Photonews
2016 Rally Special
The journal of the Postal Photographic Club - 2016 Rally Special Welcome to a very special, bonus edition of Photonews which is devoted to the 2016 Rally and the 2016 Competitions whose award winners received their trophies on the Saturday evening after another excellent meal at the Mayfield House Hotel in Crudwell. Firstly however I must record a vote of thanks to John Kay who once again took on the task of organising and running the event. As in previous years it was very definitely a success and we have had a lot of positive comment from members, both verbally and via email. To my mind the only drawback with this venue is the lack of a conference room which means we have to quickly change the configuration of the room after dinner to set up for the presentations for example. The food this year was excellent and the hotel staff extremely accommodating, it might be my imagination but I felt the meals were actually a notch better than the last time we visited in 2014. The “official” photographer this year was Graham Harvey (pictured bottom right with President Bill Hughes) whose brief was to supply the “mug shots” from the Awards presentations evening. He did however take the role far more seriously than I’d envisaged even photographing the strange behaviour of some members whilst out and about. Gary Barton was in fine stone-hugging form at Avebury (right) and Graham was on the spot with his trusty Instamatic. Seriously though, thanks again Graham. Looking ahead, next year’s Rally will be at Rydal Hall in the Lake District. It will be held over the weekend of 29th September - 1st October so make a diary note now! For regular attendees please be aware that another organisation is booked in from the Sunday afternoon - so extending your stay at Rydal Hall after the rally won't be possible. However, rooms will be available on the Wednesday & Thursday before the rally weekend. A booking form and more details will go out with the subscription renewal email from John Kay in December. I will also run a “Places to Visit” feature in the Autumn issue of Photonews to provide some inspiration.
Cover image: George Formby’s Nightmare © Clive Piggott. Certificate of Merit, 2016 Founders Cup competition (prints) 2
The 2016 Members Rally The Club’s annual rally is an opportunity for members to meet up for the weekend, socialise, take some photographs if soinclined and to put those all-important faces to names. This year’s rally in Crudwell was no exception and it was great to see so many faces both familiar and new. This was my sixth rally and I am starting to recognise people without the need for the name tags we all sport on the first evening. As well as those attending for the full weekend several members dropped in on one or both evenings and it was particularly good to see some of our newer members making their first appearance at a Rally too. In a change to our usual practice we held the presentation of awards on the Saturday evening moving the traditional guest speaker to the Friday night. This year we had a thought-provoking talk and slide show from Leigh Preston FRPS MPAGB EFIAP (http://www.leighpreston.co.uk) Leigh has been a photographer for over forty years and holds two RPS Fellowships, he currently works as a tutor and lecturer for Permajet so unsurprisingly there was some Permajet literature available for members to peruse. Sally Anderson proposed the Vote of Thanks on behalf of those of us present. Jon Allanson kindly showed Official Photographer Graham what an individual trophy looks like after receiving it from President Bill Hughes
Traditionally the Travelling Exhibition is unveiled at the Rally on the Friday afternoon and this year was no exception. The TE prints were set up in the snug area of the hotel bar and were on display over the weekend giving members and other hotel patrons plenty of opportunity to view the prints at their leisure. The projected images were shown during the awards presentation on the Saturday and as is our custom a CD will circulate within all the Print Circle envopacks shortly. With the growth in the number of online Circles we have also made arrangements for online members to download the presentations and instructions on how to do this will be posted in the online Notebooks shortly. During the day on Saturday members were free to explore the local area and many took advantage of the helpful guide published in the Autumn issue of Photonews. Lacock and Slimbridge proved popular so expect some images from these locations in future folios!
Lacock Bakery. Image © David James
The Awards Night on Saturday was an opportunity to celebrate successes and as ever provided some good-natured banter not least at the expense of your Editor but he has broad enough shoulders and in any event had taken his wife along too so had a shoulder to cry on later. The main award winners from the Travelling Exhibition, together with a reminder of the main Founders Cup winners, form the largest proportion of this Rally Special so I hope you will enjoy these at your leisure. The Sunday morning provides an opportunity for the Club’s committee to gather and set the course for the forthcoming year and formally check progress on current initiatives. This year the meeting confounded the expectations of most of the members present by finishing on schedule - a rare event as Jean has been known to send someone in before now to check we were all still alive whilst the other attendees were tucking into Sunday lunch. Most members departed after an excellent Sunday lunch although a Bakers Dozen remained for dinner on the Sunday and a handful clung on to their rooms for several days after the Rally had closed. If you were unable to make it this year I hope you will consider joining us at Rydal Hall in 2017. Finally, I’m sure that all those who attended either in full or in part would want me to thank John Kay for organising this year’s event and of course his wife Jean who quietly provides a lot of behind-the-scenes support.
