castleton hope valley photo photographic society
Our guest presenter for the evening was Alex Hyde (sadly I couldn’t be there) but I can recomend a browse of his wonderful website. Type in Alex Hyde Photography and you see a link as follows – https://alexhyde.photoshelter.com/index
A wonderful evening and Alex attracted both members and many non-members due to his evening growing reputation.
We can but thank him for an amazing evening and look forward to his return.
Roger opened this months meeting with a question about the prefered date for next years Autumn Meal. The option that was agreed by the vast majority was October 29th.
Secondly the members were informed that a sub-committee will be reviewing the questionnaires that members returned regarding the exhibition rules.
Then it was time for “Beat the Clock”, members could show as many images as they wanted as long as they took no longer than 10 minutes.
First up was Axel who had selected images from a birthday hot air balloon flight.
Second to present was Jason who was unfortunately away with work at the time and so Roger invited the members to shout out the names of the venues displayed onscreen. The images were in and around Berlin
Third to present was Jim who had images ranging over many locations and years which made them all the more interesting for the great variety.
David was next to present and his photos also ranged over a variety of locations, from Dubrovnik and Istanbul to Paris and London.
After a break with a drink and a biscuit or two, John gave us images from an International Air Show
Paul was next in the evenings procedure and had lots of images from a day at North Lees Hall
Anne also gave us a wide range of images that she had gathered on her travels, the Lakes, the East Coast, Stratford, Wales and the Cumbria Way!
Last but not least in the evenings wonderful array of images , was Margaret’s photos of train related images.
Beat the clock always provides the gathering with a wide variety of image types and locations with this evening being highly diverse and entertaining. Thankyou to all the members who presented.
The meeting had a slightly larger audience than during the summer which was very welcome with such a prestigious speaker. Helen Turton was known to quite a few of the audience as she grew up in Hope before her polar adventures began. However, many of us were amazed that Win Hill and and the surrounding hills could be the stimulus for a career in polar expeditions.
Of course it was not just the local hills that helped shape the leader that Helen was to become but parents that gave her the opportunity and upbringing to value the great outdoors.
Helen was generous in praise of her dad and also in waiving the fee for the evenings presentation and the club will be donating the sum to the Ashgate Hospice that looked after him so well.
Both Helen and her brother had been introduced to the hills and to photography during her upbringing. Despite parents having taken several family trips to the Alps with their young family, Helen had never been “in” with the school group that went downhill skiing. She had grown to love the Alps and the outdoor, adventuring lifestyle. Thus, it was comparatively late in life (well, mid 30’s) that she went on her first cross country ski holiday to Norway (it was 2001 and the foot and mouth epidemic had closed the outdoors in the UK. At that time she was Head of Centre at the outdoor centre in Hathersage and that adventure in Norway sparked her interest in learning to ski.
It would not be in many peoples mind to be curious about adventuring into the polar regions however, playing the flute at a friend’s wedding in Canada (the friend married a guy who was a missionary to the Inuit’s) was a first experience of seeing the north polar ocean. In her head this linked to an image from an atlas of those frozen Arctic and Antarctic regions. Could anyone really survive in those high Arctic and Antarctic environments – Helen felt that she had to go and find out.
Helen has a love of snow many of us share but not to the same extreme.
The two images above show the arctic runway (constructed each season) and the Russian Antonov cargo plane which brings in the supplies. The runway is created out of the ice by fairly old but robust Russian bulldozer type vehicles (see below) that try and create a “fairly” flat strip out of the ice which as the trekkers soon discover has many pressure ridges and potential sections of thin or recently refrozen ice called “leads”.
Helen recounted a trip when they had trekked north with her group for 8 hours then camped, eaten and slept and that whilst sleeping the ice had drifted and they were further south than the previous day. This kind of experience requires mental resolve but also a specific set of skills that the company tries to impart to all the participants, whether private or military. Erecting tents in an arctic storm may require an ice wall to be built to shelter the process and within each tent will be a sump into which the cold will sink. Other skills like cooking safely inside the tent are obligatory and Helen was very clear that her “be bothered” mantra and the accompanying attention to detail was essential to ensure the safety of every trainee and trekker. Unfortunately the window of opportunity to reach the north pole is shorter now due to the effects of global warming and when it is deemed unsafe to stay longer “everyone” must be extracted with or without the equipment or on one occasion a helicopter that sunk below the ice!
