Issue #3
January 2021
Blackburn & District Camera Club
Looking back on 2020 Slate Mining Equine Portraits Programme
Welcome Editor’s Note When we thought about restarting this magazine to help us through the lockdown little did we think that we would be spending Christmas and the New Year restricted to our homes. It was a holiday season like no other with no parties or gatherings, but there is now light at the end of the tunnel and we can look forward to a vaccine and finally being able to meet up again to chat and take photos.
On The Cover Christmas on Pendle by Bob Singleton
However as Nan recalls in her review of last year it wasn’t all gloom and doom, thanks to the internet the Club has remained active and its unbelievable that we achieved so much. Here’s hoping that 2021 will bring us some relief, but in the meantime here is this Months Lazaretto to fill in a few moments. So pour yourself a drink sit back enjoy and dream of an end to the pandemic.
Lazaretto
What’s in a name?
A lazaretto or lazaret (from Italian: lazaretto) is a quarantine station for maritime travellers. Lazarets can be ships permanently at anchor, isolated islands, or mainland buildings. In some lazarets, postal items were also disinfected, usually by fumigation. A leper colony administered by a Christian religious order was often called a lazar house, after the parable of Lazarus the beggar. Sadly as we re-start our Club Magazine - Blackburn is in Lockdown due to the Covid 19 corona virus
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Review of 2020
Equine Portraits
Slate Mining in Wales
4 Outdoors
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Photo Journalism
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Programme
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Lazaretto is the Club Magazine of Blackburn & District Camera Club. All work is copyrighted to the author or artist. All rights reserved. No part of this magazine may be used or reproduced without permission from the publisher.
Website WWW.BlackburnCameraClub.Co.UK
The Team
President
Nan Goodall
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President@BlackburnCameraClub.co.uk
Secretary
Bob Singleton
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Secretary@BlackburnCameraClub.co.uk
Treasurer
Keith Heyworth -
Treasurer@BlackburnCameraClub.co.uk
Programme
Teresa Roberts
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Programme@BlackburnCameraClub.co.uk
Competitions
Jim Cunningham -
Competition@BlackburnCameraClub.co.uk
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2020 Vision Despite everything 2020 will go down as being a successful year for the Club
January On 6th January 2020 we came back to start our new programme of events. Little did we know that we were starting one of our most challenging years ever – our carefully and lovingly constructed plans for 2020 to be influence way beyond our control by events already rumbling in the background on the worldwide stage. Initially everything started as normal and in an attempt to get more members to present prints into club competitions, our first Monday in the New Year focused on ‘Printing and Mounting Prints’. Keith Stewart, Richard Heyes and Jim Cunningham gave some highly informative demonstrations to help members understanding of the techniques involved. This was followed a week later by a tutorial evening extending the subject matter, to provide further assistance to members, to help improve their photography skills. Keith Stewart and Bob Singleton also demonstrated a photo scoring technique using a mobile phone app. The 20th January was a Folio Evening of photographic prints from the ICPA and the L&CPU. It consisted of four boxes [2B&W & 2 Col] from the ICPA and the 2 Red boxes that came to us from the L&CPU via the Isle of Man – it was amazing that we managed to get through them all. The last evening in January was our AGM that I felt
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went very satisfactorily. Minutes from this meeting are now available.
narration’ during which Jim kept us all spellbound throughout. March
February As an introduction to February some of our more longstanding members gave us an insight into their brand of photography. Keith Stewart, Bob Singleton and Jim Cunningham kept all the members well entertained with comprehensive but quite different sets of pictures. On the 10th Nancy Lisa Barrett [wife of Andy Phillips] gave us an amazing glimpse of the wedding pictures she creates around the happenings that surround that ‘Big Day’. In February, Comp 1 was judged by Jeremy Malley Smith who detailed very thoroughly his thought process around each entry which made for a great evening of instructional and tutorial merit. Listening to a good judge’s comments is always very helpful to members. On the Monday 24th our speaker was Jim Holmes, a documentary photographer with years of experience taking pictures on behalf of ‘Aid Organisations’ in needy and far-flung countries. Despite a career that followed many of the world wide disaster zones his ability to spot that upbeat special moment shone through the horror and desperate situations. The presentation was accompanied by a very ‘classy
This was followed by only a limited number of ‘normal meetings’ in March because Covid-19 was already rife in England and we were about to start our ‘new life’ known as Lockdown! These three meetings were: - Firstly a members evening where Richard Heyes gave an excellent talk on Photoshop and afterwards Bob Singleton and others demonstrated the use of tripods for camera work. The second March meeting was a fantastic evening with Natasha J Bella, Photographer and Model. I think this will be one of the camera club evenings that will stay in everybody’s minds for a long time to come. Natasha was interesting to listen to and a dream to Photograph, with lots of help and tips for members – Great stuff. Covid 19 With Lockdown looming, the third Monday evening on the 16th March was a very subdued small gathering in the clubhouse that sat and discussed what lay in front of us, and how it would affect us as a camera club. I have this down in memory as one of the most pivotal meetings of 2020 because out of this came a suggestion to use Zoom and a great determination not to go under . . . .
