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Thursday, 19th March
Members’ Challenge View and Vote
GDPU Review
The evening of Thursday 12th March was an opportunity for members to score and judge the colour section of the GDPU portfolio. With Gordon on the timer, each image was brought up in turn on the projector. Members then had two minutes to review each photo and agree on a score, using the usual HCC scoring scheme. The process was a little reticent at first, but before long praise, criticism and scores were being enthusiastically shouted out from all corners of the room. Perhaps surprisingly, we got through all twenty images more or less on time. Also notable was the distinct consensus that emerged favouring more natural and less contrived images. With most scores clustering around the same area it wasn’t too difficult to decide a result in the majority of cases. Mike then took us through our results, contrasting them with those of the official judges. Another fun night.
4-Way Print Competition
Triumph in the 4-way print competion Lanarkshire derby on 6th March fell to Carluke (as usual) with 187 points, but Hamilton tied with Lanark for runner up with 171 points with Motherwell trailing on 163.
3-Image Portfolio
On 26th February it was the club’s 2nd annual event based on the 3-image portfolio. Members submit up to three sets of three images, presented on a panel in PDF format. After viewing the images on the panel and individually, members secretly score the entries, awarding up to 10 points for the panel itself. Presenting images this way focuses attention on the cohesiveness and continuity of the author’s work, as well as on the quality of the individual images themselves. It is a new twist on the creative process of photography. After scores were counted, congratulations fell to Heather, Susannah and Mike.
4th Monthly Competition
Our 4th monthly competition was decided by thoughtful, respectful and constructive judge Brian Cathie. In his appraisal, Brian took time to consider each image on its own merits, taking care to separate his assessment of the intention, subject matter and vision from the technical aspects of the photo such as focus and lighting. During the interval chat, he revealed the driver for the impressive breadth and quality of his own portfolio - he simply loves taking photographs! We thank Brian for a constructive and scrupulously fair appraisal of our works.
Update: Results are now in!
Gordon Scott
Our first February meeting saw the return of Gordon Scott, who had judged our monochrome competition earlier in the year, this time with a presentation of his own work on the subject of New York. Gordon had visited the US cultural capital several times, but the focus of his talk was his visits in 2018 and 2023 with Fujifilm X-T2 in hand. Particular muses were the clubs and bars of the new wave era, the striking modern architecture of the Vessel building and the Guggenheim museum, and the more classic interior of Grand Central Station, although, as Gordon demonstrated, street photography is his most favoured genre. Gordon travelled without a tripod but was able to get some fantastic long-exposure shots by simply taking advantage of available surfaces on which to place his camera. The image shown here, “Colour of Manhattan", was taken from a cable car, about which Gordon commented that he was lucky not to be obstructed by other passengers. The talk concluded with some street photography shots surrounding the 2023 criminal indictment of the present incumbent president. The club thanks Gordon for an evening which was part travelogue, part photographic retrospective, but all entertaining.
Using AI to Enhance Your Photography
On 22nd January, the club was treated to a fascinating and entertaining presentation by Mike on the growing role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in modern photography. The session explored how readily available AI tools can serve as a powerful assistant for creative planning and technical execution across various stages of the photographic process. Some areas covered were: -
Optimizing Camera Controls: AI acts as an intelligent, on-demand manual, simplifying complex camera settings.
Suggesting Camera Settings: Photographers can input a scenario (e.g., "fast-moving subject at sunset") to receive optimal starting points for the exposure triangle (aperture, shutter speed, ISO).
Themed Competition Subject Generation: AI created imaginative, unique prompts for a future club competition.
Location Planning and Logistics: AI assists with finding locations, suggesting the best time of day/year for light/weather, and compiling equipment checklists.
Self-Critique in the Persona of a Judge: AI can critique an image based on judging criteria and a specific persona, providing detailed, constructive "Hamburger system" feedback to help members refine their work before submission.
Mike's presentation confirmed that AI is a valuable tool for enhancing creativity, streamlining technical challenges, and improving photographic self-improvement.
3rd Monthly Competition - Results are in!
This competition on the theme of reflections led to some remarkable images. Congratulations and kudos to 1st Division winners Donald Parsons and James Battersby, along with 2nd Division winners Graham Robertson and Heather Simpson
Adobe Post-Processing
Much appreciation for a return visit on January 22nd from Adobe evangelist Martin Sproul and his talk on post-processing, focussing on Layers in Photoshop. Once again, Martin proved there is nothing to be scared of in Photoshop! He gave members invaluable advice on using layers, including tips on how to minimise file sizes and the use of selection tools. Just one of the tricks Martrin left us with was how to use a brush to make selctions. As we discovered, using a hard edge makes it much easier to follow edges more accurately. Feathering can then be applied retrospectively to blend the result more pleasingly into the original image.
Ross versus Mike
On 11th December the Club was presented with an exploration of different approaches to photography. Over two days, two photographers - Mike and Ross, had taken their cameras to two locations - the East Lothian coastline and Glasgow City Centre. Although each has varied output, Mike is more known for landscape photography whilst Ross is at home in the urban environment, and at events and gigs. The pair headed out together on each occasion, although they split up whilst in Glasgow, and started looking for images to capture. Some of the best results of each outing (along with some which didn’t work) were presented to the Club audience. Whilst both had successes, it was clear that each had approached his home subject with greater intention, enabling stronger results. For the landscape work, Mike worked the skies, the water and the sands, sometimes using long exposures, whilst Ross felt the loss of a definite subject. In Glasgow, Ross took lots of people-pictures, even asking a passerby to feature, whilst Mike preferred his humans zoomed in from a distance. A great opportunity for members to appreciate different approaches to photography and have quite a few laughs along the way.
Birks of Aberfeldy
Read more about the club’s recent outing to Aberfeldy
Chasing Horizons
Paul McDougall returned to the club to wow us with his latest wildlife images.
Glasgow Evening Photoshoot Part 2
Glasgow Evening Photoshoot Part 1
Call of the Wild - Scottish Landscapes
Our heartfelt thanks to Robert Quig, a founder member of Kilmaurs Photographic Club for sharing his exceptional portfolio of images depicting the landscapes of his native country, centred around his country home in Invergarry. Images covered a vast range of diverse locations from literally on his doorstep to the inner hebrides, western isles, Glen Coe, the Trossachs and beyond. A defining feature of these photographs is their ability to convey vast, wild spaces, and Robert explained how he sometimes uses a small focal point such as a lone tree or walker to help emphasise the scale of the surrounding area. Snow, mist and transient, dramatic sunbeams are used creatively to express a seemingly endless variety of effects in the ever changing landscape, literally putting wild Scotland in a new light.
Scarecrow Festival
We were at the Bothwell Scarecrow Festival – Saturday 13th and Sunday 14th September.
Hamilton Camera Club is with The National Lottery.
Hamilton Camera Club are celebrating as we have been awarded £1200 of National Lottery funding to support us to continue to operate within the local community.
The new funding from The National Lottery Community Fund, which distributes money raised by National Lottery players for good causes and is the largest community funder in the UK, will see the club maintain its ongoing programme providing somewhere for local people to meet and interact with other while sharing their interests. Our meetings are on Thursday evenings from Sept to Apr in Hamilton Old Parish Church halls and new members are welcome at any time. If you have an interest in photography and would like to learn and share your hobby, please come and join us.
#NationalLottery