The south pole is very different to the arctic as the latter is a frozen sea and Antarctica is a continent that is very high, very windy and both cold and “dry”. The audience found it hard to imagine how cold, dry and windy it was, despite the detailed description Helen gave. It helped a little to hear that a fully charged camera battery that was being kept warm deep within the outer clothing would still only give maybe 20 seconds of video before dying.
Antarctica also has breath taking scenery and penguins rather than polar bears. It is also very strictly controlled due to the Antarctic Treaty that came into force in 1961. This has lead to much scientific collaboration between nations as well as environmental protection. Sadly it has become an incredibly expensive place for a private individual to go, Helen told us that she had been to the south pole twice but the sums of money and sponsorship required have made it an almost impossible expedition for anyone but the rich elite.
At the end of her presentation there was an opportunity for members questions which elicited further revelations about the joys and hardships of polar expeditions. Inevitably eating and going to the toilet featured but also the information that $100,000 was probably the baseline cost for anyone wanting to visit the south pole.
As our chair, Roger, could not be with us but deputy chair Ian, gave our hearty thanks to Helen for a wonderful evening of stories and great images. Her detailed and humorous accounts had held us enthralled and a little in awe of the dedication, joy and expertise that was so clearly in evidence.
Just a couple of notices at the start of the meeting this month, after the rent money, the coffee morning made £151. As this was the final event where the exhibition prints were on display it would be helpful if members could collect them at the next meeting.
Our presenter for the evening was Richard Brown FRPS, FIPF, FACI(M), EFIAP, APAGB a winner of both domestic and international awards for his audio visuals.
One of the many AVs that Richard showed us featured Dennis Thorpe and his photographs “Final Frame”. Many members will have seen and heard Dennis talking about his work as a photographer at the guardian Newspaper. Keith won the print he donated of his acclaimed Ribble Head photograph in our anniversary competition a little while ago. However, Richard focused on the memories Dennis had of LS Lowrie and another of his renowned prints. “Final Frame” was the title of the AV and it was a reference to the coats hanging in the hall on the day that Dennis came across the workmen clearing the house following the death of Lowrie.
Another of the AVs that Richard showed us was one featuring the Black Country Museum, a place he knows well.
Below and on the left is an image from a moving AV entitled “Remember the Quarrymen” which showed us numerous images from the quarrying of slate.
“The Tiny World of Walter Zapp” had us puzzling as to what it could be about but all was revealed as Richard explained that it was about the creation and use of a tiny miniature camera by the afore mentioned Walter, who was the Latvian inventor of the Minolta camera seen below right.
The “Cost of War” was a moving presentation with images relating to the “Great War” now referred to as World War 1. The “Power of Memories” had images from a factory and its surroundings that featured very prominently in the younger life of Richard and his family.
A satirical show with only 4 images “Outside Broadcast” played on the idea of working very slow, whilst “Attention Shoppers” was stimulated by an idea in the Big Issues magazine and suggested a revolutionary way of purchasing goods by actually going to a “Shop” where the goods could actually be seen, bought and taken home with you, there and then. Extraordinary!
Lastly and to send us all home humming a jolly tune was “Mr Blue Skies”. This was an AV all about Birmingham and it was filled with lots of wonderful images taken in Birmingham with not a rain cloud in the sky.
Thankyou Richard for a wonderfully entertaining and thought provoking evening and we hope you will have lots more success in the future.
The meeting was introduced by our chair, Roger Moore who congratulated John Sampson, Karen Frenkel and Steve Elliot as they had the highest numbers of votes from the public whilst the clubs print exhibition was on display at Hope and Bradwell churches. Roger also put out a request for cakes and/or raffle prizes for the clubs coffee morning at Hope Old School on September 6th. Help on the morning of the event would be most welcome as we intend to put up the print exhibition for one last viewing. If you can help then please contact Margaret Drabble.
Two final notices: the display storage bags have been mended after a recent mouse attack and the theme for this years photography exhibition is “Windswept and Interesting”.
