Issue 428                  

                                                    26 March 2021
To: Firstname Lastname
Your BPS Membership No:
Your BPS Membership renewal date:  
 
Hello, Firstname
 
Wednesday 31 March
 
Next Wednesday we share our screens with David Bathard FRPS AWPF, who will be presenting his talk - Recent India. David says of his talk:
India has been such a large part of my life for the last twenty-two years and as my wife says: “it always gives more”. Our memories of India are strengthened by my photography that not only recalls the place or the people, but also the feelings and the atmosphere.
Although our own special moments are of course personal, they can be shared through images, so that the viewer can see beyond the stereotypical and at the everyday. My series of images are in groups that I print to form panels, as I have always thought that one image may not tell the whole. Travel with me by train, visit the Kathakali Dancers, see the Cashew workers, walk through Gogunda village and marvel at the colours of Jaisalmer.
  • Meeting link - click LINK 
  • Meeting ID: 848 6137 7578
  • Passcode: 031913
 
Returning To Unit 13
At last week’s Council Meeting we discussed the question of when we should consider returning to Unit 13 for our weekly meetings. There is a great deal of speculation and optimism that restrictions will be lifted or at least considerably relaxed from as early as mid-June. This may turn out to be correct, but it is not something that we can rely on. The view of the Council was that we should err on the side of caution, and make sure that the health and safety of members is the most important factor in any decision regarding Unit 13.
 
The end result of the discussion is that, restrictions permitting, we will aim to return to Unit 13 in September for the start of the new season. This provides us with the time to plan for the re-opening with whatever precautions are required at that time. In the meantime, we will continue to hold weekly Zoom meetings, and a quick glance at the programme will show you that there are some excellent speakers and subjects other the coming months.
 
Although I am sure we all want to be able to meet with other members, it is also true that the use of Zoom has allowed us to have speakers from much further afield. We will be looking at the possibility of combining meetings at Unit 13 with the use of Zoom so that we can perhaps have the ‘Best of both worlds’, although there are some technical issues that have to be looked at to achieve this.
 
Ralph Snook
BPS Chairman
 
Bristol Salon
Last Wednesday we saw the AV presentation of the 2021 Bristol Salon, which was one of the highest viewed/attended Zoom meetings we have had, with 80+ members logging in, so a big thank you for your support and also to those who took the trouble to email me to say how much they had enjoyed the evening.
 
One thing that wasn't mentioned, was that Sue O'Connell had the distinction of being the Best BPS Entrant with a total of 10 acceptances, which included 3 HMs - well done Sue. 
 
WCPF Members' Competition - Successes for BPS
Congratulations to everyone with acceptances in the Members Exhibition. If you haven’t already used the image for club competitions, Mike would appreciate a PDI copy to add to the pool of images available for selection into external competitions – you can send these to mike_martin@blueyonder.co.uk
 
Below is a list of members and their total acceptances:

  Open Nature Creative Photo Travel
Colin Dixon  1   1  
Rachel Domleo 4   1 2
Steve Field  1      
Jeff Hargreaves  2     2
John Hudson  1 3    
Richard Kay    3    
Mike Martin  1   2  
Petrer Mccloskey  1 1   1
Barry Mead  2   3  
Sue O'Connell  4 2   4
Graham Pears    3    
Mary Pears    3    
Ralph Snook  1 4    
Totals for club 18 19 7 9
 
The following members also gained awards:
 
Open Digital Class Awards
Bronze Medal Barry Mead  Girl In Red
Highly Commended Rachel Domleo The Entertainer
Highly Commended Steve Field  Rescue Dogs
Highly Commended Sue O'Connell  The Eagles Are Coming
Nature Digital Class Awards
Highly Commended John Hudson  Long tongued Bat with Banana Flower
Highly Commended Richard Kay  Female Blue Morph Arctic Fox
Highly Commended Mary Pears  Young Jay Begging for Food
Creative Digital Class Awards
Bronze Medal Rachel Domleo Guardians Of The Forest
Selector's Award Mike Martin  Palace Of Light
Selector's Award Barry Mead  Last Look Back
Highly Commended Mike Martin  Raven Sisters
Photo Travel Digital Class Awards
Gold Medal Sue O'Connell  Little Goatherd
Silver Medal Sue O'Connell  Entering The Grand Mosque
Selector's Award Petrer Mccloskey  Shiyueba Festival
Highly Commended Jeff Hargreaves  Morning Takings
Highly Commended Sue O'Connell  Caro Woman And Child
 
The Award-Winning Images
 
Bronze Medal
 Barry Mead
 Girl In Red
 
 
Highly Commended
 Rachel Domleo
 The Entertainer
 
Highly Commended
 Steve Field
 Rescue Dogs
 
 
Highly Commended
Sue O'Connell
The Eagles Are Coming
Highly Commended
 John Hudson
 Long tongued Bat with Banana Flower
 
