6th December

Competition Night.  The results of the second digital image open competition were revealed.
The Judge was Guy Philips of the Paisley Colour Photographic Club.  You can see some of his images on the clubs gallery pages   You can also se some more and read a short biography on his ePHOTOzine page.

Thirty six images were entered into the competition. 
In first place was a photo by Ron Peat 'Rattray Head'.  Guy said 'Good technique adds value to this image.  Choice of shutter speed well considered with clouds and waves softened but still recognisable.  Muted colour palette and I love the way the perched birds have been rendered sharp despite the length of the exposure.  Strong picorial and well executed'
Second lace went to 'Waxwing Rowenberry Raide' by Brian Sandison.  The judge said that it was a will lit and beautifully pictorial shot of a Waxwing feeding on rowen berries.  'Dead on exposure and focus.  Icing on the cake is the bery in the beak.'
Mike Chandlers 'Grounded Falcon took the third place slot.  Guy said 'Fine portrait of the falcon that is bitingly sharp with excellent feather dtail and sharpness in the eye.  Pose of the bird is strong and augmented by the photographers low viewpoint combined with the portrait format.  Strongish lighting has resulted in a touch of burn out on the breast and the leading edges og the wings - it appears there is sufficient info on the original file to recover this. Strong natural history'

Six images shared the fourth place with a score of 17 out of 20.  'Ynys Lladdwen' by Brian Sandison, 'The Web Master' by Mike Chandler, 'The Ayes Have It' by Ron Peat, 'Sitting Pretty' by Alfie Cran, Janets Foss' by John McRobbie which was give 'Highly Commended' and 'Carnation' by Stanley Partridge
All the competition enteries are shown below.  Click on the thumbnail to see the full image

29th November

This was a tutorial night.  We continued with the 'How to Win Photo Competitions' disc by Barry Beckham.

22nd November

This night was billed as a 'Ramble with a difference - no Cameras Required' in the club programme.  This was because the ramble was vertual and conducted by a past member of the club, Jack Presley who has since passed away.  The photos were Jacks and he gave the comentary.  Andrew West 'rescued' the digital show from a film!!.  Unfortunately the quality was not that good however it was good enough to follow the slide show with little problem It was a look at Fraserburgh in the 1950's and 60's with Jack adding his local knowledge about the town in his commentary.   He seemed to know all the back history of the towns shops, not just who ran them at the time but about previous owners as well.  Interstingly many of the shopkeepers sold more than just what it said on the shop front.  In one of the  Fish and Chip shops you could also buy magic tricks because  Bill the owner was into magic .  An grocers shop also took in tailoring work as that was the owners past trade.  For those members who were born and brought up in the Broch the 'ramble' brought back many memories.  For incomers it was a facinating look at bygone Fraserburgh.

15th November

This was the Presidents night.  Andrew West showed us some of the images he captures on a helicopter ride from Ingleston round the three bridges across the Forth.  We were also shown some older photos of his spin round Knockhill in an 'E' type Jag.

8th November

There was a change of plan for this evenings activities.  Instead od the Studio night members walked down to the Old Kirk Parish Hall to see the exhibition on WW1 that was on display.  In addition to artifacts from the war there were dispays by school children.  Our visit coincided with a visit from the Sea Cadets.  Members of the Old Kirk were on hand to explain the displays.  Of course we took photos some of which are below.  No captions the photos will speak for themselves.

1st November

The results of the digital image themed competition 'Colour' were given.  Graeme Buchan of Elite Photogaraphy on Findlayson Street was the judge.  Graeme is a former member of FPS and if you scoll down to the meeting report for 27th September you will find a photo of him receiving an award from Lady Aberdien.  (also in the photo is Peter Clark the judge for the print competition)  Thirty three images were put into the competition. and the theme was interprted in many different ways.  In first place was Alan Smith's image 'Bike Flash' scoring 19 out of a possible 20.  Graeme said 'Vivid colours stand out against the deep lack background.  I like the dramatic effect created by the light trails. Alan explained that he had taken the images at a meeting of Faithlie Camera Club last year when the bike and lights were set up.
Picture
'Bike Flash' by Alan Smith
In second place was Brian Sandison's photo 'Abstract Ol : Light and Bubbles'  this was another photo taken at a Faithlie Camers Club meeting.  Graemes comments were 'Punchy image with excellent colour saturation. Very crisp
Picture
'Abstract Oil : Light and Bubbles' by Brian Sandison
Seven images ties for third place each with 17 points.
Aurora at Crovie' by Alan Smith,
'Watercolours' by Mike Chandler
'Amarylis' by Stanley Partridge
'Autumn Falls' by John McRobbie
'On Reflection' by Andrew West
'Lighthouse against a Blue Sky' by Brian Sandison
and 'Splash of Pink' by John McRobbie
These images and the others in the copmetition are shown below
 There was time after the results an comments were made for members to talk to Graeme in more detail about their images and to have a tea and piece.

