We are arranging another outing on Thursday 18^th August this time to West of England Falconry, they are a small bird of prey centre situated in Newton St Loe. We will be aiming to get there by 10:30am.

This is the feedback that I have had from Naomi at the centre:

“We do twice daily flying displays, offering unique opportunity to photograph some of our raptors in free flight. With our 11am display focussing on native British species of birds of prey and our 2:30pm display showing you some of the species you can see both in this country and around the world. Displays last 45 minutes to an hour and you will experience 3 to 4 different birds in action.

I have attached some examples of the photographs our visitors have captured during our displays. 

You will also enjoy the opportunity to see over 20 different species of raptor in their aviaries or perches and our brand new Museum of Falconry, offering unique exhibits, films and refreshments. 

Nextdoor to our site is the award winning Newton Farm Shop and cafe, offering lunches, teas and a beautiful spot to sit and relax.

From just £5 per adult, £3 for over 65s and discounts available for group sizes above 12 people, visiting the centre for a flying display is a great way to enjoy good company, learn about birds of prey and have the chance to photograph birds of prey in close quarters.

There is no requirement to book in advance, but if you would prefer to do so, you can do via our website, where you can also pre-order guidebooks for your visit as well.” 

This link gives you more information. www.westofenglandfalconry.org.uk

If you want to attend we can co-ordinate car share or lifts as necessary.

This will be an exploratory visit, hopefully we will be able to arrange another in September on a Saturday or Sunday for those who cannot make it in the week.

I have been to this place for an experience day and I would thoroughly recommend it. The images below are of Charlie the Harris Hawk, taken by me at the centre.

Kevin(Chair)

Reminder for the Summer Landscape Competition

Our Judge will be Rob Heslop LRPS from Forest of Dean Camera Club.

Closing Date for entries 11th August

We are holding this on 25th August. Entries should be submitted to Jeff the Projections Secretary – projsec@trowbridgecc.co.uk by 11th August.

Please follow the club rules for projection entries reproduced here in case you need them:

Digital Projections submitted should be:
8bit JPEG file format, max file size 2Mb (This is 2048KB or 2,097,152 Bytes), in RGB Mode, sRGB Colour Space, .
Maximum size of image 1600 x 1200 pixels in landscape. Maximum height of portrait image to be 1200 pixels.

All images entered will have author’s consent to be used in external competitions the following year if required unless opted out.
All images MUST be titled:
Title_Membership No._Group_Mono/Colour_Preference (1, 2, 3 or 4). Example – Milky Way over Avebury_123_B_Colour_1
.
The image should conform to the named subject.
Names or initials should not be visible.
Submit to Projections Secretary by email at: projsec@trowbridgecc.uk. 

We are arranging a club meet/group outing to Roundway Hill for Sunday 24 July starting at 10am at the No1 car park listed below. This is open to both members and non-members who may be interested to see what we do as a club.

Some details on Roundway Hill and surroundings from Jeff our projections secretary:

There are three main places to park, marked in red on the attached map.

No 1 is the preferred spot for about 7 or 8 eight cars but is often full. It’s just above the Devizes or Roundway White Horse.

No 2 is not so well defined but is often strewn with cars parked up. Both 1 and 2 offer access to flattish terrain.

No 3 involves driving over quite a rutted track, you’ll need to make sure your teeth are well stuck in.

Thinking of older members all the terrain, whilst flattish, can be a bit of a challenge, there are tracks but they can all be deeply rutted and overgrown, this is well trodden chalkland.

Quite close to No 1 and 2 there is woodland and open grassland affording opportunities for many bugs and insects and also open landscape views.

No 3 also offers access to woodland and steep hillside marked as Roundway Hill Covert, often teeming with butterflies.

The whole area is full of options for shorter or longer walks across chalk meadow type landscape with lots of sculptural features for photographic exploration depending on fitness, lots of macro possibilities as well as birds – Swallows, Swifts, Buzzards, Red Kites, Corn Buntings, etc, etc.

The best way to get there is to use Google Maps to find directions to Roundway White Horse.

Jeff has been to this whole area many times and is happy to offer further advice and guidance.

projsec@trowbridgecc.co.uk

Love to see you there, it will be a great opportunity for wildlife shots and andscape.

This week is our final meeting that we added to facilitate the last 2 speakers of the season. I’m sure for those of you who attended those sessions, you will agree it was worth the extension.

The meeting will be an informal get together in the hall (see map), and it will give us a chance to reflect on this season, and gain ideas for the coming year and things we hope to do in the summer break. We will announce the winners of the competitions we have managed to hold online.

This week’s meeting presentation is from Nick Mason, entitled “The Covid Project”.

Dr. Mason, an Intensive Care Consultant at Aneurin Bevan University Health Board, has won the prestigious AP 2021 Power of Photography Award. Nick documented the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic had on the Intensive Care Unit at Royal Gwent Hospital, Newport, where he worked during the pandemic’s first wave. He captured poignant moments of what life was like at the time working in Intensive Care.

We are back on Zoom this week – for details see home page. As always new members are welcome to join the meeting to see what we do as a club.

This week we are moving back into the hall for our meeting and we have great pleasure in welcoming back Fez Parker in person for his latest presentation on drone photography. Fez has had amassed a huge amount of experience and expertise in arial photography as a career photographer with the Royal Navy. He is also an accomplished photographer in many other fields including landscapes and portraiture. In the last 2 years, he has joined the world of drone photography, and he is going to share with us his journey as he has moved into this new field.

For newer members who have not been to a meeting in the hall the address is:

St Thomas’s Church Hall

York Buildings

Trowbridge

BA14 8PT

We will not be running the customary zoom session, due to the nature of the presentation making this impractical. Apologies if this is inconvenient for anyone. You can experience the best of this presentation by being there. We would encourage everyone to make the effort to attend and have the opportunity to meet again in person.

The meeting will start at 7:30pm as usual, and last around 2 hours.

The subject of this week’s meeting by Ian Smith is entitled All Stitched up. In his presentation Ian will introduce us to the amazing world of Stitch Photography.

Usual Zoom session details apply (see home page) and as always new members are welcome to join the meeting to see what we do as a club.

This week’s meeting presentation is by Darren Pullman BPE3* CPAGB EFIAP, entitled “One a Week, Every week”

Darren presents the images he took in 2019 and 2020 as part of the challenge to take a photo every week. It’s noteworthy that the first year was pre-covid and most of 2020 was in lockdown.

Usual Zoom session details apply (see home page) and as always new members are welcome to join the meeting to see what we do as a club.

This week’s presentation is by Cat Humphries and entitled My Journey in Theatre Photography. From documenting young performers at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in the 1990s to shooting vintage Hollywood portraits for Sunset Boulevard in 2019, Cat will take us on a trip through her adventures in theatre photography, including the equipment used and images from publicity shoots, rehearsals and performances.

This Thursday’s meeting is billed as a members evening. It is open to any members to show off their work, talk about their images, and offer other members the opportunity to comment in an open forum. It is suggested that we present maximum of 6 images each to allow everyone a chance to participate.  It’s not a competition but an it’s a great opportunity to get some constructive feedback from like-minded photographers. 

We have set the theme as the Lacock photoshoot that many of us attended recently, but this is only a suggestion. To make it more interesting please feel free to present any of your work on any subject, especially for those who could not make it to Lacock.

Jeff our projection secretary is co-ordinating the images so please send to projsec@trowbridgecc.co.uk for inclusion.

Usual Zoom session details apply (see home page) and as always new members are welcome to join the meeting to see what we do as a club.