Exmouth Photo Group
Est. 1969
AGM 24th April 2024 + Presentation and Awards + Chairman's Challenge
The last meeting of the Winter Season was a busy one. It featured the AGM, Awards’ Presentation, and the Chairman’s Challenge.
Twenty-five members were in attendance, and Derrick was able to move swiftly through the agenda as no questions or comments had been received. The 2023 Minutes, Officer’s reports and financial statements were all approved by a unanimous vote. Mo expressed thanks to Derrick for rising to the challenge and agreeing to be Chairman for the 2023-24 season when nobody else would volunteer to take on that role.
The election of committee officers followed: Derrick Holliday (Chairperson) and Mike Gillan (Print Competition Secretary) were retiring; Christine Chittock and Tony Howell were nominated for those posts; Mark Reed, was standing as Member with less than 4-years membership; Sheila Haycox, who had been co-opted onto the committee mid-year as Vice-Chairperson, was officially nominated for that role; Sandra Morton (Secretary), Mark Hazell (Treasurer), Peter Hyett (DPI Competition Secretary) and Lynn Middleton-Flynn (Programme Secretary) agreed to continue in their posts. As all the positions were uncontested, the committee was elected ‘en bloc’ by a unanimous vote.
No proposals or items under AOB had been received so Derrick closed the AGM. This was followed by a brief discussion about the lack of a replacement for Jenny as Refreshments coordinator. Bryan Webb pointed out that there was a long-standing problem getting volunteers. Jenny and Mo agreed to provide refreshments for the first meeting in September, but after that, members will have to bring their own. Water will be provided for visiting speakers. Members were assured that the new committee would continue the search for a larger meeting room.
The Awards followed with EPG President, John Perriam, presenting the trophies and Chaz Madge taking photographs. Derrick awarded the Chairman’s Shield to Carol Hyett for all her hard work over the years behind the scenes.
‘Bird(s) in Flight’ and ‘Feet’ were the subjects for this year’s Chairman’s Challenge. Derrick’s favourite bird image was ‘In Flight’ by Chaz, and Mo came first in the feet category and was awarded the trophy for best image overall with ‘Lion Feet’. All the images from the challenge are on the website.
As Chairperson, Christine Chittock thanked Derrick for his long-standing service to the club and the committee, where he has held many different posts. She then announced the subjects for next season’s Chairperson’s Challenge – ‘Triptych’ and ‘Light’. After briefly talking about the Summer Programme and the Summer Challenge, Christine closed the meeting.
Review by Sandra Morton, Secretary
To view the Chairman's Challenge images and winner please click here
Presenations, Awards and General images (photography by Chaz Madge) see below
17th April 2024 Members Evening
Members evening trying out for the first time, an evening of photography created by any method that members had experimented with. We had phone photography, scanned photography, ICM, inverts, reflections, scanned images, Ai, multiple exposures and lots of manipulated images.
Members talked about the way that they had produced the image. Quiet a few were produced by apps on the phone, slow shutter app, photo split app, live on the iPhone, multiple photos in camera.
Some members tried experimenting with artificial intelligence, with some strange effects, mostly legs missing or one too many, but also some that worked very well, especially the image with the mist created in the woods.
It was a very interesting fun evening, where we all learnt from the variety of experimental applications in camera, or by phone apps, or by manipulation on the computer. A big thank you to all that contributed to a very different evening.
Review by Lynn Middleton-Flynn Programme secretary
10th April 2024 Panel Competition Judge Peter Ottley CPAGB, LRPS, AFIAP
Tonight’s panel competition judged by Peter Ottley from Bleadon photographic group, we started the evening with seven panels. We had seven sets of very beautifully printed panels all very different. We had panels on sections of buildings, trains, windmills, Scottish castles, fishermen and Morris dancers. Congratulation to Sheila Haycox two Golds for her panels O'Porto Terminal and City of Arts and Mike Gillian for his Silver panel called Spark and bronze for his panel called Morris Medley.
