Welcome to the club – guidance for new members                  Download this page in PDF format

Durham is a big club which may be a little daunting at first if you don’t know anyone. However, you will find our members friendly and helpful people with a diversity of photography interests and experience levels. In time we hope you find like-minded people to enjoy the social and photography aspects. Remember, many of your fellow members are new to the club also.

You will find detailed information in your copy of the DPS printed programme which includes a calendar of club night events, competitions, general and competition rules. There is also a list of officers and committee members, any of which will be pleased to help and advise you. Much of this is also on our website at www.d-p-s.org.uk

HOW WE COMMUNICATE NEWS AND ACTIVITIES

These are via “Announcements” on club nights, on the notice board at the club and on the Blog of the website. The Blog also has news of exhibitions, competition winners, dates of events popular with photographers (Hot Dates), and more.

THE PROGRAMME

The Programme Secretary strives to schedule varied and interesting club night events with top speakers. There should be something for everyone. If you have ideas, suggestions or general feedback, please feel free to speak to the Programme Secretary.

Some of the most popular evenings are Members Nights which you may like to volunteer for!

Contact: Programme Secretary Paul Ritchie

COMPETITIONS

We have an exciting, varied and time honoured programme of competitions. Many members enjoy the competitive element while others simply see the opportunity to have a public showing of their work with feedback from the judges (and fellow members). Either way, everyone is grateful if you enter because you are providing the entertainment for the evening.

The first step is to study the rules of each competition plus the separate general competition rules which are in your programme. If you are new to photography there is a print competition specifically for less experienced workers – the Print Progress B competition.

Contacts: Slides and Projected Images: Roger Culpin, Prints: Alan Stott

EXHIBITIONS

The jewel in the crown is our Annual Exhibition in the Galilee Chapel, Durham Cathedral in July. As a member you have the right to show prints that will be seen by visitors from all over the world. We also normally have an exhibition of prints every year in the Botanic Gardens where 47 members can show one piece of their work. We also hold mini exhibitions in local libraries. In addition we have other themed exhibitions from time to time in the Town Hall entrance gallery, Claypath library, The Sage Gateshead and elsewhere. For the Annual exhibition, prints can be mounted in either 20x16 inch or 40x50 cm mounts. The Town Hall and Botanic Gardens ones need to be20x16 inch to fit the frames.

Contact: Colin Armitstead

ASSIGNMENT GROUP OUTINGS

Every month or so, this group of members (any member can join) descend on a different location and simply take pictures. There is a follow up meeting where prints are shown and discussed. As well as the enjoyment and challenge of photography with fellow enthusiasts, and the undoubted learning experience, there is also the opportunity to get to know people better, and perhaps experience photography different from your norm.

There are galleries of images taken at the assignment group outings. Click on Assignments on the home page of the website to see more.

Contact: Colin Armitstead

DAYS OUT WITH FELLOW MEMBERS

Completely informally, you will find fellow members at popular events such as Whitby Gothic Festival, Pickering Wartime Weekend and the like. In time you will find members with the same interests and it’s good to share transport. Other examples include the Farne Islands in the summer, steam events, sporting events – the list is endless. Note that dates for events popular with photographers are published in the Hot Dates items on the Blog as well as the club notice board.

PHOTOGRAPHY IN THE COMMUNITY

For some considerable time individual members have photographed for Durham institutions and charities such as Durham Cathedral, Durham Light Infantry Association, Bikewise, Durham Miners’ Gala and St Cuthbert’s Hospice. Ask if you’d like to know more.

Contacts: John Attle, Tony Griffiths

DIGITAL PROCESSING NIGHTS

There is a meeting once a month (except in January and August), usually the first Wednesday, where Photoshop and Lightroom demonstrations are given and is open to all members. There is no charge. If you are a complete beginner it’s a good idea to get some basic training first by going to night classes or by following tutorials that are widely available in photography magazines and on line.

Contacts: John Gordon, John Attle, Alan Clarke

THE WEBSITE

You will find much of interest including galleries. To keep abreast of club activities and the wider photography world it’s a good idea to regularly check out the Blog section for the latest news. If you have a non-commercial photography website yourself a link can be posted.

