Print League Results for 2023-2024 Season
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.
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Little Print Show by Jonathan Vaines
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.
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Two new Annual Photographic Exhibitions from NDPS
Norwich Cathedral's decision in April 2023 to discontinue the use of the Hostry exhibition space for Arts in Norwich and Norfolk, including the Norwich & District Photographic Society, meant the abrupt loss of our Annual Photographic Exhibition's home for over 25 years.
Despite this setback, we have diligently worked to resume our programme of photographic exhibitions. Fortunately, we will now in the future host not one, but two annual exhibitions in the centre of Norwich.
Firstly, in August 2024 at the Anteros Art Foundation on Fye Bridge Street, we will present MOMENTS 24 - an intimate exhibition showcasing the exceptional work of our members. This new event will be held annually in honour of Mike Trendell, a Past President who, prior to his passing in 2021, dedicated nearly 50 years to the Society as a stalwart and a giant…!
Each year, the member whose print is judged to be the best exhibit will be awarded the Mike Trendell Memorial Trophy.
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Review of this Season's External Competitions
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.
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The Photography of David Morris
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.
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Photography on the Dark Side - the Gateway to Urban Nightscape Photography
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.
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NDPS retain the Alan Taylor Memorial Trophy
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*.
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The Green Road Between Two Woods - an evening with Andrew Rafferty
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.
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Landscapes of Victorian Alpine Regions (Australia) by Mieke Boynton
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!
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