The next meeting of the DI Group is Monday 9 June at the Clubrooms. As usual all members are welcome and are encouraged to bring along images, either for discussion or just to show off. Images can either be prints or projected but please remember that images for projection should be saved as jpegs on a standard memory stick.

Ashwin's chocolate biscuits will again be on offer as a reward for coming along.

Last Wednesday was the Annual Print Competition, which was judged this year by Peter Rees from Shrewsbury. Peter treated us to an evening that was both entertaining and instructive and had obviously spent a considerable time looking at our prints beforehand. The final results are as follows:

There is a week's grace for submitting entries for the Garmston Bowl and President's Cup competitions, the date is now 18 June.

 

President’s Cup Projected Image Competition
This is open to all members, excluding holders of FRPS and EFIAP distinctions, and will be judged as a set of 3 related digital images on any subject.

The Garmston Bowl Print Competition
This is open to all members and is for a set of five related prints on any subject. The entry will be judged as a set of five.

A set of keys (picture below) was left in the clubrooms a few weeks ago, if they are yours, please let me know - and please, no comments about it being one of my better pictures!

Last week I put in a plea for helpers for Gill at tea time each week and to possibly stand in for Gill if she can't make it - it now looks like tea could be cancelled as just ONE member responded! We have 119 members and between 50 and 60 turn up each week, it's a pretty sorry state if we can't find a few volunteers for such a simple task. It gets a bit annoying when it's the same few faces that volunteer whenever people are asked to put their hands up. Can we please see a few new volunteers this time, either email me with your details (newsletter@bristolphoto.org.uk) or have a word with Gill at any meeting.

 

Alternatively we could just cancel the tea break!

Barry is looking for more images for the Members' Gallery on the BPS Website. He is particularly interested in images from newer members. They don't have to be world class images, they just have to show what you have been up to (photographically). Images need to be saved at 72dpi and sized at 600 pixels on the longest side.

Please email your images to Barry at barrymead@blueyonder.co.uk

We have received the following from a local television production company.

 

 

If you are interested, please download their promotional flyer from this link.

At long last the same definition for nature and wildlife categories will be used in competitions and exhibitions by the three major international photographic organizations, PSA, FIAP and RPS. Three of the world’s largest international photography organizations have devised a common definition for nature and wildlife photography. The Photographic Society of America (PSA) which represents 6500 members and 470 camera clubs, the Fédération Internationale de l’Art Photographique (FIAP) which represents over 85 national associations and The Royal Photographic Society (RPS) with over 11,000 members will all use the same definition for nature and wildlife categories for their respective competitions and exhibitions. The new definition will apply to exhibitions with a closing date after 1 January 2015.

 

The introduction of a common definition is primarily intended to provide clarity to competition entrants. In addition, it will support efforts by all three bodies and their affiliated organizations to clamp down on those entering ineligible images or who set out to abuse the rules.

Nature photography is restricted to the use of the photographic process to depict all branches of natural history, except anthropology and archaeology, in such a fashion that a well-informed person will be able to identify the subject material and certify its honest presentation. The story telling value of a photograph must be weighed more than the pictorial quality while maintaining high technical quality. Human elements shall not be present, except where those human elements are integral parts of the nature story such as nature subjects, like barn owls or storks, adapted to an environment modified by humans, or where those human elements are in situations depicting natural forces, like hurricanes or tidal waves. Scientific bands, scientific tags or radio collars on wild animals are permissible. Photographs of human created hybrid plants, cultivated plants, feral animals, domestic animals, or mounted specimens are ineligible, as is any form of manipulation that alters the truth of the photographic statement.
No techniques that add, relocate, replace, or remove pictorial elements except by cropping are permitted. Techniques that enhance the presentation of the photograph without changing the nature story or the pictorial content, or without altering the content of the original scene, are permitted including HDR, focus stacking and dodging/burning. Techniques that remove elements added by the camera, such as dust spots, digital noise, and film scratches, are allowed. Stitched images are not permitted. All allowed adjustments must appear natural. Colour images can be converted to grey-scale monochrome. Infrared images, either direct-captures or derivations, are not allowed. Images used in Nature Photography competitions may be divided in two classes: Nature and Wildlife. Images entered in Nature sections meeting the Nature Photography Definition above can have landscapes, geologic formations, weather phenomena, and extant organisms as the primary subject matter. This includes images taken with the subjects in controlled conditions, such as zoos, game farms, botanical gardens, aquariums and any enclosure where the subjects are totally dependent on man for food.
Images entered in Wildlife sections meeting the Nature Photography Definition above are further defined as one or more extant zoological or botanical organisms free and unrestrained in a natural or adopted habitat. Landscapes, geologic formations, photographs of zoo or game farm animals, or of any extant zoological or botanical species taken under controlled conditions are not eligible in Wildlife sections. Wildlife is not limited to animals, birds and insects. Marine subjects and botanical subjects (including fungi and algae) taken in the wild are suitable wildlife

'24 Hours in Bristol' is a unique photographic competition for amateur and professional photographers from the UK and beyond to put their creativity to the test by capturing the essence of life in this vibrant city of Bristol during over a single 24 hour period, which this year is 23-24 August. This is a competition organised by the City Council and even has some cash prizes (much better use of ratepayers' money than painting double yellow lines!). BPS member Paul Smith entered in 2013 and gained an award for his image of an early morning swimmer in Clifton Lido. For full details of the competition, please visit the official website.

 

2014 South Devon International Salon of Photography will consist of three Digital projected sections: Open (colour or mono) Creative/Altered Reality and Nature. Closing date 19 July. Full details and on-line entry on their website.

Please note these changes to the programme:

 

Delete - Ray Dowding
Add - David Burnett - “Burnett’s Baroque” DPI evening of visits to Dresden, Prague, Venice, Verona, Rome and Potsdam.

 

 

If you have any problems getting into the Members' Area, please contact Carol, either by email: secretary@bristolphoto.org.uk or by telephone: 0117 9241338.