Clouds...

You would think a 'Clouds' Theme at the end of winter, beginnings of spring would offer a multitude of opportunities for dramatic sky's.

Well this year is not the case where featureless sunny blue hs been the norm, not that I'm complaining, but it didn't help much in the preparation for the theme.

Despite all of the above, 13 members presented images and with a slight change to the format, allowing attendees the opportunity to voice their comments in advance of knowing who actually took the photograph; the meeting proved lively and active with everyone freely volunteering their thoughts and advice.

Over there on the left is one of my personal favourites from Peter, with a wonderfully composed cloudscape complementing a rather unusual building.

Next theme is 'Cityscapes', see you for more next month !

Whatever you want 2012...

We kicked off the year with our 'classic' whatever you want theme, this year however we have a slightly different set of rules that now allow the members to use an image from any year they want.

32 images were presented and a good turnout ensured that there was lots of lively discussion and critiques going on.

Above is my personal favourite, which is from Celia, and is a wonderful image taken in India, whose strong composition and subject interest kept me glued to the image looking for more and more clues as to the story behind it.

The next theme was drawn randomly at the end of the presentation from the 17 themes proposed by the members and is... Clouds.  Its the first time in my life that I hope that the weather gets worse ;-).

Skyscapes...

Today we had the final theme of the Year, with a high level of participation by the club members and a good variety of images, although clouds were by far the most popular subject.

Above is my favourite image, a fantastic photograph of the Ebro Estuary taken at 7 o' clock in the morning just before sunrise using an 8 second exposure taken by Nico.

...and below my other favourite for a clever use of composition and having such a great eye is from Rosie who chose the Pavillion in Victoria Park as her subject.

There are many more great images to be seen, so take the jump to our gallery pages if you want to see more. 'Thumbs up' and comments are always very much appreciated, so don't be shy about giving your opinions.

Have a great Christmas, hope Santa brings you some new photographic toys to play with and I look forward to starting our theme schedule once again in 2012 !

Contre-Jour...

Contre-Jour or 'backlighting' as it is more commonly known, is the technique of shooting directly at a light source.

This can cause lens flare, rim lighting, silhouettes and the effect is not always predictable either, which adds to the fun and makes it a great technique to try out and experiment with.

Our members presented a whole spectrum of images covering all aspects mentioned above. I really liked Alberto's image you see over there on the left, the rim light makes the ball literally jump of the screen.

You can see the rest over on the gallery pages, and please leave some 'thumbs ups' and comments.

Next theme is 'Photograph a Stranger', this webpage offers some tips that may help you out.

Good luck and I'll see you all again on the 28th June.

Simplicity...

Simplicity... its really quite difficult to take a'simple' image isn't it ? Does simple mean a single element, a single colour, a single theme or a combination of the above ?

Looking at the image above it looks like Benja had no problem in facing up to the challenge with his deceptively simple image of tyre tracks in the sand. The club would also like to welcome Richard who presented for the first time.

Have a look at the galleries page and you'll see the varied interpretations, please leave comments and a few 'thumbs up' wouldn't go a miss either.

Next theme is 'Contre-Jour', looks simple right.. lets see how easy it is to come up with something original !

Until next month, thanks for all the images and the attendance to the presentation.

Whatever you want 2011...

Taken by Michele

As always the club started its thematic presentations with the always very popular 'Whatever you want'.

18 members presented images and we welcome Michele, Viney and Helen who presented their photographs for the first time.

While the actual turnout was still not quite up to standard, we still managed to have a lot of lively discussion and pass on a few tips and tricks between us.

All the images are available in their glory on our gallery pages, so take a look, leave some thumbs up and make some comments as its alway motivating to see that other people have took the time to look and comment on your hard work.

Next theme is 'Simplicity'.. see you all again soon..!

Holidays 2010...

Always a popular theme and this year was no exception with almost 40 images presented.

Once again the club members have travelled far and wide with images from Iceland, Cuba, Patagonia, France, Bulgaria, Germany, Holland, Spain and the list goes on.

Daniel and Marion presented images for the first time and below you see the epic 'man conquers mountain and satiates his thirst' shot from Daniel and a clever shot from Marion with the jet aircraft contrails mimicking the bridge supports.

Above you will see Celia's iceberg image which drew a lot of comments from the spectators.

If you want to see more (and I can't believe you don't...) head on over to the gallery pages to check out all the images. And whilst your there if you feel like leaving some comments and giving some thumbs up, it's always greatly appreciated.

Next theme is 'Landscapes', so, until then...

Happy shooting..!.

Macro...

Despite many absences due to holiday/mission/World Cup season, many photographs were still presented (even by those who couldn't attend).

As expected for a macro theme, the primary subjects for our cameras where insects and plants, two of which you can see here.

