Changes in Competition Rules

Friday, 11th September 2009

For the 2009 - 2010 season there will be four categories in both Annual Competitions
and these will be:- Pictorial, Portraiture, Record and Nature. All entries will be
marked out of 20 and certificates will be awarded to the winners of each category.
Members must specify the category at the time of entry.

For both competitions the judge will be asked to select the category winners and
each will be awarded a certificate.

In the case of the PDI competition the judge will also be asked to select an
“Overall Winner” from the four category winners.

In the case of the Print competition the judge will also be asked to select
the best monochrome entry, the best colour entry and the “Overall Winner”.
 

News

Some good news, D&DPS won the Steve Dobson trophy again at Wilmington CC.

Aperture Woolwich held the Inter-Society competition which took place on March 2nd, 2010 at  at Shrewsbury House; the winners Bexleyheath PS, second Aperture Woolwich PS and D&DPS brought up the rear.

Friday, February 19th we were hosts for this year's three-way PDI battle between Wilmington CC, Crayford CC and  ourselves for the Concorde trophy. The judge for this competition was Cathy Roberts FRPS, a member of Bromley PS and Beckenham PS. It was a surprise to learn that this was the first time that Cathy had judged a competition and her comments were very well thought out.  A good evening was enjoyed by all.
 
The final result was, a win for Crayford CC, Dartford &DPS 2nd. and Wilmington CC 3rd.
 

 

8th February 2010, D&DPS members were invited to a reception at the Civic centre by The Worshipful Mayor of Dartford, Councillor Jennifer Rickwood. This gave the members an opportunity to view an exhibition recently mounted by the club at the centre. At the Mayor's request the theme of the exhibition was "Bridges and Rivers", showing scenes from, not only the local area, but from Scotland , Wales and the USA as well. The Mayor thanked the members for the exhibition and said it had proved popular with visitors to the Civic centre.

Friday, 5th February 2010, "An AV Evening"  with Frank Page LRPS.  The Members were entertained with some of Frank's fine AVs showing his travels in Scandinavia, the glorious Winter scenes of Sweden and Norway were followed by  fascinating scenes of Iceland. In all a most enjoyable evening that was well supported by friends and members.

Friday, 22nd January 2010 was the 1st. intermediate round of the Allrounder competition and for the first time was judged by the members themselves. The judges for this competition were: Alun Evans, Carol White-Griffiths, Declan O'Keefe and Ian Hunt. There were two sections, one for prints and the other for PDI. The judges were asked to award between 2 and 5 marks each for the photographs presented; they did not vote for their own. 
 
The outcome was:

PDI

1st

 Mike Morfett LRPS 'Tricky Manoeuvre'

2nd

 Carol White-Griffiths LRPS 'Hot Pursuit'

3rd

 Fred Gardner 'Scotney Castle'

4th

 Dave Nuttall 'Towards the Light'

Prints

1st

 Roger Force FRPS 'The Pulpit' Canterbury Cathedral

2nd

 Mike Morfett LRPS 'Alone Together'

3rd

 Ian Hunt 'In the Pink'

4th

 Dave Nuttall 'Pillai'

 

On the 15th. January 2010, we hosted the annual Dartford v Gravesend battle. The format this year was prints and PDI. The judge Peter Tulloch ARPS DPAGB was in good form and his comments on the photographs presented showed great insight and were much appreciated by all. The result was a win for Dartford.

Well, the weather put paid to the first competition of the year; the Steve Dobson trophy, which is always hosted by Wilmington CC, due to be held on the 8th. January 2010; the judge Glyn Bareham LRPS CPAGB could not make it because of weather conditions.

