Author: dunedinphotogsoc

It’s been a while between posts!

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An irregular post and shout out to members to inform and record on what’s been happening photography wise regarding  some talented members success outside of the club activities, and other  related stuff.

On the local front:

We have the Tuhura Otago Museum Photography Exhibition, which can still be viewed until 13th October and well worth a visit.

The exhibition features members:

Greta Wallace: overall winner in the Black & White division with a graceful Royal spoonbill in flight, and another wildlife image; Gary McClintock who earned a highly commended in the Botanical Section with his Grebes, and  a number of other  images.

Simon Parsons, Andy Smith and Graeme Atkinson also had images selected for display and  Craig McKenzie features as a past Photographer of the Year. Craig’s images  also feature periodically  in the  NZ National Geographic magazine, his most recent  with images  of the  nesting Australasian crested grebes in Lake Wanaka.

Apologies if I have missed anyone. 

At National level:

PSNZ: Gary McClintock Champion Nature Image: stumped the nation with his image depicting the Crested Grebe courtship.

NZ Amateur Photography Awards: Noelle Bennett: continues to wow us with her mastery gaining 6 silver ( 2 in top 25, & 4 in top 10) eight highly commended awards, with Jodelle Leatham attaining  four highly commended awards. 

Professional awards

We are very fortunate  to have two professional photographers active in the club: Koshy Yohannon and Simone Jackson both who have distinguished themselves among their peers.

At the  recent IRIS Awards (Professional photography awards for Australia and NZ run by NZIPP) Koshy received 10 awards- 9 bronze and 1 silver with some stunning nature images of: NR Albatross, NZ Dabchick, Wrybill, Yellow eyed penguin family, Buller’s Albatross.

Simone is best known as a wedding, and nature/wildlife photographer, as a judge at these awards, and  also  managed to pick up 3 golds and a bronze.

Her two most  recent notable accolades include : 3 golds and a bronze; 2024- judged 7th in Top Ten Wedding Photographers- Photographic World Cup; 2023 Awarded Grand Master of Photography  (only 21 NZers have been awarded this!).

Our  congratulations to all.

If you are looking to view some of their work or some local inspiration, check out these links:

Local exhibitions

Jodelle,  and Greg Hughson exhibited  some of their work separately at the Daily Coffee Co during the winter months.

Travel

We can look forward seeing images from several members  (Graeme, Gary, Suzanne & Jodelle) who have travelled overseas recently featuring in our club competitions and exhibitions in the coming year.

New members

We welcome recent  new members: Jörg Haase,  Shannon Thomson, Josephine Leong & Alan Sew Hoy.

’24 DPS Big Trip

Fourteen members enjoyed a great 4-day weekend to Banks Peninsula recently based at the well-appointed Wainui Park Camp just across the harbour from Akaroa. There was a variety of photographic possibilities to suit all genres including: wildlife (dead & alive), birdlife, landscapes, seascapes, street, heritage and misc nature, plus the odd non photographic experience. It would be fair to say a successful and thoroughly enjoyable trip was had by all. Thanks Melanie.

Blog

I am hoping to revive this blog on our website, basically for those who do not use social media, and to record and inform the club membership of: new members; fellow member accomplishments/activities related to photography outside of the club. It will not be for repeating club email messages/notifications.

At this stage I envisage it will be compiled two or maybe three times a year.

So if you know of something that someone has done or participated in, have been involved in and deserves acknowledgement then please drop me a message at: cameracraft@dps.org.nz so I can include it in the next edition. 

Feel free to blow your own trumpet! Comments (AND PHOTOS!) welcome. 

Barbara Newton – Camera Craft Editor

All members welcome

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Just a reminder that there is a lot of activity going on in the focus groups each month, and all members are welcome to join any/all the groups whenever they would like.

You don’t have to be able to make every meeting, but if you would like to join at any point, all the details are below.

In addition to these meetings there are fieldtrips, photowalks and meetups planned. These will be advertised to all members and you are welcome to join any/all – you don’t have to be a member of the specific group.

  • NATMAT Group (Natural history, Macro, Astro, Timelapse)
    • Every Sunday at 7.30pm on Zoom – just use the regular DPS Zoom meeting link
  • Affinity Group (Affinity is photo editing software)
    • Every Thursday at 7.30pm on Zoom – just use the regular DPS Zoom meeting link
  • Projects Group (Focus on working towards photographic project of some description)
    • 3rd Monday of month at 7.30 on Zoom – just use the regular DPS Zoom meeting link
  • Honours Group (Working towards PSNZ honours)
    • 3rd Monday of month at 7.30 on Zoom – just use the regular DPS Zoom meeting link
  • Street/Urban Group (Out and about with cameras)

– Melanie

Street/urban focus group

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The latest focus group to be established within the club is the Street/urban group. We have a broad focus, encompassing everything from photographing people in the streets, to the buildings of our city. Our idea is to circulate links about a photographer of interest each month, so that we can have a look at their work and discuss when we meet.