However, a few of the members found more non-conventional subjects with Nacho's images generating many comments from the audience.

As always, all the images are available on the gallery pages, so go and leave some 'thumbs ups' and comments if you feel so inclined.

Its summer so time to take a well earned rest and we will return with our usual theme 'Holidays', sometime in September.

Enjoy the holiday period and once again thanks for all your efforts in presenting photo's.

Unusual/Extreme Perspective...

What I thought would be a difficult theme with a low number of images, turned out to be easy for many of you with more than 30 images being presented. Well done to all of you.

Silvia and Ivan presented images for the first time, with Silvia's dramatic image of a tower in Aukland and Ivan's Fake Tilt/Shift of a village in Bulgaria going down well with the members attending the presentation.

Thanks to all of you for putting in the effort and presenting so many high quality images.

All the images are available on the gallery pages, so go and leave some 'thumbs ups' and comments if you feel so inclined.

Our next theme will be 'Macro'... so I hope to see another big turnout for all the images of little things... see you all in June for the presentation..!

Whatever you want 2010...

We started the years presentation's with the usual 'Whatever you want' theme and 15 members presented a total of 43 images. Not a bad start to the year if I do say so myself.

As we have suffered a lot with the weather this winter there were a number of 'snowy' images, with this one by Debbie catching the presidents eye due to its composition and great usage of depth of field.

There was a fair variety of images presented as you may imagine, and the participation to the presentation itself was lively, with lots of discussion and questions.

As always, you can view all the images over on the gallery pages, where you are encouraged to leave comments on fellow members images, plus an explaination of your own, and don't forget to give a thumbs up to all those that you like.

Next theme is 'Unusual/Extreme perspective', until then... happy shooting !

Animal Kingdom...

As much as the club members enjoy taking holiday photo's, it seems they equally enjoy animal photography.

Forty-four images were presented, with a wide range of interpretation of the theme.... cats where a popular subject and land, sea, air and cuddly animals were all covered.

Nicolas presented for the first time and we welcome our newest member to what hopefully will be a photographically fruitful future...

Above you see Nico's wonderful reflection image of a swan gliding smoothly down the Danube (made you look twice didn't it !) and Baerbel's exquisite butterfly image full of melting pastel colours and a testament that film certainly is not dead.

As always the rest of the images can be viewed on the gallery pages, please leave comments and click those thumbs-up on all the photo's that you like.

As this was the last theme for 2009 the members can now take a well earned rest and just leaves me to say a big thank you to all, for your enthusiasm and participation which I hope will continue at their high levels in 2010.

Holidays 2009

Look like the club members really enjoy holidays.... and REALLY enjoy showing off their photo's....

We had almost 50 images to go through in what was once again, a couple of hours of wonderful stories of holiday adventures, mixed in with a good smattering of photographical tips and techniques.

The members have once again travelled far and wide with a full range of photo's to be appreciated from landscapes to sunsets and travel reportage to the comical...

Above you see a wonderful sunset taken by Toni and below a contrasting image from Bjoern with sublime muted colours and tones...

We only have one more theme before its time to start putting together the book for this year... So I look forward to another high level of participation to close the year perfectly....

As always please go and check out the gallery, leave comments and give your thumbs up to all those photo's that you like...

People...

A rather modest number of images and turnout for the clubs latest presentation.

Hardly suprising I suppose, what with the holiday season finally here, workshops popping up every day, recently launched satellites taking up our time and the list goes on.


In spite of this there was still a lot of discusion and a few surprises... go and check out a certain image from Alberto and see if you can work out what he has done... then check here and here to see if you guessed right.

I have pulled rank on this blog entry and included the picture of my son... well basically because I'm a proud Dad..

...and you'll also see Mar's wonderfully natural street portrait...

So then... time for a well earned rest for everyone and the 'Holidays 2009' theme will be back in September, where we get to show off all the fantastic things we are about to do over the holiday period...

But.... (there's always a but isn't there)... before you all disappear.. please do leave you comments and thumbs up...

Take care...

Reflections...

Another fantastic participation from the club members with both Aitor and Tiziano presenting images for the first time.

In the more intimate environment of the A Building meeting room the discussion was fast and furious with members beginning to experiment further with their images, with the words 'cropping' and even 'cloning' being thrown around like true experts.

Image variety was high as well, with water, metals, glass and even bubbles ?! being used as reflective media... there were also the more philisophical members who interpreted the theme to mean human reflection... like I said people had really done their homework..!.

As always please go and leave comments on the gallery page and start giving those thumbs up to all the images you liked...

Next theme is 'People' which I'm sure is going to attract even more participation...

Until next time..........

Nighttime...

We received again a high number of entries for what I consider was a very hard theme.

