Coming soon – our 2024-25 programme
Here we publish details of all our visiting speakers, plus a Quick Calendar, linking to a fuller look at each evening of the season.
Meetings will be held on Wednesdays at 7.30pm, at the AK Bell Library, unless noted otherwise.
If you’re new, details on how to join are on our membership page.
George Berrie
From Beirut – with love, lust, and bullets
18 Oct 23
George was a successful businessman until, one day, he realized his work was killing him. This is the story of how he quit his job, bought a camera, rented an apartment in Beirut, learned photography, learned photoshop, and found a new purpose in life – leading to a digital art exhibition in Stirling University.
Graeme Youngson
Urban photography – with a dash of Chiarascuro
25 Oct 23
Graeme Youngson is a very accomplished street photographer from Aberdeen. Of particular interest is his use of the ‘chiarascuro’ technique to produce very dramatic high-contrast black and white images.
Andrew Allan
Scotland’s Night Sky
01 Nov 23
Andrew says: “The talk is about Scotland’s night sky and how to photograph it. Throughout the year there are many different celestial events and celestial bodies to view and photograph. I’ll give some guidance to help photograph the night sky and how to predict events like Northern Lights in Scotland. There is some videography and photography from abroad such as Iceland and Arctic Norway where I travelled to and hunted mind-blowing shows of the northern lights.”
Damian Shields
A Passion for Scottish Landscapes
22 Nov 23
Damian is one of Scotland’s best known and most highly regarded Landscape photographers. He has been highly placed in every Scottish Landscape Photographer competition for the last decade and is a veteran of more than 15 solo exhibitions from London to Aberfeldy. In between photographing stormy landscapes, he is deputy photo editor for The Herald and Times Group in Glasgow. Not to be missed.
David Queenan
Mountains, seashores, and cities
24 Jan 24
David Queenan is a freelance graphic designer and landscape photographer based in Central Scotland. He is a winner of the Scottish Nature Photography award and runner-up in the Scottish Landscape Photographer of the Year. In addition to his well-known Landscape work David will also show some of his beautiful Urban and Architectural images.
Omar Shamma
The Polar Regions: The Last Wilderness
28 Feb 24
Omar will speak of his recent visits to Spitzbergen and Antarctica .
Further information about speakers and topics will be posted here as details become known.
Quick Calendar
04 October 2023
President’s Night
PPS President Ian Mackay will welcome new and returning members as an introduction to the Society and to the forthcoming season.
11 October 2023
Member’s talk/ Workshop
Upstairs, in Sandeman Room
Bring and Share
Bring some of your own images, as prints or on electronic devices, to share and discuss in small groups
18 October 2023
Speaker’s Night
George Berrie – From Beirut – with love, lust, and bullets
George was a successful businessman until, one day, he realized his work was killing him. This is the story of how he quit his job, bought a camera, rented an apartment in Beirut, learned photography, learned photoshop, and found a new purpose in life – leading to a digital art exhibition in Stirling University.
25 October 2023
Speaker’s Night
Graeme Youngson – Urban Photography – with a dash of Chiarascuro
Greame is a very accomplished street photographer from Aberdeen. Of particular interest is his use of the ‘chiarascuro’ technique to produce very dramatic high-contrast black and white images.
Hand-in: Main Cup
Hand-in: Four-Way Competition
01 November 2023
Speaker’s Night
Andrew Allan – Scotland’s Night Sky
“The talk is about Scotland’s night sky and how to photograph it. Throughout the year there are many different celestial events and celestial bodies to view and photograph. I’ll give some guidance to help photograph the night sky and how to predict events like Northern Lights in Scotland. There is some videography and photography from abroad such as Iceland and Arctic Norway where I travelled to and hunted mind-blowing shows of the northern lights.”
08 November 2023
Member’s talk
Upstairs, in Sandeman Room
A conversation with David Hay
Desert Island Pics: We have asked David to pick a selection of images from his own collection, by well-known photographers, and from the PPS archives, What makes these pictures stand out from the crowd and what can we learn from them?
Hand-in: PKM Trophy
15 November 2023
Competition: Main Cup
Judged by Mary Gibson, DPAGB LRPS
22 November 2023
Speaker’s Night
Damian Shields – A Passion for Scottish Landscapes
Damian is one of Scotland’s best known and most highly regarded Landscape photographers. He has been highly placed in every Scottish Landscape Photographer competition for the last decade and is a veteran of more than 15 solo exhibitions from London to Aberfeldy. In between photographing stormy landscapes, he is deputy photo editor for The Herald and Times Group in Glasgow. Not to be missed.
