Photoshow And Season Awards

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Carol Watson – Photographer Of The Year

Awards Certificates from the 2020/21 Season and Photowshow 2021 were handed out by president Daryl Giles over a series of evenings. Well done to all awarded members, but in particular to Carol Watson who won both the Print and Digital Photographer of the Year.

 

There were two additional awards, presented to Peter Cotton who received a Commended Award in the Novice Cup for his print Waiting His Turn, and to Gordon Watson, who had achieved a Gold Medal in the Bebington 2020 salon for his image Tree And Barn. Due to Covid, this had not been presented until Bob Dennis visited LSAPS with the Bebington Salon images.

Rivington Group Photo by Mike Halstead

Rivington Photowalk

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Rivington Group Photo by Mike Halstead

Rivington Group Photo by Mike Halstead

The Photo Walk to Rivington Terraced Gardens took place on Sunday 21st November. Winter certainly felt to be in air as we set about walking to the terraced gardens in bright sunshine under clear skies.

We gathered for a group photo under the seven-arch bridge before crossing the bridge and climbing the steps to the Italian Lake. To my surprise the lake was virtually empty. I had hoped we’d be able to use reflection in the water to add impact to our photographs.

Undaunted we ascended yet another set of stairs to the Pigeon Tower. From here we had views over the surrounding countryside to the coast. Blackpool Tower was easy to make out with Heysham Power Station and the Lakeland Fells beyond. Lunch was taken sitting on the remains of the walls where the Bungalow used to be. Even after 3 ½ hours exploring the Terraced Gardens, 3 members stayed on and walked to Rivington Pike Tower.

Amongst the group of 14 it was good to see 4 members who joined LSAPS this season plus a guest on the walk. We had an enjoyable day in the fresh (cold) air exploring the gardens taking photos and chatting as we went. Having seen some of what Rivington has to offer I hope people will want to go back and explore the area again and incorporate the lower slopes around the reservoirs.

1st Set Subject Competition (2021/22) – Numbers

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Chevvy by Stuart Cahill

The 1st Set Subject Competition of the 2021/2 season on the subject ‘Something With A Number On It’ was judged on 18th November by Jim Cunningham (CPAGB) from Blackburn Photographic Society. There were a lot of images to get through, so Jim’s comments were of necessity short and to the point, but he did mention several times about whether the image contents looked comfortable in the frame and whether he was pleased or interested in the image. The featured image for this competition is Chevvy by Stuart Cahill which scored 20pts in the PDI category.

2021 L&CPU Knock-Out Competition

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All At Sea by Gordon Watson

The 2021 L&CPU Knock-Out competition was held on Saturday13th November, judged by John Cartlidge APAGB, EFIAP/p, BPE5* from the Midland Counties Photographic Federation. 41 clubs entered, with 4 images from each club. Images are progressively knocked out in a series of rounds, until only a handful are left, at which point the judge selects his overall winner. Scores are awarded for the round reached by each image. All images in the Knock-Out competition must be new to L&CPU competitions.

LSAPS scored a notable success, coming in second equal place, tied with Nelson and Kendal and just one point behind winners Southport. Of LSAPS 4 entries,  Justin’s Camels in Wadi Rum was knocked out in the first round and Carol’s Money, Money Money in the second. However Kuli’s Proud Soldier reached the sixth round and Gordon’s All At Sea reached the seventh and final round, giving LSAPS a score of 16pts.

1st Open Print Competition (2021/22)

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The 1st Open PDI Competition of the 2021/2 season was judged on 22nd October by Dave Butler (MFIAP, MPSA, ARPS, BPE5*, Hon L&CPU) from Chorley Photographic Society. Dave’s style of judging was quite rapid, commenting mainly on the quality of the prints and pointing out where these differed from the digital images being projected on Zoom. The featured image for this competition is A Very British Holiday By Peter Cotton, which gained 20pts in the Intermediate Group.

