News

Thursday 20th March 2025 - 'Music' and Open Competition

The Club held a 2-part competition in the library judged by Carol Walker from the IWPS. The 'Music' section proved very interesting to see how members interpreted the set subject. Steve was placed first with a clever image titled 'Staccato' (short, sharp, detached notes of music) and was second with 'The Viola Lesson'. Tracey was third with a moody 'Music Man'.

The Open section also had a lovely mix of images; Sue C won with her super sharp dynamic 'Red Arrows', Keith was 2nd with a subtle sunset at Compton Bay and Tracey was 3rd again with her delicate flower image.

Thursday 20th February 2025 -  'Patterns' and Open Competition

The Club met on Zoom for a 2-part competition evening and were joined online by Carl Reeve who kindly judged for us despite feeling unwell. There were 38 images entered in the 'Patterns' section and a common encouragement from Carl was 'get in closer'! Shani's winning close-up image of stacked metal chairs created a very dynamic impression. Paul was 2nd with his geometric ceiling shot. Ali was 3rd with another even closer shot of stacked chairs.

The second part of the evening was the Open section with 24 entries. Trevor won with his beautiful sunny shot of Great Dixter - roll on summer! Mike was 2nd with his derelict boat and Ali 3rd again with her redwoods shot.

Thursday 6th February 2025 - SCPF PDI Competition

Members from the other clubs in SCPF Digital Image League Division 6 joined us on Zoom for our home fixture. Paul Hendley was the judge for the evening and gave an educational critique for each of the 64 images. He wasn’t afraid to use full range of marks and awarded several 6’s!

And yes, it was a fine team result for Niton when we came first even though none of our images scored a maximum 10. Our top scorer was Tracey's blueberries with a 9.5, followed by 9s from Don and Paul.

Thursday 23rd January 2025 - Arreton Barns Photo Challenge

We met to discuss and review a very varied selection of the images from the Arreton Barns trip on 9th January. The images were shown anonymously and we all tried to work out the authors. Sometimes correctly – but often not! The first challenge was set to take a straight image of a scene there; there was a minimal stark tree from Keith, beautiful light in the church from Sue C, dramatic shadows from Mike and a the glass artisan from Steve.

The second part of the challenge was create a 'wacky' image from something at Arreton. This produced some very interesting work; Shani played around with the organ pipes, Paul spotted a sign and 'edited' it, Sue B played around with the church door handle and Don created more and more Trevor's!

Thursday 9th January 2025 - Welcome Back Lunch at the Arreton Barns and Photo Challenge

We welcomed the New Year on a chilly but sunny and bright January day while wandering around the scenic buildings at Arreton Barns...followed by a warming lunch at the Dairyman's Daughter. There were plenty of opportunities for taking interesting and/or wacky images to enter the photo challenge which will take place at our next club evening on the 23rd January.

Thursday 12th December 2024 - Mix and Match Challenge

There was a full turnout for the Club's annual Mix and Match Challenge. Carol Walker (from IWPS) entered into the spirit of the competition and was a splendidly impartial judge. It was a fun evening and after 3 years in the wilderness, the ladies were victorious. Well done the ladies!

...It was a festive evening of overdue presentations; Keith was presented with the Autumn Cup trophy. On behalf of the Club, Sue B received the certificate for winning League 7 and Tracey received a Highly Commended certificate awarded to her at the SCPF Finals Day.

Tuesday 3rd December 2024 - Brighstone Christmas Tree Festival

Thursday 21st November 2024 - Autumn Cup

The Club held its annual Autumn Cup competition on Zoom and was joined by Ashley Francis from Fordingbridge who appraised the 45 entries. Keith's striking minimalist mono image of a boy with a scooter taken against the light was judged to win.

2nd place went to Jon with his atmospheric shot taken in Bonchurch and 3rd was Sue B with an ethereal shot taken in Norwich cathedral.

Thursday 7th November 2024 - 'Pot Luck'

There was a good turnout to discuss and appraise the 45 entries from members on their 'Pot Luck' subject as drawn at the start of the season. We ran through the images and held back 13 to award higher marks by way of a show of hands for 10, 9 or 8. This worked well and produced just one 10 for Ali with her kingfisher shot, shown below with a selection of those that scored 9.

After tea we viewed an excellent video on 'Light' and learned amongst other things that there is no such thing as 'bad light'.

Thursday 24th October 2024 - 'Movement' and Open Competition

The Club held its first competition evening of the new season. We are most grateful to Robert Clarke (from the Isle of Wight Photographic Society) who came over to appraise the entries for us.

