Firstly a big happy mother’s day to all the RPS mums, I hope you have all been spoilt rotten today.  Michele and I have certainly enjoyed catching up with our Mums for coffee and cake, and the sunshine just made it all the more enjoyable.

As usual we have heaps of interesting events happening for you, so here we go….

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Club Night 16^th May

This Tuesday starts with our usual club messages, then:

• We have our very own Penny Nichols; Penny will be giving a short tutorial on dodging and burning. I think these are two of the most misunderstood tools found in most editing programs. Too many people don’t use them at all, and many people who do use them do so incorrectly. I’m sure that Penny’s tutorial will provide a little insight into what these tools do, and how you can use them to make better images.

• We have the results from the online competition.

• An AV of some the amazing images taken at the Boyle River field trip. Here’s a wee teaser for you.

• The last part of the night is dedicated to the judging of the Black and White competition. We have the legendary Doc Ross judging our competition, so even if you haven’t got an image in the competition it will still be are great opportunity to learn from one of the best Black and White photographers in New Zealand.

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 Creative Arts 18^th – 20^th May

The Prosser Quirke exhibition (Creative Arts) is designed to showcase the work of artists and craftspeople who work in groups based in Rangiora.

The club has a large involvement in the event, with photographic works of art from RPS members for sale, a portrait booth on site and a number of the members manning the doors etc. I really enjoy the exhibition and the sense of camaraderie that you always get on site between all the different artists.

I would also like to extend a public thank you to all the RPS members who have contributed to this event, especially Martin and Wendy who give up huge amounts of their time every year to make sure the event runs smoothly, well done to all of you.

I would really encourage all of you to round up your friends and neighbours and get down to the Chervier Centre, 41 Victoria Street. The exhibition is open 10am – 4.00pm.

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Half Day Workshop

An Audio Visual Workshop is scheduled for Sunday the 27th of May at the RPS clubrooms and will be facilitated by Ian Kingston and John Barnes.

This workshop will provide an ideal opportunity for you to develop the skills necessary to develop an ‘audio visual’ slide show that fuses sound with your images.

These slide shows are a fantastic way of being able to present your images to family and friends by making a file that can be copied onto a DVD and then played directly on your TV set, or run straight from your computer.

RPS runs a specific AV competition each year and this is truly a fantastic ‘movie night’ experience. So be part of the experience and learn the skill of making an AV at this workshop.

Please register/ask questions by emailing Richard on richardsloader@vodafone.co.nz

There will be no cost for this workshop.

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Competitions

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Online

The last competition “Red” has been judged and the results with be announced this Tuesday with much fan fair and Chocolate fish. The entries for this competition were great with a real wide range of subjects and styles covered. Our next online which has already started has the theme of THREE, it can be three of anything or even how you interpret three.  I am really looking forward to this and I have already started getting my three ducks in a row.

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Portraiture Competition

Our next monthly competition is the Portraiture Competition with entries due in this Tuesday.

You can submit your entries on the new competition entry form at http://rangioraphotosoc.org.nz/rpsblog/competitions once you have logged in. Please bring your prints to the club rooms no later than the 15^th May.

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RPS/New Brighton/Kaiapoi Competition

There has been a change this year to our interclub competition, we have invited the Kaiapoi club to join us, so there will be more images and it gets that bit harder to win. The interclub competition has a long tradition with the battles being closely fought events every time. The images for this competition have been selected and I think they are a great set of images, but I am a little bias. The battle royal will be fought at the New Brighton Club rooms on the 12^th June and the more RPS members we have there the better, so start thinking about carpooling, hiring buses, practicing your hitch hiking skills,  or whatever it takes to make sure that you are at this one.

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Trenna Packer Nature Photography Competition

This highly esteemed competition is run on an annual basis by Nature Photography of New Zealand and is highly valuable as it provides a current snapshot of New Zealand’s very diverse natural environment, which is coming under increasing threat from human activity.

You can get the full details of this competition by visiting Nature Photography’s website www.naturephotography.org.nz

 Entering competitions outside the club is a great way grow your photography and with the quality of the photographers in RPS I am sure those who enter will do well.

Entries need to be in 2^nd June.

That’s all for now folks,

See you on Tuesday night.

Steven

Arrival was arranged for 2pm but with a group of 100 Catholic teenage girls having just vacated the Centre, the cleanup took a little longer than expected.   So we sat in the beautiful sunshine getting attacked by a million or so sand flies until we were allowed to settle into the accommodation.