Contact: The Webmaster: John Brown

FOLIO GROUPS

A great way to show pictures, receive and give feedback. We currently have four thriving portfolio groups:

i-witness: a group of around 12 members

dpsdigital: open to all DPS members

Victoria: a long standing group of around 10 members

Eyefetch: for enthusiasts of black and white photography – a group of around 10 members

HOW IT WORKS:

A. Monthly arrangement, e.g. i-witness: members post one picture each in the 1^st half of every month and comment on all the pictures in the second half.

B. Ad-lib arrangement, e.g. dpsdigital, Victoria and Eyefetch: members post images and comments whenever they like.

Dpsdigital is open to all DPS members. Simply contact John Brown to receive your user name and password and away you go.

i-witness is closed at the moment but if you want your name on the waiting list, contact Neil Maughan.

Victoria and Eyefetch membership is by invitation. Contact John Brown for more information.

You can set up your own portfolio group of like-minded members, perhaps with specialist interests. You will need an administrator. John or Neil will advise what is entailed.

Contacts: John Brown, Neil Maughan

NCPF & PAGB

Durham Photographic Society belongs to a federation of northern clubs, The Northern Counties Photographic Federation, which in turn forms part of The Photographic Alliance of Great Britain.

Our NCPF membership gives us access to competition judges, lecturers and more. There are also inter-club competitions which we enter. Successful clubs at this level go on to compete at PAGB events. There is also a GB Cup run by the PAGB.

The PAGB also give Awards of Photographic Merit (CPAGB, DPAGB, MPAGB).  

News and information from the PAGB is via newsletters, e-news of the PAGB.  These also now appear on the PAGB website. You can still subscribe to receive directly by email: www.pagbnews.co.uk/enewssubform.html.

The NCPF have recently updated their website and you will find a great deal of interest including information about the various distinctions available from various national and international organisations: www.ncpf.org

INTERNATIONAL SALONS

The most local is the Northern Counties International Salon of Photography which is run by the NCPF. Several members actively enter their photography in Salons across the world and can advise.

Contact: Neil Maughan

Check out Neil’s article on Internationals in Appendix 1

EQUIPMENT LOANS

We currently have a Spyder 3 monitor calibrator and a Nikon 1V ED film/slide scanner. These are available on free loan to members. Simply put your name down if there is a waiting list.

CONTACT: Equipment Supervisor Bill Bestford

VOLUNTEERING

The Society is run by a committee of volunteers backed up by a legion of volunteer helpers. There are many ways you can get involved so please feel free to help in any way you can.

Contact: Tony Griffiths

FAQs

Does the Society offer training?

We do not run courses (not in our remit) but there are numerous opportunities to learn and improve your skills by virtue of the many activities of the club

Does the Society offer technical or photography advice?

There is a wealth and diversity of knowledge and experience amongst the membership and you will find fellow members only too pleased to help. Simply ask any committee member and they will introduce you to the right people.

Is there a portrait group (or wildlife or landscape etc)?

Not at the moment but any such group could be set up if there is enough member interest. Currently, regular special interest group meetings, extra to the programme, are the popular Digital Forum nights and the Assignment Group outings.

How do I re-size digital images for competitions and the website?

In summary: images need to be maximum width 1024 pixels, maximum height 768 pixels, sRGB colour space and saved in medium (7) compression. Exactly how to do it can be found on the Home page of the website under the Noticeboard. Click on “Prepare image files for competition”.

What about AV?

The digital revolution has opened up new possibilities. A number of members are enthusiastic practitioners of audio visual shows, often using’picturestoexe’ software  and most years we have a members AV night in the programme.

Contact: AV expert Mavis Ord

Does anyone offer advice about publishing books?

It is becoming easier to self- publish photography books on line and a number of members can advise.

Is there kit snobbery at the club?

From time to time, you read criticism in the photographic press of clubs where members are made to feel inferior because of the cameras they own. It is all nonsense and we can say we’ve never come across this here! At this club people are using everything from mobile phones to 5x4! However, SLRs are always popular and you may come across friendly banter between, for instance, Nikon and Canon users. A number of our members also contribute to the thriving Pentax User Forum. So if brand loyalty is your thing you will find plenty of fellow enthusiasts.

