Breathless in Nepal
On 16th October Julian Elliot joined us from France via the internet to give a talk ‘Breathless in Nepal’ Julian is a professional travel photographer and has made several trip to Nepal visiting places off the beaten track. He gave members a great insight into the work of a travel photographer and at the same time showed some stunning photographs.
His landscapes were of spectacular mountain ranges. He said the in order to capture the scale of the scene he would stitch together several photos taken in portrait format to produce one panoramic format photograph. Julian showed us his photographs of the festivals he had seen and explained that one of the hardest parts of this was to find a high vantage point so that he could capture the whole event in addition to getting in close to the action. The travel portraits he took fell into two broad categories, ones of people he has met on his travels who are now friends who meet up when he passes that way again, and more candid shots of strangers. These are powerful in the use of light and shadows often achieved by eliminating nearly all the light on the subject save for that coming from a window or a partial open door. He warned members that although, perhaps because, the subjects were strangers it was still important to get permission to take the photos.
Three non-photographic things that Julian mentioned about travelling in Nepal were the need to be aware of the dangers of altitude sickness which he had personally experienced, the need to be prepared to accept that death is a daily part of Nepalese life, and to know not expect five star luxury accommodation, many villages had just one hotel, there was not an option of upgrading to a higher standard.
Astrophotography
At the meeting of the club on 18th September Andrew Alan, one of the countries top night sky photographers gave a presentation to members. Andrew covered the what’s, where’s, when’s and how's of all aspects of night photography and illustrated his talk with fabulous photographs, many of them taken in his local area around Perth.
The best time of the year to take Milky Way photos is August to October. The best place to go is one of Scotlands Dark Sky Parks, in Dumfrese and Galloway and the Cairngorms. The best camera settings, a 60 -120 second exposure (using a skytracker mounted on your tripod), ISO up to 2000, aperture wide open. To capture a meteor shower try Mid December when the most produtive shower, the Geminid is in action. Noctilucent Clouds can be seen in the Summer and Orion, in the Winter.
Andrew recommended getting the ‘Clear Outside’ App designed for astronomers with an emphasis on predicting cloud cover, the ‘Celestron SkyPortal ‘App App to find out whats in the night sky and where to find them, and The Photographers Ephemeris App which will tell you when Sun and Moon rise and set occur and in what direction for anywhere in the world It will also help you to work out what landmarks to include in your photo! These Apps are free (upgrades are available at a cost).
After a tea break Andrew concentrated on taking photos of the Aurora. His amazing phptographs showed us why he is called on by VisitScotland , the BBC and others to add content to promotion campaigns. Andrew expained how Auroras happen but summed it up in the more understandable phrase ‘there a lot of science going on up there’. Importantly he told us how to use the internet to predict Auroras using Bz not KP information and how to go about taking Aurora photos.
Images published courtesy of Andrew Alan, all rights reserved. See more of Andrew’s work at https://scotlandsnightsky.com/
Joint Meeting with Glenrothes CC
On 6th March Cupar Camera Club were hosts to members of Glenrothes Camera club at the Castle Hill Community Centre, Cupar for a buffet lunch and to share Digital Images, Black and White prints and Colour prints. Each club submitted fifteen photos in each category. It wasn’t a competition so there was there was judge, no point scoring, and no winners or losers. Instead the author of the photograph gave an explanation as to how it was made and members from both clubs enjoyed a discussion about the photo and in the process learned a bit about the clubs and a bit about how their photos could improve in camera technique, post processing, composition and printing.
At the end of the session there was general agreement that the meeting was worthwhile and should be repeated. It was also suggested that joint events with guest speakers, and joint photo shoot sessions could be organised.
Some of both Club’s images:
Light Trails and More….
On 13th March members of Cupar Camera Club had a fun evening taking photos of moving lights. Half the members stayed in the club rooms and photographed the swirling light sticks and torches using a slow shutter speed. The other members went onto the streets of Cupar to photograph the traffic again with a low shutter speed.
Equine Photography with Jane Lazenby
On 27th February Cupar Camera Club held a Zoom meeting on Equine Photography. Some members joined the meeting at home, others came into the club rooms for the presentation. The club was fortunate to have Jane Lazenby one of the UK’s leading equine and horse photographers, give the presentation.
Jane is based in Yorkshire but travels the UK to indulge in her passion and her vocation – taking photographs of horses despite having an extreme allergy to horses in her childhood .
Her presentation was broken down into sections based on what type of horse photo you were taking (or in Janes case Commissioned to take). From events, local pony club, models with horses to the all action specialist photographer.
Each section was full of valuable insights, tips and tricks to capture the very best images, how to keep yourself and the horse and rider/owner/model safe (and yourself!). From the right moment to capture a showjumper, the poses that horse owners are looking for through to how to get those pesky ears forward at the right time!. She covered dealing with backgrounds, creating fine art photos and much more.
