Something different this week. Members had swapped raw files with a partner, and then had processed both their own raw file and their partner’s raw file, each creating two and sometimes more final images. It was both an engaging and instructive evening!

The range of images in the raw files was considerable and included: a performer at Edinburgh Fringe; the Auld Brig at Ayr; a castle tower; dog statues; a still morning at Loch Leven; a dog portrait; a cross-country cyclist; a Mediaeval market courtyard; a robin on a bench; a vintage bride-and-groom image; and a coiled snake.

Following presentations by speakers in recent weeks – like Douglas Annan and our own Robert Quig, the club syllabus brought us back to our programme of competitions. An Open competition allows members to enter images of any subject of their choosing.

Our Second Open Competition of our season attracted a high-standard of entry.  Andy Stark, our judge for the evening, then chose Jim Stevenson’s “Fly Fishing” as the overall best image. This astonishing capture was of a swallow, skimming the surface of the water, about to capture a flying insect. Congratulations, Jim, this photograph was a worthy winner, and thanks to Andy Stark for very fair judging of the high-quality entries. Just a few more of these images are presented below.

You don’t actually need anything other than your smartphone to enter any of our club competitions. But as arranged last year, we arranged an informal session where we could show off only our favourite smartphone images – no fancy cameras and lenses allowed. Some smart guy once said, “the best camera for photography is the one you’ve got with you when you see a photo opportunity”. Nowadays, that smartphone is nearly always handy.

Well done to Alan Stewart, our Syllabus Secretary for setting up an outstanding autumn session at Kilmaurs this year.

This period included a night of presentations by David Moulds, a winner of awards in the “Scottish Landscape Photographer of the Year” competitions. David gave us a great show of landscape photography and then described his work in “Encaustic Fine Art,” selling his work on-line and at craft fairs.

Jim Stevenson retained the trophy in our first League competition of the 2024/5 season. His winning digital image, was this superb shot of a tiny blue tit taking a drop of water from a tap, its beak open and its little tongue catching the water. Congratulations, Jim!!

A couple of other successful digital images are also shown here too, both sharing second place in the digital category – thee were “Male Kingfisher” by Dale Powell – one of Dale’s specialist subjects, and the atmospheric “Dawn Raider” by Martin Clark. Well done to both!!