You can purchase your ticket for his talk at ticketsource.co.uk/wallingford-photographic-club
If you have any questions or would like further information you can get in touch via the Contact Us page of our website
We look forward to seeing you on-line.
Photo Oxford at the Window Galleries
This two-part exhibition curated by Photo Oxford celebrates photography’s power to reveal, question, and connect.
One set of windows showcases the Overall Winner and Finalists of the 2025 Open Call Competition, which invited photographers from around the world to submit projects exploring the theme ‘Revealing Truth.’
The Window Galleries
Opposite Turtle Bay in Friars Entry
Oxford
OX1 2BZ
11-30 November 2025
- General photographic interest
Royal Photographic Society award winners 2025 – in pictures
The world’s longest running photography awards recognise significant bodies of work, with the most prestigious honour – the RPS centenary medal – this year going to British photographic artist Susan Derges
The 2025 Oceania photo contest winners – in pictures
Here are some of the standout images from this year’s Nature Conservancy Australia Oceania photo contest. Winners were chosen from over 3,500 entries from across Australia, Aotearoa New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands
Deep-sea sharks and nuclear breakthroughs: see National Geographic’s 2025 pictures of the year
National Geographic has revealed the Pictures of the Year 2025, highlighting images by Nat Geo photographers that inspired and defined the past year. This year’s showcase features 25 images that cover the full spectrum of National Geographic coverage. It consists of wildlife portraits and human narratives to sweeping composites of changing landscapes and scientific discoveries.
https://www.dpreview.com/articles/3871724524/national-geographic-2025-pictures-of-the-year