WhatsApp Thanks to Teresa Roberts we had already set up a ‘WhatsApp Group’ to arrange extra trips and days out. This messenger service has been very useful as an extra way of keeping in touch with a number of our members. Informative and humorous, a good extra communication tool in these difficult times. As we entered Lockdown proper and the great divide – normal life and after, it involved some mega changes. We ditched some of the planned programme, scrambled to adapt to the new technology and flew by the seat of our pants like never before! I have to say how well we achieved it all. The whole of our membership rose to the challenge. Including those whose input and tech knowhow was invaluable, those who stepped up to lead a meeting from the front, and also the majority of our membership who were willing to try this new communication technique and learn a new way of meeting. Well done to you all. Zoom On Monday 23rd March we had our first trial run on Zoom. As a club we were very lucky that we had people with the expertise to drive this new form of virtual meeting and club members willing to give it a go. The possibilities being immediately apparent by it’s success. Jeremy Malley Smith volunteered to be our first Zoom speaker for which we were very grateful, and Jim Cunningham was to be our first Zoom judge. As I have said before - it was our own innovative membership that took us forward into the future. So, on Monday 30th March Jeremy Malley Smith gave us a talk on ‘Scottish Wildlife’. Not only was it a great talk - but it also gave us an experience of what could be very
successfully achieved, a great evening and a major step forward. Competitions Next on the 6th April came Jim Cunningham to judge Comp 2, our first on Zoom, and again it demonstrated outstandingly what could be accomplished in the future [Well judged Jim!]. As the next Monday fell on the Easter Bank Holiday, we opted for just a ‘Group chat evening’. Monday the 20th April saw us enchanted by Gary Waidson of ‘Waylandscapes’ amazing light painting/photography. We finished off this month with another first the L&CPU’s Red Boxes via Zoom. I noted of that occasion ‘Went better than we expected’! On the 4th May we welcomed Julian Elliott [all the way from France on Zoom] to tell us about ‘The Fjords of Patagonia’. An excellent talk by someone we could not have heard from except by Zoom – so there were pluses as well as minuses to the new communication process. On the 11th May Graham Dean judged an awful lot of images, over 100, entered into our ‘Comp 3’ which had two categories, ‘Beginnings and Open’. His comments being informative and helpful. On the 18th May Sean Conboy, explained about his architecture and commercial Photography which included some very interesting aspects of cruise ship photography. As the 25th May was a Bank Holiday we just had a chat night online. We started June with the results of extra comp ‘Still Life’ which replaced the Windsor and Rosenburg Cups print competition on the 1st June.
Judge Brian Sandham, whom we know from his studio at Abbey Village, entertained us with a fine judging standard, not unexpected from such a technically competent photographer. The 8th June should have been our outdoor evening photography challenge night. Again, we rose to a different set of challenges as Jeramy Lambert explained to us and set us a series of 10 different tasks we had to achieve during the Summer lockdown period. On the 15th June Brian Sandham was back with us with a two part talk about light and lighting, models and the workflow needed to fine tune these. Our next speaker on the 22nd June was James Kidsen who entertained us with a fascinating glimpse into his commercial and industrial photography. Who could have thought that a big hole in the ground could be so enthralling? Our last meeting before the summer break was a very professional, two-part, membership production. Sue Waterhouse and Mick Park gave us two very different, but equally entertaining talks - which demonstrated two great, yet individual styles of photography. During July and August, which would have been the holiday period, we continued to hold informal ‘member led zoom meetings’ as it was deemed helpful for members to meet up regularly in the strange circumstances that was our lifestyle under lockdown. Again our own members ably stepped up to the mark. We had Bob Singleton showing us his Macro ‘Bug Shots’, Jim Cunningham did ‘Landscapes on the move’ and later ‘London’ and I did a PowerPoint on ‘Wildflowers’
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Keith Heyworth did a talk on ‘Anglesey’, Jeremy Malley Smith introduced us to ‘Kevin of Brockholes’ and Richard Heyes, who never fails to be instructional and interesting, spoke to us about his holidays in Switzerland. What a talented lot we are - and never underestimate how it kept us all entertained and sane during this time! Thanks to one and all. We opened what was our Autumnal Term with the results of Jeremy Lambert’s ‘Photography Challenge’. Ten very well thought out challenges that kept us on our toes and the grey matter moving [7th Sep]. On the 14th September Julian Elliott was once more with us, showing us the lifestyle of the eagle hunters of the Altai region in Western Mongolia. On the 21st September it was Roger Geldard with ‘Japan in Winter’ presenting to us some amazing shots of the wildlife of Hokkaido and Japan. Whilst Erica Oram’s ‘Seeing Opportunity’ demonstrated how to fit our photo shoots around our family commitments, a very dedicated and worthwhile talk. The first meeting in October[the 5th] Justin Garners ‘Macro’ input demonstrated a very lively mind in search of that special nature subject, resulting in some lovely images of flowers, fungi and insects. The following week Harry Emmet judged the results of Comp 4. On the 19th Steve Procter returned to talk to us. As always Steve was highly informative and enlightening leaving us with lots to remember.
