Morpeth Camera Club welcomes members of Tynemouth Photographic Society on an exchange visit

Tynemouth, a long established and very active camera club, won the NCPF’s Annual Club Print Competition last season.

To open the evening, Howard Wilson introduced Margaret Warren – who showed images taken whilst on a trip to Namibia.

Describing her route from the Windhoek region through dirt and sand roads to the coast, she showed images of the drought ridden area with its unusual strata and ubiquitous car wrecks along the way. Then she took those in attendance to Sossusvlei National Park, showing its dramatic 300ft red sand dunes, clay pans and trees dating back 1,000 years.

Swakopmund provided a complete contrast; with its Germanic architecture, sea fogs and rough waves; included were images of fur seals, flamingos, cormorants and pelicans.

On to the Skeleton Coast, a protected area, the audience saw images of salt pans, many abandoned ship wrecks, the Cape Cross seal colony, Damaralands petrified trees and ancient rock carvings.

Margaret concluded her set with images taken in Etosha National Park with stunning images of Wildebeests, Ostrich, giraffe, lionesses, and zebra, gazelles at the waterhole.

Linda McGregor followed by explaining that she leads a nature group at the club who are given monthly assignments. She included images that had been taken by the group following the themes of Colours of Nature, Geological Formations, Nature as Art, Patterns and Text in Nature, Water in all its Forms, Weather Conditions and Wildlife.

She explained that these meetings provide inspiration to her fellow members to produce something different.

When starting out in wildlife photography it is good to explore your own garden, she said, to train the eye to spot detail – which puts you in good stead for when venturing out in countryside walks.

She concluded with images depicting the four seasons: spring, with its snowdrops, new buds and blossom; summer raindrops, vibrant woodland and butterflies; autumn’s golden leaves, fungi and warm light; and in winter, snow, frost, frozen puddles and bare trees.

Alan Forster came next with details of the society’s urban group. The aim is to get out and about, have fun and talk about and share ideas.

This group is also set assignments on a theme or consistency, for instance, all using the same locations, lens etc, but all projects stem from the urban environment.

He explained assignments, project sheets and outcomes, and those in attendance saw examples of images taken on themes of Beauty in Imperfect Things, Looking Up, Lit Buildings, Symmetry, Geometric Shapes, Chiaroscuro, Brutalist architecture, Windows and Reflections.

Those in attendance saw lots of inventive ideas, which Alan concluded was what the club’s aims were; inventiveness that gives encouragement to other members to try something different, to be more adventurous and to think out of the box and away from competition photography.

Last up was Howard Wilson with two audio-visual presentations. The first one covered Crich Tramway Village, near Matlock, and Howard explained its history and how a disused quarry formed the base for the new museum. Colourful images of trams, livery, signage, buildings and artefacts were followed by scenes of picnickers, train operators and passengers.

His next audio-visual was a tongue in cheek account of how photographs were/are judged at competition level. Entitled Judgement Day, it was a mock up of what photographic judges might have said – or certainly what they might think – about someone’s work.

Filled with insults, negative comments and showing the authors’ disgruntled reactions, this hilarious piece of work certainly had the viewers, especially the photographic judges in the audience, laughing out loud.

Exchange evenings give everyone the chance to see the standard of work that is produced by other clubs and a chance to meet other photographers. The Morpeth audience certainly enjoyed seeing some of Tynemouth’s work, witnessing their enthusiasm for photography and look forward to the reciprocal visit in the new year.

Peter Downs thanked the visitors for providing a very entertaining evening, after which a buffet supper was enjoyed.