Club News 2023 - 2024

Jump to bottom of page for links to what we did in previous years

A very special speaker for our new season - Charlie Waite

Wincanton Camera Club are delighted to announce that Charlie Waite will be coming to Wincanton Memorial Hall to speak to us on October 2nd 2024. This will be a very special event and as such we are opening admission up to the general public. Fotospeed will be in attendance to market their products as Charlie is one of their ambassadors. There will also be representatives from the Disabled Photographers charity in attendance as they will be sharing in the funds raised by this event. Charlie is a long time supporter of this charity.

Click here for much more information about the event and for a link to purchase advance tickets. We fully expect this event to sell out so do not delay booking your tickets.

Our Club AGM - Wednesday, May 29th

It was good to see so many faces at our AGM and enjoying what was a lovely evening. Reports from our office holders had been circulated to all electronically prior to the meeting. Secretary and Treasurer reports were read out in their absence. Paul delivered his last report as Competition Secretary and Tony his last report as Chair. We elected our new Chairman, Adie Ray; our new Secretary, Rosemary Washington; and our new competition secretary, Andrew Washington. We are grateful to all for their past service and to those who will be serving the club over the next year. Without our committee we do not have a club.
Other business included the updating of our club constitution with a Data protection statement, a Member agreement form, and a clause relating to copyright of images and their use by the club. Andrew Washington showed off a prototype print display stand that we hope to use in the Library exhibition.

Annual competition winners

Paul Dyer then read out the winners of our annual club competitions. Winner of the F Folkes Memorial Cup for printed images was Brian Stubbs (146 points), with Paul Dyer in 2nd place (136 points) and Andrew Washington 3rd (101 points).
The Secretary's Shield for Digitally Projected images was awarded to Brian Stubbs (139 pts). In second place was Adie Ray (135 pts) and in third was Paul Dyer (130 pts).
The Chairman's Trophy, for image with most public votes in the annual Library Exhibition, was awarded to Brian Stubbs with Kit Williams just one vote behind.

The image top right is Brian being presented with a trophy by new club Chairman, Adie Ray. Photo courtesy of Andrew Washington.

Other business included the seating arrangement at competitions with the suggestion, put forward by David Foster, of returning to rows - agreed; approval was given for our Treasurer to use the Post Office for banking cash; votes were taken on the suggestions for competition themes for next season.
Our Honorary Lifetime Vice-Chairman, Jim Eastaugh, then addressed the club.
In the interval we were treated to a very nice buffet provided by Rosy and a soft drink.

After the interval we enjoyed a very positive and helpful critique of members' images by Sue Dall, a recently qualified judge from Shaftesbury. Sue was helpful with her critique before awarding scores. Two images tied for top score of 19 but Sue gave her best image award to Jim Eastaugh's Nectaroscodum. Thank you Sue and well done Jim!

Do keep an eye out for emails and web postings about club outings over the summer. Have a good break. Lots to look forward to next season.

Brian being presented with a trophy by new Chairman, Adie

To see the images and scores click here.

Infrared Photography - the journey so far, by Meyrick Griffith-Jones

We had a good turn out for this presentation with a couple of guests from other clubs coming along to listen. Meyrick took us through the technicalities of the science behind infrared photography and then into some of the processing techniques including colour channel swapping. Meyrick used his own photographs to illustrate techniques and then show examples from other photographers such as Paul Mitchell FRPS and Lee Acaster's black and white images.
Lachlan Fraser also contributed to the evening with some lovely IR images he had taken. There were lots of questions and good banter which all contributed to a very good evening. Thank you Meyrick and Lachlan.

Club Competition - Sport - Wednesday May 1st 2024

Our final competition of our club season was a cracker with some top-notch sport images. Eight DPI's were held back for further consideration before awarding marks. Kit Williams took the honours for the best DPI with her photograph of her grandson racing internationally on his downhill mountain bike. This image scored 20 and Kit also gained 19 marks for her second and third image - very impressive. In the print competition five images were held back before Andrew Washington gained top marks for his print of racing scramblers "Out of the dust" . Kit and Brian both gained 19 marks for one of their prints.

Our thanks must go to Meyrick Griffith-Jones for stepping in as a judge at the last minute and offering us all hints on how to improve. Meyrick has recently completed the WCPF Judging course and put the theory into practice on the night. The effort that Meyrick had gone to in preparing his thoughts on our images was clear to see.

To see the scores from all competitions, including this one, click on our Club info page
To see the DPI's and Prints from this competition click here or on the adjacent picture.

