Castleton & Hope Valley Photographic Society

October Meeting 10/10/24

October 17, 2024October 17, 2024Paul Hatt

Anne introduced the evening with a thankyou to Margaret Drabble for an excellent coffee morning at the old school in Hope (£138 to club funds). Appreciation for the members that put up the exhibition photos on the previous day and also helped with the morning and clearing everything away afterwards.
A reminder that Margaret needs to know who is coming to the autumn meal on November 23rd at Castleton village hall (£18).
Further thanks went to Ian Stanyon for the work he has done to source covers for the exhibition boards and the clips to replace the fragile perspex ones.

During the course of the evening several members had heard about the possibility of seeing the Northern Lights and there is an app that will keep you up to date on the possibility (My Aurora Forecast & Alerts). Little did we expect to miss them whilst in our meeting!
There is another celestial photographic opportunity on October 17th when the “Hunters Moon” is hopefully going to appear.
The presentation for the evening was by Zoe and John Sampson with the title of “Chobe River of Dreams

As John was suffering with a throat infection Zoe was the narrator for the evening which she did with great style.
As she explained, John had wanted to see the Chobe from the photographers viewpoint for a long time. They booked a trip with Pangolin Photographic Safaris which seemed to fulfil their hopes and desires (possibly fulfilling Johns dreams).
The Linyati river becomes the Chobe forming the north eastern border of the Chobe National Park in Botswana.

It was very difficult for Zoe and John to compress hundreds of photos into an evening presentation but it must be said that the quality and variety of their photography held us all spellbound. Many details were given of the location, the journey, the hotel, the boats and numerous cameras and lenses. Suffice it to say that it was detailed and enlightening.
However, what many of the members wanted to see was the wildlife and we were not dissapointed.

Exceptional photos of a huge diversity of animals in a range of settings showed what an amazing experience they had had. On this webpage we cannot show or even list the range of wild life shown but her is a small selection to give you a flavour of a great evening.

It must be said that Elephants were a frequent subject for the presentation and they did admit to a particular fondness for “Elly”. There were some very scary shots of Hippos getting rather too close along with crocodiles and lions. A dazzling array of birds were also featured, the fish eagle being the largest (I think) and the smallest were the bee eaters and kingfishers. The impala, kudu and giraffes looked majestic whilst the buffalo and baboon were suitably content.

Many thanks Zoe and John for all the hours reviewing photos and putting them into a presentation , it was a wonderful evening.

September Meeting 12/9/24

September 13, 2024Paul Hatt

Ann introduced the meeting with a reminder that we have a coffee morning on Saturday September 28th from 10am at the old school in Hope (raffle prize donations to Margaret Drabble).
Secondly the members were offered the new and beautifully photographed 2025 calendar from Steve Elliot for £10.
Ann also mentioned the Canadian photographer, Debra Garside who recently visited her fathers birthplace of Hayfield and asked for a guide to the area. Ann and Paul accompanied Debra for a lovely stroll up through Hayfield, past Kinder reservoir and on up to the “downfall”. Debra left us with her book, as well as some Maple Cookies, which we will raffle for club funds.

The presenter for the evening was Malcolm Imhoff FRPS FACI(M) AV-EFIAP who gave us an “An Audio Visual Journey” and what a journey!
Malcolm is an audio visual expert with decades of experience and is also a very accomplished mountaineer as was soon evident. It is not possible on this website, to do any kind of justice to the variety and professionalism of his presentation. The quality of photography, the choice of music and breadth of subjects tackled was wonderful.

Malcolm and his wife loved the Lake District and “Love will remain”, which was the penultimate AV of the evening was in memory of the many happy holidays they spent there prior to her demise.
Mountains figured in many of the AV shows as they have been an important and absorbing part of the “journey” Malcolm has taken in his life so far. The Lake District, Wales, Scotland and Ireland all featured in one or another of the presentations. However Malcolm is a very accomplished mountaineer with over twenty 4000ft Alpine summits completed. Breath-taking snow covered peaks in the Swiss alps were accompanied by thoughtful soundtracks to make an absorbing AV.

The images presented below will give you a hint as to the professionalism and enthusiasm required to put on such an entertaining evening. It was also evident that expeditions to a wide range of places feature in Malcolm’s experience, with trips to Venice, Nepal, France and Japan also being included in the evenings presentations.

It would be great to see Malcolm back with us in the future if he is not too busy on his home territory down in the midlands or on adventures much further afield!

And finally…
I couldn’t finish this page without a last reference to our Canadian visitor (further images at debragarside.com) shown below collecting her award and also being “entertained” by the clubs valiant chair.

August Meeting 8/8/24

August 11, 2024Paul Hatt

Ann introduced the meeting with a reminder that our annual photographic exhibition is now in Bradwell Church until Sunday August 11th when it will be dismantled and stored. Thanks go to the members that moved the equipment to Bradwell and put up the prints.

