Covid has meant that we have had to make a number of adjustments to how the Annual Competition is managed this year. The club will not be accepting prints this year, so instead there will be an increase in the number of digital entries you can make. Beginners Normally, you would be entering up to 10 colour prints, 10 mono prints and 10 digital images on an open subject, as in the bi-monthly competitions. This year, you can enter up to 15 colour and 15 mono digital images You don't have to enter both sections if you don't wish to, so if you choose to enter one section only, it will be up to 15 images, on an open subject. Advanced Normally you would be entering 10 colour prints, 10 mono prints and 10 digital images. Having had to lose the prints, you can now enter up to 30 digital images. This being the Annual, the Advanced section is divided into sections, of which there are now 7, as we decided at the last AGM that mono digital images should be a section in their own right, as they are in NEMPF and the salons. These are: Creative Pictorial Photojournalism Portrait Record Monochrome Nature You can distribute your chosen images across all seven sections if you wish, or just choose two or three – the choice is yours. Normally, if you wanted to enter all your digital images in one section, that was fine, This year, with 30 images which could be potentially entered by one person into one section, please enter your work in a minimum of two sections, just for the sake of the judge! Since one of the sections in monochrome, which is any subject but in a single colour, this should not be unnecessarily restrictive! And finally ... some notes on what the sections mean.....

Speaker Dianne Seddon ARPS CPAGB BPE3, will make a welcome return to the camera club on 4 March, with an interactive evening on creative photography. The meeting will be in two halves: First half, Dianne will be be taking us through light painting. Dianne will be bringing all the gear, but she asks that members should ensure that they know how to: 1. put lens into manual focus 2. know how to use bulb mode if they have it 3. be able to set the camera into a 30 second exposure time. We will have a quick refresher on this at the start of the studio night 26 February Everything else will be run through on the night. This is a practical night, so please bring cameras and tripods to this meeting. If members don't have a tripod, perhaps they can organise to share with somebody. In the second half, members are asked to bring a 'creative' print or dpi – it doesn't need to be something wonderfully complicated, the idea is that is a 'teaching' session, as Dianne will look at them critically and helpfully! Dianne will look at what we are doing with a view to give help and encouragement, but will also develop ideas and make suggestions for working more creatively. Bring as many creative prints as you like – they don't have to be mounted – the more we bring, the more we will be able to learn from Dianne!