News on who has won our various competitions and the awards themselves will be given out at our AGM on Wednesday May 29th. That evening promises some treats in store and a rather different evening to our usual AGM so do come along. Everyone is welcome and you don't want to miss out.
Our next meeting, Wednesday May 15th, is on the topic of Infrared Photography and processing of said images. Meyrick has been on a journey with this so do come along as see where he has got to.

Photoshop processing techniques - MJG - Wednesday April 17th

Our thanks to Meyrick Griffith-Jones for demonstrating his use of Photoshop and the Lumenzia plug in for processing images. Meyrick took us through the process of dodging and burning using many different techniques - curves layers, luminosity masks, Selection by Colour range, Selection by Luminosity, Selection by Colour channels. The use and effects of different blend modes were also covered. Particularly interesting was Meyrick's approach to capturing an image with a view to the editing he intends to do to achieve his vision when taking the image.
Talks like these take an inordinate amount of time to prepare and we are very grateful to Meyrick for sharing his insight with us.

Our next meeting, in two weeks time, is the last of our Club competitions for this season, on the theme of Sport. You should have got your images to Paul by now. See you on May 1st.

Wincanton Club member image used to promote Bird Photographer of the Year

Congratulations to Paul Dyer on having his image selected and used by The Society of Photographers to promote their Image from Facebook post by The Society of Photographers

Image from Facebook post by The Society of Photographers

Society of International Nature and Wildlife Photographers Bird Photographer of the Year 2024 competition. The image has been posted on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter by The Society of Photographers.
Well done Paul.

Mark Case of Getty Images - Wednesday April 3rd

This Wednesday we were treated to a superb presentation by Mark Case of Getty Images. Mark is their leading videographer and travels the world taking images of the great and the glamorous. Mark took us through his backstory and how he has come to forge a career as one of Britain's top videographers with access to Downing Street and Buckingham Palace. Mark's presentation was extremely entertaining and informative. He showed us his work, his equipment and was kind enough to answer the many questions thrown at him. Our sincerest thanks to Mark and his family for sharing his time with us.
Below are links to some of Mark's social media

Mark Case on Instagram

Mark Case's Facebook Account

Beyond The Lens with Videographer Mark Case

Front cover of the BV Online Magazine - April 2024

Cover image of The BV magazine April 2024

Congratulations to Meyrick Griffith-Jones on having his image grace the front cover of the online BV Magazine for April 2024. Congratulations to Paul Dyer too whose image was also featured in the magazine.

Salisbury Cathedral Choir - Lachlan Fraser

Congratulations to Wincanton CC member, Lachlan Fraser, on having this image selected to feature in the Royal Photographic Society's (RPS) "Zine" on Architecture and the Built Environment. Lachlan participtated in a "Walk and Talk" initiative, organised by the RPS and this was Lachlan's image taken on the walk - a beautiful architectural image. Image of Salisbury Cathedral Choir

Drone Photography - Wednesday March 20th

This evening's presentation was by our member, Paul Dyer, on the subject of Drone Photography. Paul spoke most expertly on the legalities and requirements for flying drones then illustrated his talk with photos and video. The second part involved showing and then flying the actual drone. All members present were captivated by the drone and its capabilities in such a small object. Our thanks to Paul for an enthralling talk.

We were very pleased to welcome new member, Philip Terpstra, to the club and look forward to him joining us on our outings and future meetings.

Our next meeting is not one to miss. We are very fortunate to be joined by Mark Case of Getty Images who will be showing us some of his photography and talking about his role as a professional photographer and videographer. Mark provided us with a recorded presentation on May 17th 2023, which was excellent, but will be joining us in person on Wednesday April 3rd.

Photographic Composition - Wednesday March 6th

We started our meeting with discussion around some very exciting news for the club. More information will follow when details are firmed up.
We then had an excellent talk delivered by Meyrick Griffith-Jones on the subject of Photographic Composition.
Meyrick was standing in at late notice but produced an extremely knowledgeable talk covering a large range of compositional techniques, from Fibonacci to Golden ratios, "S" curves, leading lines, and Gestalt theory. All of this was illustrated by some of his wonderful landscape photos. Preparing such talks takes an enormous amount of time and preparation. We are all very grateful to Meyrick for sharing his knowledge with us.
Our next meeting is on the topic of Drone Photography, Wednesday March 20th.