Add your own caption - Mike Atkinson, Bob Rawlinson and Gary Barton.
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The Circle Competitions
The two annual competitions have both an individual and also a team element. Circle Secretaries are particularly keen to see how each Circle fares in the respective categories and this often leads to some good-natured banter especially at the committee meeting on the Sunday morning. It’s fair to say some Secretary’s (no names mentioned) are more competitive than others! This year the most successful circle in the TE Projected Digital Image Competition was IC7 run by Sally Anderson (top, right) whilst the coveted Ellis Martin Cup for the most successful circle in the Founders Cup was won by CP1 run by another Club stalwart, Barry Roberts (top, left). The most successful circle in the Travelling Exhibition was C1 and the Certificate for the most successful circle in the FC DPI competition was won by IC1 both of whom are run by veteran PPC Secretary Graham Harvey, pictured right and top-middle, with President Bill Hughes (whom you have probably realised by now you will see a lot of in the next few pages). 4
The 2016 Members Survey Dave Whenham LRPS For the first time to my knowledge the Club ran a members survey immediately prior to the Rally in order to gain members views on a handful of topics due to be discussed at the annual meeting. The aim was to enable all members to become involved and to also inform the discussion around the table. Because it was the first time we had attempted such a survey the number of topics was kept small. As this was the first time and was also being conducted online I was a little concerned about takeup rates but this proved unfounded as 74% of members responded. The majority (>90%) of replies were received within thirty six hours of the survey going live and over half of these were received within a matter of hours of the survey launching. This will have been partly helped by the General Secretary's positioning email which went out around half an hour before the survey emails were sent. The profile of survey respondents broadly matches that of the club as a whole so with a 74% response rate we should have some confidence that the survey results broadly reflect the views of the membership as a whole. Members who are in both print and online circles were more likely to respond with 94% of members in this membership category completing the survey. This may well be due to a greater investment in the club as evidenced by multiple membership and the embracing of both the traditional and more recent methods of membership. As a result of the survey the committee will be looking in more detail at a couple of the questions raised and individual members have taken ownership of these aspects. Jon Allanson is looking at how a Circle dedicated to larger prints would function with the aim of bringing something into trial from the start of 2017. Sally Anderson will be looking at the feasibility of a critique-only Online Circle and whilst no timescales have yet been established the aim is to prepare a proposal for the committee to discuss and approve prior to launching a trial Circle with Sally at the helm initially, again hopefully in early 2017. Jon Allanson will be kept busy also on the practicalities of introducing a new category in next year’s annual competition for a set of themed prints. This will be a print-only initiative and will run alongside the annual Travelling Exhibition competition. Watch this space as they say! One other point that was raised in the Comments section was changing the file size for internet circle images. Coincidentally this was also an agenda item on the day and we will be implementing some changes here too in 2017 so again watch for more news on this. Thank you to everyone who took part in the survey, it was a valuable exercise and one that helped the discussions on Sunday morning enormously. It is something that we will do again and I would urge everyone to get involved if they can next time around.
Almost half of the respondents (48%) expressed interest in a critique-only Circle and as we only need around eight members to trial such a Circle, or around a quarter of those interested, approval was given to consider this further. With over half of respondents in favour of a new category for a set of themed images in the 2017 annual competition Jon Allanson took an action to investigate further with a view to introducing this in 2017. 5
The Travelling Exhibition Selected by: Ray Brightman FRPS DPAGB AFIAP Hon PAGB
The Golden Hour Dave Whenham CP1
The Half Plate Challenge Cup for the Best Print in the Exhibition The Maurice MacDowell Cup for the Best Colour Print The Andrew Emond Trophy for the Best Landscape Print Judges Comment: “A dream like quality. Scores through its simplicity and muted but highly effective”
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Llyn Gwynant (IR) Richard Walliker C1
The Jack Cowper Tannadice Salver for the Best Monochrome print. Judges Comment: “It would have been a striking shot photographed over land, but coupled with a reflection, it is elevated to a different level. One of the best IR I have seen in a long time.�
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Sparrowhawk with Kill Peter Redford IC7
The Dick Ogden Shield for the Best Natural History print. Judges Comment: “The ultimate in technique. Absolutely sharp - perfect colours, great action.”
