News

05th December
The second print competition of the season took place and was judged by Campbell Skinner from Greenock Camera Club. Campbell gave advice on printing and mounting photographs and choosing the appropriate photo paper to enhance an image. He commented on the composition, lighting, sharpness and background distractions in the photographs and how he felt they could be improved.

After awarding a score out of twenty for each print Campbell announced his top photographs of the evening. In the Landscape and General section first place was awarded to "Trio" by Linda Greenhill and "The Leap" by Rodger Shearer was placed second. "Stormy Waters" by Rodger Shearer, "Do I Look Like I'm Having Fun?" by Douglas McEwen and "Great Spotted Woodpecker" by Linda Greenhill all shared third place. In the portrait section "The Chesterfield" was first, "Officer Rob" was second and "Land Girl" was third. The top scoring prints in the portrait section were by Linda Greenhill.

Club Vice President Rodger Shearer thanked Campbell for taking the time to judge our prints and for providing helpful, constructive feedback.

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28th November
The guest speaker was George Robertson who is a member of Milngavie and Bearsden Camera Club and the Scottish Photographic Circle. George is a multi award winning photographer who just this week was the winner of Mountain Photo of the Year 2024 for an image taken on the Isle of Skye.

George, who is an international mountain leader, gave a presentation called "The Snows of Kilimanjaro – Trekking on Africa's Highest Mountain". George has led eighteen treks to the top of the 5895m mountain in Tanzania, which typically take between 6 and 7 days to complete. The first part of his presentation contained images of the villages and people who live in the area at the base of the mountain. The club members were then treated to a series of fantastic images taken at various stages of the climb. We were shown photographs taken in the rainforest, moorland vegetation zone, the alpine desert and finally the summit zone. George gave a fascinating insight into the logistics of leading a large group of people to the top of Kilimanjaro and also getting them back down safely.

Club Vice President Rodger Shearer thanked George for giving us an entertaining and informative presentation full of high-quality images.


21st November
The guest speaker at the latest meeting of Motherwell Photographic Society was David Anderson RSPB Warden at the Baron’s Haugh Nature Reserve in Motherwell. David’s presentation “RSPB Baron's Haugh: Creating a Better, Wetter Future” told us the history of Baron’s Haugh and what makes it a special place. The 107 hectare nature reserve has 40,000 visitors every year who enjoy the wildlife and walks in the woodland. David talked about the wildlife and their habitats and the challenges faced by the nature reserve due to the impact of climate change. In recent years the reserve has created new wetland and 3 hectares of wildflower meadow. We were shown a series of videos showing the work done by the team at Baron’s Haugh and their group of volunteers and photographs of some of the wildlife that the reserve attracts.
After a question-and-answer session Club Vice President Rodger Shearer thanked David for giving his presentation and passed on his appreciation for the work that David undertakes at Baron’s Haugh.


14th November
In a change to the syllabus, the club viewed two sections of the GDPU Digital Portfolio. The club had an image in each section, “Hoverfly on White Rose” by Margaret Dewar in the Nature Section and “Unloved” by Dominic Smith in the Mono Section.
The proposed speaker Allan Bovill will visit the club at a later date.

07th November
The second digital image competition of the season took place and it was judged by Gavin Forrest from Carluke Camera Club. Gavin gave his feedback on each image before awarding them a score out of twenty. Gavin was impressed by the quality of the images and gave several of them high marks.
In first place, scoring twenty out twenty, was "Into the Unknown" by Linda Greenhill. In joint second place was "Intensity" by Linda Greenhill, "Mummy's Fur Coat" by Rodger Shearer and "Jersey Pullers" by Dominic Smith. In joint third place was "End of the Shift" by Dominic Smith, "Catch of the Day" by Margaret Dewar and "The Birks of Aberfeldy" by Rodger Shearer.
Club Vice President Rodger Shearer thanked Gavin for taking the time to judge the images and for providing constructive feedback on them.

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