Seaford Photographic Society

We are continuing to refine our ‘hybrid’ system of meetings and this is proving very successful. We now have a laptop, webcam, microphones and PA speakers in the hall, and this allows those who are still concerned about the COVID situation, or are unable to attend in person due to ill health, to participate on-line via Zoom. We are also able to accommodate guest judges or speakers to do their presentations remotely from home if required. For the rest of us, it’s great to be meeting in person again and doing a bit of socialising.

The first competition of the new season was Round One of the PDI League for Projected Digital Images. This was a try-out of the new hybrid system and we had around 16 people at the Con Club with another 13 at home (or away on holiday!) on Zoom. Our competition judge for the evening was Bob Webzel, from Rottingdean, and he said afterwards: ‘I have nothing but praise for how the evening went’. This was much appreciated and it was good to see Bob back at the club again, as he had judged our last competition before we went into Lockdown last March. There were 48 images entered, equally split between the two groups. Well done to David Nickalls and Martin Brewer in the standard group, and Adrian Bishop, Jennie Edwards and Simon Rigby in the advanced group, who all scored the maximum 20/20.

The following week we had two talks by club members. Our digital secretary Simon Rigby introduced us to the basics of ON1 photo editing software. This combines many of the functions of both Lightroom and Photoshop, but without the need for a monthly subscription. After the usual break for a drink and chat we were treated to a very detailed talk by our chairman, Colin Mitchell, entitled Understanding Your Digital Camera.

To round off September’s meetings we had the second round of the PDI League competition, judged remotely from south London by Paul Parkinson ARPS CPAGB BPE2*. There were over 50 images to get through this time, of which only 4 were awarded 20/20 scores, so well done to Peter Cavanagh and David Nickalls in the standard group, and Simon Watkins and Anna-Marie Armstrong in the advanced group. Paul commented on the high standard of the club’s photography, particularly some of the nature and wildlife images, which he thought were good enough to do well in regional competitions.

We have decided to postpone our annual exhibition to late May next year as we feel that there are likely to be many more people out and about by then. We are all looking forward to this and it will be great to have some of our prints on display to the public again after a two-and-a-half-year gap. You can see all you need to know about the club on our website www.seafordps.org, including the latest news, progamme of events, successful images, competition results, and more. It is updated weekly.

Images, all scored 20/20 in competions (from top): Reaching Up, by David Nickalls; Migrant Hawkers Mating, by Simon Watkins; Dredger Entering Harbour, by Martin Brewer; The Painted Lady, by Anna-Marie Armstrong; Tawny Owl, by Simon Rigby.