As mentioned in the last Newsletter there is a change of speaker this Friday as Ron Tear is in unable to attend. Tony Dudley http://www.tonydudley.co.uk/index.html (sponsored by Fotospeed) will be presenting his latest lecture “The Creative Side of Dudley.” In the learner’s hour starting at 1845, Calvin will be presenting the first of two talks on Photoshop Layers. If you want to know about layers but have never been to a learners session then you will be most welcome. The sessions are informal and participants can ask questions at any time. This Friday is also the final hand in for the 4th merit PDI competition. You can find the online entry system link from this page http://wrekinartspc.com/competition-links-organisations-and-club-guides/
On 29 April Ken Hudson from Handsworth Photographic Society will judge the 4th Merit PDI competition and Calvin will present the second part of his talk on Photoshop Layers in the Beginners group at 1845. Friday 29 April is also the hand in night for the Natural History Competition when members can enter 3 Print and 3 PDI images.
Last Saturday the club entered the Midland Counties Photographic Federation’s (MCPF) Print and PDI competitions at Leicester. We came 3rd in the PDI competition and will represent the Federation along with Smethwick PS, Stafford CC, Arden PG and Cannock PS in the Photographic Alliance of Great Britain’s (PAGB) annual PDI competition at The University of Warwick Arts Centre on Saturday 16 July starting at 1015am. The theatre has tiered seating so you have a good view of the screen from every seat. Tickets cost £10 and you can place your order with Tony on Friday night. This is a significant achievement for the club and it would be nice to see members of the club at the event. There is usually a very good raffle with prizes including a printer and camera with dozens of smaller prizes. You can see a selection of the winning entries from previous years on this link http://www.thepagb.org.uk/competitions/gallery/ We finished in 6th place in the print competition and just failed to represent the MCPF at the PAGB Print competition which will be held at Ormskirk on Sunday 6 November.
Bluebells are starting to flower now and you can usually find a good display around the lower slopes of the Wrekin. The Council have published a leaflet giving a number of short walk in this area. http://www.telford.gov.uk/downloads/file/3128/wrekin_forest_-_wrekin_forest_trails On Saturday 30 April between 2 and 4pm you can visit a private Bluebell Wood at Holly Coppice Upton Magna SY4 4TZ. Entrance is £5 per person and proceeds go to Upton Magna Parish Church. Further details can be found on the “Bluebell Walk” link on this page http://www.uptonmagna.com
Our revised Club website www.wrekinartspc.com has now been running for a year and in that time we have had 6141 visits from 3306 different people who have viewed 18169 different pages. The structure and content have become settled. It is working well and of course now feeds the new Club Facebook page. Calvin is always open to suggestions to improve or add content, so if you have any ideas/suggestions, please let him know.
Finally, news of 2 local photographic competitions. Church Stretton Arts Festival 2016 http://www.strettonfestival.org.uk/information-for-artists/ is now open for entries. This is a well established festival in the south of the county and has an extensive list of events http://www.strettonfestival.org.uk/events-listing-at-a-glance/. If you do enter this competition then it is a condition of entry that you act as a steward for 3 hours. The second competition is the Annual Friends of the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust http://www.ironbridge.org.uk/support-us/friends-of-igmt/the-friends-2016-annual-photographic-competition/ The theme this year is “Happy 30th Birthday World Heritage Site” and there is a first prize of £100.