Llanelli Photographic Society

WPF Memorial Trophy (Llanelli)

2012-01-31T17:00:00.000Z

Last Saturday was the WPF Memorial Trophy, which we hosted. It was attended by several dignitaries

Councillor Sian Thomas- Vice Chairman of the Carmarthenshire County Council

Councillor Linda Steadman- Mayor of Llanelli and consort Mr Tony Steadman

Councillor Susan Lewis- Chairman of Llanelli Rural Council and consort Mr Ray Thorn

All invited by Alun as well as members from the 28 clubs entered. There were 4 images per club so 112 to critique. The judge was Nick Scott FRPS who gave a very detailed critique but a rather unconsidered mark. He seemed to be making it up as he went?

Anyway the final result saw Llanelli missing out on the top spot by 3pts from 'Inn Focus' who won

Inn Focus 78pts

Llanelli 75pts

Tenby/Neath 74pts

Bridgend 73pts

Still a very good result considering there were 28 clubs from all over Wales, our entry was:

Hang on to Your Hat by Gary Martin 17pts

Stranded by David Rees 20pts

Down the Mine by Graham Harries 19pts

Rabari Shepherd by Joyce Mollet 19pts

Brian Jenning Memorial Trophy (Trostre CC) 2012

2012-01-17T15:25:00.002Z

Last night was the annual Brian Jennings Trophy held at Trostre CC, the first external comp of 2012.

What a good start to the year with an outstanding win, as usual Trostre supplied a very good buffet for all who attended. However it was unfortunate that defending champs Tenby did not take part, but that does not detract from a very good set of marks for our entry.

Excuse the quality of the photo, it was taken by Ray with his new phone (still think he is learning how to use it)

'Tranquil Dawn' by David Rees 19pts

'Winter Feed' by Arthur Mallett 18pts

'Washing Up for Two' by Alun Lewis 18pts

'A Swift Half' by Gary Martin 19pts

'Woman of Meghwal Community' by Joyce Mollet 19pts

1st Llanelli 93pts

2nd Abertawe 86pts

3rd Carmarthen 84pts

4th Trostre 82pts

5th Towy Valley 81pts

6th Amman Valley 80pts

7th Pembrey 78pts

Well done to all those who had images chosen and thanks to all the members who attended about 18 I think.

Forthcoming Competitions

2012-01-13T12:11:00.000Z

External
On the 16th January we are represented at Trostre in the Brian Jennings Trophy, start 7.30pm in the conference room (ask at security)
Prints are
'Tranquil Dawn' by David Rees
'Washing up for Two' by Alun Lewis
'Swift Half' (gritty) by Gary Martin
'Winter Feed' by Arthur Mallett
'Woman of the Meghwal' by Joyce Mollet

The next big event will be the WPF Memorial Trophy on 28th January and hosted by us at the Selwyn Samuel Centre Llanelli stating at 2pm.
Prints are:
'Stranded' by David Rees
'Hang on to Your Hat' by Gary Martin
'Down the Mine' by Graham Harries
'Rabari Shepherd' by Joyce Mollet

Internal
1st Feb Nautical Comp hand in 25th Jan
15th Feb 'Industrial' DPI Comp hand in 1st Feb
7th March Open Print Comp hand in 2nd March
4th April 5 Image DPI Panel hand in 21st March
18th April Special Effects Cup hand in 4th April

These are just a few of the forthcoming competitions to look forward to, more to follow later

First Day Back 2012

2012-01-05T15:20:00.002Z

Well last night 4th Jan saw the return of the club for a new season, where we chose the best print and best digital image from all the winners of 2011.

Needless to say Gary Martin came out top yet again with 'Vicolo del Poschi' voted best print and 'Swift Half' voted best projected image.

Well done Gary, it is now down to the rest of us to knock Gary of the top spot in 2012. So get your camera's out and start clicking.

LPS Christmas Outing

2011-12-29T11:28:00.000Z

Just to show that we don't all sit by the fire and eat chocolates during our Christmas break some members braved the cold and the wind to blow the cobwebs away and take a few photos after the festive break.

So here is a snap of the brave few who ventured on a little walk kindly organised by Clive.

