Banbury Camera Club

Annual Exhibition 2011

The Michael Heseltine Gallery at Chenderit School – A Visual Arts College

Banbury Camera Club held it's eighth annual exhibition of members work in the Michael Heseltine Gallery for a week. It was open to the public during school hours from 18^th to 21^st October, and was open on the weekend of 22^nd and 23^rd October from 11am to 4pm each day. Over the weekend the exhibition was manned by members of the camera club, who discussed the images on show. Entry to the exhibition was free. The gallery is part of the Visual Arts College at Chenderit School, Archery Road, Middleton Cheney.

Guests were asked to vote for their favourite image from the exhibition. There were 225 voting forms completed and the winner was Jane Jarvis with Memories. In joint second place were Catherine Flippence with Storm and Valentina Kulagina with Summer Rain. On Friday 29^th October the Guardian photographer took photographs of Jane, with her winning photo, receiving her prize of a voucher from Photo Finish owner Mike Carwithen.

If you missed this years exhibition or would just like to see some of the images again, try browsing the online gallery for the Exhibition of Photographs 2011.

Below is a video walk around the this year's exhibition:

Under the direction of John Childs the Michael Heseltine Gallery has a programme of travelling exhibitions of the highest quality. Notable exhibitions have included, for example, those featuring the work of Peter Blake and of the American photographer Walker Evans. The club is very fortunate to have its annual exhibition included in this programme. In April 2012 the gallery will house the exhibition Northern Legacy by the late Harold Robinson, who was a member of Banbury Camera Club from 1999. His superb black and white photographs of Northern England from the 1950s and 1960s have been collected in a book of the same name by his son Mark.

Support for Katharine House Hospice

There were 120 framed and mounted prints on display, most of which will be on sale with, for the sixth year in a row, Katharine House Hospice benefiting from each purchase. The club is pleased to be supporting the work of such an important local charity. In the 2010 exhibition we raised over £900 for Katharine House through the sale of prints and donations by visitors.

The Exhibition Opened by Rosy Burke

The exhibition was officially opened, on the 18^th October, by local graphic designer and photographer Rosy Burke (www.rosydesign.co.uk), who commented how impressed she was with the verity and quality of the images in the exhibition and how it continues to grow year on year.

Carole Nadine from the Katharine House Hospice (www.katharinehouse.co.uk) also thanked Banbury Camera Club for their continued support of the work of the hospice through the generous donations from the sales of members' work.

You can watch the speeches below:

Also at the open evening were Mike Carwithen, owner of Photo Finish the Banbury independent photographic print specialists and Jeremy Wilton, proprietor of the Four Shires Magazine and ex-Fleet Street photographer.

Rosy won the Judges Prize in the national BBC Countryfile Photo Competition 2005, and for the past three years she has been one of a panel of eight longlisting judges for this BBC One competition. In 2011 this has involved the enormous task of reducing 55,000 entries to 3,600 photos for the final judging panel. The Countryfile competition supports Children in Need and raised almost £1.2 million for the charity in 2010.

Rosy has been a long-serving member of the Board of Banbury & District Chamber of Commerce (since 1996) and the Banbury in Bloom Committee (since 1988). She has also had a long term involvement with the Fine Lady Upon A White Horse appeal, the Sophieʼs Silver Lining Fund, and with the Banbury Hobby Horse Festival as official photographer.

About Banbury Camera Club

Banbury Camera Club was founded in 1946 and still maintains its original aim: to bring together all those interested in photography in the area. Whatever your standard, equipment, or interests, you will be very welcome at our meetings. Are interested in a full range of formats and methods - from traditional black and white printing, through colour slides and conventional colour printing, to digital imaging using computers and inkjet printers. Some members use compact cameras for colour en-prints. Others have 35mm single lens reflexes or medium format cameras. Whether it’s improving your holiday pictures for the family album, or producing exhibition prints, we hope that Banbury Camera Club has something for you.

The results so far for Club Competitions

Clicking the Google Map icon to find Chenderit School.