Roger was then able to introduce Marion New, seen in the image above sat to the left of Keith and to his right in the photo alongside this paragraph. Her husband Colin was a wonderful photographer who has recently died and Marion agreed to give the presentation in his memory. The family, seen with Keith in the photo to the left, had all come along to support her and it must be said that she did an outstanding job. Marion and Colin had been on an Arctic Cruise in 2023 which resulted in the creation of the evenings presentation.
Colin New was a member of the Sheffield Photographic Society and also the London Salon. If you wish to read a most moving tribute to Colin then you can find it on the website of the salon.
https://thelondonsalon.org/colin-new-tribute/
Colin was a talented photographer and former head teacher who loved images and the way they could be used to tell a story. He had no fondness for competitions or awards and did not seek them out despite his amazing talent.
The photographs shown here are only to give a flavour of his ability and we thank both him and Marion for the opportunity to see this wonderful presentation. The “Arctic Journey” was the result of a rather different cruise to those advertised in many glossy magazines. Muck boots and life jackets were the key items on the “dress code” as the trips offshore were by Zodiac boat and quite likely to involve sand and seawater.
The majority of the cruise was lucky with the weather and neither fog, mist or wild seas appear to have troubled them until toward the end of their tour. The map shows the eastern side of Greenland where the delights of Scoresby sound featured in the photos. Further south, Iceland was on the itinerary and the northern highlights were up around Svalbard. Marion told us a little about the Research Station on Svalbard at 79 degrees North with an average winter temperature of -140C.
There were so many wonderful photos, beginning with the cliffs below the map, it was very difficult to look away from the screen to make some notes!
Colin was particularly fond of the cliffs but also the many colours both of the landscape, the flowers and the light. Glaciers featured in several images and there were naturally plenty of icebergs. A shipwreck was a surprising feature on one of the trips on shore and the party were told in no uncertain terms not to touch and that the only things to take were photographs.
At one point as they were ashore and wandering along the beach an alert came from one of the lookouts that a polar bear had been sighted. The captain ordered all the party to get back on the zodiac and head back to the SS Maud. Unfortunately Colin could only get a distant photo of the bear as he would have needed a very long lens indeed to get an image that filled the frame. Marion did tell us that in an effort to keep his back from becoming more of a problem, Colin had swapped to a micro four thirds system with a small selection of lenses that helped reduce the weight of the kit. (Many of you will be aware of the problem and some may have already made the same changes.)
Reindeer, Hunters, an Amundsen bust as well as many sunsets were all a big part of the presentation and some of the images were particularly pleasing to Colin, and it must be said that club members greatly appreciated those photos and many more.
Many thanks to Colin for a wonderful set of images and to Marion for delivering the presentation in her lovely relaxed style. It was a great evening and one can only wish that a web page could do justice to the quality of the photographs. Never the less thankyou Marion and all the family for their support.
This was the meeting postponed in January when the snow had made the roads difficult, especially Winnats Pass which was closed!
Rather appropriately the theme for the January meeting had been “Winter” so it was somewhat ironic that the weather in the weeks leading up to the meeting was extremely warm and dry. The presenters for the evening were all club members that had volunteered back in 2024 not thinking they would be showing us their winter photos during a July hot spell. Needless to say they were all well prepared and a delightful evening followed which I have tried to represent with a selection from each presenter.
Alison
David
John Loveless
Karen
Sheila
Steve
Zoe
Many thanks to all the presenters for a memorable evening and I’m sorry that the webpage does not do justice to some wonderful images.
This month there was a photographic outing to Bradwell and a meal at the “Shoulder of Mutton” but the main business in June is the appraisal of the exhibition entries followed 2 weeks later by their presentation as part of Wakes week in St Peter’s, Hope.
Roger introduced the evening with a reminder that there were a couple of gaps in the stewarding required for the exhibition at St Peter’s. (Thankyou to those of you that volunteered to fill them.)
We were also alerted to an Audio Visual evening by Keith Brown “Home and Away” on the 21st June at 7pm in St Peter’s church, Hope. The cost is £5 and includes refreshments.