End Of Year Update

2011-12-27T18:11:00.000Z

Well our year has ended and another is about to begin, we are back on the 4th January 2012. This will kickstart our new year with the selection from the best digital and print winners of 2011 so that we end up with the best overall selected by the membership. This date will also be the first hand-in for the first print comp of the year.

We had a good turnout for the Christmas bash at Greenfields in Llanelli with about 23-24 people on the night although there was a couple of cancellations due to personal reasons. However those in attendance seemed to have a good time and it was nice to catch up at a social event.

Those members that have continued and persevered with 365 only have a few days to go to the end of what has been a very enjoyable year even though it has been taxing at times (well done to all those that have made it).

Maybe we can have a summary from some of the members of how this event has effected them over the year and what they have gained from the experience?

I know several intend to do a book to commemorate the event!

Stanley Chell Trophy 2011

2011-12-05T17:27:00.000Z

Last Saturday 3rd Dec was the last external comp of the year. There were 25 clubs entered over 4 rounds of prints.

After two rounds we were down around 20th, but pulled back in round 3 and 4 to end up equal 4th with Bridgend, Gwynfa and Rhondda on 68pts. The winners were yet again Tenby on 70pts with The Vale and Cymbran on 69pts.

Our entry was as follows

Tranquil Dawn by David Rees 17pts

Bracelet Bay by Arthur Mallett 14pts (there's always one the judge doesn't like)

Rabari Shepherd by Joyce Mollet 18pts

Down the Mine by Graham Harries 19pts

Graham's image was very close to gaining best colour print, but just missed out.

Best Landscape went to Bridgend

Best Colour to Inn Focus

Best Mono to Cymru Mono

Amman Valley 3 Way Battle Nov 2011

2011-11-21T15:07:00.000Z

Last Wednesday 16th Nov was the annual 3 way battle at Amman Valley, between AV, Carmarthen and Llanelli.

It involves two session's of 8 digital and 8 prints, this year the judge was again Roy Thomas from Neath.

We were fortunate to win both sessions with Carmarthen coming second and AV 3rd. The images and scores from Llanelli are shown below.

Digital

A Bottle of Port by Alun Lewis 18pts

Homework Fantasy by Ray Rees 19pts

Mali Woman by Peter Francis 16pts

Night Rider by Gary Martin 17pts

Sweet Maker by Joyce Mollet 19pts

Viaduct by Gary Martin 18pts

Waiting for the Off by Clive Martin 16pts

Wrath the Anger within by Graham Harries 20pts

Prints

Hudson American in Wales by Graham Harries 17pts

Woman of the Maghwal by Joyce Mollet 19pts

Winter Feed by Arthur Mallett 20pts

Science & Technology by Arthur Mallett 19pts

Stranded by David Rees 17pts

The Pilgrim by Peter Francis 16pts

Hang on to your Hat by Gary Martin 20pts

Curly Wurly by Alun Lewis 17pts

AWPF Distinction 2011

2011-11-14T13:07:00.000Z

Congratulations goes to Joyce Mollet who gained the AWPF to add to her LRPS and ARPS. The letter headings must be getting rather large now.
Unfortunately Peter Francis was unsuccessful on this occasion, but don't despair Peter there is always another year.
Joyce Mollet Panel

Peter Francis Panel

2011 Exhibition St Elli Centre

2011-11-14T12:40:00.000Z

Over the weekend we had our annual exhibition in the St Elli Centre, it was well supported and we had a total of 276 votes cast by the public. Many of our members attended and assisted in the set up on Friday as well as the dismantling on Saturday night.

Peter Jones of Llanelli kindly agreed to do the judging for us on Friday morning and the results can be seen in the email sent to all members.

Best B&W was by Joyce Mollet

Best Colour was by Gary Martin who also won best overall with the same image

The image voted by the public was by Tony Collis

below are some of the images from the two days

Gwynfa Pixels 2011 Results

2011-11-07T17:14:00.001Z

Last Saturday 5th November was the annual Gwynfa Pixels comp, this year saw an unprecedented entry of 33 clubs from all over Wales including several clubs from north Wales and some for the first time.

The entry had to be two colour and two B&W digital images and the the judging was done by Tony Potter from Cumbria. The first round was colour, second B&W etc.