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Real Rugby Richard Bown CP1
Scottish Quaiche for the Best Action print. Judges Comment: “Could easily have been titled ‘Bottoms Up’ or ‘Its Behind You’. Their pain is our pleasure…”
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School Girl with Book Jon Allanson DP
The Harry Ridgway Cup for the Best Portrait. Judges Comment: “Lovely natural setting and pose, but the outstanding feature is the radiant smile and gorgeous eyes.�
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Ashton Memorial Kirsty Railton IC7
The Singleton Rosebowl for the Best Architectural print. Judges Comment: “Some Memorial! I was led to Google to find out more. I love the sepia effect. The sky lifts the picture to make it appear 3D.�
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Founders’ Cup Print Competition 2016. The Ellis Martin Cup for the most successful circle was won by CP1
Pastel Sunrise - Dave Whenham CP1 The Founders’ Cup for the best print in the competition The Floyd Landscape Trophy for the best landscape print
Callanish II - Tony Marlow C8 The Singleton Trophy for the best wet processed print is presented to Tony Marlow (left) by Club President Bill Hughes.
Catherine - Martin Hart C1 The Norman Richards Cup for the best portrait print
Founders’ Cup Print Competition 2016. 19
Founders’ Cup DPI Competition 2016
Grouse - Bob Rawlinson IC1 Salver for the best image overall
Guess which is Bob!
The Certificate for the most successful circle was won by IC1
Face at the Window - Bob Rawlinson IC3 Salver for the best portrait image 20
Founders’ Cup DPI Competition 2016
Lost - Peter Henry IC3 Salver for the best landscape image
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Bill’s Rally Rogues Gallery
Liz Downes
Mike Atkinson
Roger Edwardes
Gary Barton
John Kay
David James
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One familiar face missing from this year’s Rally was that of Peter Bullock who sadly passed away earlier this year. He and his wife Villia were regular Rally attendees and many members will have fond memories of enjoying their company over these weekends.
Two Barry Thornton Books for Sale EDGE OF DARKNESS “Illustrated with Barry Thornton's own stunning landscape pictures, each chapter is interlaced with technical detail and personal feelings.”
Ahead of this year’s Rally, Villia kindly donated a selection Of Peter’s books to be sold for Club funds. There were far too many to make an auction viable on the night and members were therefore asked to make a sensible donation. However, two of the books have been held back so that they could be offered to all members through these pages.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Edge-Darkness-DefinitionMonochrome-Photograph/dp/1902538099/ref=sr_1_1? ie=UTF8&qid=1476971962&sr=8-1&keywords=edge+of+dar kness+barry+thornton
If you are interested in bidding for either or indeed both of these we are inviting bids via email to Graham Harvey at glharvey@me.com Your bid should include a sum to cover P&P please and needs to be received by Graham before midnight on Wednesday 2nd November 2016. The highest bidder(s) will be notified via email and Graham will be in contact to make arrangements for the monies to be paid and the books despatched as soon as possible afterwards. Please include a daytime telephone number with your bid. In the event of there being no bids we will advertise both for sale on eBay from 3rd November but we would of course prefer that both books, which are in excellent condition, go to a Club member. Incidentally, we are planning a small retrospective of Peter’s work in Photonews probably in the Spring 2017 edition.
ELEMENTS “The prints are beautiful, and in and of themselves justify the purchase of the book. I find the text very illuminating, giving an idea about Thornton as well as how to take such photos. He was a very talented man, its a shame I took photography up after he had departed planet earth, as I would have been interested to attend a workshop.” Reviewer on amazon.co.uk https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/187331907X/ ref=pd_sim_14_1? ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=XTEDXD9G10W5XTXHPN0H 23
The Projected Image Competition Selected by: Tremain Cornish APSA EPSA EFIAP BPE3
Dark Quays Allan Bate IC7
The Dorothy MacDowell Salver for the Best General PDI Salver for the Best Landscape PDI
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Dung Fly on Rotten Apple Stephen Yates IC4
The Thomas Langley Trophy for the Best Natural History PDI Salver for the Best Colour PDI
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Cobbles and Light Dave Whenham CP1
Salver for the Best Monochrome PDI
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Inside Jon Allanson DP
Salver for the Best Portrait PDI
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