Fotospeed Day of Prints - May 11th 2024

Frome Wessex Camera Club and Fotospeed are organising a Day of Prints at Nunney Village Hall, Berry Hill, Frome, BA11 4LY. Tim Jones of Fotospeed and two of their Ambassadors will give talks througout the day. Entry fee is £5 which includes an A3 print produced by Fotospeed. You will need to supply a full sized digital file at time of booking tickets. For more information click here to download a Word file.

WCPF Knightshayes Trophy, Sunday March 3rd

The Western Counties Photographic Federation (WCPF) Knightshayes Trophy was held at Monkton Heathfield Village Hall on Sunday. This competition is for prints only and is free for camera club members to enter. Each year a theme is set by whoever is going to judge the competition. The theme this year was Water in all its forms and the competition was judged by WCPF President Helen Jones and her husband Steven. There were 127 entries, all of a very high standard and beautifully displayed on the WCPF stands.
Following the WCPF Council meeting in the morning, the judging and presentation of the images began. Helen and Steven put up various images they liked that were very close but not quite worthy of awards. Then they went through the images that were commended and highly commended before going on to the awards. Wincanton were represented by Brian who was lucky enough to pick up one of the awards
The afternoon was taken up with a very special talk by Eddy and Pam Lane illustrated with their photographs from two trips to Antartica and two trips to the Arctic. Eddy and Pam are retiring from the WCPF committee and were created Lifetime Vice-Presidents of the WCPF.

Next year's judge will be Pedro and the theme will be " 2, Twin or Double"

Brian Stubbs being given one of the Knightshayes awards by Helen Jones

Photograph of those award winners present at the Knightshayes Trophy event

Photos courtesy of Linda Meaton.

Wincanton History Day, Saturday March 9th - an opportunity for photos

Taking place this Saturday, Wincanton History Day is an ideal opportunity to get some different photos. Events include the opening of the Museum by Sarah Beeny, The Masonic Lodge open day, Tea Dance, 1960's School Room, Antiques valuation, Historic Firearms talk, WW1 Battlefield camp, Family Historians, and a parade of historic vehicles through the High Street. More details are available by clicking on the link below. There is also a link to a map with timings. Enjoy.
Wincanton History Day information

Club Member images published in the media

Congratulations to Paul Dyer, Meyrick Griffith-Jones and Adie Ray on having their images published in the latest (March 2024) digital version of The BV magazine. Paul's wonderful image of Greylag Geese in flight made a great front cover.
This adds to our previous coverage in The New Blackmore Vale Magazine, printed and digital, on February 16th reporting our success in the WCPF Interclub Challenge.

Image of BV Magazine cover with geese flying

Image of The New BVM Magazine February 16th 2024 - Wincanton CC featured

Here is a copy of the poster we are currently circulating to make ourselves more widely known to any prospective camera club members.
Click on the image to download a copy of the poster to pass on to others or to print.

Wincanton History Day

Wincanton History Society are again organising a day of historical activities in Wincanton on Saturday, March 9th. There are to be a wonderful range of activities taking place around the town throughout the day. We are hoping to turn out as a club and take lots of photos but don't have exact timings yet. More information is available at
Wincanton History Society

February 21st 2024, Birds of Africa - presented by Andrew and Rosy Washington

Red billed Ox Peckers by Andrew Washington

This evening's talk was a presentation by Rosy and Andrew Washington of their photographs of the birds of Africa. Their images, taken over the course of three holidays, South Africa once and Namibia twice, illustrated the love they have developed for the wildlife of Africa and the birdlife in particular. Their ability to name so many different birds demonstrated an encyclopedic knowledge of the very many different bird species living in Africa. Rosy and Andrew's double act also contributed much humour to a very pleasant evening enjoying their photography. Thanks must also go to Rosy for her delicious cakes.

A little "dickie bird" informed us that the theme for the Autumn's Sherborne Bradford Abbas Shield is "Trees" so get your cameras out in the woods and prepare your images.

Watch out for emails from Meyrick about forthcoming club outings to get you out and about with your camera.

We also welcomed two new members to the club: Tracy returning after some time out from photography and Marius who joined us for the first time. Good to see you both. Our next meeting is on March 6th but in the meantime there is also the WCPF Knightshayes Trophy competition taking place at West Monkton Village Hall, near Taunton, on Sunday March 3rd starting at 10.30am.

February 7th 2024 Open Competition for DPI's and Prints - Judged by John Tilsley

Wednesday, February 7th 2024, we welcomed John Tilsley, a very experienced judge and long term friend of Wincanton CC, to judge our DPI's and prints. John brought along the trophy from our recent success at the WCPF Inter-club championships for all our members to see.