Friday, 13th November 2009 - unlucky for some but not for D&DPS.   Clive Tanner FRPS gave an illuminating talk entitled "Printers Delight".  Clive is a nationally renowned photographer who is known for his beautiful photographs of church interiors. He began by showing one of his prints produced by the traditional darkroom method: it was a stunning print of the Chapter house steps, Wells Cathedral. He then went on to speak about his transition to digitally produced prints with emphasis on the need to profile all the equipment used.   The second half of the evening covered the work that Clive and his colleagues have carried out, archiving the thousands of glass plate negatives owned by Maidstone museum including several photographs, taken for record purposes, for the museum, of collections of beautiful Japanese antique wood block prints and inro.  (Japanese inro are small containers used by wearers of the kimono, which have no pockets, to hold herbs and coins etc.)   A memorable and entertaining evening enjoyed by all members.

30th October 2009 - The "Annual PDI competition" judged by Frank Page LRPS (Staplehurst PS) was held with the following results:

Pictorial Twisted Wood Julian Delf - overall winner
Portrait Graham (at the ready) Roger Force FRPS DPAGB  APAGB
Record Diana Mystery Clock, 345mm tall Mike Morfett
Nature Black Veined White Butterfly Brian Tettmar

There were 70 images in four categories, 33 pictorial, 15 nature, 14 record and 8 portrait to evaluate. He was very complementary about the overall standard but suggested that members think carefully about which category they put their entries in: not everybody had got it right.

An unusual evening on Friday, 25th September 2009.  Roger delivered a presentation on judging entries in competitions.  It was very illuminating explaining how together with the qualifications needed to complete this task, judges arrived at their results.  All the members had a go at judging previous digital images, and it was surprising, if one could remember the original scores, the difference club members found in their appreciation.  Judging is obviously subjunctive and what one judge likes, another doesn't but combined with useful criticism can help the photographer with his/her future entries.  An interesting evening.

Friday, 11th September 2009 was the first night in our new home.  It was decided that the first evening should be used partly for deciding the best way of setting out the room and trying out the equipment, where to put the screen, projector and computer etc. Roger sorted out the sound system. We now have a stick mic. and a lapel mic. One for the main speaker and one for whoever opens the meeting and so on.  The Folkestone C.C. promotional DVD was shown which has an introductory  AV  as well as the entry forms, maps etc. because they are hosting this year's KCPA AV competition.  Next Declan, one of our new members, showed a very good PowerPoint sequence of this year's Notting Hill Carnival. The President, Mike Morfett, told the members about a presentation that Roger is doing on behalf of the club at the Peter Blake gallery in Darford Library in the afternoon at 2.00pm and again at 3.300pm on Wednesday, 16th September 2009. This is about the club's involvement with the library and archiving their collection of glass plate negatives.

The end of this year's session finished tonight, Wednesday, 26th August 2009 with the judging of the President's Cup together with the rest of the awards presented to members for their work during 2008/2009.  The results are as follows:

President's Cup Carol White-Griffiths
Annual Print Competition - Best Print Dave Nuttall
Annual Print Competition - Best Colour Dave Nuttall
Annual Print Competition - Best Mono Dave Nuttall
Annual Slide Competition Graham Evans
All Rounder Shield Dave Nuttall
George Nuttall Trophy David Evans

 

Wedneday's "Bring and Buy" Sale on 12th August 2009 was well attended and several items changed hands. There was a plethora of Photo magazines and Ron brought along a pile of old camera bags (from compact to medium size).  Also included in the sale were items such as light meters, a Benbo Mk.1 tripod, and Roger brought along a DVD drive, and Ernie donated a A4 printer to the club. It was more of a chance for members to chat and so on than "Sale of the Century". After the break Patrick gave a demonstration of mount cutting which was very useful to some of the newer members.

We had a digital question and answer session at the meeting this evening - 22nd July 2009 - that concentrated mainly on downloading images onto a PC and ensuring the pictures concerned are stored in the correct drive; i.e., D-drive as opposed to, say, C-drive.   After the break Roger and Ian demonstrated new competition software that has just been purchased by the society.   It will greatly aid the running of projected image competitions and is the same programme as used by PAGB, and other august photographic bodies.  