The first meeting was held on Thursday 22nd July at Dog with two Tails. We had 8 members attend (plus a mini associate) which got the group off to a great start. Mark McGuire had shared links to the first photographer for discussion – Peter Black. Peter is a Wellington-based street photographer who has photographed social landscapes all over the world.

Brisbane 1973. Peter Black’s first photograph. Source: https://www.peterblackphotos.com/about.html

You can find Peter online via the following links:

Photos can have the magical ability to stop time and thus allow us to examine the world, but in the end the best of them become art – yet they remain as mysterious as a dream.

Peter Black

After a good discussion around Peter’s work and the direction of our new group, it just remained for us all to grab our cameras and hit the streets ourselves.

  • Simon Parsons
  • Kathleen Lane – taken in Auckland
  • Liz Greenwood
  • Liz Greenwood
  • Mark McGuire
  • Melanie Dick
  • Melanie Dick
  • Melanie Dick
  • Rebecca Dick
  • Kate Burton
  • Kate Burton
  • Kate Burton
  • Kate Burton
  • Tony Pomfret
  • Melanie Dick
  • Rebecca Dick
  • Craig McKenzie

The next meeting will be 11am Thursday 19th August at Dog With Two Tails, and all are welcome. The photographer of focus this month is Vivian Maier. If you would like to join the mailing list to receive links and updates, please email Melanie.

2020 Projected Image Exhibition Results

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Our first “face-to-face” meeting since the COVID-19 Lockdown was the viewing of the 2020 Projected Image Exhibition. The full results are available here as PDF download and the slideshow of images can be seen below.

Thanks to Chris Parkin APSNZ and Roger Thwaites APSNZ for making the selection of images and providing feedback on their selection.

Congratulations to David Steer APSNZ for his Open Champion Image – Plumb, and to Noelle Bennett LPSNZ for her Natural History Champion Image – Green chiton.

Plumb, David Steer APSNZ
Green chiton, Noelle Bennett LPSNZ

Update from the President

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We have now been doing our online Zoom meetings for the last two months and have had members who live as far away as Nelson joining in meetings. While it has been a successful medium for many, I do acknowledge that Zoom has not worked for all members, so I hope this update newsletter helps fill the gap in some way.

At this stage, we do not have a date when we see our meetings at the church hall or practical sessions starting again, so Zoom meetings will continue for the next while. 

Images from the Bubble

Each week members have had the opportunity to share up to 4 images taken during the week. Some weeks we have had close to 80 images with a wide range of subjects. Here is a selection of images from the 36 members who participated.

  • Anastasia Labudina
  • Barbara Newton
  • Bob Bungard
  • Bob Dagg
  • Brian Treanor
  • David Steer
  • Edith Leigh
  • Franky Malone
  • Gary McClintock
  • Ged Davis
  • Gordon Speed
  • Greg Hughson
  • Gretta Wallace
  • Ian Thomson
  • Ita Daniels
  • Jamie Ryan
  • Jane Ludemann
  • John Duckett
  • John Moran
  • Jo McLeary
  • Jude Mahood
  • Judith Swan
  • Karen Wardell
  • Laurie White
  • Mark McGuire
  • Melanie Dick
  • Noelle Bennett
  • Praveen Kumar
  • Raimo Kuparinen
  • Ross McIvor
  • Simon Parsons
  • Simone Jackson
  • Stephanie Forrester
  • Susan Davies
  • Suzanne Renner
  • Tulipa Briggs

PSNZ Sony National Exhibition 2020

Congratulations to the following members who were successful in the PSNZ Sony National Exhibition 2020.

Open Prints

  • Kate Burton: 4 acceptances
  • Ita Daniels: 2 acceptances
  • David Steer: 2 acceptances
  • Gordon Speed: 1 acceptance

Open Projected Image

  • Glenda Rees 1 acceptance

Nature Prints

  • Gary McClintock: Gold Medal and 1 acceptance
  • Glenda Rees: 2 acceptances

Nature Projected Image

  • Glenda Rees: Gold Medal and 2 acceptances
  • Noelle Bennett: Silver Medal

Unfortunately due to COVID 19, there was no exhibition of the images but you can view the online catalogue here.