Having already previewed our images, John explained his approach and then proceeeded to judge our projected images followed by our prints.
The standard of photographic images was again very high. This meeting was well attended and all enjoyed John's good humoured and positive critique of our images. Thank you very much John.

To see the scores from all competitions, including this one, click on our Club info page and then on the appropriate named link.

To see the DPI's and Prints from this competition click here or on the adjacent picture.

For a more detailed report and to view not only the images from this competition but all our recent internal competitions click on our "Photographs" tab at the top of all pages or click here.

We've done it again! Best small club in the West of England

Today in Exeter the WCPF presented the images entered into the Inter Club Championships, both digitally projected and prints, along with the results and awards. Our club did not enter the print competition but we entered 18 images in the digitally projected competition, formerly known as DPIC. We were the holders of the Best Small Club award from last year so duly took the cup back for presentation. Imagine our surprise and delight when we won the cup back for a second year on the trot - a fantastic achievement for a small club such as ours.
The overall competition for digitally projected images was won by Bristol (229pts), runners-up were Truro (222pts) and third equal were Devizes and Plymouth (221pts). Wincanton were 15th out of 47 clubs overall and best small club (under 25 members) with 211 points for our 18 images. We pipped Nonpareill who had 207 points.
This is the third time Wincanton have won this trophy since 2007. No club has won it more than three times.
To see our images and their scores click on this link.
Our thanks to the WCPF Committee for their efforts and to all our members who submitted images, whether selected or not, because without a good field to pick from we would not stand a chance. Well done everyone!

Click here to look at the list of previous winners

Here is a link to the WCPF full results for all clubs - Inter-club Competition 2024

Meeting Wednesday, January 24th - YouTube videos and discussion

We met to view a selection of videos / presentations and discuss them. The first was a presentation of all the images in the 2023 PAGB Inter Federation Competition where our Western Counties Federation (WCPF) was competing against all the other federations in the UK. Many comments were made, particularly about monochrome images. Don't forget the forthcoming WCPF inter-club projected image and print competition at Exeter on Sunday, February 4th.
Another interesting short video was from Greg Benz about processing images using the camera calibration panel in Lightroom. We looked at our Club Website Links page and the YouTube section where there are a great many links to YouTube vloggers or photographic company YouTube Channels. There is so much information there. We finished the evening with an American Wildlife photographer, Mark Smith, who specialises in incredible bird photography.

Next meeting, February 7th, we have our third internal club competition, an Open theme, for projected images and prints. Don't forget to get your entries in by this weekend.
There is also the WCPF Members' Exhibition to consider entering. Entries are now open.

In four weeks time, February 21st, we are being treated to a presentation on Birds of Africa by our members Andrew and Rosie Washington. This will be open to non-members to attend so don't be late and miss your seat!

Trip from Wincanton to The Societies of Photographers Convention in London

A small group of members travelled to London to attend The Society of Photographers Annual Convention, Friday January 19th. We met in the car park by the War Memorial Hall, Wincanton, and hopped on to Berrys' Bus. We arrived at Hammersmith and with less than 5 minutes walk we were in the hotel where the show was. Free admission, having pre-booked, lots of free talks, 100+ trade stands with so much to see and learn as well as show offers. After the show ended it was a very short walk back to the coach station, grab a sandwich and then coach back to Wincanton. A great day out. Click on the logo to visit the Societies website.

Our next club meeting is on Wednesday January 24th. See you there.

First meeting of 2024 starts with a Quiz

Our first get together in the Memorial Hall in 2024 was for our annual quiz, compiled and delivered once again by Roger. As usual the questions ranged from the easy to downright fiendish, but always about photography, which meant we all learnt something even if we didn't know the answer.

For those of you unable to attend last night, Roger has kindly provided his MP4 files which you should be able to download and play. Don't forget to play the quiz one before the answers ;-)
To download the mp4 video file for the questions click here

To download the mp4 video file for the answers click here

If this gives you a thirst for photographic quizes then try looking at our 2022 version which is still up on our website. Go to the bottom of this page and click on the link to what we did in 2021-2022. NB. It was delayed until February.
Jump to bottom of page for links to what we did in previous years
Many thanks Rog.

