Set subject: Drenched

Judge: Lloyd Moore

We are hosting one of the first round matches of this season’s Rosebowl competition and are pitched against Stoke Poges Photographic Society, Croxley Camera Club, and Hemel Hempstead Photographic Society.

This will be a hybrid event.

Please do come and support your club. It’s one of the only external competitions this season.

Judge: TBA

Set subject: ABSTRACT - THE EMMANUEL TROPHY

Judge: Steven Galvin

Watching a competition and how the judge analyses an image to give constructive feedback is really informative and can really help your photography. Each competition evening comprises three separate categories: Set subject, Portrait (where the photographer has control over the model/set-up), and Open (anything else). You do need to be a member in order to enter a competition (you’ll be given a login to our PhotoEntry system). Any queries, please contact our membership secretary.

Whilst scores from this competition form part of the aggregate competitions across the season, there will also be an outright winner selected for this annual trophy to be awarded in Emmanuel’s name.

Background:

Emmanuel - known pretty well universally only by his first name - was a mainstay of this Club for many years and, for the past ten years or more, was the club representative that organised the judges and set subjects for our internal competitions. He was hugely creative and had worked as an illustrator across diverse genres; from fantasy, gaming, and magazine covers to detailed botanical specimen illustration for Kew Gardens. Right up until his death in June 2026, he was only happy when drawing, sketching, considering images, framing, and wanting his work to be shared.

However, Emmanuel did particularly enjoy abstract work; both in his art and in his photography. In his honour, this competition aims to encourage pushing the boundaries, “Abstract on Steroids”, if you will.

Our judge for the evening, Steven Galvin, writes:

The "Abstract on Steroids" themed competition invites EHHPS members to abandon literal representation and embrace visual experimentation. Images should stretch reality, magnify the overlooked, and transform the ordinary into striking works of abstract art. The more imaginative, surprising, and visually arresting the result, the better.

Competitors should capture photographs that transform familiar subjects into extraordinary visual experiences. Entries should emphasise abstraction so strongly that the original subject becomes secondary—or even unrecognisable. The goal is to create bold, visually powerful images that exaggerate the principles of abstract photography through creative techniques, unconventional viewpoints, dramatic lighting, intentional motion, macro detail, reflections, distortions, multiple exposures, or digital manipulation.

The objective is to challenge photographers to move beyond documenting reality and instead create images that evoke emotion, curiosity, and imagination through intensified abstract expression.

Beyond the Comfort Zone

The range of subject matter for club photography has become very narrow with many look-alike images. The Amersham Beyond Group encourages and challenges our members to break out of their comfort zone and explore new themes and techniques. This is our story illustrated by our surprising and creative images. 

Steve writes:

I bought my first SLR for a visit to Hong Kong in the 1970s. After joining Harrow Camera Club my knowledge of composition and camera controls developed into colour print-making. Moving to Amersham in 1983 I joined the Amersham Photographic Society where I have been a member (and past Chairman) ever since. An engineer by training and career, photography is, for me, the perfect combination of technical and aesthetic skills. Working in the USA for four years in the 1990s I learnt Photoshop, often visited Adobe in San Jose and experienced the exciting bow-wave of the digital revolution. Suddenly I had an unlimited toolbox to manipulate images and be creative. On my return to Amersham, I formed a Digital Group which I led for 20 years. My frustration with look-alike club photography slowly grew and I created The Amersham Beyond Group in 2019 to encourage experimentation and photo art. Despite success in competition I have avoided the traditional pursuit of photographic distinctions and gone my own way with visually distinctive images and creative digital techniques which I continue to offer in talks to interested groups.

Set subject: Yellow

Judge: Patrick Seehanach

Watching a competition and how the judge analyses an image to give constructive feedback is really informative and can really help your photography.

Each competition evening comprises three separate categories: Set subject, Portrait (where the photographer has control over the model/set-up), and Open (anything else).

You need to be a member in order to enter a competition (you’ll be given a login to our PhotoEntry system). Any queries, please contact our membership secretary.

Wondering how to do some particular thing? Or achieve a particular effect? Tonight we will have an evening around sharing tips for getting the best from your photography, whether it be using a full-on camera or your smartphone.

Bring an image on a memory stick, or show us some work-in-progress, or just come along with or without an image-capturing device!

Editing: there’s much talk about Photoshop and Lightroom but what is the difference? Why use one in preference to the other? And, of course, there is some free editing software available too.

On smartphones, you can stay within the phone to great effect. We’ll look at some of the apps for your snaps.

There’ll be a tabletop sill life set up so you have something to point at!

If you can let us know anything specific you would like us to cover, so much the better….

Set subject: Look Up

Judge: Kevin Day

Watching a competition and how the judge analyses an image to give constructive feedback is really informative and can really help your photography.

Each competition evening comprises three separate categories: Set subject, Portrait (where the photographer has control over the model/set-up), and Open (anything else).