After the first two rounds Merthyr was in the lead with 37pts (18-19) with Mold on 36pts, we then had a break and a nice buffet. Merthyr scored 19pts in round 3 with Mold only getting 16pts.

Towards the end of the final round there were 3 clubs all equal on 71pts (Bridgend, Merthyr and Inn Focus) that was still the case right up until the very last image, which was from Mold who scored 20pts giving them a final total of 72pts and the overall win.

The best colour image was voted for Bridgend club and best B&W was voted also for Mold. This was the first time Mold had entered the competition in the 7 years it had been running

Our entry total was 64pts and gave us a position of 14th equal

Rabari Shepherd (colour) by Joyce Mollet 18pts

Just in Time (B&W) by Clive Martin 12pts

Swift Half (colour) by Gary Martin 18pts

Winter Feed (B&W) by Arthur Mallett 16pts

Well done to all those who were selected for entry and lets hope we can do a little better at the next comps the Amman Valley Battle on 16th Nov and The Stanley Chell Trophy 3rd Dec in Aberdare. Also thanks to the other 3 members who joined me on the day

Forthcoming External Competitions

2011-10-22T21:42:00.000+01:00

We have two external competitions left this year, they are:

The Amman Valley 3 Way Battle on the Wed 16th November 7pm at Amman Valley CC new venue 'Glanamman Community Centre' Situated approx two and a half miles outside of Ammanford opposite a group of shops including a chemist, florist, fish and chip shop and a Spar. The car park is through a gate next to a disused chapel and we are on the first floor of the cream coloured building at the end. The door is at the right end up a few steps. There are stairs and a lift to us.

Stanley Chell Cup on Sat 3rd December at 2pm, Venue : St, Fagan's Community Hall, Windsor Street, Trecynon, Aberdare CF44 8LL.

All members are welcome and it would be nice to see a good representation from the club. I am sure you will find it interesting to see what other clubs do, especially at the 'Stanley Chell' as there are usually 20-30 clubs participating and we are the current holders of the Landscape Trophy.

Port Talbot 7 Way Battle Results 2011

2011-10-14T12:56:00.000+01:00

Last night was the annual Port Talbot Battle, which we have won for the last two years. However it was not to be 3 in a row as we came equal second.

The scores were:

Port Talbot 109pts

Llanelli 105pts

Carmarthen 105pts

Towy Valley 95pts

Mumbles & W Cross 95pts

Llanelli images were 'Mine' by Peter Francis 16pts, 'Making Rosti' by Joyce Mollet 16pts, 'Winter Feed' (B&W) by Arthur Mallett 18pts, 'A Bottle of Port' by Alun Lewis 20pts, 'Just in Time' (B&W) by Clive Martin 17pts and 'Smile' (B&W) by Gary Martin 18pts

Congratulations again to Alun for scoring 20pts with his image as it scored 20 in the Gwynfa Piccadilly Albums earlier in the year and of course it also won our Nautical Trophy this year

My Carmarthenshire 2011

2011-10-04T11:56:00.000+01:00

Congratulations yet again for the second year running goes to Clive Martin for his image 'Pipped at the Poast' taken at Ffos Las racecourse. This was voted 1st by our judge Jeff Connell (ex Llanelli Star Photographer) and now working for Carmarthenshire Count Council.

Jeff gave a measured and humorous critique of the 42 entries, which was enjoyed by the membership and dignitaries in attendance as well as Mrs Ivor Russell who's husband the competition was in memory of.

The splendid trophy was presented to Clive by Mrs Russell and will stay in the Martin household for yet another year .

New Autumn Session

2011-08-24T11:55:00.001+01:00

Don't forget today is our annual 'Summer Challenge' organised by Tony, we all meet at 7pm at Weatherspons opposite the town council offices.

There will be 6-8 themes given on the night and you will have 3 hours to take photos representing those themes, before you return to the pub where Tony will download them. Then on our first night back 31st August we will choose individual theme winners and overall champion.

Its all good fun and it does make you think and be creative

Llanelli Festival 2011

2011-08-24T11:33:00.005+01:00

Last Saturday was the second Llanelli Festival and we again had a nice stand representing the club with numerous images on display by a number of members.

Thanks to Peter for organising it and all those members who gave up their time to assemble the stand on the Friday night and man the stand on the Saturday.

