News

Thursday 14th December 2023 - Mix and Match Challenge

There was a good turnout for the annual Ladies vs Gents Mix n Match Challenge. Carol Walker (from IWPS) was a splendidly impartial judge and we had an entertaining evening with plenty of audience participation.

Once again, and for the third year running, the gents triumphed...but only by 2.5 points this time. It was mainly their matches which scored well with a couple of spectacular examples that helped put them 10 points ahead by half time...before they fizzled somewhat in the latter stages.

Wednesday 6th December 2023 - Brighstone Christmas Tree Festival

Many thanks to Paul and Shani for putting together the N&DCC display at the Brighstone Christmas Tree Festival

Thursday 23rd November 2023 - Autumn Cup Trophy

We were joined in the Library by Jon Mitchell from Gosport who judged the 42 images in the Autumn Cup, our last competition of the year. He was chatty and constructive and was keen to point out the use of a polarising filter in bright conditions to help retain colour and details.

He held back 15 of the images for further review and then decided on his top 3. This resulted in a clean sweep for the ladies. Sue B's 'Tranquility' and 'Morning in the Beechwood' were 1st and 2nd. Tracey came 3rd with 'Old Jars'.

At the end of the evening, Jon presented a delighted Sue with the Autumn Cup Trophy.

Thursday 26th October 2023 - 'Old' and Open Competition

The club met via Zoom and Steve Kirkby judged the two sections with 28 images in each. 

In the set subject 'Old', Keith won with his beautiful study of 'Old Converse', Trevor was second with an atmospheric 'old' image of Corfe Castle and Tracey was third with her still life of 'Work Day Done'.

In the Open section, Don won with his capture of three figures waiting at King's Cross. Graham was second with his study of a Male Stonechat and Tracey third with her 'Ghost Ship'.

Thursday 12th October 2023 - The Flickr Group and Book/Song Challenge

Keith gave a fascinating presentation on the Club's private Flickr Group which has been running successfully since May last year. Members can upload two photos per month and are encouraged to critique each others images.

Following coffee and biscuits we had a fun competition with submitted photos representing a song or book. Shani was most successful at guessing the titles. Keith and Tracey stumped everyone with their images depicting respectively: 'Just One Look' by The Hollies and 'Man in the Mirror' by Michael Jackson.

Thursday 28th September 2023 - Open Images and some from the Club's Summer Outings

We split into two groups and discussed each of the 28 Open images. Nine were 'held back' and then each group chose their 10/10 and winner. It ended up as a two way tie between Tracey's 'Old jars' and Sue B's tranquil yacht! Here are also three of the held back images; Paul's landscape, Keith's atmospheric black and white and Elizabeth's dog walker in a sandstorm!

Thursday 14th September 2023 - Images from Older Times

The Club held the first meeting of the new season and we reviewed the 'Old' images that members had sent in. Steve really impressed with his 2 images which also included a photo of the cameras that he had used all those years ago!

Steephill Cove was taken in the 1950's with his first camera and the Britten-Norman Cushioncraft CC2-003 was taken at Bembridge (near the old station and the Royal Spithead Hotel) in 1963...fascinating!

Tuesday 15th August 2023 - Club Outing to The Wight Aviation Museum at Sandown Airport

The club enjoyed its final outing of the Summer to the wonderful Aviation Museum at Sandown Airport. We were treated to guided tours through a wide range of displays featuring the amazing story of over 100 years of aviation history on the Island. Later, after watching aircraft activity on the sunny airfield, we adjourned to a local pub for lunch.

Monday 31st July 2023 - Postal Museum Challenge Competition Result

There were a total of 21 entries and 15 voters. The first section of the competition asked for a 'Picture for the cover of a pamphlet or brochure' and was won by Mike's shot which gained three votes. In the second section, a 'Close-up Image', Paul's image won with four votes. Almost every image scored at least one point and no-one voted for their own. It just shows how varied interpretation of pictures is!

Monday 31st July 2023 - Outing to the Postal Museum

The Club was much privileged to be granted a private visit to Arthur's Postal Museum. It was a very wet afternoon brightened by liberal amounts of Post Office Red. Members from the other Island camera clubs joined us to take snaps in this fascinating place. Paul has organised a photo competition with a couple of specific challenges.

Thursday 13th July 2023 - Butterfly and Leaf Competition Result

Following voting by 14 of our members, here are the winning butterfly and leaf photos. The butterfly received 6 votes and the leaf had 8 votes. Both are by Steve.

Thursday 13th July 2023 - Club Outing to Newchurch Moors Nature Reserve

We met for a relaxing morning stroll through the Wildlife Trust's stunning Nature Reserve. The weather was kind and many species of butterflies were on the wing. A competition is being held for the best butterfly and most interesting leaf picture. Several of us indulged in a gourmet lunch at the nearby Pointer Inn.

