Author: Ian Ord

Ian Stanyon our 2019 Chair opened the second meeting of the year by making various announcements – the most important being covered in the screen presentation Ian shows via a projector each month. See below:

As you can see from Ian’s screenshot, Club President Ray Fowler gave a presentation on “Ulster. From the troubles to the Titanic”, followed by my presentation entitled “Around the world in 80 weeks”. I’ve made a mosaic of images illustrating some parts of these presentations. I apologise for the fact that Ray’s and my images are in reverse order – but I’m still trying to get the hang of the new website system and the creation of a ‘mosaic image’ gallery

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An evening of three parts. The first being the AGM, with members agreeing that annual subscriptions should rise from £24 to £25 p.a., with visitors fees being reduced to £3 per meeting.

The second was the presentation of competition cups and certificates. I’ve made a mosaic of these images – see below. If you want to see the names of those who won the Dennis Thorpe Trophy, the Catherine Cup and certificates, scroll down to my notes covering the June 2017 meeting.

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The third part of the evening was our annual presentation by our incoming Chair (this year Ian Stanyon), with Ian showing us a selection of his images.

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Our Chairman Nick opened the meeting by announcing that Keith & Kate are going to hold another AV Night on Saturday November 10th  – including the much loved ‘Grease Gaskets & Gears’ (an RPS Gold Medal winning AV). Contact Ray Fowler for further details and to reserve tickets.

Nick also announced that we’ll be holding our annual Christmas party at restaurant ‘1530’ in Castleton on Thursday 13^th December. Erica will circulate details in the near future.  Finally, Steve Elliott’s produced his 2019 calendar, featuring 12 stunning shots. Contact Steve direct. Steve’s unable to attend our next meeting, but if you order a calendar in advance you could pick the calendar up at our Christmas party.

Then Nick announced that this evening we were privileged to be able to listen to Rebecca Nex (from Sheffield Photographic Society) give a presentation (to a packed house – we ran out of seats). Over the years our members have enjoyed viewing the images of many supremely talented photographers. However, in my opinion, Rebecca gave the one of most artistically inspiring presentations in all my 9 years of being a member of C&HVPS.

During Rebecca’s presentation you could have heard a pin drop. Indeed if members didn’t hear a pin drop they may well have heard the sound of my jaw dropping, in response to viewing Rebecca’s amazingly creative images. Rebecca has only being taking photographs for 12 years. But during this time she’s developed a style that’s now very much associated with her and her images (best viewed as prints rather than DPI’s?). Numerous awards and international medals echo the ‘eye for an image’ that Rebecca has acquired over such a relatively short period of time.

Forget about saturated colours, pin-sharp images, post-production techniques, or the most expensive cameras & lenses to capture these awe-inspiring images. Think about a different form of artistic creativity. Think about pastel colours, subtlety, mood, textures (particularly shown in the types of printing paper Rebecca uses). As the meeting closed I heard many members talk about the inspiration Rebecca has given – inspiring us to look through our lenses in a new light. To see more of Rebecca’s work browse: https://www.rebeccanex.com

Chairman Nick opened the meeting by announcing that our annual Christmas party will be held on 13th December at ‘1530’ (that’s the name of the Restaurant, not the time!) – an excellent restaurant in Castleton. Details, menus, etc will be provided in the fullness of time. So now’s the time to pencil the evening of 13.12.18 into your diary. Nick also announced that Dennis Thorpe (we named our annual monochrome competition trophy in honour of Dennis) will be held on Saturday 15th September, at the War Museum and Gallery, Stockport. The exhibition entitled ‘A view from the North’ will be open until mid October. But Dennis will be present this coming Saturday to sign his new book. NEMPH are holding their 2018 Memorial Lecture at 1930 12th October in the Chatsworth Arts Centre. Nottingham NG10  1EF.

Then Nick introduced the first of our two ‘home grown’ presenters. The first presentation was by Susan Hughes, entitled:  “The Power of the Image”. Sue spoke emotionally about her link to the past, through a photograph taken decades ago in Blackpool. This photograph led Sue to visit various parts of America to link up with her relatives. A powerful and moving presentation that really did demonstrate the Power of images.

For the second half of the evening Les Nixon took us on a voyage around the world. Using images he’d taken to demonstrate the ‘contrast’ between the same type or style of image gave photographically satisfying, but remarkably different results. Les presented images he’d taken between the mid 1950’s and now. As usual Les wowed us with his images and his detailed explanations behind each image. Les is a gifted photographer, who puts much thought into each image before he presses the shutter. Les is a natural raconteur, with this presentation rounding off the evening – an evening that was enjoyed by all who attended.