Here are a few images of the day

Opening Ceremony

How boring can it be

Visit by Des from Trostre

Sony Trophy Porthcawl

2011-08-24T11:18:00.001+01:00

Unfortunately I was unable to attend on the day of judging but Gary kindly stepped into the breach, below is a summary of the report from Gary on the day.

'Talking to some of the P&P committee, they were disappointed with an entry of only 9 clubs - but the interest seemed to dwindle when it was announced that it would be a comp on the theme of SPEED and not an open one.

Anyway, there were 54 prints for judging - 4 from each of the following clubs: Cymru Monochrome, Ebbw Vale, Gwynfa, Inn Focus, Llanelli, Neath, Pyle & Porthcawl, Tenby and Western Valley.

In the first round, Arthur's print from the Hong Kong metro station scored 18 which put us in 3rd place behind Neath and Cymru Monochrome.

In the second round, Graham's American Car on the Black Mountains scored 17 which put us in 2nd place behind Neath by just 2 points.

In the 3rd round, my print of two asian guys racing(http://www.istockphoto.com/file_closeup.php?id=17014271) scored 18 which saw us take the lead, pipping Neath by one point and Tenby by two.

In the 4th and final round, Neath totalled 66 whilst Tenby surged into the lead with 69.

So it was down to Alun's shot of Trostre Retail Park from inside his car to decide it for us. After 3 rounds we had scored 53 so we needed a 17 to win outright. Sadly, the judge didn't take to the print at all and scored it 13 which left us in joint 2nd position with Neath.

Some good news and bad news: in the interval I won a prize in the raffle - a nice bottle of red wine - but I left it behind in my haste to return to civilisation!'

Many thanks Gary for your detailed report

2011 AV Competition

2011-06-10T20:19:00.001+01:00

Wednesday night was the viewing of the 2011 AV night. Ten entries were submitted and a varied bunch it was, however the winner was an absolute hoot. What you might call a comic take on some members of the club lovingly put together by Andrew Johns who won the splendid trophy unanimously.

Well done Andrew! Trophy presented by Peter Francis our chairman

Barrian Cup 2011

2011-06-07T16:59:00.001+01:00

On the 4th June it was the annual Barrian Cup held by Barry CC with 25 clubs entered this year. The competition was closely fought with Port Talbot leading the way all through the competition right up until the very last print, which put them back to second place by just 1 point from Inn Focus Group who also scooped the best landscape print trophy (this can be seen on my 365). Full result placed us in 14th place with 78pts

Winner Inn Focus 89pts

Port Talbot 88pts

Tenby 86pts

Gwynfa/Merthyr 85pts

Our individual scores were 'Take my Picture Too' by Joyce 18pts, 'Triumphant Nymph' by Alun 15pts, 'Bracelet Bay' by Arthur 16pts, 'Rodriguez' by Clive 13pts and 'Swift Half' by Gary 16pts

Amman Valley Battle June 2011

2011-06-07T16:50:00.002+01:00

I would like to thank Ray for attending on my behalf as I was living it up at the Rod Stewart Concert in Swansea.

Each club had to enter 8 prints and we eventually came equal second with Carmarthen on 140pts.

Full result was

Neath 144pts

Llanelli/Carmarthen 140pts

Pembrey 135pts

AV 134pts

Individual scores were 'The Sweet Vendor' by Joyce 17pts, 'Winter Feed' by Arthur 17pts, 'Street Cleaner' by Clive 18pts, 'Trader at the Camel Fair' by Joyce 17pts, 'Bosham' by Clive 18pts, 'Muslim Woman' by Gary 17pts, 'Expecting Company' by Graham and 'Electric Sunset' by Ray 18pts

Ken Jones Memorial Trophy

2011-06-07T16:36:00.001+01:00

On the 18th May we celebrated the memory of 'Ken Jones' by holding the first memoriall Trophy event with the magnificent trophy donated by his nephew Mark Mathias who graced us with his presence. Also in attendance were some of the dignitaries of the rural council.

The competition was a B&W event, which was a favourite of Ken's and our first worthy winner was Graham Harries with a very simple picture called 'Misty Morning' so Graham walked away with the splendid trophy and a replica to keep.

