Annual General Meeting

On Tuesday 29th April the club held its Annual General Meeting.

Following reports from the President, Treasurer and Competition Secretary, office bearers for the next session were elected as follows:

President and Secretary: Bob Arnott
Syllabus Secretary: Dave Thompson
Treasurer: Mike Kelly
Competition Secretary: Willie Gibson

Committee Members: Steve Alexander, David Gemmell, Robert Wilson.

Several club matters were discussed with an emphasis on holding outings and to give hands on support for beginners and new members. The committee will endeavour to deliver on this.

The Annual Display of prints will be mounted in Lanark Tollbooth from Saturday 23rd until Sunday 31st August 2008.

New members will be made most welcome when the new session starts on Tuesday 2nd. September 2008.

Annual Dinner 6th. May 2008

The Club's Annual Dinner and prize presentation will take place within the 'Crown Tavern' Hope Street, Lanark on Tuesday 6th. May at 7.30pm. and this will be the last meeting of the current session.

The new session will begin on Tuesday 2nd. September 2008

Portrait Workshop

Tuesday 22nd. April saw the return to the club by the humorous double act of Stephen Lipton and Colin Wilkinson from East Kilbride Camera Club. This they had promised earlier this session to return and lead a practical hands on Portrait Class.

They brought with them two beautifull young girls, 'Jane' and 'Katie' who must have posed for a thousand photographs during the evening, such was the enthusiasm of those present.

Many thanks to Stephen and Colin for the practical advice, hints and tips given to members and especially to Jane and Katie for their patience and very pleasant manner throughout the session.

Natural History

On Tuesday 15th. April club members were privileged to view a number of club member Neil Mackie's natural History photographs.

Neil presented many pictures of both large and small mammals, some indigenous species and some from Canada, but his forte is in wild bird photography and he presented many photographs of birds on land and in flight.

Neil expressed the need for photographers to display a great deal of patience when out looking for wild life shots in his own experience spending hours on end in a hide. He also talked about different species, their habitat and places where members may go to try their hand at this subject.

Thanks to Neil for an excellent presentation which was thoroughly appreciated by all present.

AV Show

A good turnout of members enjoyed and excellent Audio-Visual show on Tuesday night. To create these AV shows individual members string together a collection of digital images and, with the aid of programmes like ProShowGold, synchronise the pictures with appropriate music. Club president Bob Arnott presented eight high quality shows with subjects as diverse as Prague, Yorkshire, Stirling Castle and St Abbs. Stephen Alexander provided more entertainment with his two cleverly conceived shows "Lanark" and "Nostalgia". For this blogger, however, Dave Thomson's two shows together constituted the highlight of the evening. The first was a cleverly composed composite tour of the Riviera covering views of St Tropez, Cannes, Monaco and Monte Carlo. His second show "Colours" was quite outstanding combining the Rolling Stones' "She's a Rainbow" with a fantastic montage of unbelievably colourful images.

Annual Print and Slide Competition

Stephen's "Lonely Tree"

Alistair Knox from Beith Camera Club was the judge on Tuesday for the Annual Print and Slide Competitions. Although the number of slides entered was low reflecting the move to digital photography, the standard remained high. David Gemmell and Tom Murphy shared 3rd place with "Two Little Boys" and "Castle Stalker" respectively. David also took 2nd place with "Water Fight". Deservedly in 1st spot was Andrew Wylie's brilliant "Puffin with Sand Eels" taken on location on the Isle of May.

Moving onto the Beginners Prints, Robert McFetridge took 3rd place with "View from Portree" while David Clark captured both 2nd and 1st places with "Footballers Dancing" and "Troloss Falls". In the Advanced Monochrome Section, Dave Thomson's peaceful "Montmartre Steps" took 3rd spot, Mike Kelly was 2nd with "Bouncers" while David Gemmell's "Really Cool Chick" was1st. Moving onto the Portrait Section Andrew Wylie was 3rd with "Gypsy Girl", Bob Arnott 2nd with "Pensive" and David Gemmell 1st with "Let's Party". The Advanced Colour was very well supported by members with many images scoring highly but not quite making the top spots. Sharing 3rd place were four of Neil Mackie's exceptional wildlife shots viz. "Eagle Owl", "Grey Heron", "Giant Spotted Woodpecker" and "Farne Puffin". Robert Wilson's "Solitude" a beautiful beach scene was second while in top spot was Stephen Alexander's very moody "Lonely Tree". Congratulations to all contestants especially to Stephen whose print "Lonely Tree" received the Prestigious "Supreme Award".

Mike's "Bouncers"

Also sincere thanks from all members to Alistair Knox whose comments on all the entries had clearly been very well thought out with criticisms mild and generally constructive.