Photography Online YouTube show re-starts

Some of you may be familiar with the Photography Online regular YouTube shows, we have a link in our Links page, and will know that they took a pause in their shows. Well, they have contacted us to let us know that they are re-launching in January with their first episode released on the 7th.
Here is a link to their trailer. Use the link in our Links page to see their previous content and get an idea of what their shows are like. PS. They are free :-)

Photography Online trailer

Club Competition night - Close Up, Wednesday December 13th

Even though it was December and cold outside, we had a large turnout for our 2nd competition of our season at the Memorial Hall. We welcomed a new judge to our competitions, Jim Lefeuvre from Yeovil, who had clearly prepared most thoroughly, providing helpful comments and justifications for his scoring as he went through the images.
Adie Ray top scored with a 20 in the DPI section and also gained an 18. Mike Anthony was very consistent with two scores of 19 in the DPI section and a 20 in the print section. What was very pleasing was to see all members gaining very helpful comments and praise as their work improves in quality. Our thanks to Jim for his efforts on our behalf.
To see the scores from all competitions, including this one, click on our Club info page
To see the DPI's and Prints from this competition click here or click on our Photographs tab at the top of this page to see links to all photographs from our recent competitions.

Do send in your images for selection for the Western Counties' club championships, DPIC as was, so that we can put a good entry on once again. Selection is on Wednesday December 20th so do get your images to Paul before then.

Wishing you all a very merry Christmas and happy New Year.

Sherborne night photography meet up

On Wednesday December 6th several members met at the Digby Hall car park in Sherborne to try out some night photography. We were joined by Huw Alban and Pam Watts who were very welcome. The weather had been typically wintery but stayed dry for our evening. The wet paving and puddles reflected the lights and the Abbey shone resplendent with its own light display. Some locals were interested in what we were up to, as tripods were set up around the place, but were very supportive and the evening was topped off with some very welcome chips at the local chippy. Some photos from the evening are included below. Our thanks once again to Meyrick for organising the evening.

To see more photos do have a look at our club's Facebook group page. It is a private group so you will have to ask to join.
Don't forget our meeting this Wednesday, December 13th at 7.30pm, when we have our internal competition with the theme "Close Up". This will be our last meeting before Christmas.

Wednesday November 29th Meeting - That's not a landscape

On a cold and frosty evening we gave a warm welcome to Huw Alban and his presentation "That's not a landscape". Huw talked us through his approach to landscape photography, beautifully illustrated by Huw's own images, and the search for one's own style / personal approach. Lot's to think about. Thank you Huw.

Competition entries are due in now. Get them to Paul Dyer asap. Our next meeting will be the Close Up competition. This will be our last meeting before Christmas.
Don't forget our meet-up for night time photography next Wednesday. See Meyrick's email for details.

Tickets are available for The Photography Show in Birmingham NEC March 16-19th 2024. Register now for a reduced price or free entry if you convince Future Publishing that you are a Professional.

Ours at last - WCPF Digitally Projected Image Competition Small Clubs' Cup

Our thanks to Bill Aven for bringing the Small Club Winners' cup to Wincanton. After an initial mix-up about who had the cup we now have the original in our possession with our name on it.
If you look at the list of previous winners you will see that we were joint winners of this trophy back in 2007. The list of winners puts us among some very select clubs, some of which have very limited and selective membership.
photo of WCPF DPIC small club cup

Well done Wincanton.

Don't forget our next meeting, Wednesday November 29th when we have Huw Alban coming to speak to us.

Woodland Autumn Colour at Penselwood - Sunday November 19th

Re-scheduled from Thursday to the Sunday, our club members met in the woods at Penselwood on Sunday afternoon for a chance to catch the last of the colour in the Autumn leaves. Beech, Sweet Chestnut, Oak are just some of the trees resplendent in their colourful raiment. Woodland photography is not easy but is well worth the effort in seeking out pleasing compositions.
Our thanks to Pam Watts for these photos below.

Critique Evening - Wednesday November 15th

We had a number of members who had sent their apologies for this evening, many for health reasons so we send best wishes and hope you get better soon. Despite this we still had a good turn out and welcomed new member, Rosie Washington, to our club.
There was a very varied range of images presented for critique, more varied than we would normally see for a competition, and it was very pleasing to see positive critique being given and taken, all with the aim of improving our photography and in a very supportive way. There was much to learn about composition, printing, artistic approaches, editing, judging, print companies, software, camera settings and more. Thank you to David for organizing the tea / coffee.

Our planned trip to the woods was postponed because of the weather forecast. The new date is this coming Sunday.

