These blogs get longer and longer in between me writing. Can only apologies and will do my best to try and keep on top of it more often (he says, but remembers saying something similar last time).
Last blog was November, so what have we been up to since then? Well, lets have a think. We've had plenty of indoor shoots to keep us busy, when the weather wasn't too great, from models to smoke photography. We even had a few ventures outside and did some wire-wool spinning, light painting and traffic trails. We do try and keep it a mixed bag of events. I'm not going to write about each event we've done since November, as you'll be till this November reading about them.
Early December, we took a trip the local pond at the bottom of Upholland and some wire-wool spinning. This event always seems to go down well with our photographers and this night was no different. With a great turn out, the members set them selves up into different positions around the pond, while one member took it upon them selves to be the spinner for the night. So, with the loan spinner now on the other side of the pond and all other members pointing at him, it was time to light it up at start spinning. Nope! The lighter didn't work, great start to the night, but we got one eventually. So, with wire-wool now in the whisk, members all focused, and a lighter now working, lets make some pictures. Start off spinning the wire-wool in big circles, with sparks flying off all around, until the wool was all burnt out. Members loving the Orange circle sparkling sparks and the reflection it created in the water. It was time to go again, with spinning over the head, while walking back and forth, turning in a circle to create an orb, anything to get the sparks flying and get fantastic reflection. Members loved every minute and before some members had even got home, there were images from the night online. That's how popular these nights are.
At the end of January, we went to a local spot, which over looked the M58. The only lights to be seen, were the ones from the traffic on the motorway and may from the towns in the distance. This is a great night to teach members about long exposures and timings. The night started off calm, dry and warm, when we met at the local Starbucks before we headed to our final destination. Once on the bridge, members picked their spots, set up their tripods and cameras and put in their settings they wanted to go with. As the sun went down, the night sky darkened and more and more cars started putting their headlights on. After just an hour, the weather went from calm, dry and warm, to wild, wet and cold. The wind picked up and brought the rain and the temperature just dropped. within 10minutes of that, 99% of our members packed up and went home. But one member stayed and made camp, sitting in his caper van, cooking hotdogs while have a brew. Yes, Bill was going nowhere!
Middle of February, the club decided to teach members about studio lighting and held a one light studio night. We showed members how many different looks could be achieved from having one, such as split lighting and butterfly lighting. The members used each other as models, to help them to learn to speak to and direct the models and not be shy. Asking the model back, forward or to tilt their head in a certain way, helped the photographer see where the model light was shinning and allowed them to make slight adjustments. This was a great teachable night.
Beginning of March saw the club do some smoke photography. The a large box of incense sticks, a strobe or 2, black backdrop and a lot of eager members, we set our selves up. We had 2 set ups next to each, which thinking back, may of been a bad idea, due to the amount of smoke coming from the incense stick. Our members took turns to each have a go at taking pictures of the smoke shapes rising up. There was some interesting shapes captured and was another successful night. But with the room fast filling of the smell lavender and saddle wood and all our members looking like they've just walked out of an opium den, it was time to shut it down. All the members left looking really calm and relaxed, which was nice to see haha.
End of March saw the club back out again and heading to Dalton Church, to play around with a new toy one of our members has, a pixel stick. Wow these things are fun! For those that aren't sure what a pixel stick is, it's a long stick with lights on it (doesn't sound exciting does it?), but when it's been programmed and you walk with the stick, the lights flash, creating a pattern. To a person watching it, it just looks like a stupid stick with flashing lights on it, but put it in front of your camera with a long exposure, then you capture some amazing images, depending on what you've programmed into. We had a trail run with it at the Artz Centre the week prior, to give us an idea of what it's like and our members loved it. This will know doubt be the clubs favourite toy of the winter months, when the sky's are dark. Images below are from the Artz Centre and on location at Dalton Church.
In between all of these events, the club entered the L&CPU Annual Club Competition. Due to an error, we didn't submit as many images as we should of or would of liked. Neither did we enter any prints, so our club score was really low this time. Looking at the scores are members got, we felt the judges were harsh, really harsh, as some of the images that made it into the exhibition, were below par we felt. Yet, some of members images have scored well in the past, yet totally bombed in this competition. There were images with no story or feelings, images that were poorly lit and composite images that just looked like a child had cut them out and clued them to a piece of paper. Now I'm not saying our images were 10 times better, but when you take a real good look at some of the ones that got in, and then you look at your own clubs images that didn't, you start to question the whole judging system. We've already had members refuse to enter any more competitions we're invited to by the L&CPU. Sore losers or standing up for their images? I myself do believe that some judges get it bang on, and it doesn't seem to matter what the image is, they judge the image on it's quality and the feelings it evoke. While others judges, seem to judge on what they like. "Nice cat, 13 points", even though it might be out of focus or have no depth or the image just doesn't even draw you in, they've marked high because they are a cat lovers. Wrong. I maybe speaking out of turn and judging might not be easy as I'm making out it to be, but there just seems to be no consistence. Should judges go through a judging system every 4/5 years, to make sure they are up to a high standard of judging? As styles change.
Pixel Stick Images Below
Smoke Photography
One Light Set Up - Teachable Night
Traffic Trails
Wire-Wool Photography
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