Last night’s competition judge by Dominic Byrne ARPS saw the conclusion of this season’s Annual Print League. In total twenty images are eligible to be the photographers additional choice in the Print Image of the Year (PIOTY) competition on 28th May when Viveca Koh FRPS FIPS has agreed to select this year’s best print.

The winner of this Season’s Print League was Maurice Young with an aggregate score of 55.5 points, second was David Jordan with 54.5 points and third was Des King with 54.0 points. Pat Stebbings (53.5), Dave Balcombe(52.0) and Terry Newman (50.0) completed the top six places in the competition.

This presentation was billed on our website as 'one man's artistic approach to photography, stepping out of the club mainstream'. This description proved to be true as Jonathon explained to us his methodology, his craft and his extreme enthusiasm for his subject matter.

 So, is he a photographer or is he an artist?

 Not my question but his, and we were left to decide.

 He invited us to think inside the box he explained his deep interest in shapes, colours multiple exposures and with the image - reduce, reduce, reduce. But follow that by build back! He led us through his treatment of work by Henry Moore and his love of light flowing through stained glass. He follows his heart and his eye. He told us of his visit to Great Yarmouth (Premier Inn on the promenade) and getting up at 4.15am to photograph the outer harbour. His shots did not show the real look of the harbour but their desaturated colours and the overall composition certainly produced images which were eye-catching and beautiful.

Norwich and District Photographic Society has shown consistent improvement since 2019, particularly evident in our performance in the traditional photographic competitions we engage in. This season has been no different:

In January, we participated in the prestigious Cambridge Camera Club Inter-Club Digital Competition, where the strongest clubs from across East Anglia compete. The competition, comprising Monochrome, People, Landscape, Nature, and Open categories, challenges each club to submit their best image per category. With only the finest images showcased, the competition is fierce. This season, we achieved a commendable joint 7th position.

February marked the commencement of the East Anglian Photographic Federation’s Annual Championships, starting with the PDI Championships. Clubs submit 15 images in the initial round, with the top 12 clubs advancing to the subsequent round, featuring 10 additional images. This season marked a significant milestone for NDPS as we progressed to the second round for the first time, securing 9th place overall.

Last evening's presentation was by the internationally known photographer David Morris. David, who lives in Cromer, began by talking about how his career in photography began. He called the opening part of his presentation 'Made in Hull'. He told of how he studied graphic design at Hull College of Art in the early seventies and how this course taught him something but at the time of his graduation he found that he knew more about photography than graphic design! This because of a good photography tutor.

 We saw some pictures taken at the time of his studies in and around Hull, the streets, the bomb damage, demonstrations and pub interiors often featuring Hull fishermen.

This was a shared evening with our colleagues of Sheffield Photographic Society projected into the Academy by Zoom.

 Peter describes himself as a 'very keen urban nightscape photographer' and the tone and delivery of his presentation certainly bore out this enthusiasm and commitment to night-time image capture.

 Peter began with a short history of photography beginning in the nineteenth century up to the present moment and he tied this history into the lives of his family in Germany from his Great Grandparents through to himself today. He described his kit of tripos, camera and lenses and how he bracketed shots and made much use of luminosity masks in Photoshop.

 After this technical information he took us on a tour of London. Beginning with the Pool of London. He said that September to April was the best period to take these kinds of images and he explained how he used Google Street View not only to give him a taste of viewpoints but also as a way of choosing safe places to be.

 We saw stunning night -time views of Tower Bridge, the Shard, the Tower of London and St. Paul's Cathedral before he ushered us down to the West End. His top tips were to drive to Mile End Road, station car park and use public transport from then on, and making sure that the Thames was at slack water with no craft spoiling the reflections.

Norwich & District PHotographic Society has successfully retained the Alan Taylor Memorial Trophy after the completion of the Annual Three-way Battle with Ciné - Photo Club Nivernais (CPCN)) in France and Foto-Club Koblenz (FCK) in Germany.
After the three rounds during which the same 20 images entered by each club were scored by a judge in each country NDPS had an aggregate score of 508.0 points with FCK second on 468.0 and CPCN third on 443.5. The judge for the UK leg of the competition was Paul Radden DPAGB, EFIAP/s, PSA4*.

Andrew Raffety; photographer, head teacher, and polymath. He may disagree with that last adjective but Andrew's knowledge of ancient history, presenting and photography is immense.

He began his presentation by sketching out his childhood where cameras were extensively used by mum and dad and his brothers and sister. An early lesson in understanding camera technique, film work and getting film developed by Boots the Chemist! There are too many things to photograph - what you need is a project.

 He trained to be a teacher, he fell in with a 'witch', she had divining rods, so together they visited megalithic spiritual sights, and he began to build a body of work. He felt that a series of images should form a narrative and could be accompanied by words. This belief led to an association with Kevin Crossly-Holland, an author and poet, who eventually wrote the words for Andrew's publication The Stones Remain, now both available as a printed book and an ibook.

Last evening NDPS hosted a special presentation by the landscape photographer Mieke Boynton, from Bright, Australia. The presentation was shared with members of the Sheffield Photographic Society.

At eight o'clock about forty members of NDPS settled into their seats in the studio of Norwich Academy and a similar number from Sheffield logged in to watch on Zoom. Mieke is no stranger to NDPS, this is her third presentation to us, and it was good to share the work of such an outstanding practitioner with our colleagues from Sheffield. For Mieke it was six o'clock on a hot, summer morning, hence her summer dress, and for us it was winter with gales and rain.

Mieke took us on a landscape photographer's tour of the Australia where she lives - the Victorian High Country. She began by reminding us of the size and scope of Australia, a huge continent with an incredibly diverse geography, animal and plant life. Throughout her presentation she showed us beautiful captures of deciduous trees in autumn colours, apparently brought from England!