The picture shows Graham being presented with the trophy by Mark and in the background the winning image

Gwynfa Piccadilly Albums Trophy Results

2011-05-20T13:08:00.000+01:00

Last night we were defending our title from last year at Gwynfa in Llantrisant, it was disappointing that no one other than myself and my wife attended on behalf of the club, however we were successful in retaining the trophy with an emphatic win in both the print and digital sections.

The print section was first and we attained 76/80pts for the 4 prints submitted

'Vicolo Del Puschi' by Gary Martin 19pts

'Winter Viaduct' by Gary Martin 20pts

'Local Boys' by Graham Harries 17pts

'A Bottle of Bury Port' by Alun Lewis 20pts

Next was the digital section where we again scored 76/80pts with the 4 images submitted

'Bracelet Bay' by Arthur Mallett 19pts

'Sound City' by Graham Harries 19pts

'Sweet Maker' by Joyce Mollet 20pts

'Swift Half' Gary Martin 18pts

The final scores in total for all the clubs were as follows

1st Llanelli 152pts

2nd Gwynfa 149pts

3rd Bridgened 144pts

4th Caerphilly 141pts

5th Newport 128pts

So well done to all those members who had entries selected and another win for the club

Swansea Battle Results

2011-05-20T12:57:00.000+01:00

In my absence Gary and Clive attended the recent Swansea Battle and the results are as follows, we scored 87pts, which would have got us around 3rd or 4th place in the past however we came 6th equal with The Vale

1st Tenby 95pts (again)

2nd=Rhondda and Swansea 90pts

4th Port Talbot 89pts

5th Bath 88pts

6th=Llanelli and The Vale 87pts

8th=Barry and Merthyr 84pts

10th Abertawe 83pts

Individual scores for our entry were

'Take my Picture' Too by Joyce Mollet 19pts

'Invasion' by Graham Harries 15pts

'A Swift Half' by Gary martin 19pts

'Strolling in the Colonnade' by Arthur Mallett 16pts

'Rodriguez' by Clive Martin 18pts

2011 Salon Acceptances

2011-04-08T19:27:00.000+01:00

We can now report on the result of our poor entry to this years Salon, out of 48 total entries by 5 members we had 3 print acceptances.

Sound City by Graham Harries

Swift Half by Gary Green

Subway Artist by Arthur Mallett

Well done to those few and lets hope we get a better entry next year

WPF Salon 2011

2011-03-27T13:43:00.000+01:00

We recently had the WPF Salon entry for 2011, to say it was disappointing is an under statement.

Only 5 members (Graham, Arthur, Gary, Clive and Roy) took the trouble to enter with 13 B&W Monochrome, 19 Colour prints and 16 digital. If you look at the WPF website http://www.thewpf.co.uk/ results are in and we managed to get just 3 prints accepted. One by Garham, one by Gary and one by myself 6.25% acceptance the poorest result for the club for many years.

Year 2010 2009 2008 2007

Acceptances 4          10         17           18
Entries           51        65         109          90
                  7.84%    15.38% 15.60%    20%

If we expect to continue with our membership in the future we need to take advantage of the facilities offered by the WPF. If we do not then the comments made at the AGM about future membership could well prevail!

So lets see more members entering the Salon, lets see more members attend external comps and supporting the club, lets see more members taking on the AWPF distinction.

The future is in your hands as members of the LPS

Ace of Clubs 2011

2011-02-26T12:51:00.001Z

The above was held on 19th Feb in Newport and hosted by Gwent P.C. I was joined by Joyce and we had a very interesting day. The competition was divided into 3 rounds with 18 clubs taking part. Our original submission of 30 images indicated our first 10 for round 1.

After round 1 we were in the middle of the pack with 101 points (115 was in the lead Bridgend), the images were marked by 3 judges giving a max of 5 for each image. After round 1 we had to choose another 10 images from our stock of 30 for round 2 (but not any from round 1). After round 2 we were 2 places from bottom place after a disastrous round scoring only 87 (top score 112 Cardiff) and finishing round 2 in last place.

Needless to say we did not get through to the final round 3, which was for the top 8 clubs only, the other 10 clubs then fought it out in the plate competition where we had to choose 8 images with only 5 from any of the previous rounds therefore we had to submit 3 new images.