 

Nick our Chair opened the evening by making the following announcements:

Our exhibition of competition images is now being shown at Bradwell Church;

Denis Thorpe is holding his new exhibition at Stockport Art Gallery, commencing 1400 15th September. I know that some of our members will attend. Phone Ian O or Nick if you want to discuss car sharing;

There are two exhibitions in Sheffield: ‘Victorian Giants – the birth of photography’ at Millennium Gallery, Arundal Gate, ending 23rd September. ‘Love among the Ruins’, S1 Artspace, 1 Norwich Street;

There’ll be two more informal evenings this Year at The Angler’s Rest, Bamford: 4th September and 13th November.

Ian S reminded members that the if you want to enter images, or a panel of images for the NEMPH exhibition, please contact him and he’ll give further details and advice. Ian will deliver exhibition images if members contact him.

Subsequent to the notices, the main part of the evening commenced: Eight of our members, each being allocated 10 minutes to show any of their images, covering a theme or themes of their choice. It’s alway enjoyable to listen to and view images shown by visiting presenters. Equally these ‘home grown’ shows are always fun – listening to our members speak to and show their images under the 10 minute ‘Beat the Clock’ rule:

 

 

 

 

  Nick, our Chair, opened the meeting and gave the following notices:

• Chris & Ian O will be holding their annual ‘Whatever the Weather’ social in their house and garden on July 15^th. Members and their family are all invited;
• Nick has decided that the theme for the non-general part of our 2019 competition will be ”It gives me joy” (I asked Nick to elaborate and he suggested that members should enter images illustrating whatever ‘makes them happy’.

Nick then welcomed our presenter – David Gibbins ARPS, APAGB, EFIAP/b, BPE5*, CPAGB/AV (Phew, I’m getting writer’s cramp just typing in all of David’s qualifications). David is a photographer of significant repute. That’s why at N&EMPF’s recent AGM, David was made Honorary Life Vice President of N&EMPF.Within seconds of starting his presentation, it became clear that David certainly knows how to take an image or make an AV. Perhaps this was the reason that 80% (a record for a summer evening?) of our members turned out to enjoy David’s presentation? One of those attending was Arthur Packham one of two Honorary Members of our club. Recently, Arthur, who enjoys ‘mature years’ moved south from Buxton to be closer to his family.

 

David’s presentation was entitled ‘My Photography’. Those who weren’t able to attend the July meeting will be disappointed to learn that they missed something special, as David took us through a portfolio of just a fraction of the award winning images that he’s taken over recent years. Followed by some audio-visuals – a combination of some outstanding images sympathetically synched to some beautiful music. The second part of the evening was devoted to David presenting and talking about some of his international exhibition acceptances – covering in excess of 20 countries!

 

Nick closed the meeting by formally thanking David and then announcing details of our August 9^thmeeting:  ‘beat the clock’ with Kate; Alison; Pat; Ann; Joan; Jason; Bob and Wayne, showing a selection of their images as they try to beat the clock!

 

On the 25^thMay our Photo Society members and guests were able to enjoy the presence of one of the most gifted English photojournalists of our time – Denis Thorpe. As a Guardian photojournalist between 1974 and 1996, Denis was well placed to record a period of upheaval in the British political and cultural landscape. From reportage of the miners’ strike and Strangeways riot to celebrity portraiture and travelogues, he captured the essence of the age.

Denis was awarded an Honorary Fellowship of the Royal Photographic Society and was awarded the accolade of Exceptional Achievement in Photography by the Amateur Photographer magazine. He has been recognised by his Press colleagues throughout his career and awarded many British and World Press Awards for some of his superb newsworthy images. He was given an Honorary MA by the University of Manchester in 1995

So, if you weren’t able to attend our Denis Thorpe evening, you missed an outstanding evening, when C&HVPS were delighted to welcome Denis, when he  gave an illustrated talk about his beginnings as a photographer. Then talked us through some of the events that reflected history in the making – with Denis explaining how he took these iconic images.

Since 2008 Denis has made two presentations to our members, then one presentation with members and guests and then on 25^thMay his latest presentation. I know that many photographic clubs and societies would have given their eyeteeth to receive one, let alone four presentations by such a talented photographer. Readers who browse our website should know that our Photographic Society holds Denis in such awe that we named our trophy, awarded annually, for monochrome prints as the ‘Denis Thorpe Trophy’.