Thursday 15th June 2023 - Tea and Cakes at Sue and Don's

The Club enjoyed a memorable summer outing exploring Don and Sue's beautiful garden in glorious sunshine...followed by tea and scrummy cakes in the shade.

Thursday 4 May 2023 - Chairman's Trophy

The Club met in the Library to hold the AGM and the Chairman's Trophy Competition. Each member entered three images in 'Atmospheric' and Open sections and scores were accumulated to give an overall total.

Graham and Tracey scored exactly the same points and will share the trophy which was presented by Paul.

Four images scored the maximum 10 points; Tracey's field at sunset, Sue C's misty yacht, Graham's spooky churchyard and Don's calming sunset.

During the meeting, Paul presented Tracey with the Spring Cup trophy which she won at the previous meeting online.

Thursday 20 April 2023 - Spring Cup

The club held its annual Spring Cup competition which was judged online by Malcolm Bull. Tracey won with her faded roses and Graham secured 2nd and 3rd with two amazing shots of a Robin doing Keepy Uppy and a Hummingbird Hawkmoth feeding.

Wednesday 19 April 2023 - Hasselblad Competition

This competition is open to any member of an Island club and 9 members of the Niton club were among the 37 contenders who entered two images each. 5 Niton members had one of their images 'held back'; more than any other club. Our highest scoring images with 19 points out of 20 were Sea Fog by Paul, Alas Poor Shaun the Sheep from Tracey and Weaver Bird Sewing by Graham.

Thursday 23 March 2023 - Chale and Daffodils Challenge

We met in Niton to review and critique two sets of images. The first was a set subject; 'Creative Daffodils'. After some friendly discussion a vote was taken which resulted in Graham and Sue C taking joint 1st prize. Mike came third. 

We went through the same process with images taken at Chale during our post-Christmas social. Two of Mikes pictures were voted 1st and 3rd with Paul's in second place.

Wednesday 15 March 2023 - IPC Trophy

The club joined via Zoom to watch the IPC Trophy competition hosted by Wight Balance Photography and judged by Brian Burden. This annual competition is open to all Island clubs and we compete for the trophy donated by Island Photo Centre in Ryde. This year five clubs entered and Niton WON by a full 1.5 points! There were only four max 10s awarded and two of those were for Niton with Tracey's Caught in a Storm and Fruit of Passion images. Mike scored a 9 for his atmospheric image of Wind Blown Oats. Well done Team Niton!

Thursday 9 March 2023 - Edit/Swap

Each entrant had previously submitted two images which were then randomly assigned to another member who edited the image to correct faults (if any) and was just generally a bit creative. Here are four examples:

Don brought up the colours of Corfe castle after cropping into a letterbox format.
The rather gloomy picture of a willow structure was lightened and brightened by Graham.
The Ventnor Botanic Gardens were given a much more abstract feel by Shani.
Paul transformed the final picture into the facsimile of a Victorian post card.

Thursday 23 February 2023 - 'Weather' and Open Competition

The club met in person in the Library and was joined by Ian Pratt, an Island judge, who appraised our two-part competition and conducted an evening enjoyed by all.

The subject of the first part was Weather and the judge awarded three tens. The winner was Elizabeth with 'It Rained on my Marigold'. Sue C was 2nd with 'Frost' and Ali 3rd with 'Frosty Ferns'.

Elizabeth triumphed again taking 1st and 2nd in the Open section with 'Feather and Lichen' and  'Well Balanced'. Steve came 3rd with 'Dog Walkers'.

Thursday 9 February 2023 - SCPF PDI Competition

Members from the other clubs in League Division 7 joined Niton on Zoom for our home fixture. Kevin Sandall was the judge in this penultimate fixture of the year's competition.

And yes, it was another fine result for Niton with a clear 2nd place! Tracey’s two images both scored 9.5 and Keith's and Paul B's scored 9.

Thursday 26 January 2023 - Editing Tutorial

The Club met to watch Tracey give us a tutorial on editing and improving our images with Lightroom (see the before and after images below). The image of Steephill by Tracey is a perfect example of what can be done. The classic photo of Godshill was greatly improved by helping to bring out the sky. Steve also showed us an image of the bridge at Merstone edited with Affinity.

Thursday 12 January 2023 - Lunch at the Wight Mouse

The Club's first meeting after Christmas was a social lunch at The Wight Mouse on a wet and windy day!

Some of us brought along our cameras with the possibility of taking a few photos at Chale church but the idea of walking around outside was abandoned because of the weather; Cameras took a back seat to the scrummy food and drinks!