Club is granted Lottery Award

Thanks to The National Lottery 'Awards for All' scheme Banbury Camera Club now has a some wonderful new equipment. The bid, prepared by our Chairman - Ray Jordan and with the support of the committee, outlined our need for projection and scanning equipment to aid Alan Sargeant with his 'The Images of Banbury Project' and to help the Club show members' images, AV presentations and demonstrate image editing.

The new projector was first used at our annual AV presentation. The general opinion was that the new Canon projector was far superior to our old HP projector and one member commented that it was the best image he had seen from digital projection. We also have an Apple MacBook Pro, which has allowed us to install Windows XP as well as the Macintosh OS-X operating systems giving us the flexibility to support both PC and Mac club members. We have also purchased Photoshop CS3, Photoshop Elements 6, Adobe Lightroom, and ProShow Gold to assist members in learning image management, editing and presentation processes.

Competitions - Subjects for 2011/12

Most of the competitions are open subject, but we also have set subject contests. The subjects for the coming season are: Motion and Balance for the Walford and Round Trophy, and Present Day Images of Banbury for one of the monthly competitions. We also have the Photo Finish Impact Trophy for prints which illustrate Impact, a subject which is open to all kinds of interpretation. The Impact Trophy subject is Depth of field - or lack of it.

Practical Sessions

We have now had two of these using the new format. Currently there is help on using your Camera (Digital or Film), Basic Photoshop, Advanced Photoshop, Mount Cutting (Mount cutter and mount card: black and white, available at each practical session - £1 per card) and Dark room use.

Digital or Film - Home printing or Minilab

We are interested in a full range of formats and methods: digital imaging, using home computers and inkjet printers; traditional black and white printing; colour slides. Some of us take our pictures with compact cameras, either film or digital. Others have single lens reflex 35mm film or digital cameras, or large or medium format equipment. We make our own prints, or have them made professionally.

Chenderit School Arts College

We are fortunate in having access to excellent facilities for practical photography at Chenderit. There is a superb digital imaging suite equipped with the very latest computers, scanners and printers. There is also a fully equipped darkroom with six enlargers. So we can put a big emphasis on practical work, offering opportunities for individual and group use of the extensive facilities, with experienced members offering advice or support.

So whether it is learning to use your camera, improving your holiday pictures for the family album, producing exhibition prints, or simply enjoying other people’s photographs, we hope that Banbury Camera Club has something for you.

Winter and Spring Programme
From September to May we meet each week at 7.30 pm on Monday evenings. The programme includes:

Visiting speakers and exhibitions;

Discussion and advice sessions;

Showing of members’ prints and slides;

Practical sessions, including studio work, darkroom and digital imaging demonstrations and tuition;

Competitions for members and with other clubs;

Weekend outings

Summer Programme
From June to August we meet less frequently; there are outings to places of general and photographic interest.

Apart from taking photos, we normally meet for a drink or light meal on these visits. But it’s quite informal, so feel free to come along for just part of the time. Photos taken on the these visits may be entered in the competitions for pictures taken at club events.

Digital Imaging Group Thames Valley
The Digital Imaging Group: Thames Valley is a regional support section of the Digital Imaging Group of the Royal Photographic Society. They frequently hold open seminars, and workshop days for non-members on a variety of subjects throughout the year in Bracknell. There is usually an entrance fee of £6 for non-members. For more information and see what they have to offer, visit their site RPS Digital Imaging Group.

What does it cost to join?
Annual subscription is £22; £17.50 if you are unwaged; £5 for junior members under 18 years. There is a family membership concession, the second membership is half price. Members also pay a £1 meeting fee for the Chenderit meetings. Visitors are always welcome – we won’t expect you to pay anything at your first meeting! There is now a membership form available for this purpose, click here and fill in your details so we can quickly and accurately record you membership.

How to find Us
In the winter we normally meet at our new venue Chenderit School Middleton Cheney. This excellent facility provides us with full access to darkroom facilities and a number of digital imaging workstations. This provides amble opportunity to share skills, ideas and collective experience.

We meet on Monday evenings at 7.30.

A map of how to find us is available by clicking the Google Map icon .

For Details of our next event Click Here

For more information about:

RPS Digital Imaging Group, Banbury, and Chenderit School

All images shown on this website are used with the author's consent. The copyright of these images remain that of the individual authors.