Month: November 2022

This week, it’s the PKM Trophy, our annual mono print competition. We’ve had to bring this forward a week, so this will be held upstairs in the Sandeman Room rather than in the theatre, which should make for a more intimate evening. Judging will be by Doug Berndt from Edinburgh PS, who was last with us in Feb 2020. We can expect him to cast a keen critical eye over our prints, with the aim of helping us think a little deeper about our work in the context of SPF-judged events. 

http://www.perthshirephotographicsociety.org.uk/2022/06/programme-2022-23/#30-november-2022

New faces are still welcome to attend two weeks on a trial basis, to see if you’d like to join us for the season. For those who are ready to join, the online Membership Form for the season is open. The membership subscription of £55 can be paid by BACS or by cheque – details are in the membership form.

This week, it’s the Annual 4-Way Photographic Competition, better known as the 4-Way Battle. It’s PPS’s turn to host, and we’ll be welcoming our regular co-battlers from Dundee and St Andrews Photographic Societies (the usual fourth club being indisposed for the time being). We’ll have a visiting judge again, from the Scottish Photographic Federation again, who will score the prints and the JPGs each out of 20, and the club with the highest combined score will be declared the winner. 

As with last week’s Main Cup, for many of us it’s the judge’s comments that are the real value of these occasions, on both our own images and on those of others. Not forgetting the conversation stimulated amongst ourselves as we compare the judge’s comments with our own impressions. 

http://www.perthshirephotographicsociety.org.uk/2022/06/programme-2022-23/#23-november-2022

New faces are still welcome to attend two weeks on a trial basis, to see if you’d like to join us for the season. For those who are ready to join, the online Membership Form for the season is open. The membership subscription of £55 can be paid by BACS or by cheque – details are in the membership form.

Exciting – our first competition of the season, and our first in-person competition since Mar 2020. Welcome back! The Main Cup was well-entered, with images from half the membership, representing a broad spread of experience, from seasoned old hands to fresh first-season-ers.

Visiting judge Ken Lindsay, from Eastwood PS, showed a handful of his own images, before giving his comments on ours in a relaxed and accessible manner. Some of the common themes are common to all, regardless of what camera we use – the importance of deciding where to stand and how much to include in the frame. Other themes concerned the processing of the image, with some reference to the ever-popular Lightroom, but there are alternatives out there to suit all budgets, including very good free software.

It’s always a treat to see what we’ve all been working on. Whatever the comments, the cream tends to float to the top, and we always enjoy comparing notes on which bits of crushed walnut seem to sink to the bottom. In this way, although we can learn from the judge’s comments, we can also we can learn a great deal from each other.

Winning entries are on our Galleries page.

This week, we’re having our first competition of the season, the Main Cup. This is for three images, on any theme or style, and in this, consistency is key. The judge, from the Scottish Photographic Federation, will score each out of 20, and the combined score out of 60 will determine the placings. 

More importantly for many of us, the judge will also comment on each, and it is this commentary that can help us think more deeply about our photography, and how we can better tell the stories we want to tell, and achieve our creative vision. 

After the event, the top-placed entries will be posted on our Galleries pages for us all to enjoy, and perhaps learn from, again.

http://www.perthshirephotographicsociety.org.uk/2022/06/programme-2022-23/#16-november-2022

New faces are still welcome to attend two weeks on a trial basis, to see if you’d like to join us for the season. For those who are ready to join, the online Membership Form for the season is open. The membership subscription of £55 can be paid by BACS or by cheque – details are in the membership form. 

This week we’re having a Members’/ Workshop night, where we share our expertise and practical skills. John Boyd will show us how we can mount our prints, for competitions and for display; Dave Moran will talk us through making a photographic calendar. And in the tea break, Wol Gilbraith will show us how to assemble the bamboo stands we’ll use for displaying entries in print competitions, starting with the 4-Way Battle.

We’re also hoping to be joined by Scott Russell from Culture Perth & Kinross to talk about their Maker_Spaces, which “have an extensive range of creative technology available and free to use for … individuals” – including some printers that could be useful, and a photography studio, and more. 

http://www.perthshirephotographicsociety.org.uk/2022/06/programme-2022-23/#09-november-2022

New faces are still welcome to attend two weeks on a trial basis, to see if you’d like to join us for the season. For those who are ready to join, the online Membership Form for the season is open. The membership subscription of £55 can be paid by BACS or by cheque – details are in the membership form.

We got something of the unexpected with Stewart Dodd, from nearby Dundee. A tale of exploration of epic proportions, to the ends of the earth known as South Georgia, at the eponymous 54 Degrees South. Stewart’s trip – nay, two trips – in search of wildlife photography opportunities took him by air to Chile and the Falkland Islands, and then by sailing boat to South Georgia, with its isolated settlements, icebergs large and small, and all manner of sub-polar creatures. We saw his images of albatross, petrel, penguin, Weddell seal, elephant seal, and marvelled.

The scenes of rusting metal at the derelict whaling stations, persistent remnants of the pursuit of riches, were in stark contrast to the pristine but unforgiving landscapes beyond. (As far as Great Britain was concerned, much of this pursuit originated in Dundee. Ernest Shackleton, of the fabled Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1914, even stood for the Dundee seat in parliament in the 1906 election, before returning south along with the pioneering photographer Frank Hurley.) Nowadays, the greater pursuit is of knowledge, and includes, as shown, the tagging of seals in order to track their journeys through the Southern Ocean.

Not many of us will get the chance to go where Stewart has gone, and as the evenings in Perth start to get cooler – but not as cool as there – it was a night to sit back and gaze in wonder.