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LETTER OF THE WEEK W NS A SAMSUNG EVO PLUS M CROSD CARD NOTE: PRIZE APPLIES TO UK AND EU RES DENTS ONLY Contact Amateur Photographer, TI Media Limited, Pinehurst 2, Pinehurst Road, Farnborough, Hampshire GU14 7BF Email ap@ti-media.com Subscriptions Enquiries and orders email help@magazinesdirect.com Telephone 0330 333 1113 Overseas +44 330 1113 (lines open Mon-Fri GMT 8.30am-5.30pm excluding bank holidays) One year (51 issues) UK £155.50; Europe e 259; USA $338.99; Rest of World £221.99 Test Reports Contact OTC for copies of AP test reports. Telephone 01707 273 773 Back Issues Contact 01795 662976; support@mags-uk.com Advertising Email samuel.shaw@ti-media.com Inserts Call Mona Amarasakera, Canopy Media, on 0203 148 3710 Editorial team Group Editor Nigel Atherton Deputy Editor Geoff Harris Technical Editor Andy Westlake Reviews Editor Michael Topham Features Editor Amy Davies Technique Editor Hollie Latham Hucker Production Editor Jacqueline Porter Chief Sub Editor/Features Jolene Menezes Acting Chief Sub/Features Amanda Stroud Art Editor Sarah Foster Senior Designer Steph Tebboth Studio Manager Andrew Sydenham Photo-Science Consultant Professor Robert Newman Offi ce Manager Hollie Bishop Special thanks to The moderators of the AP website: Andrew Robertson, lisadb, Nick Roberts, The Fat Controller Advertising Head of Market Liz Reid 07949 179 200 Senior Account Manager Samuel Shaw 07970 615 618 Production Coordinator Chris Gozzett 0203 148 2694 Publishing team Chief Executive Offi cer Marcus Rich Group Managing Director Adrian Hughes Managing Director Kirsty Setchell

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LETTER OF THE WEEK

The healing power

I just felt that I had to write and thank you for your acknowledgement of mental health issues in the 11 January issue. As a PTSD sufferer it rang a bell for me –I was diagnosed after my wife’s sudden and unexpected death and after serving 30 years in a highly stressful role in the emergency services. And I can confi rm that without my photography and camera club friends I would not be writing this letter. Having read the article and Paul Williams’ fi rst-class book, it is good to know that I am not alone, and I hope that other readers will be able to come to terms with what life throws at us and get out with their cameras, and help them on the road to recovery. David Bish

David related to many of the issues we highlighted in our cover feature above

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Judges are holding clubs back At the beginning of this year our camera club had our fi rst heat of our annual Image of the Year competition. To put it mildly, the judge had been rather scathing with every image when a print of a grey seal was presented to be judged. It was a really wonderful and skilfully executed wildlife shot, but immediately the judge said, ‘What a horrible print. I do not want to see this ugly print ever again!’ The whole club was shocked. I wished that I had not become diplomatic with old age otherwise I would have given him a mouthful. I am angry at myself for not doing so. The author has only been with us a few months and has shown great promise with her wildlife images. As we have struck up a friendship I consoled her by telling her to take no notice of the ignorant judge as he appears not to know anything about photography, considering his performance that night. I’ve been a professional photographer since 1966. I have studied at two colleges and have experience in many photographic disciplines both professionally and for my own pleasure. I fi rst joined a camera club in 1976, when just 27, never expecting the domineering role that competitions play in the camera club world, and soon came to feel that camera club judges retard the progress of camera club photography, because anything fresh is ridiculed by the judge. Last year we had our Print of the Year fi nal. The winning print was a dinghy on the mud at low tide. In 1980 at a different club a similar print won in a similar competition. No wonder that traditional camera clubs are dominated by senile old men, pandering to brain-dead judges. Youngsters don’t want to know. And no wonder progressive new camera clubs are springing up that avoid competitions and indulge more in practical activities instead of sitting in the dark every week like brain-dead cabbages. If only a progressive club would set up near me. John Heywood

Resolutions New year resolutions are often short-lived for a variety of reasons. But my constant three reminders of better performance, some learned the hard way, might be useful as a prompter for others. 1] ‘Dithering means doom’. I’ve lost count of the times when witnessing situations where delay occurs because the lens cap is still on, the camera is stuck in a case, or adjustments have to be made before the shutter can be pressed. What was a great picture opportunity then suddenly becomes a fading memory. 2] ‘Know your kit’. It sounds basic but too few people spend enough time learning how to handle their camera in ways that become second nature. Quiet time spent in non-shooting situations helps to raise familiarity with controls and options. 3] ‘Stay on watch’. Picture opportunities can unfold when least expected. Develop the ability to think quickly in order to produce a memorable shot from a photo opportunity rather than an ordinary snapshot. Colin Lester

