Time Fly's When You're Having Fun!

Beacon Photographic Club

Nov 25, 20228 min read

I hadn't realised just how long it's been since I last wrote a blog for the club. The last blog I wrote was back in July, so I feel I really need to play catch up :( Apologies to everyone who reads these & was looking forward to the next one.

So what have we been up to since July? Well, we've been out & about, held more studio nights, entered more competitions, as a club had a stall at the annual Crawford show & the Green Fayre at the Beacon Country Park & had some fantastic characters/models to photograph. As always, we've had our laughs along the way, which always makes our nights fun & go so much quicker.

Back in July, we had a stall at the Annual Green Fayre at the Beacon Country Park. This is something we do every year & it was good to back after a long break away because of Covid. As a club, we got to showcase the members images & talk to the public about the club & answer any questions they may have. There was plenty of visitors to our stall & we were surprised at how many juniors are interested in photography. They are the next generations of photographers & with juniors members in the club, we always welcome more.

Moving into August, we organised a whole Sunday with the one & only Graham Currey, a fantastic photographer & lately, model. We spent the day at Formby pine woods & later on the beach. Graham dressed as a Wizard first & we headed into the pine woods, were Graham got into full character & our members went crazy snapping away (some of the request got strange, but Graham didn't say no & was happy to help the members get their shot). The wizard costume quickly changed into the Jesus / Mosses outfit & Graham headed to the sand dunes to get his mosses on. With beautiful blue sky's & a nice warm breeze on a Sunday morning & seeing Mosses standing on top of a sand dune, the visitors to Formby Beach that morning must of thought there was a second coming (he certainly turned a few heads that's for sure). After dinner, Graham dressed in his Poldark costume & was ready to go. I spotted a lady putting her horses away onto a trailer & so I just had to ask her if we could borrow a horse for a couple of shots, we were in luck, she said yes! Happy days & Graham was made up too, as he said all the times he dressed in this outfit, a horse would really set it off & no one else would have this shot & more than likely wouldn't do. So, we move to some grass areas with the horse & got some wonderful shots (before the horse had to go), then we move on to an area of long grass & flowers, then slowly moving towards the beach / waters edge. Graham was fantastic, full gear (which didn't look light to wear), was running through the water towards us. We spent most of the afternoon taking shots of Graham in this outfit, before we heading back to the car park. Graham changed into another outfit, Huckley Berry Fin (the older version lol). Once changed, we set off into the woods & open fields to capture more amazing shots. Cars driving past us & wondering if they're still in the year 2022, so funny looking at their faces. Once done with this outfit, we all headed to the car & drove to a local church. Here, Graham dressed in a Plaque Doctor outfit & set about making poses among the head stones. Another funny moment happened here, when a couple walking through the church saw Graham, but didn't see us photographers crouched down getting the shots, they slowed their walked down & looked really concerned. I stood up & said they were OK to walk through & their response was "so you can see him, right?" All our members laughed & stood up & the couple realised we were all taking pictures of Graham, to which they said "oh thank God, I honestly thought I was seeing things". Funny moment, made us all laugh & finished the day of nicely. We'll no doubt have Graham back again in the near future for another full day's activity.

Also this month, we had a trip to Yarrow Park & some members captured some wonderful summer colours. No Kingfisher images this time, but a wonderful evenings stroll.

Like the Green Fayre, we had a stall at the Crawford Show. This was the first time we'd had a stall at this show & like the other, wasn't bad. Plenty of interest from the public & on our breaks, the show had some stunning cars & stalls to walk around. Something we'll attend again.

We decided to photograph something different & something we've never done before, a motorcycle. Another good night to be fair & the images the members captured are really good. It's something we'll do again in the near future.

Following week we took a walk around the Beacon for some landscapes photography this month. The light was flat & wasn't great, timing is everything I guess. Something we'll have to try again in better weather conditions.

With light fading, we took a trip to walk around Burscough for some low light photography. The evening wasn't bad at all & the light was lovely (compared to the week before). We took a walk down the canal & back again, taking in the wildlife & the sunset over a field. Once back in the village, we took our time around the church & village, teaching long exposure photography & light painting.