29 November 2023
Member’s talk/ Workshop
Upstairs, in Sandeman Room
Member’s Presentations
Top of the bill for this week’s three talks we have David Hay, with Photographing Modern Architecture at the City of Arts and Sciences in Valencia. It’s an extraordinary city, and we know from the other week that David has an eye for the shot.
Before him, we’ll hear from Graham Robb, on Pop-up Pics in Perthshire. Graham and John set up a mini studio in a pop-up shop in Aberfeldy, offering portrait photography.
And Martin Samson on Scottish Tower House Castles – photographing various tower houses, and regaling us with many tales and legends attached to them.
In the middle, Wol Gilbraith will get us ready to build the print stands we need for next week’s PKM Trophy mono print competition.
06 December 2023
Competition: PKM Trophy
Judged by Rob Davis
03 January 2024
Christmas holidays
Hand-in: Grant Cup
10 January 2024
Competition: Grant Cup; click for
– Scoring Slip
– Online Voting Form – will be available on 10 Jan 24
– Test voting form – practise your online voting here
Hand-in: Nan Borthwick Salver
Hand-in: Peter Rourke Salver
17 January 2024
Workshop
Ground floor, in the former cafe. Please note: this is a new venue for us. Enter the library via the usual West Car Park door, turn left and the room is along the corridor on the left.
Portraits with flash/ Still Life Photography/ Miniature Figure Scenes
This evening, we will have presentations from Graham Robb, Vicky McNamara and Tom Ryan, showing us three completely different types of photography! No need to bring your cameras in for this one; it will be demonstrations only. An evening to look forward to!
24 January 2024
Speaker’s Night
David Queenan – Mountains, seashores, and cities
David Queenan is a freelance graphic designer and landscape photographer based in Central Scotland. He is a winner of the Scottish Nature Photography award and runner-up in the Scottish Landscape Photographer of the Year. In addition to his well-known Landscape work David will also show some of his beautiful Urban and Architectural images.
31 January 2024
Competition: Nan Borthwick Salver
Competition: Peter Rourke Salver
Judged by Chas Sievewright
Hand-in: Colour Rosebowl
07 February 2024
External Competition: SPF Portfolio
We’ll take a look at the high-scoring images entered by clubs around Scotland in last year’s Portfolio competition. The images have been provided by the Scottish Photographic Federation. David Hay has kindly agreed to provide a commentary to accompany the photos. Hopefully, this evening will give you a good idea of the types of photos that we will be looking for when we submit our entry for this year’s Portfolio competition.
14 February 2024
Members’ Talks Night
Ground floor, in the former cafe. Enter the library via the usual West Car Park door, turn left and the room is along the corridor on the left.
We will have 3 presentations this evening: John Boyd will talk to us about printing photos. Should we do it ourselves or should we use a commercial printer? Raymond Leinster will discuss his involvement with a range of sporting organisations. He will highlight the considerations and best practices to be mindful of when engaging in sports photography. Tim Haynes will look at Practical Computational Photography. He will talk to us about post processing, in his own inimitable way!
21 February 2024
Competition: Colour Rosebowl
Judged by Piers Hemy
28 February 2024
Speaker’s Night
Omar Shamma – The Polar Regions: The Last Wilderness
Omar will speak of his recent visits to Spitzbergen and Antarctica.
Hand-in: Dall Cup
Hand-in: Simpson Cup
06 March 2024
Competition: Dall Cup; click for
– Scoring Slip
– Online Voting Form
– Test voting form – practise your online voting here
Competition: Simpson Cup; click for
– Scoring Slip
– Online Voting Form
– Test voting form – practise your online voting here
13 March 2024
Members’ Talks Night
Ground floor, in the former cafe. Enter the library via the usual West Car Park door, turn left and the room is along the corridor on the left.
Novice Night
This evening will give our new and/or novice members a platform to share the progress they’ve made in their photography through our Cultivating Novice Photographers programme
20 March 2024
AGM for 2023-24.
An agenda for the AGM has been sent to all members. After the AGM is complete, we plan on holding a ‘Bring and Share’ session. Please bring in some prints or digital images and we will split into small groups and talk about your images. There will be an experienced member in each group to lead the discusssions.
27 March 2024
End of season dinner and prize-giving. 7pm for 7.30pm. Details will be sent out via a newsletter.