A quick reminder that this Sunday (1st August) is the day to take a photo for our ‘Moment in Time’ project. Remember it can be of anything but preferably of something that you are doing or of a place where you are, anything that depicts that moment in time! The only criteria is that it should be taken at 12:00 BST. If you are abroad you’ll have to make the necessary calculation! Please try to partake in this as it should prove interesting (hopefully) when we show the results in December. Words by Pete C.

Last May the club was sent an email asking for someone to volunteer as team photographer for Dings Crusaders Rugby Club. I took on the Role. Since late August I have been attending all home games and some away games as team photographer. I take a few hundred photos each game, then send some to the Bristol Evening Post and the local paper of the opposition; on the Monday after a home game, there will be a photo or two in the Evening Post and sometimes they are printed in a national rugby paper. Each week, one of my photos is printed on the cover of the match programme, and several within it.

Since starting as team photographer, I have set up a website where people can order prints or downloads, www.avonsports.co.uk. It is a great job, and now I am looking for a sport to keep me busy in the summer.

Words and pics by David Stephenson.

The NWBCC flickr group has been growing steadily over the last couple of years and at the time of writing stands at 392 images and 52 members. (For those of you that didn't know we had a flickr group, or don't know what a flickr group is then head to flickr.com, get a free account and have a play). There are an amazing range and variety of images in the group from club members and virtual club members. So I would like to remind you about the two groups we have and encourage you to make use of them.

           

We have two groups named NWBCC and NWBCC Members Gallery. The first group is open to everyone. From your flickr page search for groups and enter NWBCC as the search term. You must join the group before adding images but that won't take more than a few seconds. You can browse the current images in the group pool.

The second group is the NWBCC Members Gallery. This is a closed group, open to NWBCC members only. Joining takes a little longer because we have to confirm you are a club member. Images added to this group can not only be seen in the group pool but will appear on the NWBCC website in the Members Gallery.

We need more members images in the gallery, it's been a bit static lately. So please take a look at flickr and if you are a club member join the members group and start posting.

Five of us went to the recent Severn Valley Railway 1940's do. We had a super day perfect weather and good company:- Sandie, Marian and John. We were amazed at the displays and the atmosphere which was created. Many sound effects, music and dancing displays were organised and the photo opportunities were endless. I took nearly 200 images and I am sure the others did as well. Sandie did the driving, which she enjoys and we were all in the one car. This was a very successful club outing and I can thoroughly recommend a visit next year. Perhaps if we could get enough people interested a small coach could be hired.

Pictures and words by Peter.

John recently hosted a practical session on tabletop photography at the club. I have never seen so many desk lamps, torches, strobes etc. gathered together in one place. A lot of the images have been posted to our flickr pool. You can see them here.

This month its the turn of John Case, who chose one of my pictures to say the following about:

"Nicely balanced composition, but the subject is overexposed and consequently lacking impact. I doubt the sky was as light as it appears in the photo, usually rainbows occur against darker skies. But in any case the picture could be improved considerably with an application of Photoshop Levels or Curves."

Thanks for that John... I think :-).

I know, not a catchy title but I am still working on it. It's not really a critique, or photo of the month. It's just an NWBCC member choosing a photo from our NWBCC pool and saying a few words about it. So appropriately, the first one is from our very own chairman Ray Cottrell, who has this to say about Jim's picture on the right.

"Despite the title of the picture, this image conjures up a much wider picture for me - a thronging crowd carrying aloft this reptile, their hands seeking to caress it in adulation. The scene could be from somewhere in India, the snake elevated to the status of a deity - the location only betrayed by the pale white Caucasian hands. Whether this imagined scene was the intention of the photographer at the time of taking is besides the point - this is an image that each beholder can take at face value and make of it what they will. The composition is what conjures up this image in my mind - the snake takes centre stage in the middle of the picture, the camera appears to be looking up from a lower point and the hands are outstretched upwards. No human faces compete with that of the snake, gazing directly down at the viewer, in sharp focus. There are no areas of over exposure to distract the eye from the main subject, although a bright area just below the snakes head does attract some attention. As to whether the picture could be improved, it depends on what you are expecting from it. I prefer to let the picture do the talking as it stands. For me there's an alluring magic in the snake's eye."

So what do you think, leave a comment below and let us know. Thanks to Ray, and another Monthly Photo thingy next month. And please let me know if you can come up with a better title.