It takes a lot of effort to set up Photoshow, but this year our team of movers and shifters worked extra quick as you can see from the video below. Just click on the image and give it a few seconds to load.

Photoshow Set-Up Video

LSAPS Photographers by Eddie Killick

We started the Knott End Photo Walk by the jetty on Thursday evening 13^th July. 17 members met up for a walk along the ‘Prince Philip Riverside Walk’ looking across to the remains of the roll-on / roll-off ferry dock at Fleetwood. So near yet so far to get to by road. The sun was shining bright into our faces as we looked across the River Wyre making it difficult to see any detail in the row of houses on Queen’s terrace.

The dock gates were open allowing a few vessels to start / end their journey and a couple of jet ski’s sped by shooting water into the air. We saw a few birds, particularly as the tide came in, but not as many as I’d hoped for.

From the jetty we took images looking across Morecambe Bay to the Lake District fells in the distance. As the light started to fade the grey outline of the fells complemented the clouds in the sky. At the end of the walk we called in at The Bourne Arms for some liquid refreshments and a chat.

The next walk will be to Avenham & Miller Parks, Preston on Thursday evening 27^th July.

Mike

No featured image found for this competition.

Photoshow results were announced on Thursday 6th July, when we had the pleasure of inviting our two judges to provide comment on the images they had selected for Awards. The Print competition was judged by Diana Magor (EFIAP/b APSA MPSA CPAGB LRPS BPE3) from Hoylake Photographic Society, whilst the Digital competition was judged by David Gibbins (ARPS, APAGB, EFIAP/b, BPE5, CPAGB/AV) from Nottingham Photographic Society.

There were 337 Prints submitted by 42 LSAPS members, and of these, 47 Prints and 18 members received awards. In the PDI category, there were 328 images submitted by 40 LSAPS members, with 51 PDI’s and 21 members receiving an award.

All the Awarded images are listed below. Congratulations to everyone who received an Award, but in particular to Carol Watson who received Best In Show – Digital and to Martin Christensen who received Best In Show – Prints.

2023 Photoshow Print Awards

2023 Photoshow Digital Awards

Cycle Power by Carol Watson

On Thursday 29^th June twelve of us met up at Preston Docks to take in the scenery and explore the area around the outer dock basin and onto the ‘Bull Nose’ by the outer lock gates. It’s a pleasant view from the dock gates looking along the River Ribble as it flows out to Irish Sea. We didn’t have time to walk around the main ‘Albert Edward Dock’ instead we made our way back to the Marina Control Tower to take pictures of the marina and boat-launching crane.

To finish the evening, we took a detour to the Ribble Pilot for a drink and chat before heading home.

The next Photo Walk, on Thursday 13^th July, will take us to Knott End.

Mike

Marton Mere Walk by Stuart Cahill

The first Photo Walk of the Summer Break took place on Thursday 15^th June on a sunny, warm evening. 17 of us met on Lawson Road, Blackpool for a walk around Marton Mere. Marton Mere is recognised as a Site of Special Scientific Interest supporting various habitats such as open water, reed beds, grassland as well as pockets of woodland and scrub. This mixture of habitats, along with the wildlife it supports, provided the opportunity for some interesting photography, seeking out detail in the landscape.

Mike

Misty Start At Podere Belvedere by Gordon Watson

The North Cheshire Challenge was held on Saturday 3rd of June. This is an inter-club Knock-Out competition where each club enters 5 images. Half the images are knocked out at each round, until at round 5, with only a few images remaining the judge selects the overall winning image. Points are allocated for the round that an image was eliminated in, and the winning image receives 6 points. With only 5 images from each club, the standard was very high, but the judge Terry Donnelly did a great job of judging the competition and provided some excellent critique as he whittled down the images. Chorley and the Evolve Group shared the top spot, whilst Stephen Moon of High Peak had the top image of the night. LSAPS finished in a very commendable 4th place out of 27 clubs that entered, one better than last year. Congratulations to Gordon Watson, who’s Misty Start at Podere Belvedere made it all the way through to the final round.

LSAPS scores are shown below.

• Full Stretch – Brian Clark (1)
• A Clean Sweep – Mary Kirkby (2)
• Blyth Beach – Sheila Giles (2)
• Old Miser – Carol Watson (3)
• Misty Start at Podere Belvedere – Gordon Watson (5)

The LSAPS Council

LSAPS 75th anniversary dinner was held on 23rd May at Lytham Hall and was a great success. The evening was organised by Janet Coulson, so at the start of the meal there was a small presentation of some flowers to Janet for her hard work.

There were some old photographs and memorabilia from the club’s history to look at before we enjoyed a couple of rounds of the traditional LSAPS sit-down bingo. We then started on the main event of the meal.

It was good to see our long distance member John Hagen (Scotland) also it was nice to see Julie England and past member Gloria. Thanks are also due to Paul and his team at Lytham Hall for the excellent food and service.

Gresgarth Hall by Gordon Watson

On Sunday 14^th May a group of us met at Gresgarth Hall Gardens, Caton on the outskirts of Lancaster for a Photo Walk. The weather was still and overcast which, for photographing plants, flowers and ornaments in the grounds, was ideal. The garden is made up of a number of interlinked areas, each with their own identify, which seamlessly blend together, along with arboretum walks, all with the backdrop of Gresgarth Hall.

We arrived just as the gardens opened and so we took the opportunity to start our walk on the lawn taking images over the lake using the Hall as a backdrop.  From there we all went our separate ways exploring the walks through the arboretum, the walled vegetable garden and the gardens divided by well manicured hedging. The planting was not overpowering, rather it had a natural feel containing a variety of plants with flowers that complimented each other. From a photographic perspective it gave us the opportunity to experiment with aperture to separate the subject from the background and try out different compositions. After a couple of hours we made our way home to view and process our days work, a selection of which is shown below.

Mike

Alpha Male Gelada Baboon by Mary Kirkby – Gold Medal In Nature Prints

The L&CPU Annual Individual Competition took place at the weekend of 13th/14th May and LSAPS scored some notable successes.

In the PDI competition we had 17 members enter 142 images. 8 members had 1 image or more score 12 or above (equivalent to an acceptance in external exhibitions). Congratulations to Brian Clark who got a Commended for his image “The Final Hurdle”.

In the Print competition we had 7 members enter 66 images. 6 members had 1 or more image score 12 or above and 5 of these have had images retained for the L&CPU Exhibition which takes places between 9th & 28th August. The 5 members who have images retained for the Exhibition are Gordon Watson, Mary Kirkby, Anthony Hull, Carol Watson and Daryl Giles. Carol and Gordon also had images retained for the PAGB Inter-Federation Competition. The following 2 members gained awards in the print competition:
Mary Kirkby – Gold for “Alpha Male Gelada Baboon”, Commended for “Leopard And Cub” and “Mursi Tribeswoman”
Carol Watson – Commended for “Windswept and Interesting”, “Looking Towards the Light” and “Old Miser”

Well done to all those who took part. All the LSAPS results are available in the pdf document below, and a selection of LSAPS images from each successful entrant are shown in the gallery.
Carol

LSAPS Results