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We finished October in the company of Andrew Moss. Introducing us to his take on ‘Sports Photography’ he gave us many ideas and unique tips as how to achieve that perfect shot, through his journalistic/ educational style - be it football, rugby or many other of the lesserknown sporting action shots. November started with landscape and nature photographer Kieran Metcalf’s ‘Chasing the Light’ on the 2nd. Kieran, a self confessed ‘sunburst junkie’, engaged us with a lot of different light conditions and much to think about, not least tips for good websites to help with future photo planning trips. This was followed on the 9th by the Olympus Ambassador/Guru Claire Harvey-May. Her two-part talk focused [excuse the pun] firstly on the history of Olympus and their equipment, and secondly on the quality of the photographs such cameras achieved. The last three evenings in November were taken up with the judging the results of the annual exhibition. On the 16th November Nick Hilton judged the people section, manipulated images and the beginners cup. On the 23rd Geoff Reader explaining the results and judging of the monochrome and landscape sections. Whilst on the 30th the remaining sections - natural history, documentary, and open colour were judged by Ken Ainscow. Then it was countdown to Christmas – starting with the President's Evening on the 7th December with its two themes of ‘light’ and an ‘open’ section. This evening was split into the judging
of the President’s Prize Photo Comp and a short PowerPoint presentation by me. The last evening before the Christmas break was the Christmas Quiz evening. Thanks to Bob Singleton for stepping up to the mark to entertain us on this occasion. Then with many ‘best wishes’ shared amongst us - we closed till in the New Year and 2021. There have been some things we have not managed to do, due to the pandemic regulations, these included a proper Christmas party and the distribution of this year’s cups and trophies. Also our being unable to hold club meetings in person, meant prints became untenable, as were the matching image battle, the extravaganza and meet ups with other clubs i.e. Darwen or Ribblesdale. However there is much to congratulate ourselves on during the past year. That grim determination to keep going as a club, back in March, has been achieved. All the activities that we have organised have been well received. Hopefully as a Camera Club willing to embrace this new way of life with creativity, confidence and enthusiasm we have helped in some small way to keep our club members actively supported and together as a group of friends - sharing the same photographic bond. We look forward to continuing together during the next few months and eventually achieving a successful exit from lockdown – whenever that might be. May we continue to move from strength to strength taking the Blackburn District Camera Club ably forward into 2021. Nan Goodall
Equine Portraits EJ Lazenby Equine Photo Challenge
After receiving a tip off from fellow member, Sue Waterhouse, about the Facebook-based EJ Lazenby Equine Photo Challenge - being run over the Christmas period and focussing on producing equine fine art portraits - my initial thought was “ I don’t know much about fine art and don’t really have any suitable images of horses”.