Then those who arrived early headed off to scavenge around the forest floor looking for fungi.  Unfortunately the weather having been so good lately meant they were few and far between, but some interesting fungi were found and tripods were set up in some unusual angles to get the best shots.  Again the sand flies found the new meat in the district!

As more members arrived we adjourned inside to have dinner, a wine or two and a time to share a story or two.  Some hardy souls ventured up to the tarn about half an hour’s drive away to try night photography with varying results.  It was a beautiful still evening and with the moon apparently at its closest to the earth it was an interesting evening.

Saturday morning saw us wake to a very crisp morning so some were slower than others to get into action.  Again it was a beautiful blue sky day.  We were joined by a small group from the Nature Photographic Society and after a bit of a chat ventured up the hill on another fungi spotting expedition.  Then back to the Lodge for lunch followed by a short drive to the Nina Valley track for another afternoon of fungi  photography.

As the day cooled down it was back to the Lodge for a delicious pot luck dinner, a few more wines and another evening of “interesting” conversation and frivolity.  Typical RPS stuff, all good fun.  It was at this stage that Carl realised he had left his car keys in the car of one of the NPS members who had since returned to Hanmer.  A few frantic phone calls later the keys were located and arrangements made for the keys to be picked up in the morning from Hanmer.  (Thanks to Murray McIvor who kindly drove Carl into Hanmer and back) .  Carl a candidate for the Wally award maybe?  In fact there were a few incidents of bits of gear, clothing being lost in the forest.  Some were retrieved, others left to nature.

Sunday morning was the traditional pancake breakfast.  Thank you to Steven and Kaye and helpers for the beautiful pancakes.  You did Richard proud Steven!  After breakfast the customary cleanup and everyone went off in different directions, some aiming to photograph the birdlife, or more fungi and others to find whatever the area had to offer.

All in all another great RPS field trip.  Thank you to Carl for sharing his expertise in nature photography and to those who organised the trip.  Well done everyone, hopefully we all have some images that will become “keepers”.   And thank you to Wendy for the perfect weather!

Lynn Barr

This trip was inspired by Carl Thompson and his love for the natural history, especially fungi in the Boyle River area.

I’m sure those of us who were lucky enough to see the images that Carl showed at the last club meeting are keen as I am to get up there and get our own versions of fantastic fungi photos (try saying that fast)

Carl will be leading the trip and all those attending can be assured of some fantastic natural scenery in an amazing part of New Zealand, some excellent learning opportunities and some beautiful photography.

Accommodation will be at the Boyle Lodge just west of Hanmer on the Lewis Pass road. The lodge has a range of very comfortable bunk rooms which are well equipped with kitchen and toiletry facilities all at a very reasonable cost. Please follow the link to view a map of the lodge location http://g.co/maps/pg59y

Surprisingly there are still a few spots available in the lodge so please register as soon as you can by emailing Richard richardsloader@vodafone.co.nz  Please let him know how many people will be attending.

For those of you who have signed up to this epic natural history outing the plan is simple and is as follows:

• Head to the lodge on Friday 4^th May (please don’t arrive before 2pm)
• Saturday night we are having a pot luck dinner, while listening to tales of the fungi that got away.
• Pancakes and court on Sunday morning, with large fines for anyone catch crushing fungi after they have got “The” shot. J
• Head home with a camera full of award winning shots.

I have also sent a Boyle River Survival kit list to those members who have already registered.

I’m looking forward to catching up with you all this weekend

Kindest regards

Steven Webb

I trust you have all had a good week and have enjoyed the fine weather while it lasted. I am currently relaxing in Hanmer Springs, thanks to Michele who has taken me away for the weekend. We have just got back to the motel after a morning of soaking in the hot pools and a nice lunch, so if the rest to the blog sometimes fades off into a sleepy sounding ramble you will know why.

Hanmer is a very special place and we in North Canterbury are very lucky to have this right on our doorstep and after this weekend I think I will have to sneak away from the Boyle River field trip for a nice soak in the hot pools. (Don’t tell Carl)

As soon as I finish this blog I will have to get the camera out, get out of the motel room and capture some of the beautiful autumn colours that are just starting to look amazing at the moment.

As usual we have heaps of interesting events happening for you, so here we go….

Club Night 2^nd May

This Tuesday starts with our usual club message’s followed by:

• A new tutorial section, this will be a regular event and it will concentrate on the use of software for post-production. This will be a short 10min tutorial that we will have every club night, starting with the basics of Photoshop, Lightroom etc, slowing building to the more complex aspects of post-production software over the coming months. The first tutorial will be taken by Michele Webb with other tutorial taken by other photographers from the club.