The main event of the evening was the return of Erica Oram CPAGB AFAIP BPE3 who was giving the members her latest presentation:-
“A Bit Of This, A Bit Of That and The Other”.
As you can see from the photos, Erica brought along a number of her prints to help illustrate the style of photography that she prefers.
The main point was that the more conventional competition photos, those that please the judges, are not of great interest as far as Erica is concerned. To highlight the kind of photo that excites her, the opening photo onscreen was of a storm drain that is part of the Victorian system under Sheffield

Many of the members were enthralled by the prospect of an underground tour and Erica advised that we would need to be online when the next slot was available as they get booked up very quickly. The photos in the tunnels showed fascinating patterns of light shinning of the wet bricks or the water.
Following on from the intriguing underground photos came a series of candid shots of people and dogs, lots of dogs! Whether visiting Lisbon, Prestatyn, Cleethorpes or Rhyll, the photos showed people at leisure, walking, chatting, crabbing or simply sitting. Nothing was posed and usually Erica is shooting “from the hip” so that both the young and the not so young didn’t notice the photographer.

After the break a cuppa and chat Erica went on to the second half of her talk which featured some wild seas, misty mountains and some great shots of people at a very muddy scrambling event.

Thankyou Erica for a great evening and we hope to see members at the next meeting

September 12th – Visiting Speaker – Malcolm Imhoff FRPS FACI(M) Audio visual show

Monthly Meeting July 11th

July 13, 2024July 13, 2024Paul Hatt

This month we had hoped to feature members photography questions and their solutions. However, as there were too few questions submitted some of the members volunteered to present a topic of their choosing.

Ann introduced the theme of this months meeting and also thanked Margaret for organising a very successful outing to the Bugsworth canal basin (and pub). Thanks were also extended to the “team” that put the exhibition up at Hope church and of course, moved it back into storage prior to the next occasion at Bradwell church.
The first presenter for the evening was Ian who explained how to transfer photos from camera to laptop or tablet. This was in response to a question from a member and was dealt with using Google photos as one example of an easy way to simplify the task. Ian also tackled the issue of sizing prints and mounting them for our exhibition, showing several formats and giving hints on how to make the process as simple as possible.

The second speaker of the evening was Wayne who explained how he used Photoshop to great effect when enhancing images. Amongst the numerous examples and techniques Wayne showed us were three that he had created for previous exhibition entries.

Following a tea break and accompanying biscuit or two the members re-assembled for 3 more presentations with the titles of;
Depth of Field, Macro Photography and Making the Most of It.

A short presentation on Depth of Field from Paul. Introducing the idea that members that almost always use the camera on “Auto” might try Aperture Priority to try photographs with a large aperture and hence a narrow depth of field.

Mike showed a number of Macro Images taken on a trip to Bulgaria with Judy. The photos almost all utilised a narrow depth of field to help emphasise some great images of insects. Spending so long on your knees in wet grass at the crack of dawn certainly deserved the reward of the stunning photos Mike had to show us all.

Keith closed the evening with a presentation of photos taken on a trip to Switzerland. Despite the tourist board showing many photos of blue skies over the Alpine peaks, the weather on the trip was rather different. Snow and mist featured extensively hence the title “Making The Most Of It”. A particular view of the Matterhorn involved waiting for half an hour and hoping that the cloud might lift from the peak.

Monthly Meeting June 13th

June 17, 2024June 23, 2024Paul Hatt

This meeting was all about the annual exhibition and for the first time all the exhibition prints were on display so that members could vote for their favourites. As well as a popular vote the club had the pleasure of welcoming Erica Oram from the Sheffield Photographic Society once more. Erica agreed to appraise the prints submitted by members and provide some helpful feedback on their good points whilst indicating possible ways that they could be improved. She also pointed out her own favourites which allowed the club to award the Catherine Cup and the Dennis Thorpe Trophy.

(Results of the vote and the prints that Erica thought were exceptional to follow shortly.)

The exhibition always has a general category so that members can exhibit their favourite photo taken in the previous 12 months and a category that provides a bit of a challenge. The theme for this exhibition was “Man at work”.

General Category

Theme “Man at Work”

General Theme in order of popularity	Theme “Man at Work” in order of popularity
Mother and Child – John Sampson	Framing the Fog – Stephen Elliott
Bolts Over Blue – Stephen Elliott	Curious Seagull – Keith Brown
Clash of the Giants – John Sampson	Sit! – Margaret Drabble
In Prayer – Keith Brown	Concentration – Alison Johnson
Serenity – Alison Johnson	Danish Royal Lifeguards – David Allwood
Branch Manager – Zoe Sampson	Man, Dog & Sheep – Ann Smith

The exhibition is on display at Hope Church until Friday 28th June

Meeting 9th May

May 13, 2024Paul Hatt

Our chair Ann Smith explained the purpose of this months meeting which was in part to collect entries for the annual exhibition and secondly to take part in a photography activity which is refered to as the “Scavenger Hunt”. The exhibition will be appraised at the next meeting in June by Erica Oram CPAGB. AFAIP BPE 3 and all the members attending will get the opportunity to vote for their favourite photo. Erica will award the Catherine Cup and the Dennis Thorpe Trophy for the best colour and monochrome image.