We had many technical discussions regarding colour temperature of lights, stitching with wide angle lens and off camera lighting which was all very 'enlightening' considering the subject ;-)

The club president showed his darker side by presenting the above image of an attempted mugging.. you'll be relieved to know that he came to no harm by firing his flash into the eyes of the attacker, temporarily blinding him while making good his escape....

Also, Nico brought along this wonderful image of Segovia taken from a secret 'locals only' location that he has sworn not to disclose...

There are many more great images over on the gallery pages so head over there and enjoy. As always, comments and 'thumbs ups' are always appreciated, and if the authors of the images can leave a few lines on how and why they took the image it would be great as well.

Next theme is 'Reflections' another theme that at first glance appears to be trivial but in execution is not at all..

Until then.......

Whatever you want '09...

The club made a fantastic start to the year with its biggest ever presentation of a total of 52 images from 18 members.

Baerbel, Debbie, Erik, Nacho and Toni presented images for the first time, hope the experience wasn't too traumatic !?

I highly recommend taking some time to go through all the images on our gallery pages, you won't be disappointed as there are lots of crackin' shots.

Don't forget to give a 'thumbs up' to those you like and comments are always appreciated as well.

Owners of the photo's can also use the same comments mechanism to give a bit more information regarding their image if they so wish...

The next theme is 'Nighttime'.... am I being too presumptious in thinking that we can better this first presentation of the year ?

Song Title...

This theme proved to be tricky with a smaller than usual number of images presented, but it was still very interesting to see which song titles you all chose to represent.

For example this image presented by Celia would you have guessed it was 'African Eyes' by Sister Sledge....

...or the one below from Alberto as 'Lonely stranger' by Eric Clapton

This was our final theme for 2008 and marks the end of what has been a very successful year for the club.

As is our tradition the first theme of 2009 will be 'Whatever you want' look forward to seeing all you images soon...

Holidays 2008...

Always a popular theme, this year was no different with more than forty images being presented by members.

We where all privileged to see images from such exotic places as Hawaii, Canada, Russia, Turkey, Switzerland, Canary Islands, Bulgaria, United States, Malaysia, Sardinia and Cadiz (!)

Alberto took full advantage of the theme with his original 'photos on a table' composition which you can see above.

Landscapes where by far the most favorite subjects as you can see from Celia's image of Canadian lake tranquility above and Jose Manuel's splendid shot taken in Hawaii below.


But we also saw stunning underwater images from Luis from his diving trip in Sipadan, clearly illustrated by the photo of the ghost pipefish you see below.


The next theme is 'Song Title' which you may of guessed means that you have to interpret a song title with you photo's. It will be interesting to see if the other members can guess the song !

As always, please go to the galleries and leave your comments and thumbs up !!!

'Through the Window'...

A rather modest turnout, due mainly to the holiday season, enjoyed the diverse and well thought out entries for the theme of 'Through the Window'.

This time we also managed to calibrate the projector beforehand such that we could see all the images at their very best.

Not all members who presented images could be present unfortunately, but special mention surely has to go to Celia, whom despite being on holiday in Canada, still managed to send in images from across the pond... how's that for dedication..!

You can see one of her entries below from inside a very colourful building in Montreal.

I have to admit the image above from Nick was my personal favourite, with its lovely muted colours and pure simplicity.











Bjoern also continues to bring original images which you can clearly see from his shot of the island of tabarca below...



As I think you have all deserved a well earned rest, no complicated themes for the next round... we resort to the same theme we did last year... 'Holidays'...

You have a couple of months to put together those vacation images and we will present then at the end of September...

Many thanks to all of you who participated and attended the meeting.. enjoy the holidays !!!

....and before you all disappear off somewhere windswept and exotic, don't forget to leave your 'thumbs up' and comments on the gallery pages for all the images that you like...

Triptych...

The 'Triptych' turned out to be another difficult task with even the Club President failing to heed his own advice regarding leaving things to the last minute causing him not to show up with any images... (hangs his head in shame... :-(....)

However, this didn't prevent the newer members of the club like Bjoern, from coming up with original idea's like the 'cube' triptych above and Alberto with his colourful interpretation of 'corners' below...

Jose Manuel, showed his prowess with a polarising filter and once again turned up with some images from yet another holiday !...... this time in Switzerland... He assured us that the helicopter wasn't off to bring him more compact flash cards after he had filled up all his.!..
Ricardo's 'deconstructing apollo' caused some interesting conversation....... and pysicoanalysis as you might expect after seeing the image below.... Jose Manuel provided a good interpretation.... you'll have to ask him personally what it was though... ;-)


As always congratulations to all of you who presented images and for all the people who turned up to view the slideshow as well....... I continue to look forward to more and more images being presented in future themes (maybe even the club president will participate who knows...?!?)..
So........ our next theme is 'through the window'... that is to say... photo's taken through windows....
One can only imagine what Ricardo will come up with next...... :-)