At the end of the plate comp we had come 2nd behind Swansea with 91pts against 93pts. However Swansea then admitted they had only entered 1 new image instead of 3 due to an admin error when submitting there form and consequently withdrew leaving us the winners of the plate comp.

The overall winners of the comp were Gwynfa 182pts with Bridgend 180pts 2nd and Tenby 179pts 3rd, therefore Gwynfa and Bridgend will represent WPF at the National digital comp in Warwick later in the year. Full report can be found on the WPF web site with images from the winning club

WPF Memorial Trophy (Saundersfoot)

2011-01-31T16:37:00.001Z

The 2nd external comp for this year saw us at Saundersfoot battling with 17 other clubs. The judge Roger Parry ARPS, Hon.PAGB,AFIAP was from the prestigious Smethwick CC in Birmingham. The marking was quite severe and even though good comments were made you never really new what mark would be given. Each club entered 4 prints by different authors, ours were 'Annabelle' by Jon Lewis 16pts, 'Hockney Peugeot' by Phil Worsley 16pts, 'Stereophonics Local Boy' by Graham Harries 15pts and 'The Week before Dr Beeching Came' by Clive Martin 13pts. Total 60 points gave us equal 7th place

Again Tenby came out on top, equal with Western Valley and they both share the trophy, results as follows.

Tenby 69pts
Western Valley 69pts
Ebbw Vale 68pts
Gwynfa 67pts

Interesting Sites

2007-05-07T12:17:00.009+01:00

LPS WEB SITE: http://www.llanelliphoto.org.uk/

These are a few of the Photographic sites identified by Graham that may be of interest and give you some inspiration
http://www.flickr.com/
http://www.recuva.com/
http://www.photosight.us/

Also for those who need a cheap outlet for Photo Prints contact
http://www.dscolourlabs.co.uk/

only £1.05p for a 16"x12" print

WPF web site for access to print carry cases company
http://www.thewpf.co.uk/

Fibre Components Ltd
Factory B26, Ford Road, Treforest Industrial Estate, Mid Glamorgan, CF37 5TT
Tel: 01443 849500, Fax: 01443 841281, email: emily@fibrecomponents.co.uk

As part of our links to the town of Llanelli, we are including a link, which will plot the restoration of Llanelly House http://www.chrt.org.uk/

Entering Digital Files For Projected Image Competitions

2007-04-05T07:45:00.001+01:00

It is a strict rule that images entered into LPS Digital Projected Image Competitions are resized and converted to JPEG format before being submitted. This is also true of Welsh Photographic Federation Competitions and is generally true for other organisations. The file size must be no bigger than 1400 in width for landscape or 1050 pixels in height for portrait images. This will give a file size less than 2 megabyte in size.
It is important that we all follow this rule to prevent the argument of whether or not some people are gaining a competition advantage by keeping larger file sizes.
The opposite is certainly true if you reduce your image by too much.
Neglect of this rule may lead to disqualification. (Sorry).

The directions below will provide you with the step by steps you will need to resize your images in Photoshop for club projected image competitions and forums.

Open PhotoShop and open your image by going to file, open and choose the file you want to work with.
Go to Image on the menu bar and choose Image Size.
The Image Size dialog box will open. If the dimensions are in inches then click on the down arrow and choose pixels. (to use pixels all of the time without having to change it go to File on the menu bar and down to Preferences, and click on Units and Rulers. Click on the down arrow next to units and choose pixels and click on OK.)
If your image is in LANDSCAPE format type in the width box 1400 (pixels) for the image you want to use. For PORTRAIT format type in the height box 1050. Make sure constrain proportions box is ticked because if it isn't and you change the width, the height dimensions will not be automatically changed to correspond. Or vice versa.

There is no need to change anything in the print size section unless the image is going to print. Resolution can be left at 72.
Click on OK.
Go to file and choose save as a copy. This is important if you don't want to lose the original image. It is helpful to give it a different name to the original so you can quickly tell which is which. The title you use will be it's title in the competition.
Click on the down arrow where it says save as and choose JPEG or jpg.

Now save your image to CDR or CDRW, memory stick/pen drive, or even better, E-mail it to me ready for the competition hand-in.