We had a very strong entry of twenty DPI panels. Again, a very varied and wide range of topics were presented for the DPI panels, so again Peter had a very hard challenge to choose the HC, Bronze, Silver and the Gold. Christine Chittock was awarded a gold for her dpi panel Reflections as did Sandra Morton for her panel Epson Downs.
Please check out the website for all the winning images here
Reviewed by Lynn Middleton-Flynn EPG Programme Secretary
WCPF AV Competition 6th April 2024
The WCPF AV Competition was held at Woodbury Village Hall on the 6th April. Jill Bunting and John Smith were the judges via Zoom. We had a good audience and a record number of AVs were shown, 45 in total. I am delighted to say that a few of our members did well in the competition. We also had two members who belong to our AV Group get awards.
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Photo Harmony section: Christine Chittock gained Highly Commended for Rust and Decay
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Photo Harmony section: Peter Budd (member of our AV Group) gained 2nd for All Aglow
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Short AV section: Mo Martin gained Highly Commended for Teddy Bears Picnic
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Short AV section: Ian Bateman gained 2nd for Holloway
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Long AV section: Sheila Haycox gained 3rd for A Troubled Country
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Long AV section: Ian Bateman gained 2nd for Monster
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Long AV section: Cathy Fordham (member of our AV Group) gained 1st for Childhood Struggles
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Audience Vote: This is for the whole competition - 1st Childhood Struggles, 2nd Monster by Ian Bateman and 3rd A Troubled Country by Sheila Haycox which happens to be the same as the judges choices..
3rd April 2024 International Exchange
This was an interesting evening which gave us a chance to see and discuss a variety of images taken by clubs living in other parts of the world. The clubs taking part were Gibraltar Photo Society, Edinburgh Photo Society, Paris Photo Society, Waikaro Photo Society New Zealand and Exmouth Photo Group. Each club contributed 30 images.
Thank you to Peter and Carol for organising and coordinating this event which was enjoyed by all.
27th March 2024 Competition 4
Our judge for this evening was Kay Wilson from Saltash Camera Club. Kay gave a very thoughtful and considered review of all the entries in each category, with helpful suggestions on how to make each image stronger.
We had four sections in all, Colour Prints, Mono Prints, DPI Mono and DPI Colour. The Overall winning image was given to Ian Bateman for his Mono DPI Adams Plaza Bridge
Congratulations to all the winners, and thank you to everyone who entered to make another interesting evening.
If you wish to view the competition winners please click here.
To view the Running totals please click here
Review by Lynn Middleton-Flynn EPG Programme Secretary
20th March 2024 Paul Mcloughlin My Backyard and Extreme Macro
What a fantastic evening that Paul presented to EPG this evening. Paul started the evening with explaining why he had changed to photographing in his local area, for health reasons.
It has not made the slightest difference with his passion for photography and his achieving of such beautiful images. Paul based in Crediton demonstrated that getting up early and watching the weather apps paid off with his misty photos, his sunrises, his fog bows, beautiful clouds, sunset and much more.
In the second half Paul showed us how he persevered with cameras and lenses, trying out different setups. He now uses the Olympus OM1 with a 60mm macro lens and a converter, which he is now happy with. It certainly produces some fantastic fungi images that the naked eye would never see.
Paul’s dedication paid off with his brilliant photos of slime mould, finding a passion that has inspired him to get out in the woods, to explore and discover a whole new minute world in the undergrowth.
A brilliant evening enjoyed by everyone.
Review by Lynn Middleton-Flynn EPG Programme secretary.
13th March 2024 Image Makers Group led by John Perriam
This was the first evening to feature the IMG group, and it was an excellent opportunity for its members to show their work to the rest of the club. John started by explaining the format of the group. It comprises of an open session with a discussion of images both prints and digital, and a monthly task or challenge. In parts I and 2 we saw the images for discussion, a variety of imaginative and creative ideas presented in AV’s.
The challenges were: Black and White, Still Life, Process Images, After Sunset, Depicting Autumn, Transport, Rule of Thirds, and Motion Blur on the Beach. Members were invited to talk about their images, and it was really interesting to see the different interpretations of each challenge.
Thanks to John for such a successful and enjoyable evening. Hopefully this will inspire more members to join the IMG group.