Now I'm not a equine photographer and looking back through my hard drive I found very few images of horses however the challenge concerned image preparation and editing in Photoshop and Janey was offering a week of free workshops and demonstrations and if we didn't have our own images Janey gave us some of her
Janey’s videos are a joy to watch and she makes learning easy and an absolute pleasure. Her presentation style is very entertaining and relaxing her method of editing is extremely detailed, step by step, and pitched at a pace which is easily followed without the need to constantly rewind over missed bits. Janey begins
Janey's 5 day Equine Portraiture Challenge was perfectly timed to finish 2020 on a high note, giving me some new skills and increased confidence with my Photoshop editing as we moved into 2021. In looking for some suitable photographs to practice on to develop my skills I realised that I have a terrible habit of photographing wire fences! Sue Waterhouse However, as I do actually like horses, after listening to the Facebook introduction by Jane Lazenby outlining the 5-day programme I was drawn to go and learn something, so signed up for the challenge with the thought that
files to work with. The country had just been put into the latest set of lockdown restrictions it seemed like the challenge would provide an outlet and something to do.
with an overview of what she intends to present. She then takes the viewer through an on-screen edit, explaining fully and slowly, each action and its consequences, with many more tips thrown in besides. Janey concludes by
Janey’s videos are a joy to watch and she makes learning easy and an absolute pleasure. Her presentation style is very entertaining and relaxing; her method of editing is extremely detailed, step by step, and pitched at a pace which is easily followed without the need to constantly re-wind over missed bits. it would likely be out of my depth. At the time I had never heard of Janey and was completely unaware that she is a member of Wigan 10 or that during the course of the challenge she was running she would be part of the team that came second in the FIAP World Cup.
In more recent times, I have favoured Lightroom over Photoshop, as most of what I wished to apply to images was in LR already with PS only being used occasionally for more precise editing. After completing courses on PS 7 back in 2006, the saying “if you don’t use it, you lose it” was certainly the case.
providing a point by point resume of all the actions taken, along with any explanations and supplementary information.
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I am so grateful to Sue for the recommendation as the course has re-ignited my interest in PS, and though Janey’s content was generally regarding all things equine, everything learnt can be equally applied
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to any other subject which requires a bit of special treatment with a lovely result. “Barney” was my effort for the Challenge, then my dogs, Brother & Sister, Jake (dec’d) and Bella got the makeover treatment.
Janey’s passion for horses and art shines through her work, which is stunning. She is a very generous lady both in time, patience and expertise and with a gentle, soothing and easy listening presentation manner.
Highly recommended. Lynne Corcoran
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Llama - Bob Singleton
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Pony - Bob Singleton
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Jim Cunningham Cwmorthin, Blaenau Ffestiniog, Snowdonia These photos show the devastation left by slate quarrying in one small valley in Snowdonia. It is nearly always possible to see waste slate heaps when walking in Snowdonia.
From Roman times, to the end of the 18th century, slate was extracted on a small scale in Wales. Groups of quarrymen, who paid a royalty to the landlord, carried this out and carted slate to the ports, from where it was shipped to England, Ireland and sometimes France. Towards the close of the century, the landowners began to operate the quarries themselves, on a much larger scale. Rapid expansion was propelled by the building of narrow gauge railways to transport the slates to the ports. The slate industry dominated the economy of north-west Wales during the second half of the 19th
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century. In 1898, a work force of 17,000 men produced half a million tons of slate. Industrial relations were often poor and there were several strikes lasting over a year. Part of the problem was that the miners spoke Welsh and most landowners spoke English. Large scale slate mining in Cwmorthin began in the early 1800’s. In 1866 the chapel and schoolhouse were built (see photo opposite). It closed about 1932 and deteriorated rapidly after the slates from the roof were stolen in 1970. A row of houses was built for workers in 1881. Cwmorthin was one of 21 slate mines in the Blaenau Ffestiniog area. In all
these, slate was extracted from deep underground and about 90% of the slate brought out was scrap. It is this scrap slate that we now see. Underground, large caverns were excavated and it is still possible to enter some of these. The safety record of Cwmorthin was poor and it became known as “The Slaughterhouse”. Between 1875 and 1893 there were 21 deaths out of a workforce of 550. Silicosis was also a killer, but the mine owners denied this was caused by quarrying. Large scale slate extraction ended at Cwmorthin during the first world war, after about 100 years of quarrying.
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The photo on the left shows the path of the old tramway which runs passed the ruined chapel. The huge piles of waste slate are at the entrance to the valley. The slate fencing is found in many parts of Snowdonia. It is over 100 years since large scale slate mining occurred in the Cwmorthin valley, yet hardly any vegetation has colonised the slate heaps.
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The photo above shows Llyn Cwmorthin with some of the old mine buildings, dominated by slate waste. The photos left and right show the path from the lake to the village below. On the left we see how the waste slate dominates the village.