Wednesday, 8th July 2009 was a very interesting evening with members sharing their thoughts on their favourite photographers.  Not only were the stories interesting, but the photographers' work was passed around the group so we could all experience the expertise these images projected.  It certainly inspired one to go away and see if similar work could be, if not exactly copied, be injected into our own photographs.

An evening walk along the creek by a dozen or so members met on Wednesday, 24th June 2009, opposite the old Dartford Paper Mill.  The weather was good and culminated in a very good sunset.  Hopefully, some members' images will shortly be shown to the rest of the club as everyone seemed to find a lot of subjects to record.

A change from the topic originally notified for the evening of Wednesday, 10th June 2009.  Tonight's meeting dealt with the problems that some people have in seeing certain colours.  Roger Force gave an illuminating talk touching on colour blindness tests, colour spaces- SRGB- Adobe RGB etc., colour gambits, monitor and printer profiling and so on. The members took part in colour blindness tests which were quite revealing. It was very interesting and gave much food for thought.

The Annual Print Competition was held on Wednesday, 27th May 2009, and judged by Dave Mason, Woolwich PS, member of Mirage, Arena and the London Independent Photographers.  Dave gave very helpful critiques to the prints exhibited and the winners of the Best Print/Mono are as follows:

1st

 Dave Nuttall Nude on the Plinth

2nd

 Dave Nuttall Gypsy Girl - (Best Colour)

3rd

 Roger Force FRPS DPAGB APAGB Chilling Out

4th

 Ron Hart APAGB Ornamental Grasses

An interesting and helpful night on Wednesday, 13th May 2009.  The workshop introduced some questions from members and others members gave very helpful advice, especially on the subject of RAW format, resolution and dpi.  Some new members arrived as a result of seeing the society's exhibition at Dartford Library; all in all a fascinating and thought provoking evening.  More of these type of evenings, please!

The D&DPS Exhibition was opened officially by Councillor Jennifer Rickwood, the new Lady Mayor of Dartford on Thursday, 7th May 2009, 6.30pm at the Sir Peter Blake Gallery, Dartford Library.  The club exhibition was the first undertaking of Councillor Rickwood in her new year of office, and is pictured with Mike Morfett, President of the D&DPS together with Councillor John Muckle, a member of the club.

The 3rd Intermediate Competition was judged tonight, Wednesday, 22nd April 2009, by John Yarrow, LMPA LSWPP, from Gravesend CC with the results as follows:

Projected Images

1st

 Graham Evans A Bad Day at Southwold

2nd

 Dave Nuttall La Belle Dame Sans Merci

3rd

 David Evans The Art Centre Portmeirion

4th

 Alan Hills Geese on Oxford Frost

Prints
 

1st

 Julian Delf Chemical Industry

2nd

 Ron Hart APAGB Creepy Ruin

3rd

 Robert Hall Autumn

4th

 Graham Evans Having a Good Time

 

Wednesday, 15th April was an extra meeting held to decide on the images that are going to be exhibited at Dartford Library from 6th - 22nd May 2009.  The official opening will be performed by the Mayoress of Dartford, Councillor Jennifer Rickwood, on Thursday evening, 7th, at 6.30pm until 7.30pm.

Dave Mason gave a talk on "Sequential Images", Wednesday, 8th April 2009 showing  his photographs in groups, hence "Sequential". These included - Venice, coastal, London, Poland and some others. Dave's forte is street photography and viewing his photos you could see how much thought he puts into his efforts.  The evening will have challenged those that can "see" only pretty pictures, and maybe encourage members to look further afield.


The AGM was held on Wednesday, 25th March 2009.  The President and all officers and committee members were re-elected unanimously by the club members.  The Dartford Library Exhibition will take place this year between 5th and 22nd May and an extra meeting has been convened on Wednesday, 15th April to select the prints for exhibiting.  Full details of the meeting contents will be relayed to club members shortly, but one point of interest to be noted is that the day of the week for meetings is to be changed in September 2009 to a Friday evening, and will be held in the larger upstairs room at Hubert House.
 

