Club News
Read all about our activities here ...
10/10/24
We continue to enjoy some excellent presentations and League Competition 1 has already started our season of competitions.(full results here). Well done Ann Barlow and Tim Green, winners of DPI's and prints respectively.
Tim Green (https://www.timgreenphotography.com/) also gave us an outstanding presentation with images collected from his travels along Route 66.Tim excels in both architecture and landscape with a real feel for true 'Americana'. We are lucky to have a number of Club photographers of such professional standards.
We have also enjoyed presentations from Guy Edwards (https://www.guyedwardes.com/ )with his outstanding 'Creative Nature Photography' including images from Dorset - and also Sid Jones demonstrating a sophisticated expertise with superb mono prints. We are always both entertained and educated by our excellent presenters.
Members' Reviews
Tim Green took us along on his travels on Route 66 - the highway that stretches from Chicago to Los Angeles County - 2,400 miles. It was dotted with small towns, roadhouses and motels. Eventually it was replaced with new interstate highways and the old road and the businesses that served it were left to fade away. Fade away is what they did beautifully in the dry desert air leaving peeling paint, old neon signs and empty motels. Tim captured all this in the images he showed conveying these abandoned buildings gently fading in the vast open spaces. His passion for this era of American life showed in every image and the audience was caught up in the atmosphere of this abandoned highway.
Sid Jones made a welcome return to the club with his 'Monolands' talk, he entertained us in the first half with PDI's both Colour and Monochrome detailing his travels round the world. In the 2nd half we were treated to his many beautiful 'Monolands' project prints. Clearly his darkroom skills of the past come into play when printing and his commentary was altogether engaging, inspiring and interesting.
10/09/24
Members were privileged this week to have a presentation by our local professional Andy Farrar.(https://www.andyfarrarphoto.com/ ). Andy features regularly in our national photography magazines and won Landscape Photographer of the Year in 2015. The key characteristic of his work is his sensitive use of light which showed brilliantly in the many stunning images of our local Jurassic Coast as well as Norway. He also discussed his preference for long lens landscape photography to capture a more detailed aspect. A great evening with a modest but highly professional photographer and much appreciated by all who attended.
08/09/24
Our new season has begun with an excellent presentation and a very wet Club outing! Suzie Kirkby energised returning Members with the best images from SCPF last year. It was inspiring to see and appreciate such imagination and quality from the region - including some of our own Members' work- and motivated us all to get busy for the competitions to come. Our first outing however was only partly successful. A visit to Harman's Cross Vintage Car Rally turned out to be our first wet outing in a year. There are always photo opportunities however and we made the most of raindrops and passing steam trains. We felt very sorry for the soggy exhibitors and exhibits but look forward to other expeditions during the coming season. See images here.
24/08/24
We held our Annual Exhibition in Wareham Town Hall on 24th August this year. The hall was full of images and we were delighted to hear the glowing remarks of the people who came to view them. The morning was quieter than usual because of the tremendous rain which caused a 4 foot wide river at our door but sunshine in the afternoon brought lots of visitors. The club were able to show a huge variety of superb images and we felt rightly proud of ourselves. Many thanks to everyone who made it a great day
Our new season begins on 3rd September and we can't wait to get started as the programme looks so interesting.
15/05/24
A brilliant Club visit to Brownsea Island last Friday (10/05). The weather was perfect and after coffee Members scattered throughout the island to pursue their own photographic opportunities over some four hours. Wild fowl from the hides were rather scarce but few could resist the red squirrels behind the church. The island and Poole Harbour as a whole was bathed in Mediterranean sunshine with one Member even sailing across independently. Again thanks to Jean Dixon and Mike Brown for organising and we look forward to more 'expeditions' next season. See a selection of images here.
