Whether you are a beginner, an improver, or an expert; or someone wishing to improve their photographic techniques and get the most from their camera, why not give Kilmaurs Photographic Club a try?
We begin our autumn session on Monday 16th September 2024. The club meets once a week in Kilmaurs Masonic Lodge Halls at 7.30pm on Monday evenings We have a varied programme and pride ourselves in being friendly, welcoming, instructive, and challenging. You are welcome to visit without commitment to join.
You can find information on our planned meeting programme via the post below. Or contact the Club Secretary via the Contact page – click HERE.
The above images are ‘Arctic Aurora’ by Jim Stevenson; ‘Resting Puffin’ by Dale Powell; and ‘Hydro’ by Kevin Thorne.
Over the summer we’ve managed to get some members out there with cameras. Action, architecture, landscapes and wildlife were all exposed in our summer challenges. Our earliest photo opportunity was a trip to Pinkston Water Park, in Glasgow to capture kayakers doing their white-water stuff. Further club outings took our members near and far to places like Bowling Harbour, Balmaha, Kilwinning Abbey, Glencoe, Culzean Castle Park, and Loudoun Old Kirk.
One of our longer trips took us to the Isle of May in the Firth of Forth. Enjoying a boat trip on one the better days this summer, allowed for many super wildlife images and especially those cute little puffins. The selection of shots shown here are: “Canoeist at Pinkston” by Jim Muir; “Puffin on the Isle of May” by Ian Johnstone; “Loudoun Kirkyard” by Jim Muir.; “Kilwinning Abbey Perspectives by Kevin Thorne; “Blackrock Cottage” by John Sommerville; “Guillemot” by Ian Johnstone ; and “Arran from Culzean” by Alan Stewart;
Last November, our club won the Scottish Photographic Federation digital-image competition. And so, Kilmaurs was one of only 3 Scottish clubs at the British final in Warwick on 21st July.
38 clubs from all over the UK had qualified for the Final of the Photographic Alliance of Great Britain’s competition, shown in front of an audience of 250. The venue was Warwick School, one of England’s oldest public schools.
Seven Kilmaurs members attended the event, arriving with high hopes, delighted with our entry of images that Jim Stevenson had so carefully compiled. However, we were, in the end, going to be disappointed.
In every round of the competition, 3 judges give each image a score out of 5, giving a possible total out of 15 points. We got off to a promising start in the first round with the combined scores for our first 8 images placing us right in the middle of the pack. Unfortunately, our scores fell away in round two. Eventually, we ended up in the bottom half of the points table.
Our best scoring images were Dale Powell’s “Wren on Bullrush” and Martin Clark’s “Ziggi” both scoring 13 in the final round. Well done Dale and Martin!
“Spirit of Diversity” by Martin Clark
Although we were disappointed, we should remember that to just reach the final was for our club members, a great achievement.
Many of the images that scored highly were composite images and tending towards “digital art” which is not something our club has been particularly interested in, as we enjoy more “conventional” but stunning wildlife and landscape images which did not achieve such high marks.
The competition was won by Chorley Photographic Society. To see a selection of their winning images, check out this link: http://thepagb.org.uk/events/inter-club-pdi/. It’s a different kind of photography, indeed.
Dumfries were the top placed Scottish club and deserve hearty congratulations for coming 8th in the final.
Once again, many thanks to Jim Stevenson for many hours of work arranging our entry.
The ‘Annual’ is our final major competition of the year, where members can show off their best from the whole season. The standard of entries was extremely high, and judge Rob Davis gave an excellent assessment of every image.
Rob awarded the trophy for Best Image of 2023-24 to Dale Powell for his stunning monochrome print of an African Grey Parrot. The details in the bird’s feathers and bill were superb, all shown off with top quality printing. This was one of three of Dale’s images that scored 20 points. Congratulations Dale, well deserved!
While there was a wide range of different images presented in our 2nd Open competition this year, judge Colin McLatchie from Eastwood Camera Club gave several of the honours to wildlife images. Top of the bunch was Jim Stevenson’s shot of a Crested Tit (above) – and certainly it’s a great capture. This projected image lifted to trophy, while Kevin Thorne had the best monochrome print, an abstract entitled ‘Mary’s Shell’ of an artwork off the Lancashire coast, and top marks for the best colour prints was a three-way tie between, Jim Stevenson, Colin Robinson and martin Hancock.
Below we show another top marks projected image for a more exotic bird – a Panama Flycatcher, which Ian Johnstone had captured while on holiday in Costa Rico.