Following the notices, Roger introduced Ray Bramall ARPS, Hon PAGB, DPAGB, EFIAP/g, BPE4 who had kindly agreed to be our appraiser of this years exhibition prints.
Ray had previously looked through all the prints and made notes, so he was ready to give us feedback on the good points and suggestions for improvement on each print.
Ian had a file of all the digital versions of the prints and as Ray placed a print on the stand, the digital version appeared on the big screen. (Many thanks Ian for coordinating them all, nice to know that there were slightly more entries this year than last.)
Thoughtful comments and suggestions about each print in the General Category then took us through to the interval and over a cuppa members had chance to chat over the insights Ray provide about each persons photographic efforts.
Following the break Ray then went through each print in the Themed Category “Wild” with the same thoughtful approach and helpful suggestions. As he got to the last print it was then the job of the committee and other helpful members to put out for display all the prints in both categories as it was time for members to vote on which prints they would put 1st, 2nd and 3rd.
The voting was done on mobile phones, Roger had set up a QR code that linked to a google form that could collect each persons choice of prints. Not surprisingly this process took quite a few minutes but eventually Roger was able to announce the results.
General Category
1st: Misty Morning in Bretton Clough (Karen)
2nd: Shadow Walk (Nick) and equal 2nd Twins (Steve)
Commended Prints:-
Beaky Blinders (John)
Wood, from Tree to Stile (Ann)
Reflections of Whitehaven (John)
Theme Category “Wild”
1st: Fragrant Scents of Spring (Steve)
2nd: Deserted Croft, Isle of Ulva, NW Scotland (Karen)
3rd: Wild Wood (Roger)
Commended
Moss Erotica (Ian)
Wild Bees (David)
Forest Guardian (Ian)
Ray then gave us his opinion on which was the best Mono print “Misty Morning” (Karen) and the best colour print “Twins” (Steve)
The evening closed with a warm round of applause for Ray and a reminder that in July it will be the members presenting on the theme of “Winter” which was appropriately was postponed by the snow!
This month was the hand in date for all the exhibition entries and the evening began with Keith and Paul collecting and recording each of the entries. Members were reminded that the June meeting will be devoted to viewing all the entries, getting some feedback on their quality from Ray Bramall (ARPS, Hon PAGB, DPAGB, EFIAP/g, BPE4) and a vote on the best prints by the assembled members.
After the prints had all been collected and documented, Roger announced the evenings activity known as the “Scavenger hunt”. Each participating member has a maximum of one hour to go around Castleton taking 5 photos on a theme, this year the theme was “Reflections”.
As each member returned from their “hunt” photos were collected on the club laptop ready to display on the projection screen for a vote on the best collection and also the best individual photo.
Out of all the members that submitted photos the set that was voted by a majority to be the best was number nine which were taken by Alison. (Loud Applause)
Next was the vote for the best individual photo and that also went to Alison for her photo taken of a car door mirror.
Well done Alison.
After the applause died away we were reminded to contact Margaret Drabble if we want to go on the June 4th photo shoot and social outing to Bradwell, the meal being at dinner at the “Shoulder of Mutton”.
Two of our own members presented this month and the first was Ian Stanyon who acting as vice chair also did the notices:-
1. Firstly David Alwood was belatedly presented with his certificate from the Exhibition.
2. The year books have almost all been collected but if you didn’t order one they are obtainable directly from Blurb.co.uk
3. The Sheffield photo society have an AV evening at Hope Church April 12th
4. Our annual exhibition will be at Hope church from June 21st, if you can help put it in situ (20th June 10am) then contact Margaret Drabble
5. Our next social outing is on June 4th in Bradwell, details from Margaret.
With the hand in for the annual exhibition being the May meeting Ian did a practical session about choosing photos, the sizes and mounting your image. The mounts are available from the club via Keith but Ian spent a little time on types of mount including colour choice as well as size.
A top tip is to print your image with a border so that mounting becomes easier.
Next to be tackled was the variation in the “window” in which the print is displayed. The clubs exhibition rules do not specify the size of the window only the total size of the mount. Fortunately Ian had brought along prints of various sizes and a range of mounts. He also went on to demonstrate cutting a window and how to use archive tape to stick it down. Another top tip was that if you stick to the same size each year you can just reuse the same mount!