 
Highly Commended
Richard Kay
Female Blue Morph Arctic Fox
 
Highly Commended
 Mary Pears
 Young Jay Begging for Food
 
 
 
Bronze Medal
Rachel Domleo
Guardians Of The Forest
 
 
Selector's Award
 Mike Martin
 Palace Of Light
 
 
 
Selector's Award
Barry Mead
Last Look Back
 
 
 
 
 
 
Highly Commended
 Mike Martin  
 Raven Sisters
 
 
 
 
 
Gold Medal
 Sue O'Connell
Little Goatherd
 
Selector's Award
 Peter Mccloskey
Shiyueba Festival
 
 
Highly Commended
 Jeff Hargreaves
Morning Takings
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Highly Commended
Sue O'Connell
Caro Woman And Child
 
What Computer Do I Use?
I have received the following plea for information from BPS member, Davinia Emberson, hopefully someone will be able to help her.
 
Hello fellow BPSers, as a relatively new member I am getting to grips with Light Room. I need a better computer and I wanted to canvas opinion of others at BPS to see what computer people use?  
I currently have an old MacBook Pro (which isn't fast enough to run the latest version of Creative Suite), so am currently using a desktop with Windows 10, but it struggles and is very slow even with small files. I currently backup all my pictures to the Cloud on Google Pictures but their storage policy is changing and on 1 June 2021 will no longer be able to store my raw files there. Keen to understand what computers and storage people use. 
If members could email me dclme1881@gmail.com so that I can canvas opinion which would be much appreciated! 
 
Davinia    
 
Downloads
NEW - Download issue 278 of PAGB eNews here. This issue carries, among other things, a write up on BPS and some photographs from our members.
Download Issue 86 of Photography News here.
 
Trumpet Blowers' Corner
Salon acceptances: BPS photographers are now achieving large numbers of salon acceptances and constraints on time and space mean we can't include them all. So please only advise of awards or other milestones.

Contrary to popular belief, I do not possess psychic powers and need you to tell me if you've had successes. If you want to blow your own trumpet (or someone else's), then this is the place to do it. Please let me know and I'll include details in a future issue.
 
Make Money For BPS Every Time You Shop On Amazon!
Now we're all still in lockdown, the thought of on-line shopping must be looming large in many members' minds. It's worth remembering that if you so wish, each and every one of you can support BPS with every purchase you make on Amazon by using Amazon Smile. Click on the link below – then it’s self-explanatory.
Shopping using Smile is no different to your normal Amazon shopping and costs you nothing, it's just that you need to tell it that you wish to use Smile and then we get some pennies!
 
For Sale
I have received the following from Steve Field: 
My daughter has recently announced she is retiring from competitive gymnastics which means I cannot justify hanging on to my Canon 7D Mk II and battery grip to cover her international comps which (now) won't happen :-(  
I would like it to go to a good home so BPS gets a look in before ebay.  What is on offer is the following: 
  • Canon 7D MkII +BG16 Battery Grip - Both Boxed
  • 2 No Canon LP E6N Batteries
  • Canon Battery Charger
  • Canon Strap and the bits that came in the boxes
  • SanDisk CF Cards - 2x16Gb Extreme and 3x8Gb Extreme
  • SanDisk SD Cards - 2x32Gb Extreme Pro
I cannot tell you exactly how many shutter activations it has - can't get the info out of it!,  What I can say is that there are 6579 images in my Lightroom Catalogue and I have deleted approx 12,000 images taken over 4 years of other gymnasts at various competitions.
I would like £750 -  Negotiation is expected.  I have seen just the bodies only go for between £600 and £700 on ebay so I think I am being realistic but I'll let you guys be the judge of that.
Contact me on progsec@bristolphoto.org.uk if you are interested.

 
If you have any photographic items for sale, drop me a line and I'll include it in the next newsletter. Please make sure that you provide contact details, price and full description of the sale items (pictures always help).
 
Photographic Acronyms
For those of you who aren't sure what MPAGB, EFIAP/s and many more such seemingly random collections of letters mean, just click here to see the list.
 
Missed a Copy of the Newsletter?
To view past editions of this Newsletter, please click on the following link and then select the date(s) you are looking for - BPS Newsletter Archive
 
BPS Website - Members' Portal "Log in"
To enter the Members' Portal of the BPS website you will need the following:
Username - Your Membership Number            Password - Created by you
 
If you have any problems getting into the Members' Area, please contact Matt by email: webmaster@bristolphoto.org.uk  
Bristol Photographic Society,
Unit 13, Montpelier Central, Station Rd, Bristol, BS6 5EE