Catalina In response to the letter by Gerald Peppiatt regarding upgrading to Catalina (AP 18 January), be warned. I upgraded with ongoing problems. My 27in iMac crashes every day and when I restart, the mouse and keyboard freeze. After three or four restarts, it works. I can no longer activate some older apps. I would re-install the older OS but in order to back up

A useful tip, Graeme, and a great picture

the computer I need to use my 8TB hard drive, which it no longer reads! Dave Foker Do not feed The Byrds As one of your older readers featured in AP last October (AP 12 October 2019) I drew a wry smile when I saw Damien Demolder’s piece on The Hendrix Experience ( Final Analysis , 11 January) . I recall a photo (possibly in a Victor Blackman article) in 1965 that featured a group called The Byrds who were very current at the time. The following week at least one angry reader wrote in threatening to cancel his subscription if such long-haired US imports or their ilk were ever featured again. Tempus fugit... Shame the photographer of Hendrix is unrecorded. Someone out there must know. Paul Cooper Happy when it rains I thoroughly enjoyed reading Geoff Harris’s article Great shots whatever the weather (AP 25 January). As a fan of bad weather photography it gave me some new ideas to try out. One of the things I like to do in rainy weather is to use a telephoto zoom. It compresses the perspective and can make a heavy rainstorm look even more dramatic and dense. The shot seen above was taken on a summer’s afternoon in Aberdeen’s Union Street. I took the scene from the other side of the road. Graeme Youngson Leica M10 Monochrom Try as I might, I cannot get my head round the fi nancial arithmetic when it comes to the amazing new Leica M10 Monochrom, as tested in a fi rst look by Andy Westlake (7 days, 25 January). When he says ‘... the sky-high price means that relatively few photographers will ever get to shoot with one’, he’s totally on the mark. At £7,250 for the body only, with a couple of lenses easily adding another £4k+, you are talking eye-watering money by any standard. Yes, Leica has loyal fans for good reasons and its cameras undoubtedly produce superb results, but I’m guessing that the buyers’ profi les are in a different class from others. Are they buying as a potential

investment over time, or are they buying for something to knock the spots off rivals in picture terms?

Craig Barnes Craig says why buy sky-high-priced Leicas

A Rolex doesn’t tell the time any better than any other watch, and a Bentley won’t get you to your destination any quicker. As a luxury brand Leica appeals to rich people who just want to show off, as well as to serious collectors and discerning photographers who appreciate its beauty, want the unique shooting experience that it offers and will somehow fi nd the money to buy one.

Black & white printing The Leica M10 Monochrom (7 days , 25 January) is dedicated to recording black & white images directly to the camera, having no colour fi lters. If you are lucky enough to own an M10 Monochrom and want to print the pictures out the choice of printer will inevitability include colour inks. Will printing the Leica Mono images on a colour printer subvert the whole point of having the camera in the fi rst place? Is there such a thing available as a pure black & white printer? Can the benefi ts of a digital mono-only camera be retained without having an equally mono dedicated printer to go with it? William Graham

The benefi ts of the monochrome sensor are all at the taking stage –it gives visibly greater detail, higher dynamic range, and lower high-ISO noise compared to an equivalent colour sensor. You’ll get all of these regardless of how you print the fi les.

CORRECTION In our book review of Photographers Against Wildlife Crime in the AP 25 January issue, we listed an incorrect price. The book costs £60, and can be ordered from bit.ly/ pawcbook.

Back in the day

A wander through the AP archive. This week we pay a visit to February 1977

1977

IT’S TOUGH trying to come up with an engaging AP cover every week and they can’t all be great, but Lordy - this must be a contender for the worst cover ever. Some covers were fi ne in their day but just haven’t aged well, but it’s hard to believe that this one was ever less than awful. Editor Martin Hodder then added insult to injury by dedicating all of the colour pages in that issue to more examples from ‘German Masters’, including some peppers with a safety pin stuck through them (why?), eggs spray-painted silver and more creepy dolls on ugly colorama backgrounds. What a waste of a Hasselblad. Further investigation provides an explanation. It was part of a content swap deal with a German magazine and fellow member of EPP, a forerunner of EISA. If the Leave.EU campaign had put these pictures on the side of a bus they would probably have got even more than 52% of the vote!

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