30/04/24
We have finally reached the end of our season meetings with the AGM and Members' awards. Jean Dixon gave a summary of the year's events and was warmly thanked for her splendid service as Chairperson - now succeeded by John Ives. Details of next year's Committee will be posted shortly. Jean gave us hints of an exciting programme next year which includes some prestigious photographers and we all look forward to this. Annual awards (images here) were duly presented by Jean and the evening was completed with a selection of Club competition images .Although the meetings have finished for this season we can still look forward to another Club outing to Brownsea Island (10/05) and our Annual Exhibition on August 24th in Wareham town hall.
07/04/24
As we head toward the end of the season our final internal competitions - League Comp.5 and Best of Year - have been completed. Well done NIgel Gidney for Best of Year in both DPI's and Prints and Nigel again and Gordon Chamberlain in League 5. Full results here. Our Best of Year competition, ably judged by John Tilsley, again demonstrated the amazing range and quality of our Members' work. Many thanks to all Members who make the time and effort to enter the competitions which form the heart of Club activity and do start collecting possible images for next year!
28/03/24
Yet another busy month including a Club outing to Athelhampton House - a small number of Members but it offered interesting forms and subjects in a beautiful garden and architectural setting.(images here)
We were also treated to an excellent presentation by Tony Worobiec ( https://www.tonyworobiec.com/) - a local but nationally rated photographer. Tony gave an articulate and instructive interpretation of his approach to Minimalism with a splendid display of prints and images. A Zoom presentation by Inaki Hernandez (https://www.ihlphotography.com/ ) also impressed Members with superb images of architectural detail in minimalist almost abstract forms. Again full of hints and explanation with photographic art at its best.
The Club also won the Shaston Challenge - a three way friendly but close competition with Shaftesbury and Ringwood so congratulations to the Members whose images were selected.
10/03/24
Another recent successful Club outing was to Sculpture By the Lakes. We were so pleased that we went ahead with our visit in spite of the weather. The rain stopped as we arrived and gave us perfect conditions -overcast and still. The reflections were excellent and the still- dripping sculptures and catkins were a photographer's dream. Much time was spent trying out ICM and multiple exposure inspired by our recent talk from Andy Page. We finished off with a very cosy coffee by the log fire in the cafe. See some of our images here.
SCPF(Southern Counties)
After a nail biting round 7 of the SCPF League it was down to the last round to decide if we stay in League One or be relegated to League Two. So, we were delighted to have come 7th in the last League competition thus putting us just above the relegation zone. Huge congratulations to the participants - especially given that there are 70 Clubs overall! The challenge once again is to stay up in League One next season.
03/03/24
We have been incredibly lucky to have had recent presentations from two talented professional photographers. Mark Bauer (https://markbauerphotography.com/profile/) is local but of national repute as a landscape photographer.(LPOTY) We were reminded of the great opportunities on our own doorstep and how to make the most of light and composition. Andy Page(https://www.silverliningphotography.co.uk/) also excels at traditional landscape photography but also showed us a more abstract and thought provoking interpretation. We all learn so much and find inspiration from such gifted photographers.
Well done NIgel Gidney for winning both PDI and Print sections of our League 4 competition. Full results here.
01/02/24
After 5 out of 8 rounds WCC is holding it's head high in SCPF Division 1 with some excellent 10 scores by Nigel Gidney and Gordon Chamberlain. The latest Round was hosted by Wareham. However with three rounds yet to come we hope to improve our position further by the end of the competition.
Member Graham Tarrant gave an excellent presentation last week on 'Great Bear Country' to a full house of Members and guests. He travelled by yacht along the Alaskan coast and we were treated to many fine images of bears and whales as well as evocative coastal landscapes.
A recent Club outing was arranged for a morning photo shoot at the two main churches of Wareham - both originally Saxon but with St Martin's largely unchanged with some fine wall paintings.(Images here) Quite a challenge with available light but nevertheless enjoyed by all attendees. Many thanks to Jean Dixon and Mike Brown for continuing to organise these sessions.
17/01/24
Happy New Year to all Members and browsers!