Visit:- https://www.ejlazenbyphotography.co.uk/
Results of the Annual Competition - 6/3/25
At the meeting of Cupar Camera Club on 6th March the results of the Annual Competition were announced. The competition was in three parts. Members can enter up to two images that must be not more than two years old into each of three categories: Digital Image, Mono Print Image and Colour Print Image. The choice of subject was up to the photographer.
The judge for all three sections was Ian Mackay, President of Perthshire Photographic Society. Ian gave constructive, positive and encouraging comments on every image in the competition. The winners of each section were Digital Image - Mike Chandler with ‘Hummingbirds - Mano a Mano’’; Mono Print – Helen Miller with ‘Window Seat’ and Colour Print - Keven Scott with ‘Luminosity‘. An additional award was given for the best portrait from all three sections, this was won by Ruth Vance with ‘American Tourist’
Mike Chandler, Winner of Best Digital Image receiving his trophy from judge, Ian Mackay.
Kev Scott, winner of Best Colour Print
Helen Miller, Winner of Best Mono Print
Ruth Vance receiving her trophy from Ian for Best Portrait
Christmas Fun
The meeting of the Club on 12th December was the last one before the Christmas break. It was as bit of a fun night with a photography based quiz set by Frank Andrew and the Phone Photo competition. Members could enter one photo taken on their phone. These were displayed on the night and each member present could vote for one photo (but not their own), The winning image was ‘Three Wise Monkeys’ taken by Lorna Thompson. Lorna returned to the club after several year absence and proved that she had not lost her touch. Lorna was also on the winning quiz team with Fred Linney and Hazel Fletcher. They scored a perfect 15 out of 15, just one point ahead of two other teams. Each received a cash prize that turned out to be a bag of chocolate coins.
‘Three Wise Monkeys’ by Lorna Thompson
The festive fun continued on Sunday when members gathered on St Andrews for a photo treasure hunt. At 10.00 a WhatsApp message was sent out to members and their task was to take photos with the theme ‘Red and Gold’. At 11.00 that theme came to an end when a second WhatsApp message changed the theme to ‘Time’. At midday the third and final theme ‘The best of St Andrews’ was broadcast. Members taking part will now have to pick their best photo for each theme and, without any post processing, submit it for a member critique and vote in the New Year.
Discovering Nature Photography
Cupar Camera Club welcomed Alan and Julie Walker to the meeting on 5th December to give a presentation on their nature photography. They showed members photos of birds and animals they had seen on travels round the globe - Macaques (snow monkeys) taking a sauna in thermal pools, huge Stella Sea Eagles bullying other birds of prey to steal their meal and Crowned cranes performing there elegant dances in the snow of the cold winter in the Japanese island of Hokkaido. We were shown the images Alan and Julie had taken of polar bears and foxes in Churchill, Canada, mountain hares in Scotland, giraffes and other creatures in the Kalahari desert, and many other wonderful photographs. Alan told the stories behind how he and Julie had taken the photos. They shared with members the camera settings thay had used and gave tips on how they set about getting their images. Julie had spent hours lying in the snow to get close up photos of the Mountain Hares, They had waited with the Snow Monkeys until all the crowds of tourist had left on their buses so they could get the shots they wanted.
The three stand out tips they gave were :-
One. When photographing animals in the snow ‘over expose by one, two even three stops to make sure the snow in the photo is shown as white not grey.
Two. Try to get a ‘different shot’ by getting low down to be at eye level with the subject or perhaps using a shallow depth of field to make the foreground and background out of focus.
Three. Most importantly, be patient and wait for the posture, behaviour or action that will make your photo stand out from all the others.
Alan and Julie Walker with club programme secretary Frank Andrew
Competition 2 Winners - 21/11/24
Our judge for Competition 2 this season was Jim Hamilton. He gave us detailed and insightful feedback on the submitted images. Many thanks to Jim for his hard work on reviewing and choosing the winners. Thanks Jim!
Here are some photos of the competition winners along with Jim.
Results for Competition 1 - 24/10/24
At the club meeting on 24th October 24 members received the results of round one of the seasons photo competition league.
We were honoured to have this round judged by Hamish Brown MBE FRSGS. Hamish is a renowned professional writer, lecturer and photographer specialising in mountaineering and outdoor pursuits. His work has graced the covers of British GQ, The Times Magazine, The Observer, Men's Health and Vogue. Fife-based Hamish was the first person to walk Scotland's 282 munros in a single, 112 day trip covering 1639 miles using only ferries and a bike as transport between the mountains. Hamish recently celebrated his 90th birthday with a fund-raising abseil from the Forth Bridge and has had the last of his long list of books published. Hamish continues to inspire and he has no plans to slow down any time soon.
The Photo is of Hamish Brown and Liz Barrie winner of the Open Print section.