For the Scavenger hunt Ann explained that each participant had to take 5 photos on the theme of “Circles”. Everyone had to be back within 45 minutes and hand in their photos after which we all had a well deserved cuppa. After the break each set of photos was displayed on the screen and after several times through, a simple vote was taken in which each member nominated the set of photos that they thought were the best.

Congratulations to Zoe Sampson who won the members vote

**The five images above by Zoe Sampson won the vote for the best set of photos**

April Meeting 11-4-24

April 17, 2024Paul Hatt

Ann introduced the meeting with a few notices including a reminder that the meeting in May is the “Hand in” evening for the 2024 entries to the annual exhibition.

As usual members will be emailed a copy of the entry rules so only a quick reminder was necessary. Up to 3 prints can be submitted, all taken after January 1st 2022. There is general section and a themed section which this year is titled “Man at work”

The assembled members were then entertained (and educated) by an Ashley Franklin talk entitled, “The wider world of photography part one”.

Ashley explored the history, style and impact of portrait, fashion, industrial, war, press and social documentary photography. Showing the work of photo greats like Avedon, Bailey, Beaton, Bloomfield, Capa, Contreras, McCullin, McCurry, Karsh, Leibowitz, McCullin, Salgado and Winston Link. The presentation was very informative and the accompanying images were a great source of inspiration.

March Meeting – 14-03-2024

March 16, 2024Paul Hatt

At the beginning of this months meeting there were a couple more certificates to present from last years exhibition. After Ann wished us all a jolly welcome she handed over to our vice president Keith to present two certificates to Wayne (1st & 3rd in the themed category) and one to Nick (2nd in the themed category).

Following on from this jolly start to the evening came a presentation from Paul with the title “The Mass Trespass”. Combining a little bit of the history with a lot of photos, the talk focused on the route that the 1932 trespass took from Hayfield up along Kinder Edge and back down into Hayfield. Further photos covered the route that the Sheffield walkers might have used from Edale up onto Kinder Edge via either Jacobs Ladder or Grinds Brook. The conclusion of the presentation showed some old black and white images of a few of the trespassers that were arrested and later imprisoned.

After a short tea break we re-assembled for a talk by Wayne with the title “Brace Yourself”.

Few of us knew that Wayne was a highly qualified and technically adept dental technician with decades of experience in the field. Designing and creating braces, dentures and various other dental devices provided some fascinating photos and a very interesting presentation. The technical nature of the work, along with the variety of techniques require to manipulate metals and plastics have given Wayne a set of highly versatile skills. Photographs of some jewellery that he made as well as various decorative silver bowls, ladles and a wine coaster left the audience in no doubt of the ability and versatility that Wayne has acquired.

February Meeting 11/2/24 AGM

February 15, 2024Paul Hatt

Castleton was gripped by a snowy blast on this Thursday and so, not surprisingly attendance at the AGM was reduced to eleven hardy members. However, it was a good evening with the agenda being dealt with by the interval and Ann entertaining those attending, once were refreshed, with “Windows, the Good the Bad and the Ugly”

Minutes of the AGM

Apologies for absence:- R Fowler J&M Smith A&T Noon H Watson N Fowler S Elliot K Frenkel J Deitch I&J Holmes Z Sampson W Hallam N Chalkley R Clemens
Attendees 11
Approval of the Minutes – Proposed AS Seconded PH
Matters arising from the past year – None
Ann Smith gave the Chair’s Report for 2023
As it was the 20^th anniversary year two events in particular stood out. The raffling of the Denis Thorpe photo “Ribble Head Viaduct” at the 20^th celebration. Also the autumn meal was well attended and Roger Moore provided a taxing photo quiz to help the evening along. In 2023 the annual exhibition was erected very successfully on three occasions, Hope and Bradwell churches, followed by our own coffee morning in Hope Old School. The “Scavenger Hunt” was another success as were the numerous presentations by club members and guests throughout the year.
John Sampson gave the Treasurer’s presentation of accounts for 2023 and concluded by saying that although we have a slight surplus the club will need to plan to replace the club laptop in the coming years. John also reminded members that the subscriptions for 2024 will remain at the 2023 cost of £35 (£60 for a couple and £5 per meeting for non-members).
Election of Officers for 2024 – No nominations were received & committee members agreed to continue for another year, apart from Jason Deitch and Nick Chalkley. President – Ray Fowler continues in office. Chair Ann Smith Deputy Chair Paul Hatt Secretary Paul Hatt Program Secretary Margaret Drabble was accepted and Keith Brown volunteered to help her in the role Treasurer John Sampson Committee members Roger Moore and Ian Stanyon (two further committee places remain unfilled).
Any other business a – Addition to the constitution. Keith was accepted as Vice President, Ray Fowler being unable to attend committee meetings. The following addition was accepted to the clubs constitution.
5.1 The Society shall be administered by a Management Committee consisting of the President/Vice President, the Officers, and not more than two other elected members. 7. Role of the Vice-President 7.1 The duties of the Vice-President are to: a. support the President; and
b. substitute for the President as and when required. 7.2 The Vice-President shall be appointed at a General Meeting of the Society. 7.3 The term of appointment for the Vice-President is undefined but may be terminated at any time by the post holder or at a General Meeting of the Society