The second Intermediate Competition was judged tonight, 11th March 2009, by Andy Smith from Crayford Camera Club.  Andy gave each entry expert analysis and was very generous with his comments.  The results were as follows:

Projected Images

1st

 Dave Nuttall Rachael

2nd

 Robert Hall Yamaha

3rd

 Robert Hall No 87 Brands Hatch

4th

 Julian Delf Mountain Skyline

Prints
 

1st

 Mike Morfett LRPS CPAGB The Wreck "Hans Egede"

2nd

 Alan Hills Now What Did I do with That?

3rd

 Alan Evans Parrot Enjoying the Winter Sunshine

4th

 Dave Nuttall Haughty Lady

Ian Gorse LRPS gave the club a well presented slide show entitled "Iceland" - Medium Format Slides, Wednesday, 25th February 2009.  The images were in wide angle format and Ian explained the way he had taken his photos, often flat on the ground amidst the snow.  Waterfalls were in great evidence and although the club room was warm the images kept the members cool.
 

The results of the Malling Print Battle judged by John Wigmore FRPS MPAGB APAGB EFIAP that took place on 24th February 2009 were as follows:

1st

 Staplehurst PS

Joint 2nd

 Dartford & District PS

3rd

 Robert Hall

The best print of the night was "The Wave" by Patricia Jones FRPS MPAGB APAGB EFIAP from Sevenoaks CC

The Annual Projected Images Competition was judged on Wednesday, 11th February 2009, by Frank Page LRPS LMPA.  As well as choosing the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th places, the judging was accompanied by a well structured critique of each entrant's image and various digital photographic tips were passed on to the members.  Results as follows:

1st Graham Evans The Exhibition Centre Seville
2nd Dave Nuttall AmyLou
3rd Mike Morfett LRPS CPAGB Dunstanburgh Castle at Dawn
4th
Roger Force FRPS DPAGB APAGB
Antelope Canyon

Club members met the Mayor of Dartford, Councillor Ian Armitt, JP, at the Civic Centre where the club's exhibition was on view.  They shared a convivial glass of wine or fruit juice and the Mayor thanked the club for producing the exhibits.

 

Photography by Patrick Archer LMPA

On 28th January 2009, Dartford and Crayford battled it out with a show of Prints and Projected Images with Paul Adams, DPAGB, in the unenviable position of judging some fine examples depicting many different subjects. The results were as follows with only one print reaching 20 points - Wood Nymph .

  Prints Projected Images Total
Crayford CC 170 166 336
Dartford & DPS 180 176 356

The first meeting of 2009 - 14th January, was a Digital Workshop.  Roger Force treated us all to an interesting talk entitled "Extending your Vision", explaining what competition judges are actually looking for, using examples of images that could be made a lot more interesting and pleasing to the eye; as well as scoring some high points in the competition.  Listening to the comments from the audience was revealing, and proved that there were several ways and methods to enhance digital photographs.  A thought provoking night indeed.

Results of recent competitions:

Steve Dobson Trophy mono print battle
Dartford &DPS 118
PhotoDigital CC 117
Wilmington CC 113

 

Gravesend CC and Dartford & DPS print battle:
Dartford &DPS 334
Gravesend CC 333

The judge for both competitions was Clive Tanner FRPS - a very close fought battle between all the participating clubs.

10th December 2008, ended the year for the camera club as we shall not be meeting again until the New Year.  Members celebrated with our friends from Wilmington CC with a social evening, including AVs, a quiz for the 'oldens' and a raffle.  Refreshments were provided by the ladies, Joy and Pam, and Mattie furnished us with a home made Stollen cake - much nicer than the commercial products.  Thanks go to everyone who provided an entertaining evening to round off the year.  See you in 2009!