1st Open Print Competition – Image Gallery

A Very British Holiday By Peter Cotton

Queueing Up For The Picture by Mike Halstead

Rydal Water Photo Walk

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Queueing Up For The Picture by Mike Halstead

Queueing Up For The Picture by Mike Halstead

The first Photo Walk of the new season took place on Saturday 16th October. A group of 11 dedicated photographers arrived at 9.00am in White Moss car park kitted out for whatever the weather may have in store for us.

Drizzle was in the air and, as the low cloud lifted, we were treated to pockets of mist drifting across the hills. After climbing a short distance up Loughrigg Fell we traversed the fell taking images of Rydal water as we progressed.

It’s amazing what sights you see on a photo walk. On a plateau of slate outside Rydal caves we came across a bride and groom having their wedding pictures taken! I must admit the photographer had selected an idyllic spot with the bride in her white wedding dress and the groom in his suit complemented by a backdrop of trees, Rydal water and Nab Scar. Certainly a stunning picture, I just dread to think how much the dry cleaning bill for the beautiful white dress would be!

After the distraction we continued to the shores of Rydal to take images of the lake and boathouse on the far shore. The walk is as much about the social side as capturing images and it was nice to see people discussing compositions etc.  After crossing the busy A591 we entered the grounds of Rydal Hall to have our packed lunches and take images of the waterfalls in the grounds.

Having run out of time we quickly returned to the car park. Whilst we’d had drizzle for much of the day it didn’t really matter, you could say it added atmosphere and contrast to the already spectacular Lake District.

2021 L&CPU Novice Cup

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Waiting His Turn by Peter Cotton

The 2021 Novice Cup took place on Sunday 10th October, the first L&CPU print competition since March 2020!

21 Clubs took part and LSAPS did very well in the Mono Section, finishing in joint 1st place alongside South Manchester CC. Congratulations to Peter Cotton who received a Commended for his print “Waiting His Turn“. Unfortunately we didn’t do so well in the Colour Section, finishing in 12th place. This section was won by North Cheshire PS and Heswall PS. The overall winners of the Cup were Bebington PS with a score of 283 and LSAPS finished 10th with a score of 271.

Note that the Novice Cup is to be renamed, recognising that it is not just for novices and will now be known as the Bob Robinson Cup, in honour of the late L&CPU President.

1st Open Digital Competition (2021/22)

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The 1st Open Digital Competition of the 2021/2 season was judged on 23rd September by Keith Barber (CPAGB, LRPS, FIScT) from Swinton Photographic Society. Keith commented on the high standard of the club’s photography in general, but did make some comments that a simple crop or slight change in position to adjust composition could have significantly lifted some images. His top scoring images from the evening are listed below and our featured image for this competition is Camels In Wadi Rum by Justin Clayton, which was Keith’s top image in the Intermediate Group.

1st Open Digital Competition – Image Gallery

Camels In Wadi Rum By Justin Clayton

Graham Currey Photo Competition

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Overall 1st Place – Good, Bad Or Ugly By Gordon Watson

Following our photoshoot with Graham Currey on 1st August, he kindly agreed to judge and provide feedback on a selection of images. To ensure a good distribution of images, each photographer was restricted to one image per character, though there was some slight relaxation of that rule. The images are shown below, grouped by character, with Graham’s top placed images for each character at the end of each set. It is interesting to see the variety of work produced from the photoshoot, some fairly straight forward images, some strongly processed and creative images and some composites, where the character is transported to a different scene entirely. Congratulations to Gordon Watson who’s image Good, Bad or Ugly was Graham’s overall favourite.

LSAPS Photographers at St Annes

St Annes Pier Photowalk

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LSAPS Photographers at St Annes

LSAPS Photographers at St Annes

For the final walk of the summer season we meet by St Annes Pier. As you can see from the group photograph, the storm clouds were gathering. The rain kept away until about quarter to nine, but there was only a tiny bit of colour in the sunset. So, it was a matter of capturing the cloud formations, patterns in the sand, the pier or the red balloon.

As always it was a pleasure to meet up with fellow members and enjoy the fresh air, although there was a distinct chill to the wind, a sign that autumn is approaching.