Speakers

Nicola Wilhelmsen

Nicola has shared her knowledge with the society a number of times now. She is a professional photographer based in Dunedin. Nicola shared the development of two images that she has submitted for a fun lockdown challenge hosted by NZIPP. It was helpful seeing how she refined her concept and images, as well as seeing some of the technical issues around lighting. Nicola posts on Instagram as nicolafromthehelm

Sam Purdie

Ross met Sam one night while out photographing insects at Woodhaugh Gardens, when he stopped and offered to show Ross where he could find stick insects. They swapped details and the result of that encounter was an interesting talk by Sam where he presented a recipe for finding insects and then some tips on photographing. Sam posts on Instagram as samanimalman

Nick Beadle

Nick runs a window cleaning business in Dunedin, See Through Windows Ltd. He shared his journey from watching one of his employees taking pictures on his phone through to now dividing his time between window cleaning and a growing photography career. Nick posts on Instagram so just search for seethroughwindowsltd

Future Plans

We will look to resume face to face meetings as soon as this is possible. However, we are aware that there may be some members who will continue to manage their health risk by not attending physical meetings. We have also seen that Zoom has enabled some of our more distant members to be involved.  Between now and the end of the year, Council has decided to continue with one regular Zoom meeting per month. This meeting will involve presentations by overseas speakers.

As a taster, our first overseas speaker will be this week, Monday 25 May 7.30pm – Zoom Room, Julian Elliott. He will present a talk Mongolia – From the landscape to eagle hunters: take a journey across Mongolia from the famous Steppe landscape to the eagle hunters of the Altai region in western Mongolia.

Look forward to seeing you all in the Zoom Room on Monday.
Gary McClintock
President, DPS

Online Meetings

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Please bookmark this page (not the Zoom link) so that if we make any changes, you will have access to the latest links.

The link to connect to the meeting is at the bottom of this post.

What is Zoom?

Zoom is a free video conferencing tool that allows you to connect with others from the comfort of your home. It is similar to other apps that you may have heard of like Skype or Facetime.

It is free to use and you do not have to sign up to be able to use Zoom and participate in our meetings.

You can connect from a computer or mobile phone, and you do not need to have a camera or microphone at this point – you can participate by simply listening to the meeting.

This short video will give you an idea of how Zoom works, and also serves as a test to check that your speakers on your computer, or the sound on your cellphone is working. – you should be able to hear the lady speaking on the video. Link: https://youtu.be/-s76QHshQnY

What will the online meeting be like?

The meeting will follow a similar format to our normal face-to-face meetings, with results of the Projected Image of the Month (enter here: https://dps.org.nz/piotm), speaker, and sharing of any other slideshows and information.

We will aim to get started on time, so please ensure you have tested your setup and checked you can access the meeting prior to the meeting.

I need help getting set up or connected

If you need help with getting yourself set up, please email treasurer@dps.org.nz as soon as possible.

How do I join the meeting?

To connect to the meeting click the link below and follow the onscreen prompts.

You will need a PIN which is a 6 digit code – this will have been emailed to you by secretary@dps.org.nz

Link to ZOOM MEETING: https://zoom.us/j/673661631

All face to face meetings and activities cancelled until end of April

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Update: face-to-face meetings will resume on 13th July

The council of the Dunedin Photographic Society met tonight (17/3/20) and has decided that all face to face activities of the Dunedin Photographic Society are to be cancelled at least until the end of April 2020.

This decision applies to all activities run under the name of DPS including; meetings, practical sessions, Photoshop classes, and face to face focus group meetings.

This is a significant step and reflects the society’s concern for the well-being of members and our community as we address the challenge of COVID-19.

The council will revisit this decision and update members before the end of April.

The council is committed to continuing to offer a programme to members through an online platform. We will be working hard so that members will be able to access next Monday’s meeting via ZOOM. Information about this will be available to members via email and on this blog.

We appreciate this format may not suit everyone but we will work to assist members to access online meetings. Meetings will be recorded and made available for members to access at times outside the normal meeting times.

We hope members appreciate the gravity of the situation that has led to these decisions being made and make every effort to join and contribute to our online alternative.

We hope all members stay safe and well.
Nga mihi,
Gary
President, Dunedin Photographic Society

2020 Programme now available

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Thanks to the Programme Committee, the 2020 programme is now available on the website. They have outlined an action packed year of meetings, outings, focus group events and practical workshops.

As is always the case, there are a few things that still need to be confirmed and some things may change along the way; so please make sure you keep checking the website for the most up-to-date information.

You can find the programme here: https://dps.org.nz/programme/ It is displayed as a Google calendar and is also available for download as a printable PDF.

If you use Google calendar yourself, the best thing to do is add the DPS calendar to your personal calendar – instructions below:

  • 1. Click on the + Google Calendar button
  • 2. (If necessary) Sign in to your Google account
  • 3. Click the Add button to add the DPS calendar to your account
  • 4. You will see the DPS calendar events in your calendar. You can turn the display of the events off if you want, by deselecting the checkbox next to dpsorgnz@gmail.com in the Other calendars list (left of screen)