Our set subject 'Movement or Long Exposure' brought up a wide range of images showing various ranges of movement, both fast and slow. We had 28 entries in this section. Tracey won with her dramatic 'Fire' shot which is much harder to create than it looks! Sue B was second with a dramatic horse image and equal 3rd were Liz with a beautiful tree shot and Shani with cyclists from Chale Show.

The Open section (24 entries) was won by Tracey with her beautiful study in mono of fungi, Sue B was 2nd with 'Sunset Texting' and Keith 3rd with his great image 'Last beach day of the year'.

Thursday 26th September 2024 - Summer Outings Images

At our first meeting of the new season a nearly full-house of members reviewed the images taken on our four summer outings and watched an AV compilation of these events. We also viewed the 8 shots selected to represent Niton in division 6 of the League. A draw was made to assign members their 'Pot Luck' genres ready for the meeting on 7 November.

Tracey was presented with the trophy for the Spring Cup competition which she won with her atmospheric mono shot of sheep beside a derelict barn on a trip to Wales.

Thursday 15th August 2024 - Visit to Wight Military and Heritage Museum

Our final summer outing was to the Military Museum at Northwood. The museum houses an amazing (and photogenic) collection of militaria of all eras and we were treated to an enlightening demonstration of (de-activated!) weapons by a very knowledgeable volunteer. We ended a fascinating visit by enjoying a tasty lunch in 'Churchills Tearoom'.

Saturday 13th July 2024 - Grand Tour of St Helens and Bembridge

Our July outing took in the causeway across the tidal mill lagoons and St Helens Duver where we stopped for a refreshing cup of coffee. This was followed by a lunch stop at (what used to be) the Toll Gate Café in Bembridge.

The majority of our members (including the four-legged variety) made it to the eastern extremity of the Island and had a magical time  watching the white-tailed eagles doing their thing. We then gamboled across the dunes in the sunshine to explore the photo-opportunities afforded by the view from the sea-wall.

Thursday 20th June 2024 - Outing to the Wild West

The Club's June outing was to Dimbola in Freshwater where members heard a very interesting talk about the famous early photographer Julia Margaret Cameron who lived there. We then went around the galleries where her work was on display along with a contemporary experimental exhibition. We all ended up on the terrace for tea and cakes in the sunshine.

We moved on to Farringford, once the home of Alfred Lord Tennyson. His house and gardens have been fully restored and we were able to wander around the spectacular gardens and have a guided tour of the house.

Sunday 26th May 2024 - SCPF Finals Day

'Finals Day' is a celebration of the best imagery within the SCPF league. The image with the highest cumulative score from the Division rounds for each club is eligible to compete. For Niton this was Tracey's 'Fruit of Passion' so this was entered on her behalf and competed with the winners of each club in all 8 Divisions. Niton was in the 7th division and has been promoted to the 6th for next season.

Tracey's super image was one of only 6 awarded a 'Highly Commended' certificate.

Well done Tracey and well done Niton!

Wednesday 15th May 2024 - Outing to Milestones Museum

A minibus full of members and friends spent an entertaining awayday at the Milestones Living History Museum in Basingstoke. We wandered round a network of streets recreated to reflect the last two centuries of life in Hampshire with immersive exhibits including vintage vehicles and period shops. There were great photo opportunities around every corner. We arrived back home that evening, tired but happy.

Thursday 2nd May 2024 - Chairman's Cup Competition

Members met at the Library for the final meeting of this season; the AGM and the Chairman’s Cup. The competition was in 3 sections, Open Colour, Open Mono and Summer. We had 39 entries which were appraised by Paul and when the scores were aggregated, Sue C was the winner with her shots of a trick cyclist, Exbury and Calbourne Mill.

Thursday 18th April 2024 - Spring Cup Competition

We held our annual Spring Cup Competition on Zoom and Maria Leekblade of Lymington CC appraised the 42 entries in her usual friendly and informative style. Tracey came first with her atmospheric mono shot of sheep beside a derelict barn from a recent trip to Wales. Don was second with his study of a father and son walking through a puddle and Sue B was third with 'Neon Water' taken at the 'blue hour' in Southampton Harbour.

Thursday 4th April 2024 - Wildlife Night

To start the evening, Paul presented Graham with the 'new' Hasselblad Trophy; a competition for members of all IW photography clubs. He won with his amazing 'Keepy Uppy Robin' image.

We then reviewed and discussed the 31 wildlife images which members had submitted. There was a good selection of subjects - with only 2 Red Squirrel shots! After the break we viewed some stunning shots from a wildlife professional with a huge range of birds, bears, badgers and other mammals.

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