Our next meeting is an in person presentation by Huw Alban on Landscape photography. Don't forget to organize your entries for the forthcoming club competition on the theme "Close Up" and get your entries to our Competition Secretary in good time.

Astrophotography Exhibition at No 6 The High Street, Bruton

Our friend, Hannah Rochford, is staging an exhibition of her astrophotography images at an art gallery in Bruton for three days, November 24th - November 26th. Hannah has had images featured in the BBC Sky at Night magazine, NASA, BBC West - most recently this week with her image of the Northern Lights from Somerset - and is a former winner of the Royal Greenwich Museum Astro Photographer of the Year in the best newcomer category. Do go along to support her in this local exhibition. The gallery is "The Dovecote Gallery" , No. 6, The Highstreet, Bruton, Somerset, BA10 0AA. Opening times are 10am - 5pm each day.

Wildlife Photographer of the Year

Award winning image of horseshoe crab by Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2023, Laurent Ballesta

If you want to see some of the best wildlife photographs in the World then click on the link below to see photographs from this year's Wildlife Photographer of the year exhibition.

Visit the exhibition in person at the Natural History Museum, South Kensington, London. Times and ticket prices available in Natural History Museum link.

Entry for the 2024 competition closes at 11.30am on December 7th 2023. If you want to check out the rules and enter then click on Enter the Wildlife Photographer of the competition link.

Flash, Bang, Wallop - What a picture, what a photograph

Wednesday, November 1st, and another club session aimed at getting off the auto settings on our cameras. We had three setups to try out that required full control of our cameras to achieve the desired result - photographing a sparkler behind a light bulb on a reflective black surface; capturing the splash when a tangerine was dropped into a bowl of water; taking a picture of fairy lights being rotated at speed. Each scenario required different settings. A preliminary short video helped explain the sparkler scenario. Our members got stuck in and much laughter interspersed the serious efforts. The evening was fun with something for all who were there.

Here are a few photos captured by Keith Williams using a borrowed 12 year crop sensor camera:
Sparkler behind bulb

Next meeting, bring along some of your prints to pass around and enjoy a critique from your peers. No need for the prints to be mounted and they can be whatever size you want. The images do not need to be potential competition winners, just images that you would like advice or an opinion on. This will be an informal fun evening. See you then.

Sherborne Bradford Abbas Shield 2023

On Tuesday evening, October 24th, a small group of members travelled to Bradford Abbas to watch the Sherborne Bradford Abbas shield competition. As winners in 2022 our club had set the theme for the competition which was "Sky".
This competition features 5 digitally projected images and 5 mounted prints from each club competing; namely Shaftesbury, Sherborne Bradford-Abbas (our hosts), South Petherton, Wincanton, and Yeovil. Each team is limited to a maximum 2 images from any one member. The guest judge for the evening was Norman Marsh who did an excellent job working his way through a very high standard entry.
The first section to be judged was the digital projected images. We scored well and were leading at the half-way point with 84 marks from a possible 100 and a 2 point margin over our nearest rivals. The print section followed with some outstanding prints from all teams. We performed well but were just pipped by Shaftesbury who scored very strongly in the print section and beat us by one point overall.
The overall scores were as follows: Shaftesbury 1st 169pts; Wincanton 2nd 168pts; South Petherton 3rd 167pts; Yeovil 4th 162 pts; Sherborne Bradford Abbas 5th with 157pts. Our grateful thanks to our hosts, Sherborne Bradford Abbas, for their organising and hospitality in hosting the competition once again. The Wincanton entry can be viewed by clicking on this link, along with each image's score and author.

The equal best print of the night, with a score of 19, came from Wincanton
Reflected Sky image

Don't forget to bring your cameras and tripods to our next meeting on Wednesday, November 1st. If your camera doesn't have pop-up flash then bring along a speedlight / flash unit.

Using Natural Light on Location - Damien Lovegrove

We met on Wednesday October 18th to view a video recording by Damien Lovegrove. Considered by some to be one of the world's most influential contemporary photographers, Lovegrove has travelled the world as a wedding and portrait photographer. He turned to photography after a career at the BBC as a cameraman and lighting director. We watched a very interesting presentation where Damien explained his set up for each shot, along with his settings, and exploited both the locations and the light. Some locations were in Bristol. If you missed the evening check out our Links page for the list of YouTubers and look up Damien.
During our coffee / tea break we discussed the video and finished with a short video by Glyn Dewis on the Spot Colour feature just added to Lightroom.
On Tuesday October 24th we are competing to retain the Sherborne Bradford Abbas Shield. The meeting is at Bradford Abbas village hall starting promptly at 7.30pm.
Our next club meeting, Wednesday November 1st, is a practical session so please bring along your cameras and a tripod if you have one. One of the activities involves flash so your homework is to look up how to adjust your flash power, even on pop-up flash. It should be a fun session.

