December
2009

As you'll see, this is starting the year with a backward look at December 2009. Our Christmas meeting, this year, was slightly different from those previously in that we decided to include a 'fun' dpi competition (if that isn't a contradiction in terms!!) for the 'Girls v Boys', with a longer than usual break in the middle for socialising and some 'nibbles'. The competition included pictures from every member who had sent some, and we had an almost full turnout of members, + 2 or 3 spouses, which made for a great atmosphere. Our thanks go to Chris Widdall, from Oldham, who was our invited judge for the competition. As we knew she would, she fully entered into the spirit of the day and managed to combine teasing and fun with some serious appraisal; not the easiest task! For the 'Girls' the cherry on the icing was that we managed to win the competition ..... we shall try and repeat that success again next year!

Have a Very Happy Christmas and New Year!

Meeting cancelled owing to weather conditions.

February's month's meeting was a Quarterly competition. This time round our judge was Adrian Lines. It was Adrian's first visit to SLIC and, as he told us, he is a relative newcomer to photography and even newer to judging. In the few short years since he first started thinking about photography seriously, he has crammed in numerous experience and gained an impressive number of successes and acceptances at both national and international level.

At SLIC he had about 100 digitally projected images and prints to score and talk about. He did an admirable job, finding positive comments to make on all the pictures whilst at the same time picking out any elements of composition or image-manipulation that he thought could be improved or worked upon.

March
2010

This month's meeting saw the welcome return of Tony and Marge Furmston from o'er th'hill in Yorkshire. It's a while since we last saw them so they had an enormous number of new and great photographs to show us. Through their photographs they shared with us their passion for the landscape of Britain, in sun, rain or snow, whilst at the same time keeping us entertained, with some less than serious montages, as they told the tales that led to the picture or the incidents along their journey.

I was looking forward to their visit and I wasn't disappointed .......... it was a really great afternoon with them.

April
2010

This month the emphasis was on Audio Visual and our guest speaker was Tom Court from Runcorn. He is involved with, and interested in, the on-going development of Pictures to Exe, which must surely be a familiar programme to everyone who has tried their hand at audio visual presentations. He brought with him a number of sequences demonstrating the capabilities of this impressive piece of software and a selection of his own personal ones. It provided the incentive to download the latest version of PtoE and get on with the AV that had only been in the concept stage so far!

The May meeting was a Quarterly competition but it was also the AGM.
As hoped for, the business of the AGM was dealt with swiftly and amicably (always a bonus!) and we could get on with the more interesting part of the afternoon!
Following the AGM, Mike Lawrence of Oldham, who is always a welcome visitor, judged our Quarterly and scrutinised each image with his usual thoroughness. His attention to detail is second to none but he was able to combine a fair appraisal with constructive and helpful comments.

Margaret Salisbury was originally booked to visit SLIC in January of this year but, casting your mind back, you'll remember that the meeting would have been in the middle of all the horrific weather conditions and so the meeting was postponed. It was, however, well worth the wait.What a great afternoon it turned out to be!! Margaret split her talk into 3 parts ........... her landscape prints, Venice and Africa. The prints were all of the high standard for which Margaret is well known and accompanied by a non stop flow of stories, anecdotes and memories. It was one of those afternoons that stay in the memory as a high point of our programme.

July
2010

August's meeting was the latest Quarterly Competition and our judge on this occasion was Glynn Davies from Chorley. It was Glynn's first time at SLIC so we hope he enjoyed his visit. We had almost 50 digitally projected images and 25 prints for our judge to mark and comment upon. Glynn did an admirable job, finding positive and helpful comments to give us, as he talked about the images which were placed in front of him.

September
2010

October
2010

This was something of a first for us, at SLIC, as we hosted our first inter-club competition. It was the Annual Martin Avery Print Competition, held in memory of Martin Avery who died in 2002. The five earliest clubs in the competition were: South Liverpool PS, Southport PS, St. Helen's CC, North Cheshire PS and SLIC. Last year South Manchester CC were invited to join the group and this year it was joined by Chorley PS. The clubs compete for a handsome trophy, made from Martin's photographic winner's medals embedded in clear resin. There is a winner's plate for the best individual print in the competition.

Each club entered 12 prints and the judge was David Butler, MFIAP, BPE5*, of Wigan 10. For the benefit of the audience the images were also projected onto a screen.

There was a lot to get through in the time available but David did a brilliant job of appraising each print as it came before him and offering constructive criticism wherever appropriate. The final marks were nicely spread and gave us clear winners with Chorley PS and North Cheshire PS sharing the honours. 'The Watcher', by Chris Conway, from St. Helen's CC, won the plate for judge's choice of best print of the afternoon and was a worthy winner.

Martin's widow, Anne (now Anne Caldecott) joined us for the afternoon and presented the trophies to the winners.

More detailed results and some images can be seen on the Results Page of the website.