You need to be a member in order to enter a competition (you’ll be given a login to our PhotoEntry system). Any queries, please contact our membership secretary.

John Clare ARPS EFIAP/b CPAGB BPE3 PPSA

John Clare is an international award-winning photographer whose images have been seen all over the world. He has won more than 80 medals and other awards, holds a number of photographic distinctions and has been a member of EHHPS for more than a decade. 

Tonight, he will share some of his favourite images from his photographic wanderings, captured on his favourite Leica cameras. He will take us from the frozen wastes of Montana, on a sanctions-busting trip to St Petersburg, to an extraordinary abandoned fish factory in Iceland, and a remote town in the Moroccan Sahara Desert.

The centrepiece is an exclusive interview with the late Martin Parr. John got to know him on a week-long Magnum Workshop in India, and later interviewed him about his work, life and legacy. You can see John’s work at https://johnclarephotography.com/

So, a varied evening, including:

• An exclusive interview with the late Martin Parr. John got to know him on a week-long Magnum Workshop in India, and later interviewed him about his work, life and legacy.

• Abandoned America and the ARPS – John’s photographic journey from the frozen wastes of Montana to a nervy day at the RPS in Bristol.

• From Russia with Camera – The inside story of John’s sanctions-busting trip to the PhotOlympic 2025 Finals in St Petersburg, Russia.

• Route 66, Oman and the Sahara – images and stories from John’s photographic wanderings.

EHHPS has been exhibiting at the Borough of Ealing Art Trail at Questors Theatre in Mattock Lane, Ealing. If you’ve seen our work on display and would like to know more, this is an opportunity to hear from existing members about what we do and how the club works.

Bring along some examples of your photography (or your phone!) and swap notes on images and techniques you use, or in which you would like to gain experience.

Bring one, bring many. Share pictures and experiences over the summer break.

Images on which you would welcome constructive feedback from members, work in progress, or happy snaps from jolly jaunts.

Please let Annie know if you will be coming - either by email or message (details in the Newsletter).

As always, partners are welcome too.

We will have the usual arrangement - everyone is expected to bring whatever they like to drink, together with either snacks, a salad or a pudding (Annie will co-ordinate the dishes). There will also be a contribution of £15 per person towards meat and fish dishes.

Trophies will be awarded and great fun will be had!

The final event in the EHHPS calendar with the Annual General Meeting and the inauguration of the committee for the new season.

After the AGM, we will be announcing the winners of all the aggregate competitions held throughout the year.

There will be events scheduled across the summer, rounding up with the traditional Barbecue at which the trophies will be presented.

The final competition of the year as we, as a club, vote for the best image out of all of those scoring 20 throughout the year’s aggregate club competitions.

Fully interactive scoring and even walking about to do so!

Judge: YOURSELVES!

Set subject: Elements

Judge: Steve Galvin

Welcoming Damon Guy back to EHHPS, this time without his judge’s hat and to give his talk on Abstract photography.

Damon will lead us through what constitutes abstract imagery, the elements of art within, and how distilling an image to its simplest can enable the viewer to engage with it at a deeper, more emotional level.

Set subject: Montage

Judge: Tim Morland

A bit like Match-a-Digi, this fun competition is hosted by Tring. Heckling the judge is a given…

There is, a few doors away, a very nice Italian restaurant called Storia which a few of of may visit prior to the event. If you would like to join, please let Kristin know.

A friendly inter-club competition where heckling the judge is positively encouraged!

This year it is our turn to host our competitors, Pinner Camera Club and Field End Photographic Society.

The three teams take turns to offer an image. However, in each round, the other two teams attempt to match the picture content as closely as possible from a limited selection of images. A point is given for a close match and a further point for the best quality image.

Judge: Alan Taberer

Another chance to share photos with stories/memories. Like the previous event, forget about being technically good – it’s all about the story behind the picture!

• Why and/or how you took a photo that’s important to you. What led you to take it? The photos we take are almost always about creating memories, and many of them are funny, weird, poignant and so on.

• You can submit up to 8 photos, in the usual way, on Photo-entry. Like last time, please start the title of each image with a number, to show your priority order. We can then make sure everyone gets a fair go.

This week we are also going to look at photo books. Displacing the old-school albums, many of us will make up books to commemorate a particular event, trip, or year and these often don’t get shared much beyond our immediate circle.

• Please bring along photo books you have for us to look at and share your experience of creating the book itself.

This Event is Shared with Northfields CC

Rick Beresford will be leading a photowalk to a Classic Car Boot sale near King's Cross on Saturday April 18th, to which all EHHPS members are invited.

Meet either in the foyer of Ealing Broadway Station at 09:55 (to catch 10:02 Elizabeth Line Train) OR Outside Black Sheep Coffee Shop, Unit 2, Kings Cross Square, Euston Rd., London N1C 4DE at 10:45.

