Issue 270                                                                                                  17 Jan 2018
To: Firstname Lastname 
Your BPS Membership No:
Hello Firstname

Wednesday 17 January
Next Wednesday we welcome Vanda Ralevska who will be presenting her talk called Experience of Creating Images. Vanda says of her talk: "In my talk I focus on photography as a journey and experience of connecting with the surrounding world. Appreciating and making the most of whatever place, time and location you are in. Finding the extraordinary beauty that exists within everyday things, and looking beyond the obvious."

Vanda is a photographer based in London; she has a true passion for landscapes, nature and the outdoors and is a constant search for those fleeting moments of magic that turn our world into something extraordinary. Vanda finds her inspiration in quiet landscapes, and the intimate details that abound in nature. In her images she strives to reflect the atmosphere, feeling, and sheer wonderment that our natural world evokes within us.
 
 
 
Blue Morning by Vanda
 
Vanda is a member of the Arena Group of Photographers, click on this link to see a selection of her images and click on this link to visit her website.
 
 
Print Group
A meeting of the Print Group will be held on Monday, 15 January at 7.30pm. Members who are looking to gain photographic distinctions are welcome to come along to get advice on their prints from Pete McCloskey and Graham Reeves.
 
Beyond The Wall
The next Beyond The Wall meeting is on Monday 22 Jan when Pete McCloskey will be analyzing your prints before they are entered into club competitions. Please bring 2/3 prints (mounted) that can be viewed.
 
Further meetings this spring are being organized with Epson Printers and Longridge Mount cutters.
 
Please let David know if there are other parts of your photography development that we could help.
 
David Grierson
 
Projected Image Competition - Closing Date
The closing date for Round 3 of the Projected Image Competition is next Wednesday 17 January. The prescribed theme for the Advanced Section is Close Up/Macro
Any queries, please email competitions@bristolphoto.org.uk and I'm sure that Ken will be only too happy to try to answer them.
 
DPIC 
The WCPF Interclub Digital Projected Image Competition (DPIC) is being held at Exeter on 18 February. Tickets are now on sale and can be found on-line by following this link.
This event is usually very poorly supported by BPS members, with the majority of those who go being from the Salon Committee. Unfortunately, DPIC and the Salon judging coincide this year, so we won't be able to go, it would be really great if other members could support BPS and go to Exeter on the 18th.
 
Photography Show - Birmingham
The Photography Show will be back for its fifth year at the NEC, Birmingham on 17-20 March. Develop your passion – get kit from over 250 brands, be inspired by tutorials led by those in the know and take advantage of an abundance of opportunities to enhance your skills in your chosen field. The firm favourites are back, including the Super Stage, Behind the Lens Theatre, the ever-popular Live Stage and Canon of course, plus new for this year, The Great Outdoors will focus on everything from dramatic landscapes, to macro shots in your back garden, to special occasions in any weather.
Save £3 on standard adult entry (pay only £10.95) with our special discount*. Book your tickets here – use promo code EOSTPS18 to claim. *Discount code expires on 14 March 2018 and applies to standard adult entry tickets only.
Plus, stay up to date with the latest announcements on The Photography Show website.
 
Bristol Salon of Photography - Less Than 10 Days Before You'll Have To Pay!
For those of you who aren't too sure what the Bristol Salon is: it is an international photographic exhibition that has been running since the mid-1940s and is the largest exhibition of its type in the UK attracting entries from nearly 70 different countries. Entrants may submit up to 16 images across 4 sections (Open, Monochrome, Photo Travel and Nature) which are put before a panel of selectors who pick the top 20% to 30% or so to be accepted. Entry for BPS members is free as long as we receive your entry before 20 January, after that you will have to pay the full fee.
 
To help you with your entry there is a small tutorial that can be downloaded by following this link. When entering, be sure to tick the box on the first page of the entry system to say that you are a BPS member and fill in your BPS membership number which you will find at the top of this newsletter; when you get to the payment page at the end, click ALREADY PAID.
 
Here's hoping that we see a rush of entries, but in the meantime if you have any queries, feel free to email me at chairman@bristolsalon.co.uk
 
Full details can found on the BPS website
 
All the best
 
Pete Howell & the Salon Team

WCPF Members' Exhibition
We have received the following from WCPF:
 
The 2018 WCPF Members Exhibition (MX) is currently being finalised and the entry system will be available from mid-January.  Previous entrants will receive an ‘invitation to enter’ email, and a link to the entry system will be available from this page once it is available. 
Timings
Entry will be available from Monday 15th January 2018 and will close as usual on the date of the Council Meeting ie 3rd March 2018.
Terms and Conditions
The entry classes remain as last year with 3 print classes (Open, Mono, Nature) and 4 PDI classes (Open, Nature, Creative, Photo Travel). The class definitions will be available on the entry website, and are the same as last year and are those adopted by the PAGB.  Image size for PDI’s has been increased to the PAGB standard of 1600x1200 (previously 1400x1050).
Awards
The exhibition once again has PAGB Patronage and PAGB Gold, Silver and Bronze medals plus Selectors Ribbons will be awarded in each class.  A number of highly commended certificates (at the selectors discretion) will also be awarded in each class.
The ‘Margaret Aven’ trophy for the entrant who gains the most acceptances across all 7 classes, and ‘Best Wildlife’ trophy in both Nature classes will also be awarded again this year.
Favourite Image and Sale Of Prints
We are repeating these initiatives that we introduced last year.  Entrants will have 3 choices available
1.     They may opt in to the favourite print image lottery where one of the visitors that voted will receive a free copy of the print that they voted for.
2.     They may opt in to the visitors favourite print image lottery and the sale of prints.  Prints will be offered for sale at a standard price of £35.  Any postage fees required would be an extra cost.
3.     They may opt out of both initiatives:
Venue
We are returning to Bovey Tracy Golf Club with the excellent facilities that proved so sucessful last year.
Selectors
Christine Widdall   MPAGB EFIAP FBPE
Paul Keene            FRPS MPAGB EFIAP/d2 MFIAP
Leo Rich                ARPS DPAGB APAGB EFIAP/g
We hope that members of WCPF clubs will continue to support the exhibition and submit their entries in good time.  Clubs may want to collect all of the print entries from their members and make a single delivery to the appointed AES.  This should make the process more efficient and effective for club members and the AES.
The name & contact details for an entrants AES will be notified on completion of the online entry.
If anything is unclear or there are any questions then please get in touch with the Exhibition Secretary by email at mpix@wcpf.org.uk 
Ralph Snook & Sandie Cox
WCPF Exhibition Secretaries
 