Review by Gill Stocker
6th March 2024 Members Evening Sheila Haycox ARPS MPAGB/AV AFIAP
What another brilliant member evening, showcasing Sheila’s talent at producing Avs with her imaginary friends and family.
Sheila started the evening with the first AV called Paragliding, set in snow topped mountains with animated paragliders gracefully travelling through the mountains. We then went off to The Spectral world with Sheila’s ghosts floating gracefully in and out of the ruins. We then enjoyed a story of a local Exmouth lady's fight to run her tea hut on the beach. A fascinating history of her fight with the local authorities.
We were then treated to the beautiful Misty bluebells at Blackbury Canp. On to Saltee Islands, a pair of small islands lying 5 kilometers off the southern coast of County Wexford in Ireland. Privately owned by the Neale family. Beautiful photography of the islands and the wildlife. Next, we had a stunning AV harmony of Slovenia.
Sheila then showed Mo’s Av missing from her evening about the Great Bear Lodge in Canada. A brilliant story of Mo’s time there, with great photography and a video of the bears.
The second half, we started Hestercombe illuminates, great night photography. Next a challenge AV about gathering dust. Then another challenge to make an AV from one image called spot the difference, very creative. Sheila then showed her edited RNLI AV about the Exmouth life boats, brilliantly put together showing the history from 1803. We were then taken to Paris for a memory visit around Paris. Then set to music, an Assemblage collection of the photography Sheila has taken over the past year. To finish we enjoyed the work in progress of documenting local artist Garf, Sheila’s ongoing project.
A fabulous evening enjoyed by all our members.
Review by Lynn Middleton-Flynn EPG Programme Secretary
28th February 2024 Members Evening John Perriam ARPS DPAGB AFIAP
John gave an overview of some of the photos that he has been taking in the past year. Then in his usual style creating something different from the ordinary and unusual. John started the evening with his still life at home, with his usual skull as part of the objects used. Also creatively using every day cleaning bottles, to create a battle of the bottles.
We then went for a visit to Dartington Hall. John created monsters from statues in the park and seemed to be seeing faces in all the trees! We then went off to Totnes, where John found lots of fascinating unusual objects and lots of interesting characters to photograph.
Then around Exmouth for our IMG challenge for a night shoot. Next off to Heavitree road for an insight of where john grew up. A fascinating insight to the area, showing all the changes over the years. We then visited Novas Garden in the Summer. Then the first half finished with an AV of 10 years of members of EPG.
The evening carried on with Avs of, Magpie mine, Beech huts and When September ends. We visited Radford Lake. On to Sidmouth folk festival. Then two visits to the changing months of wild flowers near John’s house. On then to Bystock ponds with John’s own presets applied to the photos.
We finished the evening with the trip to Wales in the Autumn. Finaly finishing with a visit to Dingle’s fairground. A very enjoyable evening.
Review by Lynn Middleton-Flynn EPG programme secretary
Mix and Match Competition versus Exeter Camera Club - 22nd February 2024
The Mix and Match contest was held at Exeter Camera Club and only nine members from EPG attended, but that did not stop us from having an excellent event. The judge, chosen by Exeter, was Andrew McCarthy and he did an excellent job considering the matches and best images. Each team had 50 images and we took it in turns to put up an image which the opponent had to match.
The scores went up and down during the evening but when it came to the last slide being shown Exmouth managed to beat Exeter by 3 points, - 51 to Exmouth and 49 to Exeter.
21st February Set Subject Competition Judge Jim Lefeuvre
Our judge for this competition was Jim Lefeuvre from Yeovil Camera Club. As the judge we had originally selected was unable to come, Jim kindly took over at short notice.
There were three sections in all, Arty, Shadows, Mood and Emotions. A wide variety of creative and imaginative images were presented in each category. Jim gave careful consideration to each photo, giving praise as well as constructive suggestions on how he felt each image could be improved.
Thank you to all members who entered, giving us such an enjoyable evening. Congratulations to the highly commended, bronze, silver and gold winners. After adding up the points from all three sections the winner of the Set Subject is Christine Chittock. Click here to see a summary of the points.
