The 7 o’clock club is a fairly informal gathering, prior to the main event, on alternate Thursday evenings. For the 2023 / 24 season co-ordinator John Mallows aims to have sessions where members can share opinions about their current work, ideas and collaborations (not quite as rigorously as the Critique Group). Occasionally specific topics, will be addressed with a lead-presenter.
The 'members' informal displays', also held at 7 o'clock but on alternate Thursdays, will be included in the 7 o'clock postings.
Sessions will be announced at main meetings, on In-Focus and on the Club’s Website. All welcome.
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Next Meeting
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NOTE This session did not go ahead owing to technical problems on the evening. So we will try again on Thursday 9th May (Also, there will be no 7 o'clock or memberss' display on the 2nd My due to our meeting in the church, not the church hall.)
See AI Judge in action!
The 7 o clock session on 18th April will be another of our group critiques, which so far have been well appreciated.
Previously we concentrated on well known photos from the distant and recent past. This time we will include Club members' pictures using the 'AI Judge' which got the Club's WhatsApp Chat chatting.
If you like me your photos in the selection mix send them to john.mallows@virgin.net selection. Not jus the Good - the Bad and the Ugly as well.
ARCHIVE
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the 7 o'clock session on Thursday 11th April will be another of our well received member's 'ad-hoc' displays, this time by Brian Bates, who says he will include some prints from awhile back which will be new to most club members. So come along early to have a constructive and instructive chat with Brian, whose witty wisdom is bound to be informative.
After two well received sessions discussing the merits of photogrpahs by the 'old masters' it's maybe time for a return to a techie demo.
So on 29th February we will be looking at sensor cleaning on inter-changeable lens cameras.
A practical demonstration of one of the most common methods will leave you confident to have a go yourself, or convinced that thirty quid is well spent getting an expert to do it.
The 'Are these pictures any good?' session a couple of weeks age went well, with engaging and insightful comment on well known and not so well known pictures from famed photographers. There were requests more such sessions. So on 15th February Linda K will be show another selection for our consideration.
Wendy Outram will be showing a collection of her photos at the informal members' display from 7 o'clock on Thursday 8th February.
Wendy tells me that quite a few of the prints will be Cibachromes which she processed herself. For those not in the know, this is (was?) a process devised by Ilford / Cibachrome to make prints directly from slides - i.e. positive to positive, using an enlarger in a pretty conventional way.
The chemistry, or alchemy, was rather complex, with temperatures control absolutley crtitcal. No doubt Wendy will give us explanations which will make us grateful for our world of Giclee and Photoshop (other software is availalble).
What is harder to achieve these days, even with pigment inks on good glossy paper, is the vibrant and instantly recognisable quality of a Cibachrome. For a couple of decades at the end of the last century Cibachromes adorned the walls of many a fine exhibition. Now they seem rarer than wet plate prints.
Be sure to arrive early to see Wendy's work and hear her tales.
On Thursday 1st February...
"Are these pictures any good?" We will discuss several well known, and perhaps not so well known, pictures from the photographic past, assessing whether we think they deserve their reputation and how they might fare against a camera club judge.
On Thursday 18th Jan we will be looking at a set of photographs to discuss how we all think the lighting effect was achieved i.e. type of light, direction, number of lights, hard or soft, close or far etc.
Richard McGeery recommended this practice in his FTG session this week, but it will make sense to anyone, whether or not you attended Richard's session.
Pictures will be provided, but if you have one - for example in a mgazine - which puzzles you do bring it along.
The 7 o'clock session on 7th December will see several members bring along their camera brands in response to recent curiosity on The WhatsApp Chat about the virtues of varies brands, particularly in relation to easy portability. Come along for 'Touch & Go', even of a Leica!
On Thursday 30th November, the intervening Thursday between the usual 7 o'clock sessions, Nigel Martin will be showing some of his prints. Come along , between 7 and 7 30 or during the tea break to chat with Nigel.
Note, Nigel was poorly, so Dave Hyatt, John Clare and I took along a few pics. Nigel plans to display his prints in early January.
Thursday 23rd
'Camera Movements With A Linhof'
We will be having a play with a Linhof 6X9 camera to explore the changes to perspective and other effects obtained with tilt and shift lenses, a drop-front camera base, fully articulated camera back.
Eat your heart out Photoshop.
The informal display of pictures by Linda and Jimmy on the 9th November served as the 7 O' Clock session so, on the alternate Thursday pattern, the next pukka 7 session will be on the 23rd in the 'cafe' room - topic TBA.
Linda and Jimmy's displays were well received - certainly well enough to carry on with them. We'll do this on the intervening Thursdays. So on 16th Mark James will be showing us some of his work, hopefully some which hasn't surfaced before in competitions etc. . Thanks for 'volunteering' Mark.
9th November A couple of members will display a dozen or so prints in the Main Hall - not necessarily their best from a competition or exhibition perspective, but interesting enough to inspire a bit of chat, for which they will be on hand.
This is a another option for seeing each other’ work. It is perhaps a bit less formal than the existing ways, such as exhibitions, competitions, web galleries and the formal critique group.
If it’s successful, we can continue it, if not we can drop it. But worth a try, I feel.
Our first two members will be Linda K and Jimmy Fletcher.
JohnM
WhatsApp Club Chat has recently revealed a fair amount of interest in print mounting techniques . So we will do a taster / overview / demonstration on 26th October. We will cover various ways of cutting matts as well as the simpler surface mounting.
12th October was about the basic and some not-so-basic controls and settings to get the best out of your camera. Ideal for anyone who is a bit confused about the relationships of shutter speed, apertures and ISO. But the content will be whatever attendees want.
Note: for details and web links about the DSLR / Mirrorless 'scanning' of negatives and slides, as demonstrated on 14th September, see the 'Videos and Training ' Section - Accessed from the right hand side list of the members' Club page or click here
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