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In the photo above the town of Blaenau Festiniog is on the right, It is completely dominated by waste slate heaps above it. The Cwmorthin valley is on the left between Blaenau and the slate heaps where this photo is taken. None of the slate waste in Cwmorthin can be seem on this photo. It shows how the whole area is a dumping ground for slate. The photos on the left show rotting buildings high on the plateau above Lynn Cwmorthin. One of the mine entrances is also shown, which is close to the buildings, It is not tall enough to walk through while standing upright. Some abandoned machinery is also shown, The other photo shows the chapel in Cwmorthin with the path of the old tramway on the left. The present track passes close to the chapel.
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Outdoors Members evening - Something different a show and tell
This was something different for the club. We get used to competitions and getting feedback from judges but often feel that we have to show a particular type of image because its for a judge. This time we set the theme just before Christmas as the tiered lockdowns started. The idea was for members to take some images then present a few (max 6) and talk about them. There would only be criticism or advice given if the member asked. We had no idea how this would go down, we worried that not many people would want to take part but in the end we had almost 100 images submitted. Somewhat inevitably due to the restrictions in mobility and the weather, the evening had a snowy feel and Pendle Hill featured heavily. It was so successful that we are now planning another.
Mary’s Shell Nan Goodall
It’s Snowing Margaret Keane
New Year Snow in Brindle Lodge Lynne Corcoran
Pendle Paul Schofield
View from Pendel towards Nelson & Colne Mary Singleton
The Mount Keith Heyworth
Winter Trees with Pendle Chris McWilliam
Going to the Chapel Bob Singleton
Caught in the snow Jim Cunningham
Photo Journalism A Call for submissions
Our recent Documentary competition caused our judge a few problems and I'm sure that was my fault entirely. I ought to have sent him a note properly explaining the concept and what we were looking for in submissions.
But Every cloud has a silver lining because his observations chimed with a few ideas that have been in circulation for a while. We stopped running the 3 on a theme competition because of similar confusion and the impossibility of projecting a panel of images. However the club ought to have some sort of event where members can submit a panel or series of images which in some way relate to each other to illustrate a theme or tell a story. The question was always how.
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The answer is of course Lazaretto The natural home of editorial photography and photojournalism is the Sunday Supplement or a news magazine so why not an issue of our Club Magazine.
Deadlines and Rules Well there aren't any, stories will be published in turn as received but the Magazine comes out at the end of each month so the sooner the better. This is open to all readers members and non-members
Getting Involved
And
To take part simply send in some photos and a bit of text.
If we get enough submissions we will put them all together into a single issue and ask someone to comment,.
The text can be any length, but make sure that it's long enough to make it clear what the photos are about. You will need enough images to support the text but the number is entirely up to you. The joy of a digital magazine is that within reason we can have as many photos as we like. If you have an idea about how you want the spread to look please include a diagram. Otherwise we will lay it out and send it to you for approval before publication.
Anyone know a friendly journalist or editor?
Small Print We will not publish any submissions that are overtly commercial or advertising or which fail to meet our standards of taste , decency etc. The committees decision in such cases will be final.
Programme 2021 01 Feb 2021
12 Apr 2021
Paul Hill
Results - Comp 2 Jdg Jeremy M-S
Birds and Wildlife
Hand in Comp 1
19 Apr 2021
TUE 02 Feb 2021
George Steel
3 Way Battle Darwen, Ribblesdale & Blackburn
26 Apr 2021
08 Feb 2021
Chris Upton
Monochrome Conversion
Thoresby, the end of the mine
Hand in Comp 3
FOLIO
03 May 2021
WED 10 Feb 2021
May Day Bank Holiday
ICPA Knockout Competition
10 May 2021
15 Feb 2021
Results - Comp 3
Results - Comp 1
17 May 2021
22 Feb 2021 Talk about Comp 1 images, Recap Evening"
Either Recap Evening Comp 3, or Memb Presentations"
01 Mar 2021
Hand in W&R
Peter Bartlett
The Way We Were
24 May 2021
08 Mar 2021
Andy Philips
3 Members Presentations
31 May 2021
15 Mar 2021
Spring Bank Holiday
Tracy Lund
Wildlife
07 Jun 2021
Hand in Comp 2
Results - W&R
22 Mar 2021
14 Jun 2021
FOLIO
Photo Trail -Jeremy Lambert
29 Mar 2021
21 Jun 2021
Mike Martin It's not what you see, it's what you make"
Members > 4 images
05 Apr 2021 Easter Monday - Bank Holiday Recap Comp 2]
[If Zoom
28 Jun 2021 Last Evening Summer Term Strawberry & Cream Supper? 33
Lynne Corcoran