• The second part of the night is a tutorial on the use of light tents, this tutorial is being given by Kevin Jones. This will be a must see tutorial with Kevin showing us how to assemble a light tent out of items you can find around your home. He will then take some images for us. Light tents are ideal for catalogue photography, online auction photography, collectables and product photography.  Here’s an example of light tent photography by Kevin.

Field Trips

Boyle 4th – 6^th May

With only a week to go, I was surprised to find we still have a couple of spots available on this field trip as we have a Natural History Competition coming up and the wildlife and fungus in the Boyle river area are second to none! While I’m not competitive and I won’t be crushing fungi after I have the competition winning shot, I really think this is a photographic trip not to be missed. So if you haven’t got plans I would love to see you there.

Numbers will be limited to 40 people so please register as soon as you can by emailing Richard at richardsloader@vodafone.co.nz .

I will be sending out an email to all those registered in the next day or so with guidance on your survival kits, and yes, there is more to it than cameras and wine.

This is a key field trip for the year and I do encourage you to come along – if only to join in on the usual RPS fun and fellowship.

Mid – Winter Field Trip Dunedin Chocolate Festival July 11th -15th 2012

This is one of the trips of the year and after speaking with Diane the other day I was pleased to hear that there are a large number of members attending the trip. If fact the lodge is almost booked out with only two rooms left. We have booked a lodge out for the RPS members and have the building to ourselves, the lodge has cooking facilities and commons rooms for us to meet in.

If you are interested in attending this field trip please get in touch with Diane ASAP at dianewebb1@clear.net.nz .

Catlins Field Trip October 19^th – 22^nd 2012

John has been working hard on the details for us on this one and I will post more details in the next couple of days, and the good news is that John has arranged some mini buses for those who don’t want to take their own vehicles.

Registrations to John Miller email housepix@xtra.co.nz

Competitions

Online Closes Midnight 30^th April

Wow, this competition is really going really well with a huge number of entries. There are a few holds outs (me included) waiting until the last minute to post an image in the competition. I’m sure that this is the winning strategy, we will see. In the meantime why not check out the fantastic images already posted at http://www.rangioraphotosoc.org.nz/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=14653

Black and White

The entries are all in for this competition with a really good turnout of amazing prints. Now that we have all the entries in I can reveal the judge for the Black and White competition is no other that the legendry Doc Ross. We are very lucky to have someone like Doc Ross to be judging our competition as he is an internationally recognised photographer, and the chance to get feedback from him will be truly inspiring.

Portraiture Competition

Our next monthly competition is the Portraiture Competition with entries due in on the 15th of May.

You can submit your entries on the new competition entry form at http://rangioraphotosoc.org.nz/rpsblog/competitions but will need to log in and bring your prints to the club rooms no later than the 15^th May.

That’s all for now folks,

See you on Tuesday night.

Steven

Images which gained Honours can be viewed in the Honours Gallery

Entry forms due by 17th April 2012.

$3 per image entered

Download the entry form and rules here Creative Arts Exhibition Prosser Quirke 2012 – PHOTOGRAPHY entry form v1

Images which gained Honours can be viewed in the Honours Gallery

http://rangioraphotosoc.org.nz/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=98

Well here we are at the end of another great weekend, I hope everyone got their extra hour in bed this morning. I was up and about early as usual, having completely forgotten that day light saving had kicked in. It wasn’t till Michele and I arrived at the Mall at what we thought was 10.50am and I had walked around muttering about how slack the shop owners were not opening till this late hour that we realised that we were an hour ahead of everyone else.

I have just spent the last hour reading the latest edition of the F11 magazine, for those of you who don’t know what this is, it is an online photography magazine which you can subscribe to at no cost. The magazine is always full of inspiring articles and some fantastic photos. For those who are interested in subscribing here is the link to the F11 website. http://www.f11magazine.com it is well worth subscribing to and it is free.

As usual we have heaps of interesting events happening for you, so here we go….

Club Night 3^rd April

This Tuesday starts with our usual club messages, we then have some information for you on the upcoming field trips with a presentation from Diane Webb on the Mid-winter trip and then John Miller will give us the latest on the Catlins trip.

The main event for the night is a talk from John Doogan on Landscape and Travel Photography.