To view the winning images please click here
Review by Gill Stocker.
14th February 2024 Roy Carr AWPF “A Year in Their Lives”
Roy gave us a very interesting and informative talk about his long term project” A Year in their Lives”. This was a series of documentary photographs, which captured sheep farming in South Wales in all its aspects, reflecting the conditions in which the farmers were working. It led to an exhibition at the Cynon Valley Museum Aberdare.
Roy loves the way that photography can tell a story, and he was inspired by the rural photography of James Ravillious, and the work of Ian Lawson” From the Land Comes the Cloth”, and James Rebanks”The Shepherd’s Life”.
Roy showed us some excellent mono and colour images, capturing the time of year and weather conditions, behind the scene shots at the Royal Welsh Show, prize winning animals, sheep shearing, hay bales, and sheep at the market. His portraits of the farmers at auction were fascinating, and it was obvious that he had developed good relationships with them.
A most enjoyable and inspiring evening.
Review by Gill Stocker
7th February 2024 Members Evening Brian Westaway Sandra Morton and Mo Martin ARPS, CPAGB
Three members of EPG showing a variety of projects and travels. Brian started the evening with his passion of fishing from a boat, which he spends time out on the lake with his friend. We had videos of his friend trying to land the trout and lots of images of the catch of the day. Next, we learnt about young guns, Brian produced an interesting AV all about the training of how to learn to shoot. With the average age range of a group of 12- to 16-year-olds.
We then went on to see Storms. Another AV of local storms around our coasts. Next, we went to a classic car show. We then went around the beautiful country of Italy with some beautiful photography. To finish we came back to Cornish villages, lighthouses, gardens and quaint towns.
Sandra presented next with her panel projects explaining where her ideas for the panels came from. The first from a trip from St Ives which were all produced in the Hepworth gallery. The panel called Hepworth Homage was produced from taking parts of the sculptures in the garden.
Next, we went for a walk around Exeter and Sandra then produced an interesting panel called Gulls on grimy glass. All from hearing a strange noise on the train station roofs. Brilliant. Finaly, for the third panel Sentinels, we went for a tip around Stourhead and learnt about Sandras’s fascination with the ancient trees. Finaly, we shared a range of photographs that Sandra has been experimenting with different techniques. What a journey of great ideas and images that Sandra is producing.
Mo finished the evening off with her recent trip last October 2023 to Canada. A lot of miles were covered by car and planes. The history of the visit to the museum of human rights, Mo found very challenging that nothing has changed, history is still being repeated. Mo talked about a must watch film the Bone of crows.
We went to Winnipeg art gallery, showing the exhibit of Inuit art, beautiful work. We visited rushing rivers and the wetlands with the Canadian geese. A lovely drive down stopping on the way to catch a very old plane, to get to the Great bear lodge. Mo produced some lovely video of the bears with their young catching and eating the salmon. To finish of the evening, The teddy bears picnic AV, brilliant photography
A very big thank you to all three presenters tonight.
Review by Lynn Middleton-Flynn EPG Programme secretary
31st January 2024 Mike Bennett LRPS, DPAGB, EFIAP, BPE3* "Visual Video Jukebox"
Tonight’s zoom speaker Mike Bennett, what a brilliant variety of images we all enjoyed tonight.
We started the evening with urban art in Grimsby with the artists at work. Then on to a visit a visit to an engineering workshop in Hull before it moved to new premises. Off we then went on a scooter rally in Cleethorpes, looking at all the scooters and colourful characters at the rally. Mike then played an AV all about street photography with great choice of music to match the photos. On we went to see some great images in monochrome. Next another AV of fantastic portraits.Mike talked about learning nature and bird photography, challenging his self to come out of his comfort zone, encouraging everyone to try something new.
We finished the evening with Mikes creative work. Mike showed the before and after, then demonstrated how he created the images working in layers in photoshop, giving everyone lots of tips of the way to produce the image.