Moving into September, our first event was a walk around Parbold Village. Again, was a lovely evening stroll. We started in the village, headed down the canal, walked up the main road, down a small path that lead us to a beautiful church, then we went back on to a main road & headed back to the village. Was a great walk, but know one can say that photography doesn't burn calories, as it felt like I'd lost over a stone after that walk!

Following week, we had some special visitors in from a galaxy far far away. Lord Darth Vader & one of his storm troopers paid us a visit, along side Durge, a bounty hunter, looking for rebel scum. What a night this was for the members present, having these characters in for their studio photos. The models we pay to come into the club for the members, are great, but these guys went above & beyond, as they donated the money we paid them to charity. They dress up because they love being in character & just want to make children & people happy.

We skipped a week to pay respect to our beloved Queen, who sadly passed away, but we were back the week after in Southport, photographing the Southport British Musical Firework Championships. Was a really busy nice & our members found it difficult to get somewhere decent to set them selves up. But we did manage to get somewhere & we stayed for the 3 shows & got some wonderful shots.

In October we started the month with a Critique night. These nights are great for members to learn how to give & receive feedback on images. It's a great way for self improving. We also want our members to improve, if its through camera lesson or image critiquing or even photo editing. There's room for improvement for everyone.

On the Sunday after the Critique night, I went to the Novice Cup & Big Day Event, held by the L&CPU, which this year was held in Leigh. As a club, we've often enter the Novice Cup & this year was no different. The standard of images was high, which it often is, so I knew it was going to be a tough competition. I don't normally attend & if I do, don't normally stay for the result, but for some reason, I did this year. I'm glad I did, because I couldn't of been more pleased for the members & the club with the results we received. We as a club normally finish in the bottom 1/3 of the table, but this year I was shocked. In the Monochrome section we finished in 5th place with 139 points. in the Open Colour section we finished in 4th place with 137 points. Overall, we finished in 4th place out all the clubs who entered with 276 points. Shocked, but couldn't be more pleased for our members & the club. Well done again.

Following Thursday we had an editing night, teaching members basic edits using Photoshop & Affinity software. Sharpening, levels, colour balance etc. Something we do often to help members improve.

Another week & another event, this time a spooky theme. With Halloween around the corner, we thought we'd bring in a model who dress as a vampire for us. With the added backdrop we have, we did get some gruesome shots from the night!

Week after was the River of Light Festival in Liverpool. There were some fantastic light installations around the docks, but it was a very busy night. Having to move with the crowds & then try & find a space to set up our gear to get the shot was difficult. Didn't help when they turned the lights outs at 8pm on the installations, which we weren't aware of until it happened. So it cut our night short. But we came away with something, so not all bad.

We started November with a vintage night from a couple of models who know how it's done. We normally have models turn up with just a bag of costumes / outfits, not these guys, they turned up with props, that looked like they came straight from a museum. Again, with most models, they stand & look pretty, but these two brought acting skills to the table, which helped tell a story in the images we took. Safe to say, these guys will be back again, as every member loved them & loved the images they got.

After the recent spell of images we've all taken over the last few weeks, we thought it best to have another constructive feedback night. Again, another way to help members improve on their image taking & editing.

The following week, we had the Folios. These are a selection of prints from camera club members, under the L&CPU we are affiliated to, that were awarded or scored high enough to enter the folios, from competitions we enter as a club that the L&CPU organise. It's a great night to see images from other members of other clubs & the standard of images that get excepted into the folios. We often play the game, guess the score (as they are score out of 15 points & anything above a 11 can be excepted into the folio) & then lets have your opinion on the image. It's great to hear the different views & opinions from members about the scoring of the image & of the image it's self. These are always a fun night & it was nice to have them back for the first time since 2019 (pre-covid).

We'd entered as a club into the L&CPU Knockout Competition, unfortunately, we didn't do as well in this competition, finishing joint 33rd with 5 other clubs. We always knew this was going to be a tough competition for our members, but you never know unless we try. Bring on next year, we'll try again.

This week was our last event of the year, which was an introduction to portraiture studio. Another night, were members learnt how to use studio lighting, were to focus & get the best from Clamshell Lighting. Another night were members were happy to have learnt studio lighting & come away with some great images.

Next week, our members are just meeting up for a few Christmas drinks & some mince pies (if you like them) and to chat about the year we've had & what we can expect from the year a head.

We'd like to wish all our members, past, present & future, all the best this Christmas & the New Year & we hope to see you all again.