From the Black Sheep Coffee Shop, we will walk up through Pancras Square to the entrance to the car boot sale at Granary Square.

There is an entry fee of £8 on the door, or £7 online in advance (£5 online for seniors).

Online tickets available from https://events.humanitix.com/classic-car-boot-sale/tickets.

Many dress up for this event so there should be lots of interesting people to photograph as well as the classic cars and lots of memorabilia, records etc.
Plenty of street food available and there is also a very nice cafe in Camley Street nature park just across the canal from the event.

More details of the event at https://www.kingscross.co.uk/event/classic-car-boot-sale.
If you intend to join in this event then please either click on "Going" at https://tinyurl.com/57nt2rap and indicate in the discussion whether you intend meeting the group at Ealing Broadway or at the Black Sheep Coffee Shop on Euston Road.  Alternatively, email Rick with the same information.

Named after a couple of illustrious previous members, these are competitions for colour images (Pietruski) and mono (Dell) images. This year, we have simplified the evening and Dell will a mono print competition and Pietruski will be a colour PDI competition. You are, as usual, subject to a maximum of 4 images total on the night and a maximum of 3 in one category.

So, on the night:

Print Dell (Mono)
PDI Pietruski (Colour)

Judge: Mark Buckley-Sharp

(NB: Next year, we’ll swap and Pietruski will be print and Dell will be PDI competitions.)

Set subject: Cloud/s

Judge: Steve Meekins

At this session we’re going to throw the judges’ rule book out, and share our most powerful photo stories/memories. Forget about being technically good – tonight we want to be regaled with interesting tales!

Please get involved in any of these ways:

• Share photos that have a strong narrative within them.

• Tell the story of why and/or how you took a photo that’s important to you. What’s the story that led you to take it?

• You can even go back to old film photos taken decades ago, and scan them or take a photo of them to submit. Maybe they’ll reveal a story about how life once was.

• Share photos that simply have a powerful place in your memory. Putting camera club efforts to one side, the photos we take are almost always about creating memories, and many of them are funny, weird, poignant and so on.  

You can submit up to 8 photos, in the usual way, on Photo-entry. Please start the title of each image with a number, to show your priority order. We can then make sure everyone gets a fair crack at the whip if there are lots of photos… or if the stories are shaggy dog ones!

There is no meeting this week. The Brentham Club are holding their AGM

Alliterative as the event title is, you can submit in either print or projected images.

Picking up on last year’s suggestion from our judge, Kevin Day, we would welcome a statement of intent relating to each panel. Nothing too arduous; just something which will guide the judge on what unifies your panel of three images.

Further details here

Judge: Kevin Day

Set subject: Industrial

Judge: Peter Prosser

We are delighted to welcome Chris back to the Club, this time as presenter.

Chris writes:

The title is primarily a reference to my experience when working in the landscape, to the connection I sense and feel with the natural world around me, and the elements within it. They speak to me. Through my photography I would hope that my images also communicate with the viewer too. The talk embraces four sections, with significant content taken in Iceland, and much closer to home on Stoke Common.

About me:

I 've been actively involved in club photography since 1979. I gained an Associateship and subsequent Fellowship of the RPS, serve as Chair on the RPS Visual Art (A & F) Panel, as a panel member on Landscape, and provide advice at Distinction Advisory days, and one2one’s. A busy national PAGB judge and popular Fotospeed lecturer, I have visited more than 275 different camera clubs, and judged many regional, national and international exhibitions. I hold a Distinction of the PAGB and was pleased to receive an APAGB award for my services to photography. I have also had success and gained awards in international exhibitions while earning my AFIAP and EFIAP distinctions. I am delighted to be a member of the prestigious London Salon. Now retired from working as an air traffic controller, I am a member of Amersham Photographic Society.

This is the last of a series of 5 competitions, organised by Tring & District Camera club with 14 clubs participating.

Our External Competition Secretary (Amana) will curate our entry and the competition will be held over Zoom.

Peter Cox (Chair of T&DCC) writes:

There will be two judges who will pre score the images independently and then meet to agree the final scores.

We are fortunate to have two wonderful judges:

Maria Leekblade – a highly respected photographer and judge from South of England who is known for her understanding of creative photography – Maria had great feedback on her judging of this competition last year.

Tony Oliver - another highly respected judge and photographer from the Southern Region, Tony had planned to be a judge last year but due to illness had to take a break but we are delighted that he is back to full health and is with us this year.

The Wildlife Masterclass 
This talk covers some of the most important aspects, tips and tricks for improving your wildlife photography. From finding locations, working in various light conditions, compositional guidelines and why it's important to find your own style and approach when developing your own portfolio.

Biog

Tesni Ward is an award winning, professional wildlife photographer and OM SYSTEM ambassador based on the outskirts of the Peak District. While the majority of her work focuses on British wildlife, she also photographs projects across the world and has aspirations to promote conservation and education through her images. 

Tesni’s website