| Year joined DPS | 2003 |
| Signification positions held in DPS | President, Treasurer, Councillor, Festival Co-Ordinator, Natex Co-Ordinator |
| Current camera | Nikon 750 |
| Favourite camera you have ever used/had | Nikon 750 |
| Which do you prefer: Film or Digital? | Digital |
| And why? | Have never got into developing and my serious interest in photography has only really developed since the advent of digital |
| Which do you prefer: Print or Projected? | |
| And why? | Nothing like holding a good print in your hand. I like digital also but print is more permanent and a quick ready reference |
| How did you get into photography? | Did quite a bit in the old days of youth – mainly centered around family and youth Forest and Bird Activities. Later at end of school days in Tonga I did the Tourist type photos in slides and a little later the camera died and I did not replace it as Robin did most of the family photography.
John Hart ran a series of lectures through DPS one of which I attended was made welcome, the bug regenerated I bought a camera and the rest is history |
| What is your most memorable moment from your time at DPS so far? | Being awarded a Life Membership at the 125th celebration |
| What keeps you inspired with your photography? | Watching the crop of excellent photographers we presently have in the club and trying to learn from them how I can effectively capture the things I want to. I want the end result to match my vision which I find very difficult to do but have lotsa fun trying |
| Do you have a particular theme that would summarise your photographs? | Water, Landscape, Buildings, lowlight and backlight |
| Where is the best place that you have been to take photos? | Milford Road and Sound |
| What piece of equipment could you not do without in your camera bag? | Lens hoods |
| Do you have any advice for your fellow photographers? | Follow your vision and don’t give up |
| Do you have any favourite photography related websites or web resources that you’d like to share with other members? | DPS (Digital Photography School) Cambridge in Colour |
| Any other comments? | I enjoy my membership of DPS and by participating, listening and looking, learn much which then challenges me to put into practice |
Members
Enter Now: Spring Print Exhibition
A gentle reminder about the upcoming Spring Print Exhibition.
Closing date for entries: Monday 8th August 2016 (at our meeting)
Members can submit up to six entries in each of the Open and Natural History Sections. More details.
We will be exhibiting the selected images at the Dunedin Community gallery, so this is a great opportunity to get your work on display to the public. John Hart will be selecting images for the Open section and Paul Sorrel selecting for the Natural History section.
John Casey has organised a good deal with the Framing Factory in South Dunedin if you need to purchase new mats and foam core backing. Contact John or Laurie by 25th July to order your mats.
Winter Projected Exhibition 2016
Held on Monday the 13th of June
Appraised:
Filderstadt Photo Club (Open)
Rebecca Bowater (Natural History)
Exhibition: Winged Wonders
Another member exhibition is coming up this week. Paul Sorrell is having an exhibition of “Winged Wonders” at Orokonui Ecosanctuary as part of the Wild Dunedin Festival of Nature. This is bound to be a beautiful exhibition of stunning bird life and will be well worth the short trip out to the Orokonui Visitors Centre. Don’t forget your camera, as you are bound to be inspired to try and capture your own images of the winged wonders out there.
The exhibition is on 22-24th April from 9.30 – 4.30pm at Orokonui Ecosanctuary Visitors Centre. More info: https://hail.to/wild-dunedin/publication/fiIPqzG/article/h7bNpkO
Exhibition: Carnaval de Oruro
One of our newer members, Carlos Biggemann, currently has an exhibition on at the Dunedin Art Station. This is a wonderful, colourful display of images from the famous Carnaval de Oruro, in Bolivia.
The exhibition is on from 13-17th April. More info: http://www.otagoartsociety.co.nz/exhibitions
As a special bonus, Raimo Kuparinen is the artist in residence during this week as well.
Field Trip: April 10th
Our next field trip will be held on Sunday 10th April. We will be heading to Oamaru and Clarks Mill. There is a $10 entry charge for Clarks Mill.
We will meet at 8.30am at the Railway Station carpark and sort out carpooling from there. We will head to Oamaru first for a wander around the old part of town and then after lunch visit Clarks Mill.
Please indicate to the Field Trip Coordinator (via email: fieldtrips.DPSNZ@gmail.com) if you intend to come along.
Society Competitions
The Dunedin Photographic Society runs three kinds of competition throughout the year.
Print & Projected Image of the Month (Monthly Competitions)– These are an opportunity to submit work for critique. The critique is intended to be constructive and give you suggestions on how to improve and grow as a photographer. It’s amazing how often someone may point out something such as a distracting patch of light that you hadn’t noticed…. now it’s obvious and all you can see!
The varying themes encourage members to try something different and are open to interpretation, ‘open’ means you can submit anything you like. Any degree of processing will be considered. The only subjects which tend to be stricter are Natural History and Photojournalism. These should accurately represent the subject/event.
This is a good place to start showing your work. All images will be commented on. Points are awarded to everyone who submits an image and extra points are awarded for the top three images on the night. Points standings can be found here: Standings.
Successful images from this competition should be considered for the seasonal exhibitions.
Seasonal Exhibitions (Seasonal Exhibitions)– The club runs four seasonal exhibitions Spring and Autumn Print, and Winter and Summer Projected Image. You can enter up to 6 images in each of the the Open and Natural History sections (note: the seasons are just to indicate the time of the year the exhibition is held – it is not a restriction on the type of image you can enter). The images entered are submitted to accredited judges or ‘experts’ for appraisal. The purpose of these is to produce an exhibition of quality work, and therefore not all images will be accepted. The judges are directed to accept a percentage of the images submitted and will provide comment on only those that have been accepted.
While it can be disappointing not to have images accepted, it is important to realise that judging can be subjective; an image accepted by one judge may have been rejected by another.
Successful images from the seasonal exhibitions should be considered for the Festival.
Dunedin Festival of Photography (Festival)– The Festival is run once a year by the Society and is open to any NZ resident or society member to enter. This competition attracts a large number of entrants including those with photographic honours and professional photographers, and as such the standard is high. Acceptance into the festival should be seen as an impressive achievement and a stepping stone to the PSNZ Regional or National exhibitions. These images are not critiqued but are displayed in a local gallery for a week where they can be viewed by the public.
For new members, entering your images for the first time is always the hardest. You do need to have a bit of a thick skin, but positive feedback feels good and shows you a way forward. So don’t be shy, start entering now.
Programme coming soon
We have had a few queries as to when the 2016 programme will be ready, and I am happy to say we will have something out to members in the next few days 🙂 Thanks for your patience.
– Melanie
Dunedin Photographic Society 