A fantastic evening with some great photography enjoyed by all at EPG, Sidmouth CC and Wantage. For more of Mikes work check out his website https://mikebennettphoto.com/
Review by Lynn Middleton-Flynn EPG Programme secretary
Competition 3 - 24th January 2024 - Judge Steve Wilcox
Our judge for this evening was Steve Wilcox from Wellington Camera Club. He gave a very thoughtful and considered review of all the entries in each category, with helpful suggestions on how to make each image stronger.
We had four sections in all, Colour Prints, Mono Prints, DPI Mono and DPI Colour. The Overall winning image was given to Christine Chittock for her Mono DPI Gold Explaining.
Congratulations to all the winners, and thank you to everyone who entered to make another interesting evening.
If you wish to view the competition winners please click here.
To view the Running Totals please click here
Review by Gill Stocker
10th January 2024 Speaker Gordan Aspland Fine Art or Blurry Mess
Tonight, via zoom Sidmouth and Wantage camera clubs joined together with EPG
Gordan gave a very interesting talk, as he said, warts and all. Gordan explained his journey of how he has been experimenting with different techniques, shutter speeds, apertures and mainly auto iso.
Gordan said on his phone he uses slow shutter ghost video app, which he has produced some very interesting images, just going out with his phone. Gordan suggested looking at Eva Pollack on ICM on Utube, suggesting Staphanie Johnston on Instagram, also mentioned Gary Mcintyre,YouTube also.
Gordan demonstrated ICM on trees, people, buildings animals using straight up and down, zooming and as he called it, jiggling.
Gordan took us to Dawlish to demonstrate his techniques on the beach and in the town. Also, over to Kitzbuhel in Austria for some more abstract images. Gordan then finished of with an AV Gallery of his images and his journey. As Gordan said you always produce a different image that is always individual and cannot be copied.
An interesting evening enjoyed by everyone.
Review by Lynn Middleton-Flynn EPG Programme secretary
Wednesday 17th January 2024 Members evening Gill Stocker, Jenny Baker ARPS CPAGB and Derrick Holiday ARPS
What a brilliant evening, from three of our talented EPG members.
We started the evening with Gill presenting an AV Renaissance sound and light show, all taken on her iPhone. The next we visited Aberdeen the granite city. Gill showed the city with a tour around presenting the history of this fabulous place. Next, we visited Royal Aberdeenshire the balmoral trail, castles and the town of Dunator.
We then went to Boscastle and what an interesting place. Gill showed that there was more to Boscastle than the main street. Giving us the history of the floods, and photographing it from all around the outskirts, great views of Boscastle. We then went down the valency valley in Boscastle. Gill finished her presentation for the evening of AVs with Exmouth Autumn Festival and giant funfair.
Next Jenny gave us an AV called Moor to this, a fabulous AV set around Dartmoor. Dingles Fairground AV was inspired from our summer outing visit. Jenny then took us to the Cornish Alps, a very clever AV with the history of mining the clay, also, what beautiful pottery was produced through the time and also the effect on the landscape. The Rock was the next clever production produced by Jenny, all set around the rock chapel, stunning photography and great atmosphere with the sound effects.
Wyming Brook was set in the Leeds area from a visit in the autumn. To finish the evening Jenny was unable to go abroad and so visited zoos around the UK photographing all the animals, capturing some stunning images and then making a brilliant AV.
We finished the evening with seven of Derricks brilliant Avs. The Fest, images taken on a summer outing to Devon trucks. Great images and added videos demonstrating the size and sound of the event. Next, we had Mo Pop set in in Seattle what a tower of guitars and great history. Then Gehrys Vision: Frank Gehry, the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao in Spain, what beautiful photography of a amazing building.
We then witnessed the injustice of war with, the non-violent offender, a very powerful AV. Next 9th battalion another emotional AV. We then went to Manhatton downtown, Derrick covered the Chrysler tower, the apple store, Guggenheim Museum, central park with the John Lennon memorial and the 9/11 museum a brilliant portrayal.To finish the evening, we had a light hearted AV of the Dancing Starlings.
A very big thank you for a fantastic evening from all three of our presenters.
Review by Lynn Middleton-Flynn EPG Programme secretary