25th October

The first of a series of video tutorials on 'How to Win Photography Competitions' was shown.  The tutor was Barry Beckham.  Here is a link to his website
Yhis was an intrduction that covered the importance of competition in photography in imropving standards and as a learning exersise.  It covered some basic composition issues such as 'The Rule of Thirds'  and went into detail about how to plan work and catalogue images for easy reference.

18th October

The results of the first print competition were given on 18th October.  The judge was Peter Clark a former prize winning member of Fraserburgh Photographic Society and now a weddingphotographer based in the Broch.  Here is a link to his website
Thirtytwo prints were put into the competition.  In first place with 20 0out of 20 was 'Feeding time' by Stanley Partridge.  Three images tied for second place.  'Tour 500' a fantastic panprama by Alan Smith,  'Rattray Head' by Brian Sandison and 'Falcon' by Mike Chandler.
As is the nature of a print competition not all the images can be shown here.  But here is Stanley's winning image and Mike's second place one
And here are some more.

11th October

This was a 'Photo Ramble Night.  However the weather was somewhat agsinst us as the rain, albeit not heavy , started not long after we set off.  The most interesting photos ogf the night were taken by Brian and Alan who came across the fire brigade doing some practice on using salt water from the harbour.   The talked the firecrew into putting on the blue flashing lights to make some memorable photos.  They also took advantage of a plile of logs and reflections on the quayside waiting to be loaded into a boat.
...and a final panarama image from Alan of the harbour

4th October

The results of the first competition of the 2018/9 season were announced.  It was an open competition in which members could submit up to three images on anything they liked.   The judge was Allan Gawthorpe from the Bon Accord Camera Club and Mearns Camera Club.  Allan is a very experienced judge and award winning photographer.  He recently won Best Overall Mono Print Eyes of Pain' in a  Scottish Photographic Federation national competition.
Picture
'Eyes of Pain' by Allan Gawthorpe
Forty five images were entered into the competition and Allan gave constructive comments on them all.  The over-arching advice that Allan gave to all the photographers was that 'less is more'. Stronger images are the ones that are more simple and that to achieve that the first tool to use is the crop tool.  It is often easy, he said to take out the clutter from a photograph that distract from the subject by simple cropping.  Before commenting on the images he showed, with the first one how cropping could improve the image.


The image above is 'Whole and Broken'  (You have to click on the image to see it in full!).  On the left is the image submitted into the competition.  On the right is the same image but cropped by Allan to take out the distraction elements so the the image concentrates on the subjects, the two boats.  the light toned sky has been removed, the small clump of grass in the bottom left corner is cropped out as is the bit of rock on the top of the right hand edge.   It also made the subject bigger in the frame.  Allan said that he always takes his eye on a journey round the edge of an image to see if there are things there that don't add to the images and which could be taken out.  Other distractions that took a viewers eyes away from the photos subject should, he said be taken out as well using a cloning  or spot removal tool.
Other useful advice he gave was:-
Try to get leading lines going from left to right because that is the way most of us read and it is therefore easier to follow.  Sometime flipping and image horizontally will get a good result and
Move around the subject to get the best view point and get the subject in front of the best possible background.  This may mean getting to higher ground or shooting from a low angle.
Below are the images that were put into the competition. (click on the thumbnail to see the full photo)

The photos were marked out of twenty.  Allan gave four of them full marks and picked one overall winner follow this link to see which they were.

27th September

At the meeting of Fraserburgh Photographic Society on 27th September there was a cahnge to the program. Instead of a tutorial Andrew West showed slides that gave a bit of the history of the club from 1950 to 2000. 

The club was started in 1949 or 1950. Andrew is not sure of the date because some years ago the first minute book was lost. So if anyone knows when Fraserburgh Photographic Society started we will know whether to have our 70th anniversary celebrations next year or the year after. If it helps here is a picture of the first members from 1950.

We do know that the first meeting place was Anderson House on the corner of Frithside Street and Broad Street. They met in the basement of what was then a bank where a darkroom was established that could be hired for one shilling (that's ten pence in today's money) an hour, a charge that included all the equipment and chemicals. They then moved to premises above the corner shop on Mid Street. Here they had set up a studio the back drop was painted by members of the Fraserburgh Junior Arts Society. There was also a darkroom here as well. One of the drawbacks of thes rooms was that it has a wooden floor and when someone was taking a photograph everyone else had to stand still to prevent the floor from shaking and ruining the exposure.

