Chairman's Newsletter No. 40

Dear Member,

Treasure Hunt 8th June
The first of this seasons outdoor activities was under threat from the weather yet come the early evening a nice break of sunshine welcomed those who attended the treasure hunt. Jack and Liz were ensconced in the car park and set the teams off with the list of 53 questions/clues. John Walter and myself decided to do the questions in reverse, not just because the last line read "see you in the Old House at Home" !!! What the residents of Romsey thought when seeing groups all wandering around trying to find the answers beggars belief. However as if by magic we all managed to find our way to the pub and then it started...... Liz went through the 'correct' answers and all those who had alternatives raised their objections or asked for clarification and the noise levels waxed and waned in response. The early leaders in the clubhouse were Keith and his wife (Romsey residents) which according to them was not an advantage!! Not much! However I do believe the result may be affected by the late comers who stopped off at the chippie, the result is under review by the stewards.

22nd June. The lecture by George Atkins for those not attending Marwell Zoo, George is still waiting for your questions on anything to do with photo manipulation, whatever your software. One subject your committee has asked him to cover is 'how to prepare your PDIs for assessments/competitions' .

The clubs resizing software. Namely PicShowR.  It has come to the committee attention that there may be a concern with the software that affects the colour range. If you think your images do not look correct when shown at the club, we suggest you stop using the software. George Atkins will show you how to resize and add a black background using any normal software at the demo on the 22nd. I will attempt to create written instructions over the next few days.

Les Fredericks 2010/11. Thank you all for the great response for suggestions. Your committee had a list of 57 to whittle down to a more manageable 12, these will be circulated by Martin with the AGM agenda.

Your committee 2010/11. There are 3 members of this years committee who will not be standing for re-election so if you feel you can help the club we will be circulating nomination forms with the AGM agenda, its your club so please concider helping.

Festivals in Winchester 2010. Bob Eaton has been helping to put together one of the activities for this year. A photographic exhibition at the Winchester Discovery Centre 26th June - 25th July.
There is more details available at www.festivalsinwinchester.co.uk

13th July meeting. Currently this is shown on the program as a club evening. One of the repeated suggestions from the members is that we should have more 'in house' activities. Another suggestion and other clubs do a similar thing is for members to stand up and explain their thoughts, actions behind their images. Possibly to counter some critique from a judge that they thought was not correct or missed. Did you get a ten score? great tell us about it, missed out with a 9.5 score? why? did the beggar knock off half a point? Come on air your grievance!
So this is your invitation to bring back to the club your image and spend just a few moments explaining how, when, where, what camera, settings, lens and so on. If you think you would like to take part please let me know if it is print or PDI you want to talk about. This is not just restricted to images shown it might be one you have not shown yet feel it warrants a viewing. Maybe you have one that you would like some advice on how to improve it. How about that special website you visit for the images or help. I know it is not easy for some to get up and speak out but we are all of a like mindedness, friends and I have yet to see anyone get bitten!!

Next Week The last assessment for this season, Martin will be organising as Jillian & Mark are on vacation, Andrew will be trying to work the projector, John will be acting treasurer and I will be panicking as normal!! George Walsh is an easy going sort of judge and I'm sure he will handle any concerns with our presentation. Entries to the normal process.

My regards and keep snapping
Terry