Photography News issue 27

Photography News Issue 27 absolutephoto.com

Camera Club of the Year IN ASSOCIATIONWITH

Round 2: Brr, it’s cold! Send us five pictures that best interpret our seasonal theme and your club could qualify for the grand final and the chance to win our Club of the Year contest

The winter is a wonderful time to take pictures and we are looking for five pictures from your camera club that best sum up our theme. With low sun all day long, freezing temperatures and frequent inclement weather, the opportunities for great pictures are plentiful. But you have to make the effort. Make no mistake, the cold and wet represent physical challenges and when the temptation is to stay in the warm, for winning pictures you have to get out there. Preparation is obviously important and that includes how you are dressed. Layers of clothing, suitable footwear, a warm hat, gloves and waterproofs are de rigueur so do make sure you are comfortable. If you plan to be out late, accessories like a torch and a power pack for the phone in case it needs recharging are important. Prepare your camera kit too. Make sure your camera battery has plenty of charge and have a spare or two available. Also, make sure your lenses are fitted with protection filters if they’re not already. Many modern cameras, like the Canon EOS 5DS/R, are weather sealed to keep out water and dust so they’re capable of withstanding poor weather, but you still need a strategy to protect your kit as much as possible. Youmay be able to tuck the camera under your jacket in between shots but this can mean you getting cold

and wet too. Toing and froing the camera in and out of the bag or rucksack is an option but it’s not always convenient and can mean missing pictures. Custom-made waterproof devices to house the camera are available or you could make do with a shopping bag with a hole cut out for the lens to poke through. A microfibre travel towel with a couple of clothes pegs to hold it in place is a handy thing to have in the bag too. It can be used to protect the camera and handy to dry off the lens when needed. Prepare yourself and have your camera outfit organised for the conditions that will make your life much more comfortable and free your mind to focus on the job at hand, taking great cold-weather pictures. When the temptation is to stay in the warm, for winning pictures you have to get out there

Above Pictures that sum up the theme can be taken anywhere – even a high street scene 50metres from our office has potential.

Round 1: Results It’s ‘scores on the doors’ time as we announce the Camera Club of the Year round 1 winners

Clockwise fromright Late Night Trains by Rosie Mathisen; The Cigarette Card Collector by Bob Davies; Icelandic Moonrise by Stephen Lee; Body Talk by Janet Haines; Hair Metal by Tony Gill.

Scores Dorchester Camera Club

Ayr Photographic Society

Wisbech and District CC

Harlow Photographic Society

Well done to all the camera clubs and photographic societies who entered Round 1 of the Camera Club of the Year 2015-16 competition, sponsored by Canon. After some tense (and intense!) judging the results are very close. By just one point, Dorchester Camera Club qualify for the final, just pipping Ayr Photographic Society to the post. Congratulations to Dorchester CC who can now bask in the glory and now relax on their qualifying laurels for a couple of months. A Canon PIXMA Pro 10S professional A3+ printer will also be on its way to them very soon. If your club didn’t make it this time or didn’t enter Round 1, no problem. Every round is scored as a stand-alone contest with the highest scorer each time qualifying for the final. No scores are carried over. After five rounds we will have five finalists who will fight it out for the glory of being Camera Club of the Year and scoop a fabulous Canon imagePROGRAF PRO- 1000, a professional 12-ink A2 inkjet printer worth £1199.99, as well as a day with David Noton. Entry for round 2 is now open. It closes on 11 January.

Newent & District Camera Club

Amersham Photographic Society

New City Photographic Society

Stirling & District Camera Club

City of London & Cripplegate

Harpenden Photographic Society

Macclesfield Camera Club 85 Peterborough Photographic Society 84 Smethwick PS 84 Beckenham Photographic Society 83 Halstead & District PS 81 Cymru Monochrome 80 Bath Photographic Society 79 Chapel Camera Club 78 Fraserburgh Photographic Society 78 Deal and District Camera Club 76 Tonbridge Camera Club 76 Skegness Camera Club 75 Earl Shilton Camera Club 74 Wakefield Camera Club 74 Wokingham& East CC 74