League 3 results (09/01/24) can now be found in Internal Competitions. Well done to the winners.
We have already had two great presentations this year by our own Tim Green (https://www.timgreenphotography.com/) and also Dapper and Jude (https://www.dapperandjude.com/). Tim took us to North Dakota and Montana with evocative images of abandoned farmsteads and autos - remnants of the old settler West, while Dapper and Jude showed mainly portraits of elderly isolated farming inhabitants of northern Romania. The latter were beautifully lit, full of character and important evidence of a rapidly disappearing way of life. All were high quality images with interesting and informative themes.
20/12/23
We have enjoyed a very successful first half of the season with high standard presentations and Members showing their usual impressive imagination and skills in League Competitions 1 and 2 (Internal Competitions) as well as in the Theme Competitions.
We ended the year with an entertaining Christmas Club evening with a selection of short AV's and presentations by Members which took us to Peru, Italy, Brazil, Canada and Norway together with some creative and skilful interpretations of our local area. Most of all we were treated to a magnificent 5* buffet organised by Jean Dixon and her team - a feast for the eyes as well as the stomach! (see images) and now look forward to an equally successful New Year. Best seasonal wishes to all .
01/12/23
Well done so far to those Members whose images were entered for this year's SCPF league. We are currently third out of eight in Division1 after two rounds but plenty of rounds still to come going into next year. A great start however.
12/11/23
Well done Mike Grigsby and NIgel Gidney who won The Intimate Landscape competition for prints and PDI's respectively. The brief was well interpreted by Tony Worobiec who judged with great perception and clarity. Full results here.
A group of members also visited Kingston Lacey last Thursday focussing on the Japanese garden with Jean Dixon ably modelling as a coy geisha! The weather was kind and colours were stunning. Images can be seen in Club Activity/Kingston Lacey 2023.
26/10/23
October has been a busy month at the club. As well as the usual excellent presentations an outing was organised to Dorset Falconry Park - a challenge to capture the 70mph peregrine falcon but lots of opportunities with a range of raptors. We've shared an epic photographic exploration of Western Canada with Di and John Tilsley, wonderful wildlife images from Adrian Davies (https://www.adriandaviesimaging.com/ ) and superb landscapes from Jack Lodge.
(https://www.jacklodge.co.uk/). Jack not only showed outstanding images and prints but gave us a wealth of information on his thoughts and techniques - instructive and inspiring. Finally a very enjoyable Club 'Knockout' evening was won by Nigel Gidney with his excellent Highland Cattle portrait.
01/10/23
Congratulations Jean Dixon and Mike Grigsby- winners of DPI's and Prints respectively in the first League Competition of the season. Full results here.
24/09/23
A great start to the season. Brian Chard ( Link here... ) treated us to many splendid wildlife images - especially of birds- with a variety of habitats and activity. Great technique and enormous patience and mainly local - exotic locations not always necessary! The SCPF presentation reflected the extremely high standards of the region for all of us to aspire to and last week Andrea Hargreaves ( Link here...) demonstrated outstanding imagination and processing technique with her mysterious and evocative images of a Nordic world of dragons and goddesses. A lively discussion of 'photography or art?' ensued!
10/09/23
Pictures from an Exhibition! Click here.
13/08/23
2023 EXHIBITION
A huge THANK-YOU to everyone who contributed to our Exhibition in any way, We all felt that it was a very successful day: our prints were shown off at their best and hundreds of people heard about Wareham Camera Club and its programme and friendliness.
As an extra bonus we were able to offer people the most delicious homemade cakes and drinks and they could win prizes in our legendary raffle. We made £113 on teas and £144 on the raffle - plenty of money to pay for the hall and have a bit left over.
Many thanks to everyone who helped in any way.