How I set about improving my photography

On Wednesday October 5th we were treated to an excellent presentation by our member, Meyrick Griffith-Jones. Meyrick gave a brutally honest assessment of his early work, reflecting many of our own concerns about our photography, and then explained how he had set about trying to improve his work, particularly his landscape photography. His talk was illustrated by some of his outstanding landscape images, and some not so great, explaining his approach throughout. Thank you Meyrick for a very valuable session.

Our next meeting will be looking at a video presentation by Damien Lovegrove, a very well known professional, as he explores the use of natural light and locations for portraiture. You may want to take notes as he explains his camera settings and approach to this branch of photography.

James Eastaugh - photo exhibition in Wincanton Library

Jim Eastaugh has been the backbone of Wincanton Camera Club for very many years. It is probably fair to say that, without Jim's efforts, Wincanton Camera Club would not still be going strong. In recognition of his efforts Jim was made a Life-time Vice-Chairman of the club.
In recent times Jim, now in his 90's, has found it more difficult to attend meetings and has been missed. However, Jim has put up a display of his work in Wincanton library which we would encourage you all to have a look at.
Image of some of Jim's exhibition

Thank you Jim for all your hard work on our behalf.

First internal competition of the season - Wednesday, September 20th

We met at Wincanton Memorial Hall on Wednesday for the first competition of our season, an Open Theme, featuring projected images and prints. Our esteemed judge was Graham Hiscock of Camelot Photographic and Studio H Photography in Wincanton.
Even with a couple of apologies for illness we had an excellent turnout from members and two prospective new members, always very welcome.
The standard of images was again high but Graham used the full range of marks and helpful comments as he worked through the entries. The highest place DPI was "Reflections 2" by Adie Ray, scoring 18/20. Three prints tied for the top mark of 18/20 - "Woosh" by Amanda Checkley, "Layers" by Adie Ray, and "Reading the cards" by Brian Stubbs.
Our grateful thanks to Graham for his efforts and judgement. All the marks can be seen on our website under Club Info and specifically at September Open.

To see the DPI's and Prints from this and other competitions Click here.

Our next meeting, Wednesday October 4th, will be a presentation by Meyrick Griffith-Jones on how he set about improving his photography, particularly his landscape images which we know are fantastic. Not to be missed.

Library Exhibition - the Public have spoken

On Saturday, September 8th, our exhibition at Wincanton Library came to an end after 3 weeks. The votes are now in and we know that some 150 people took the time and effort to vote for their favourite image. A full list of images and votes can be seen here .
The top 3 images were "Buzzard on lookout" by Paul Dyer, 10 votes 3rd; "Watching the competition" by Kit Williams, 14 votes 2nd; "Springer Spaniel running in" by Brian Stubbs, 15 votes 1st. A very close result indeed.
Image of Springer Spaniel running in

Our thanks to Wincanton Library for hosting our exhibition once again and to the public for supporting us.

Astronomy Photographer of the Year awards 2023

The winning images and photographers for the 2023 Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2023 have been announced by the Royal Observatory, Greenwich. You can view some of the winning images on the BBC Sky at Night magazine website and to see the actual exhibition in person check out the the Royal Museums Greenwich website. The exhibition opens September 16th.

Photographing Spaniels - Wednesday, September 13th

On Wednesday evening, between normal club nights, we met up at King's Stag to photograph working spaniels in the very capable hands of Meyrick. We learnt how to get low, sort our focussing mode and other settings to capture images of these beautiful dogs. It was a very enjoyable evening and lots to learn. Our very great thanks to Meyrick for the use of his garden and dogs.
Don't forget our next meeting is an open competition evening with both DPI's and prints.

First meeting of the season - Wednesday, September 6th

Our new season began on Wednesday, September 6th, at the Wincanton War Memorial Hall. A good turn out of members with their images to share and talk about took up most of the evening along with discussion on what we as a club want to do this year.
Meyrick, our Treasurer, was collecting the subscriptions for this year and Paul Dyer, our Competition Secretary, advised us that our entries for the first Open Competition need to be with him as soon as possible, without the photographer name in the filenames. The Open competition is our next meeting on Wednesday September 20th. We also need your "Sky" photos as soon as possible so that the selectors can pick our entry for the Sherborne Bradford Abbas Shield competition. We are the current holders so need to put in a good effort.
We also welcomed a new member, Maureen Russell, to the club. You are very welcome Maureen.
Between now and our next meeting, there is the opportunity for club members to meet up and take some pet photographs. The venue is Meyrick's house on Wednesday September 13th at 6.30pm. Please contact Meyrick for directions and any further details.