Danny Heaton will be able to take your prints to the WCPF Council meeting on 3 March, so if you are interested, please keep a weather eye open on the WCPF website for the actual opening date - www.wcpf.org.uk

Downloads
Download Issue 198 of the PAGB e-News here. This issue contains many pictures from the recent FIAP World Cup and PAGB Masters of Print Competition. You can also download Issue 198 Extra  PAGB e-News here, this has news from FIAP about Distinctions for AV workers, plus the latest information about their Sanctions process and Red List of banned photographers.
 

Dates For Your Diary
3 & 4 Feb
 
The Fotospeed Academy is holding a workshop at the BPS clubrooms in February to help those who are looking to go for distinctions with the likes of RPS, FIAP, PAGB, BPA and more. The course is being run by ‘The Welsh Dragon’, AKA Margaret Salisbury. Margaret will display examples of successful and also unsuccessful panels, to highlight their strengths and weaknesses. She will offer guidance to participants looking for Distinctions or running Open/International Exhibitions, and use her own experience to encourage and assist you.
She will also explain the up to date criteria for the different associations and John Herlinger from The Fine Art Print room will also be on hand to share his knowledge on the best ways to present your work for panels. Finally, you will be asked to bring your own work with you which will be displayed and reviewed by other members in the class. BPS already runs its own print mentoring evenings, but this could well be a useful addition to those evenings. The dates are 3 & 4 February (two courses). Full details can be found by following this link.
Until 8 Apr
 
The renowned wildlife photography competition, Wildlife Photographer of the Year, from the Natural History Museum is back at M Shed in the City Docks until 8 April, with 100 spectacular images. From frozen wastelands and peculiar species, to tropical paradises and fascinating animal behaviour; this year’s selection is a call to action – a plea to band together and protect our fragile planet.
Wildlife Photographer of the Year is the most prestigious photography event of its kind, providing a global platform that showcases the natural world’s most astonishing and challenging sights.
For full details, please click here.
The exhibition has a FREE to enter day on Saturday 13 January.
 
ITS NOT PARTICULARLY EASY FINDING "DATES FOR YOUR DIARY", SO I WOULD REALLY APPRECIATE IT IF MEMBERS COULD LET ME KNOW OF ANY EVENTS, EXHIBITIONS OR PICTURE LOCATIONS THAT THEY THINK WOULD BE OF INTEREST. DATES AND WEB LINKS WOULD HELP

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.
 
Studio Bookings
Would all members please note: before you plan your shoot and book your model, you should check whether the studio/clubroom will be free. This can be done easily and at any time by viewing the Clubroom Bookings calendar in the Members' Area of the BPS Website. Bookings can (and must) be made by contacting Mike Bigger at bookings@bristolphoto.org.uk.
Log in details to the Members' Area are at the end of this newsletter.
 
Items For Sale
10 Jan
 John Hudson has the following for sale:
Used Manfrotto quick release plate(s) - £10.00 
Used Manfrotto Tripod head (very versatile) with quick release plate   
MH293D3-Q2 Head Foldable 3 Movements Series 290 - £45
If you are interested in either, contact John on jhnhd1@aol.com
 
If you have something photographic that you want to sell, let me have the details and I will circulate them to a captive audience of photographers through the Newsletter - send to the usual address.
 
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 download the list.
 
Personal Detail Changes
Please don't forget that if you change your address (home or email), or gain additional photographic distinctions, it would be appreciated if you could let the Membership Secretary know so that she can keep her records up to date, this will also ensure that you continue to receive your newsletters - please email all changes to membership@bristolphoto.org.uk
The distinctions we have on record are those shown at the top of this newsletter, if they are wrong, please let Carol know.
 
Copy Required
If you have anything you think other members would like to know about, such as special events, exhibitions, photographic hints and tricks, etc. please let me know at bpsnewsletter@bristolphoto.org.uk
PLEASE NOTE: ALL COPY TO BE WITH THE EDITOR BY MIDNIGHT THURSDAY TO ALLOW FOR PUBLICTAION (HOPEFULLY) ON FRIDAY MORNING
 
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' Area "Log in"
To enter the Members' Area of the BPS website you will need the following:
User Name - chatroom            Password - pixels

If you have any problems getting into the Members' Area, please contact Carol, either by email: membership@bristolphoto.org.uk or by telephone: 0117 924 1338
Bristol Photographic Society, Unit 13, Montpelier Central, Station Rd, Bristol, BS6 5EE