Appendix 1

INTERNATIONAL SALONS OF PHOTOGRAPHY – some basics

Do you enjoy competitions at the club? Do you want your work to be seen by fellow photographers across the Globe? Do you fancy the challenge of competing with some of the best photographers in the World? If the answer to those questions is "Yes" then why not have a go at entering an International Salon?

An International Salon of Photography is basically a competition arranged by a photographic organisation that is open to anyone in the World to enter. For example, our own Photographic Federation, Northern Counties (NCPF) arrange the Northern Counties International Salon of Photography (entries for this normally open in August, with a closing date normally in September – see www.ncpf.org.uk for further details) as do other photographic federations and camera clubs throughout the World. All of these Salons are open to you to enter. For example, as well as entering Salons organised in the UK, I've entered Salons held in the Middle East, the Far East and the USA.

As all Salons of Photography are run with the patronage of the RPS (Royal Photography Society), FIAP (Federation Internationale de l’Art Photographique and PSA (Photographic Society of America), a quick search on their websites will give you a list of Salons, their opening & closing dates and the cost of entry: in most cases normally between £7 to £13 depending on how many "classes" you enter.

Most Salons allow you to enter 4 images per class and for the majority of Salons there are 3 classes: open or general, travel and nature. However, there are some Salons, such as the Al Thani Award for Photography (based in Qatar) that only has two classes: a general section and a set subject section, so it’s important to read the rules of the organising committee carefully to see what is required. Some Salons take both prints and projected digital images (pdi’s), others may only take prints or pdi’s. Again, you need to read the rules carefully before entering. I’ve noticed however, that in recent years, a lot of Salons no longer accept slides. With the case of pdi’s, more and more Salons allow you to enter via the Internet, so it really is easy to enter. Most also allow you to pay by credit card or via Pay Pal, again, this makes life very easy.

So, once you’ve entered, what can you win? Well, let’s make no bones about it, you are competing with some excellent photographers throughout the World and most Salons are looking for about 200 images to “accept” – and these images will be very good, so only your best work should be entered. As most Salons attract around 10,000 to 20,000 entries, if you get an acceptance, then you can be very proud of that, it is a super achievement. Moving up the scale, if your image is judged as one of the “best in class” you could also win a medal or ribbon and your work will be printed in the Salon Catalogue (this is sent to every entrant) and also shown in any public showings of the Salon. Keep an eye out for one or two Salons who also award big cash prizes – for example the prize in the Al Thani Award in 2010 was $10,000 plus a Leica M series camera.

Well I hope this short article helps whet your appetite. If you want more information, please ask me on a Club night. Alternatively look at the FIAP, PSA and RPS websites for details of upcoming Salons and see what grabs your attention.

www.fiap.net/

www.psa-photo.org

www.rps.org   

Neil Maughan

Appendix 2

How Your Competition and Gallery Digital Images may be used

If you enter images into digital club competitions a number of things may happen

1.  If you gain a place the images are published on the Blog and in a results section on the website. 

2. A selection team of members will also scrutinize them and may select some to represent the club in NCPF sponsored inter-club competitions.

3. Some may be selected by the webmaster and used to enhance the viewing enjoyment of the website.

Print competition entries are slightly different

4. You will normally be asked to supply a digital version for the Blog if you gain a place.

 5. The inter-club selection panel choose potential inter club competition prints from the digital files used in projection on results night and would then ask you to bring the prints in.

6. The webmaster may also like to use images on the wider website from the member Galleries (not the Folios).

8. Generally, the Society assumes you would have no problem with your pictures receiving more exposure, and go ahead, though quite often you will be asked first.

9. Equally, the Society recognizes there may be a particular image you would not want to be shown to a wider public, or even prefer none of your images to be used in this way - in which case it is a simple matter to inform the webmaster or competition secretaries of your wishes.

10.  In all cases of use of images by the Society, the copyright is retained by the photographer who will also be credited.