Well! There it was. The opening scene for the latest Planet Earth III programme with David Attenborough. On the screen at this evening’s NDPS meeting. And the man who took the film operating his laptop and presenting his flowmotion technique.

A packed house of members and guests watched in awe as Rob showed us examples of his finished work and examples of how the film was first shot. It’s difficult to find enough superlatives to describe his enthusiasm for his art, his attention to detail and his ability to capture scenes in an unforgettable way.

This was an evening of action and drama filmed in a style that could only be Rob’s. We were treated to many examples of this wonderful technique, not just Planet Earth footage but commercial footage for companies who have something to sell – now I want to fly to Greenland! I want to work in that centre of commerce in London!

NDPS is a long established Society. Over the last few years, we have been able to raise our profile in the photographic world thanks in large part to our programme of events. Special Presentations delivered in person or via Zoom from experts around the world. So how will an ordinary member of the Society stand up alongside our normal Special Presentation experts?

Simon, our Vice Chair, and long standing member, proved to be easily up to the task. Presenting and explaining something very close to his heart. Enthusiasm, tenacity, and commitment to his art shone through.

Of course, he began by talking of the time, long, long ago in Jamaica, where he discovered how paper was made from plants and how he began small businesses producing handmade papers which continue to thrive today.

A renowned and very accomplished photographer of the early twentieth century, who took portraits of nobility including politicians, prime ministers and kings was the subject of the talk at last night’s NDPS meeting. 

What is surprising (for that time) is that the photographer was a woman and her work had been largely forgotten until recently.  Olive Edis set up her first studio in Sheringham, her childhood holiday “home” but she quickly became recognised as a photographer of note by high society in London. 

Clive Dunn, NDPS member gave an inspiring illustrative talk of Olive’s life and followed up with the film, “Fisherman to Kings, The Forgotten Photographs of Olive Edis”.  The film, written and directed by Clive Dunn, featured Rankin, the renowned fashion and portrait photographer, tracing back the history of Olive Edis and some of her work, her design and patent of the Diascope and her innovative use of Autochrome printing based on red, green, and blue potato starches to produce colour images.

Olive not only produced portraits of the rich and famous but loved taking images of fisherman back in Sheringham.  All subjects were treated with the same respect and attention to detail which brought out the personality of the sitter in the photograph. 

Chris is Chief Communications Officer and Forecaster at Weatherquest Ltd, a commercial weather forecasting and analysis company based in Norwich. He is also a Lecturer in Meteorology at the University of East Anglia, lecturing on meteorological topics across Year 1 and Year 2 modules in Environmental Sciences at UEA, specifically the Atmosphere and Oceans, first year module, and Weather and Weather Applications modules in second year. He is a part time weather presenter for BBC Look East and a public speaker for Meteorology and Climate related topics.

Chris came originally from Houston in the American south but now lives in Norfolk at Foxley.

He is a 'storm chaser' and weather photographer and it is those trips to the Great Plains of America which formed the kernel of his talk. There is no doubt that he is addicted to understanding and analysing the weather, he was quick to explain that as a child of 4 he can remember being fascinated by storms and vowing that he would spend his life working with meteorology!

Peter began his inspiring talk by describing the Forest which covers an area of 6,000 acres and is 12 miles north to south, 2.5 miles wide and represents the remains of an ancient royal hunting forest.

 He began with descriptions of water features. First up was Highams Park, accessed from a train line from Liverpool Street or parking on the road. The drain from the lake provided photo opportunities with lots of water birds: black headed gulls, moorhens, coots, cormorants and herons. Lots of colourful birds also; parakeets and green woodpeckers. There are even lots of rats living in the area.

 Then Connaught Water, on the River Ching. This area you have to drive to and it is very, very popular and there is a charge for car parking. Again, there are interesting birds - nuthatch, tree creeper, kingfishers (who fish the ditches), green and great spotted woodpeckers and grebes. In addition there are 5 pairs of breeding herons and, oddly, terrapins!

 The third pond was Wake Valley Pond. From the Wake Arms roundabout the Wake Valley car park in Lodge Road is accessible. Here Peter mentioned dragon flies, the Downy Emerald, emerging in May/June. These form food for ducklings and wagtails. Also in this area is a piece of heathland, a great backdrop for dawn landscapes, grass snakes, adders and lizards.

Justin, a well-known photographer, long-time friend of NDPS and now a Society member, opened our 2023/24 season with a brand new presentation. Undiscovered Essex was based on his experiences gaining Licentiate and Fellow qualifications from the Royal Photographic Society.

Justin began with a short biography going back in time to when he began his career as a professional photographer. Interestingly he said that initially he wanted the qualifications only for him to be able to add letters after his name and thus gain not only kudos but an aura of professionalism which could, perhaps, further his career as a photographer. He described how ten years ago he put together his submission for a Licentiate qualification and how he achieved this through taking lots of advice. But now, with the qualification in the bag and the letters after his name, his view of the RPS qualifications changed. He found that the exercise had made him scrutinise his work more carefully. He saw that his photography was benefitting from his careful examination - there were added benefits to be had from those letters after his name!

Having achieved Licentiate he discovered that he could leapfrog the Associate level and go straight into Fellowship. And so he did. His Fellowship panel was entitled 'Undiscovered Essex'. The title of his presentation this evening.

Edward Russell has become the third NDPS member to have a photo selected to be Amateur Photographer’s Picture of the week (Tuesday 25th July 2023 edition) so far this year.

To take part in the competition readers simply have to post their photos on AP’s social media channels from which the editorial team selects their weekly favourites.