John’s talk will attempt to address the following:

• What is a landscape?
• Lighting, composition and timing
• How can I take better photographs while I’m traveling? – of landscapes and people
• What special techniques can I use in relation to landscape photography and people photography
• Gear
• Do I really need to be out there at dawn?

John also has some large prints to share with us on the night. John is a well known landscape photographer and we are very privileged to have him speak at the club, I recommend having a look at John’s website at http://www.johndoogan.co.nz

Field Trips

Rolleston 8^th April

I won’t go into too much detail about this trip as you will have received a blog about it over the last couple of days. But I will remind you to get you registrations in ASAP to Brenda at nbdunlop@xtra.co.nz

Boyle 4th – 6^th May

Well hot on the heels of Wendy Best’s very ‘best’ field trip to delightful and picturesque Geraldine we have the long awaited venture into Boyle River scheduled for the 4th to the 6th of May.

This trip was inspired by Carl Thompson’s judging of last year’s Natural History Competition and Carl’s own speciality in Nature Photography as a genre.

Carl will be leading the trip and all those attending can be assured of some fantastic natural scenery in an amazing part of New Zealand, some excellent learning opportunities and some beautiful photography.

Accommodation will be by way of very comfortable bunk rooms which are well equipped with kitchen and toilet facilities.

Numbers will be limited to 40 people so please register as soon as you can by emailing me on richardsloader@vodafone.co.nz .Please also let me know how many people will be attending.

As soon as more detail is known Richard will email you again.

This is a key field trip for the year and I do encourage you to come along – if only to join in on the usual RPS fun and fellowship.

Competitions

Our next big competition is the Black and White with entries due in on the 17th of April. As this is a Print only Competition – we should be giving serious thought now to our entries and arranging printing, matting etc.

While I can’t disclose who the judge for this competition is, I will say that we have engaged an internationally recognised fine arts photographer who specialises in black and white photography to judge this competition for us.

You can submit your entries on the new competition entry form at http://rangioraphotosoc.org.nz/rpsblog/competitions but will need to log in and bring your prints to the club rooms no later than the 17^th April.

Treasurer

For those of you who don’t know, we now have a treasurer. Norma Fletcher has joined us on the committee and I would like to take this opportunity to express my thanks to Norma! It takes courage to step up sometimes, we all feel that we are far too busy to fit anything else into our already busy lives. But RPS is made up of a very special group of people, who are always willing to step up and help out be it field trips, making the coffees or helping put the chairs out at club night. So thanks to all of you, you make the club what it is!!!!

That’s all for now folks,

See you on Tuesday night.

Steven

It has been brought to my attention that I may have lead you slightly astray in the last field trip blog regarding the upcoming field trip to Rolleston. I am now reliably informed that I had the wrong address for Brenda & Norm, that in fact they have recently upsized to far grander surroundings at 18G Beaumont Drive, Mayfair, Rolleston.

While I know some of the more cynical of you may think this was a deliberate ploy to minimise the competition at the lawn bowls, I can say, hand on heart it was in fact a case of me rushing in full of enthusiasm and low in information.

Sorry about any confusion.

Regards

Steven Webb

As you will all know we have a day field trip coming up. Brenda and Norm have been working tirelessly to organise a field trip to remember, to that end they have come up with something a little different for us.

The day will start at Brenda and Norm’s house at 8 Frame Crescent, Rolleston at 10.00am, and then the hard decision will need to be made about which exciting venue to spend the first part of the day at:

Option 1.             A visit to Bob and Marilynn Voice’s home where there is a huge range of vintage tractors and machinery, which is always great for those black and white shots you will be needing shortly.

Option2.              A visit to the flower sheds at Coses Ford, these flower houses are packed with Roses and Gerberas and will present heaps of photo opportunities.

After we have finished at these two venues all the members will regroup at the West Melton Bowling Club. Members would bring a light lunch to be eaten at the West Melton Bowling Club where we will set up Target bowls (outside).  BYO Jandels will need to be worn if members do not have flat shoes for the green.  The bar will be open for refreshments and afternoon tea organised for $2 a head.

I have been really keen to have a go at lawn bowls and not being competitive myself, I am looking forward to winning this fine event and being crowned RPS Lawn Bowls Champion. Well since I have never played lawn bowls before, this fantastic outcome is unlikely to eventuate but one has to dream.

Following this would be a Pot Luck BBQ at Brenda and Norm’s in Rolleston.

Please email your registration for this “not to miss event” to Brenda at nbdunlop@xtra.co.nz ASAP

Looking to seeing you all there.

Regards

Steven (Lawn Bowls Champion) Webb