Last night we had a audio three way visual competition over at Ludshott PC also taking part was Bracknell PC. each club had to supply five AV's of no more than five min each.
Results are Ludshott 86 Capel 70 Bracknell 59.

Capel's AV's
Steve Woolven  An Alpine Adventure 14
                          Namibia 15
Jane Nevin        The Entertainers 10
Jayne Kemp      Venice 18
David Chiverton The Magic of Butterflies 13

She was lovely, had a great sense humour and gave great constructive criticism. She never pause and know exactly want she wanted to say about each photo.

She gave us her key points for portrait and at the end reminded us that the scores are her opinion and does matter as long as you like your work.

Bob Webzell ARPS FIAP brought a fascinating lecture of his life in photography to Capel Camera Club last night.

From his joining of Brighton Camera Club in 1992 through to becoming President in 1998 and beyond his elevation in photographic society.

His need to solidify his life in photography led to his application for RPS fellowship with two successful panels (only one was required) a misunderstanding with costs we understand!

His need for competition led too FIAP and international competitions and his list of successful images was endless, some from Africa, some from Belfast, some staged, some because the image worked. However it was clear that successful images are sometimes teased out of confused compositions or detailed photographs and even one from an extremely under exposed shot!

Bob has spent time with the Maasai peoples of Kenya and has dedicated his time to a charity to improve childrens education and the development of a school. His photography is both rewarded by images of the Maasai people who have befriended him and the great African continent.

The lecture was definitely a lesson in competitive perseverance, why limit yourself to local competitions, investigate FIAP and why not try and take on the world!

Visit Bobs website www.webzell.co.uk for a taste of his exhibition entries.

Wednesday evening's practical session was a great success.  Two models and two lighting rigs gave everyone a chance to try their hand at portrait photography in a studio environment.

Anyone contemplating joining our club this coming September should start their portfolio for the Photo Hunt competition now.

This year's topics were chosen by Elisabeth Woodham.  She's the one holding the body of the camera in this picture - the squirrel holding the business end clearly thought her settings needed some adjustment!

Once tamed, the portrait of the squirrel might be ideal in category nine of the list:

1. Dancer(s)
2. Fire
3. I-Spy
4. Colour Purple (Donny Osmond's favourite!)
5. Craftsman/men
6. Rain
7. An Event
8. Indoor Sport
9. British Wild Animal (not in a zoo!)
   
10. Something Fishy!
11. Fruit
12. On Holiday

The competition rules are straightforward - competitors must enter one original digital image (taken this year) in each category.  Entries to be submitted at the end of November.  How the categories are interpreted is down to the photographer - the more creative the better, however Lis has warned that she doesn't want to see a lot of post-processing or manipulation of the images!

The American style "prom" is now a regular feature in the British schools calendar and it is a chance for the children to dress up and impress as they reach the end of their school days.

Last Friday evening, club member Rachel Verge was invited to photograph the Priory School (Dorking) Year 11 Prom at the stunning Wotton House hotel.  I was lucky enough to tag along as her assistant.

At the AGM it was agreed to raise the membership fee by £1 (see illustration, right) to £29 for the coming season.

Your membership fee supports the club's activities; the rental (and usually, heating) of the hall, the high quality professional judges for our competitions and the occasional purchase of more significant items like the excellent projector screen.

It is worth remembering that the club also benefits from the generous contribution of time and materials from its members - for example the loan of the projector, the supply of refreshments, and the tireless work of the committee members - all of which helps keep the membership fee as low as possible.

Please encourage any friends or neighbours who might be interested in photography to come along as guests to our meetings; new members bring new ideas, fresh and exiting entries to our competitions, and of course help share the costs and lessen the need to increase fees next year.

As the committee finalises the agenda for the 2013/2014 season, I thought a new "theme" for the website would give it a fresh look for the new club year.

The content is pretty much the same, updated for the upcoming events.

Let us know if you like the new look, and if you have any suggestions for new content for the site.

Our season is over but there is still news to report.  Last Saturday, 25 member clubs of the Surrey Photographic Alliance met at East Horsley Community Center for the annual digital image competition and not only were we competing but a number of members of our club were involved in staging the event too.

The main trophy was taken by Godalming Photographic Club with an impressive total score of 227 points, 12 points clear of Crawley in second place.  We at Capel came in a valiant 22nd (196 points) and of course it is the taking part that counts!

Prizes were also awarded for Best Image (to Philip Koniotes, Cranleigh, the only picture scoring a full 15 points and deservedly so) and each of the three Judges Awards.

A class for Nature photographs was also held, with 20 clubs entering.  Cheam Camera Club took the trophy with 111 points (narrowly beating Godalming on goal difference) and David Sugden of Cheam awarded Best Picture.  Capel did well with 106 points placing us in a respectable joint fifth place.

Congratulations to everyone who entered - without entries, there would be no competition!

Tonight was the finale of the season, the Projected Digital Image of the year competition.  I'm sure many judges would have been intimidated by the task of selecting one winner from a line up of 45 images of all kinds but Ann Smith took it in her stride, reviewing and commenting on them all before tea.  Once we were all refreshed she whittled a shortlist of 15 but then it looked like we might be in for a long evening as the final choice took much deliberation.

Many of the entries have already been winners in previous competitions this year so although they were all new to Ann, it was refreshing for the regulars to see some new photos too.  As the rules permitted three images per member, many took advantage of the opportunity to enter a new picture as one of their entries.

Ann Smith is an ARPS and a frequents too many camera clubs to list here.  She is much in demand as a highly respected judge and so her kind remarks about the quality of our work were particularly well received.  She was especially complementary of our natural history pictures, many of which can be seen in our members galleries and indeed it was a dramatic African wildlife shot by Jason Wharam that took the trophy with a tableau of British riverside wildlife by Wendy Goodbody (reminiscent of a scene from the Wind in the Willows) as runner up.  


Both pictures will be found on the winner's page.


There is no club meeting next week, the awards dinner is the following Saturday (20th) and the final meeting of the season which is the AGM will be on the Wednesday (24th)