After the break Steve Elliott dazzled us with a presentation, also with practical elements “Light Painting”
The images were all taken in the dark using the Bulb setting on the camera which was on a tripod and utilising a cable release.
The settings included Base Iso and manual focus as the camera can’t cope with auto iso and auto focus in the dark!
The focus was set with the scene lit up but then switched off for the various procedures used to create the effects. Steve had brought along numerous torches, light tubes, wands, wire wool on a chord, a fibre optic brush and a bicycle wheel with LEDs attached (at least that was all I managed to jot down, there were probably lots I missed).
I’ve included a few of the many images Steve showed us and explained. He has many more at www.stephenelliottphotography.co.uk
He also explained several images he created whilst on holiday in Croatia, Turkey and Majorca but didn’t say how he got a bicycle wheel with LEDs attached through customs! An interesting story I’m sure.
Thankyou Ian and Steve for a very interesting evening with lots of practical tips. Next month Exhibition hand in and scavenger hunt.
Roger introduced the meeting with a few notices.
“The World of Denis Thorpe” Exhibition
We are mounting another exhibition of Denis Thorpe’s superb monochrome prints from 17th to 27th March at the Café Adventure in Hope.
Social Media
At last month’s AGM, Zoe Sampson kindly offered to serve as our ‘social media officer’.
Les Nixon
It is with great sadness that we’ve learned that Les Nixon – formerly a long-standing member of our Society – passed away on 17th February. His funeral will take place at 2pm on 20th March. RIP Les.
The guest presenters for the evening were both Sheffield based photographers, Phil Smith and Mark Tomlinson.
“A Project-based Approach to Photography“
Phil introduced his photography by talking about his “Projects” which embrace a variety of topics. Street Portrait was one of his favourites but we were also treated to images from several others; Protests, Smoking, Scruffy Dogs, Shadowlands & Seaside Decline to name but a few.
Phil introduced his photography by talking about his “Projects” which embraced a variety of topics.
The spectacular images of the rocks known as the “Wheels” gave him the chance to introduce an app he finds very useful. Photo Ephemeris helps you plan outdoor photography in natural light. According to the website “it’s a map-based Sun, Moon, and Milky Way calculator”. Sunrise or sunset from a particular location can be planned with perfect precision as you can see at what compass bearing the sun will be, given a specific location and time.
The second app Phil recommended was Ventusky, an application that allows a display of the development of pressure, wind, cloud cover, precipitation, and temperature at a chosen location. Phil uses the app to see what cloud cover will be like from a particular view and even what height the cloud might be thus making sunrise photos a little less hit and miss.
The photographs below represent a tiny fraction of the variety of images that Phil has produced and to see more it would be worthwhile visiting his Instagram or Facebook pages.
Mark Tomlinson was our second presenter following a short refreshment interval. The theme was “Dark Satanic Mills“
Mark has been involved with the production of steel throughout his career and had many stunning images to show us from the heart of the foundry, starting with an explanation of how steel came to be at the centre of Sheffield’s history from the need to produce millstones through the production of scythes and the part that rock, river and lime played in the development of the industry.
Mark was at Sheffield Forgemasters when he was asked by his boss to take a photograph to enter into a prestigious industry competition. Winning 1st place not only pleased the boss but lead to Mark being asked in subsequent years to take further photographs. He obliged and won the competition twice more! Not only did the success benefit the company but Mark found he could take photographs in parts of the foundry that would be off limits if he was not an employee. This did lead to one camera being melted but fortunately it was a company one not his own!
Images of the sparks flying, molten metal being poured and a colossal press were enthralling as were the three audio visual shows Mark included in his presentation. He also explained that although some processes have been automated, there is still a huge amount of human judgement required to produce the quality products for which Sheffield is still renowned.
You can see many more of images and the much wider diversity of Marks photos at Sheffield Photo Society Members Gallery.
Roger thanked both Phil and Mark for a fantastic evening warmly appreciated by all the members and guests.
Next meeting April 10th when two of our members, Ian Stanyon and Steve Elliot will be our presenters.