I decided that I would like to capture one of the UK’s most iconic photojournalists, showing some of the many images that made him famous. However, what I really needed was another Denis Thorpe to snap the images. As the room was only illuminated by the screen, I had to shoot the mosaic of images shown below, hand-held between 1/15 to 1/2 second with an ISO of 6400. Click onto each image to see the image in greater (but compressed) detail:

Écoute attentivement. Je vais le dire seulement une fois! If you missed April’s meeting you missed a tour de force by two of our (many) stars. 

But firstly, if you weren’t able to attend and pick up the entry forms for our forthcoming competition, you can copy a Jpeg version of this application form (see below) and use it when you hand in your prints at the May meeting. If you can’t attend the May meeting, please liaise with either Ray Fowler or Keith Brown, and make arrangements to pass them your prints before the May meeting. Here’s the application form to cut and paste, IF you didn’t pick this form up on April 12th:

Click onto this link if you’d like to refresh your memory on the rules for our forthcoming competition. http://www.hopevalleyphotosociety.co.uk/?page_id=2408

On the 25th May we are fortunate to have a repeat visit from Denis Thorpe. We have booked the Castleton Youth Hostel, Lose Hill Hall for the event. Tickets are £5.00 each for members and £6.00 each for non-members. The evening is billed as “A view from the North. If you want tickets please email or phone Ann Smith or Ray Fowler (order early, as I have no doubt that they’ll sell out like hot cakes).

And now for the stars of the evening:

Roger Moore ARPS

The diversity of topics covered by Roger in his illuminating and astonishingly imaginative presentation beggared belief. Still images, videos, webcams, audio-visuals, infrared images, and more.

After the coffee break, Stephen Elliott gave his presentation. Steve is a truly talented photographer.  In our Club, Steve is known as “Mr Landscape”, but Steve has many bows to his photographic toolkit. After seeing more of his Light-painting images, I suggest that we also call him “Mr Paint”! I’ve displayed a section of the images presented by our two masters that evening, and formed them into a mosaic of images. If you want to view any image in finer detail, simply click onto the (compressed) image.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A selection of Club members enjoyed 2 social activity events during March. The first being a light-painting evening led by Stephen Elliott on 13th March. Followed by a visit to the Piece Hall in Halifax on March 21st – organised by Ray & Pat Fowler. I’ve combined a number of images taken during these events into a page of ‘mosaic’ images. These images may load a little slower than I’d like, as internet speeds play a their part in downloading all the images.

Stephen Elliott ran another fascinating evening of creating light painting photography on the evening of 13th March. This time, we were housed in the warmth of St. Peter’s Church, Hope rather than outside in the cold.

There was a keen group of CHVPS members assembled in various parts of the church including the bell tower. Tripods were set up and cameras primed ready for Steve to start off the evening revising some of the theory of light painting and instruction on how to set up cameras correctly. He then launched his creative talents into setting up a number of different scenes for us to photograph.

The happy bunch of photographers exposed their sensors in the pitch dark while Steve galloped around the church with his various lights, contraptions and lasers creating the scenes. He was dressed head to foot in black, complete with gloves and at one point left the church to light the stained glass windows from outside. We were fully expecting the sound of police sirens to apprehend Stephen Elliott the lead thief!

Ian Stanyon had set up his Olympus M1 compete with live view screen. Without exception, the screen drew attention of all those present as the image built up live in front of us and built the anticipation of what their won cameras may produce. Once each scene was finished we waited while each camera did its processing thing and there followed whelps of joy as the images revealed themselves.

      

If like me you were unable to attend this month’s meeting, you didn’t miss any announcements, BUT you did miss a superb evening. Firstly, you missed a fine presentation by our visiting speaker: Bob Underhill APAGB, AIPF. I’ve popped on four of the images Bob presented, followed by couple of images Nick Chalkley snapped on his iPhone!!

I told you that if you’d missed the meeting, you’d missed out! As during the break our President, Ray Fowler, brought on bottles of wine, as Ray wanted members to celebrate his 80th birthday.

 

Some of us knew about this surprise and had cards and presents ready to hand. Ann, our Secretary had spent time baking and decorating cup cakes.  Then everyone wished Ray the happiest of birthdays and expressed their best wishes by singing Happy Birthday

Ray’s a founder member of our Club, and is without doubt popular and liked by every member of our Club, as well as being highly respected for his photographic skills. I don’t know anyone in Castleton or in our Club who doesn’t count Ray as a friend. I look forward to attending the meeting when we celebrate Ray’s 90th birthday.