Many of the traditions that are still kept today include the annual dinner and presentation evening. Some familiar names crop up on the roll of honour, including Peter Clarke, Graeme Buchan of Elite Photography fame and of course Andrew West himself.  In the early days such occasions were more formal than they are now

The Society organised photography trips. These were initially bus trips but when that became too expensive members went in their own cars. Members also took their families with them. One trip was the Cairn o' Mount and the Clattering Brig. Andrew remembers this because at the brig then a foot bridge) was a ford and they took photographs of cars going through the burn at greater and greater speeds to get a bigger and better splash. It went so far that one car got its engine flooded and they had to take of their shoes and socks to push it out.
Fraserburgh Photographic Society was a successful club on a regional level with members getting best photograph awards. This tradition has remained, in 2016 Billy Watson's image 'Heavy Seas ' was the best photo in the Grampian Eye competition. Here is Andrew West (photo on the left) receiving the prize for the best image in a Scottish National Trust competition in 1994, as you can see he won three prizes in that year.  Graeme Buchan got the same prize in 1986 and Fraserburgh Photographic Society won the best overall club prize (in the right hand image with other members of the club.
Over the year Fraserburgh Photographic Society has seen many changes.  Members strted out in Black and White then progessed to colour and have noe embraced the age of the digital camera and the computer based 'darkroom'.  But the aim of members has always been the same - to produce the best possible images and to share a love of photography.

20th September

Everyone gathered in Room 3 of the JIC building at 7.30 kept on their hats and coats and went out with their camera equipment into the Broch twilight.  Tonight was a 'Photo Ramble' .  Most members made their way to Broadsea., others went to the Kinnaird Head.  The harbour was another chosen venue 

There are plenty of photographic subjects in the area.  The lights reflecting over the bay, close ups of the detail to be found, the sky and clouds in the fading light.
There were choices to be made not just about subject matter but about lenes to use shutter speeds and aperture.  Very early on the light was so scarce that long exposures were the order of the day and tripods were an essential.  Interstingly I don't think anyone used flash to comensate for the lack of light.
  The results were varied, each member taking a different approach.  Below are some of the images that were produced.

13th September

  Here At the second meeting of the season members were asked to biring in 10 images of what they did in the summer.
Dublin, France, London Holland, members are a well travelled bunch. Helicopter rides, epic bike journeys and battling the Pentland Firth they are pretty adventurous as well. All that said the majority of the photos indicated that 2018 was generally the summer of the 'Staycation' with images from many parts of Scotland and most from the North East and the Fraserburgh area.  Here are some of them

The photos also showed a wide variety of techniques being used by members. From 'fill-in flash' for portraits to long exposures to smooth out the waves.  Black and White, fast shutter speeds for wildlife and using the 'golden light at the begining and end of the day.  I composition both landscape and prortrait orientations were used, lead in lines and the use of frames were also evident.  It shows that there will be lote of good photos in the weeks to come and the distict possibility that there will be some great ones as well.  Here are a few more of the evenings images

The final image for this report needs a bit more explanation.  It shows Mark (Scratch) Cameron on his way to becoming the first man to swim the Pentland Firth. On the boat is Hamish Mowatt, an expert on tides who guided through the treacherous waters.  Mark is not a member of the Photographic Society but Billy Watson, who is was there to take the photographs of this great achievment.   Mark, from Fraserburgh set out on the challenge from Burwick in South Ronaldsay and, accompanied by a local fisherman, reached the shore at Duncansby Head after four hours and 15 minutes.  He is seven-time Scottish amateur surfing champion and the seven-mile swim is aiming to raise £4,000 for the maternity ward at the Balfour Hospital in Kirkwall.  It was there that his girlfriend, Ena Brown, had worked as a midwife nurse before she died suddenly earlier this year at the age of 41.

Picture
'Pentland Firth Swim' by Billy Watson

6th September 2018

There were lots of new faces at this the first meeting of the 2018/9 season. There were more women than we have had before, more young people then we have had for along time and the newcomers brought with them a range of expertise.  Some are old hands at the photography lark, others wanted to learn more about how to use their camera.  The one thing they all had in common with the existing members was enthusiasm.  I am sure that Fraserburgh Camera Club will be able to meet all the variety of expectations.

Picture
Biplane at Dusk by Photographer of the Year Brian Sandison
The President Andrew West gave an outline of how FPS worked and fitted into the Scottish Photographic Federation and the Photographic Alliance of Great Britain.  He went through the programme click here for details and how the comptitions both internal and with other clubs works.  He explaned the club fees and gave a brief insight into the Councils room booking system and charges cautioning that it may be necessary to have another look at the fees.  
Picture
'One Good Tern' by Mike Chandler holder of the Stanley Partridge Cup 1017/8
Lewie Duthie, competitions secretary gave some more details about the competition work and Mike Chandler, press agent explained about the web site, Facebook activity and contacts with the Fraserburgh Herald.
There was plenty of time after the business for people to introduce themselves and have a chat about everything (including photography) over a cup of tea and a fancy piece.

The next meeting is on the 13th September and members are asked to bring up to ten photos of what they did in the summer.  Entries for the first monthly competition must also be handed in.