For any prospective members, our meetings are every other Wednesday at Wincanton Memorial Hall at 7.30pm. Remember to take the side entrance to the left of the main doors. All welcome, new and old. Check our programme for dates.

Results and images for Bird Photographer of the Year

The BBC News website has a link to the results for this year's competition
BBC report on Bird Photographer of the Year

The link to the organisation, Bird Photographer of the Year, gives more information and links to more photographs.

Fotospeed's FotoFest at Bath University

Fotospeed are once again hosting their photographic get together at Bath University on Sunday September 10th 2023. There is ample free parking, food available at the nearby Refectory, trade stands and four cracking presentations lined up with Nigel Danson, Amy Bateman, Paul Sanders and Jack Perks in the University's state of the art lecture theatre. More details are available from Fotospeed's Fotofest site. It is wise to book tickets beforehand because these events usually sell out.

Andover Hawk Conservancy Trust - club visit Sunday August 20th

On Sunday, August 20th, a group of club members ventured to Andover to the Hawk Conservancy Trust for a day photographing the magnificent birds they have there. This was a wonderful opportunity to photograph raptors, stationary and in flight. Our thanks to Paul Dyer for organising this club outing.
Thanks to Pam for the group photo and Paul for sharing a few of bird images.

Wincanton Camera Club Annual Exhibition opens

The club exhibition of prints opened today at Wincanton Libary and will remain there for 3 weeks. There is some serious quality this year so do make the effort to visit and see for yourself. The Library, in Carrington Way, Wincanton,BA9 9JS is open Monday to Wednesday 9.30am - 1.30pm and 2.30pm - 5pm. It is closed all day Thursday but open Friday 9.30am - 1.30pm and 2.30pm - 5pm and Saturday 9.30am to 12 noon. There is a free car park just across the road. Photo of man looking at Wincanton Library Photo exhibition

Photo of man looking at Wincanton Library Photo exhibition

Call for prints for our annual exhibition

It's time to get those prints mounted and hand them in to our committee for the annual exhibition at Wincanton Library. Members can submit up to 3 prints of their choice but no larger than A4 and mounted on board no bigger than 400mm x 300mm. The deadline for submission is August 12th. The exhibition runs from Saturday August 19th to September 9th and is viewable in Wincanton Library.

Club outing to Bennetts Watergardens - June 15th 2023

On Wednesday, July 26th, a good number of club members travelled to Chickerell, near Weymouth, to visit Bennetts Watergardens, home of the National Waterlily Collection. This is a beautiful venue which is booked up as a wedding venue at the weekends, hence our need to visit during the week. Some of us had visited previously but this a place well worth re-visiting as it offers so much for the photographer and has a very pleasant cafe on site.
Our thanks to Meyrick for organising another very successful club day out.

Club outing to Sturminster Mill - June 15th 2023

On Thursday evening there was a good turnout from club members at Sturminster Mill, Sturminster Newton. Organised by Meyrick, who was on hand to give advice to anyone who wanted it, this was an excellent evening to try and get some shots of this very picturesque working mill and the river running by. Do keep an eye / ear out for other trips to be arranged over the summer. If you are not a member but would like to come along then do get in touch.

Here are a few of the images from the evening.

Image of Sturminster Mill by Meyrick Griffith-Jones

Photo Frome - June 24th to July 12th 2023

Photo Frome is an independent festival of photography dedicated to showcasing and celebrating all levels of photographic endeavour from local, national, and international photographers. Staged at venues around Frome and over a period of nearly 3 weeks there are Exhibitions (all free to enter), Portfolio reviews, a Symposium, Workshops, and various Awards.

For more details click on PhotoFrome.org where you will links to the programme, details on the exhibitions and much more.

Wincanton Camera Club on Facebook

Our club now has a private group on Facebook for members only.
Click on this link to see the page and request to join. You will need to have a Facebook account which is free.

What we did in 2018-2019

What we did in 2019-2020

What we did in 2020-2021

What we did in 2021-2022

What we did in 2022-2023