Wednesday, 26th November 2008 the Inter-Society competition was held at the Methodist Church, Swanscombe and judged by Bryan Kelvie FRPS.  Bryan commented on some selected prints after the entire entry had been shown as a digital presentation, and members enjoyed another successful evening.  Results as follows:

Congratulations to the Winners of the G F Meinertzhagen Shield For the year 2008
Judge: Bryan Kelvie FRPS

  Total Qualifying Marks Number of Authors Society Average
Bexleyheath Photographic Society 315 17 18.53
Dartford & District Photographic Society 200 11 18.18
Woolwich Photographic Society 182 11 16.54

Winner of the R J  Dobinson Trophy
(Best Print in the Competition)
Under the Step by Stan Spurling

Wednesday, 12th November 2008, Glyn Barham LRPS CPAGB presented a travelling exhibition to the members entitled 'Kent Digital Photographers'.  Glyn explained that the Digital Group formed a learning vehicle for all aspects of digital photography ie enhancing the images etc.  Each member had 4 prints and included the story of the picture and how they arrived at the final print using the plug-ins and tools of Adobe Photoshop.  He explained that the group did not enter competitions as such, but provided the prints for a travelling exhibition that toured Kent for a year.  One of the many interesting points was an image they were given and told to improve and update it rather than leave it as a straight picture.  This allowed the members' creativity to produce some startling and innovative prints.  A very enjoyable and informative evening.

Tuesday, 11th November 2008, the Concord Trophy was won by Dartford & District Photographic Society, judged by Paul Adams DPAGB.  Alan Hills' print 'Lovers in the Mist' received the maximum points. 

Dartford &DPS 208
Wilmington CC 202
Crayford CC 198

On Wednesday, 22nd October 2008, the 1st Intermediate Competition took place judged by John Watterson DPAGB from Bexleyheath PS.  There were many subjects put forward for judging in the Digital and Print Images sections, and John conducted a very fair assessment of all entries.  Not only were members judged, but were able to take away with them pointers, and help to aid them in their future competition entries.  Below are the results:

Prints
1st Roger Force FRPS DPAGB APAGB Organ and South Transept, Southwark Cathedral
2nd Julian Delf Vetch Stretch
3rd Dave Nuttall Lauren
4th
Roger Force FRPS DPAGB APAGB
Artistic Hands

 

Digital Photo Images
1st Robert Hall CPAGB Honda CBR600 rounding Druid's
2nd Alan Hills              Reflections
3rd Alan Hills              Lovers in the Mist
4th
Brian Tettmar       
 Downhill Walk

A very interesting evening of digital images entitled 'My Wicked Wanderings' was presented by John Hedgeley, Tovil Camera Club, 8th October 2008.  Much of the imagery was of buildings in Kent which have long since disappeared together with some that are still standing, interspersed with a witty, knowledgeable and historic account of the objects that were portrayed, including churches, statues, boats and even gravestones.  Once again a very entertaining evening.

'Digital Techniques' was the subject of tonight's meeting, 24th September 2008, and what a very interesting couple of hours were spent by the members.  Roger Force gave a PowerPoint Presentation about cameras, the different types, the type of format to be used for the best lossless images and many other points which some knew and some did not, interspersed with input by the audience.  The second part of the evening Mike Morfett showed us the technique of layers which had been requested by a camera club member.  Altogether, a very satisfying and  knowledgeable evening.

Tonight was something a little different.  John Wylie ARPS ABIPP presented Table Top Techniques and members were asked to bring their cameras.  John explained briefly about his CV, which was surprising as when he visited the club previously, it was in the capacity of a judge.  He trained as a commercial model maker but was also a trained engineer, which led him onto becoming a part time college lecturer in photography.  All was revealed as he set up various models of trains, houses and villages, inviting the rest of us to take photographs after giving a short demonstration of how to go about this particular technique.  Everybody enjoyed the evening as it was something out of the ordinary.

Visit to Southwark Cathedral - this took place on Thursday, 4th September on a rather inclement day but that didn't matter as members were escorted around the building.  The guide was knowledgeable and interesting, but photographers being photographers kept disappearing and taking shots.  Everyone had a good time and thanks go to Ron Hart and his brother-in-law for  arranging the trip.