Jean Dixon
Chairperson
01/08/23
We were delighted to be asked to exhibit 18 framed prints in the ‘Not Just Sundaes’ community cafe, Trinity Church, South Street. The cafe is a hidden gem, a place to enjoy a coffee, home made cakes or a light lunch. The building is a beautiful historic building that used to be the Church of The Holy Trinity. The Exhibition will run for the Summer. See images here.
02/06/23
Continuing the garden theme from the Holme Gardens visit around a dozen members met at Carey's Secret Garden near Wareham yesterday.(01/06) A morning of wonderful sunshine, brilliant colours (roses, lupins, alliums etc) as well as learning about the garden's history and the current project of restoration and community involvement. Check their website : https://www.careyssecretgarden.co.uk/.Jean Dixon and Mike Brown organised the visit and suggested a range of techniques we could try. A very successful and enjoyable morning and images can now be seen here.
We continue to enjoy some excellent presentations and League Competition 1 has already started our season of competitions.(full results here). Well done Ann Barlow and Tim Green, winners of DPI's and prints respectively.
Tim Green (https://www.timgreenphotography.com/) also gave us an outstanding presentation with images collected from his travels along Route 66.Tim excels in both architecture and landscape with a real feel for true 'Americana'. We are lucky to have a number of Club photographers of such professional standards.
We have also enjoyed presentations from Guy Edwards (https://www.guyedwardes.com/ )with his outstanding 'Creative Nature Photography' including images from Dorset - and also Sid Jones demonstrating a sophisticated expertise with superb mono prints. We are always both entertained and educated by our excellent presenters.
Members' Reviews
Tim Green took us along on his travels on Route 66 - the highway that stretches from Chicago to Los Angeles County - 2,400 miles. It was dotted with small towns, roadhouses and motels. Eventually it was replaced with new interstate highways and the old road and the businesses that served it were left to fade away. Fade away is what they did beautifully in the dry desert air leaving peeling paint, old neon signs and empty motels. Tim captured all this in the images he showed conveying these abandoned buildings gently fading in the vast open spaces. His passion for this era of American life showed in every image and the audience was caught up in the atmosphere of this abandoned highway.
Sid Jones made a welcome return to the club with his 'Monolands' talk, he entertained us in the first half with PDI's both Colour and Monochrome detailing his travels round the world. In the 2nd half we were treated to his many beautiful 'Monolands' project prints. Clearly his darkroom skills of the past come into play when printing and his commentary was altogether engaging, inspiring and interesting.
10/09/24
Members were privileged this week to have a presentation by our local professional Andy Farrar.(https://www.andyfarrarphoto.com/ ). Andy features regularly in our national photography magazines and won Landscape Photographer of the Year in 2015. The key characteristic of his work is his sensitive use of light which showed brilliantly in the many stunning images of our local Jurassic Coast as well as Norway. He also discussed his preference for long lens landscape photography to capture a more detailed aspect. A great evening with a modest but highly professional photographer and much appreciated by all who attended.
08/09/24
Our new season has begun with an excellent presentation and a very wet Club outing! Suzie Kirkby energised returning Members with the best images from SCPF last year. It was inspiring to see and appreciate such imagination and quality from the region - including some of our own Members' work- and motivated us all to get busy for the competitions to come. Our first outing however was only partly successful. A visit to Harman's Cross Vintage Car Rally turned out to be our first wet outing in a year. There are always photo opportunities however and we made the most of raindrops and passing steam trains. We felt very sorry for the soggy exhibitors and exhibits but look forward to other expeditions during the coming season. See images here.
24/08/24
We held our Annual Exhibition in Wareham Town Hall on 24th August this year. The hall was full of images and we were delighted to hear the glowing remarks of the people who came to view them. The morning was quieter than usual because of the tremendous rain which caused a 4 foot wide river at our door but sunshine in the afternoon brought lots of visitors. The club were able to show a huge variety of superb images and we felt rightly proud of ourselves. Many thanks to everyone who made it a great day
Our new season begins on 3rd September and we can't wait to get started as the programme looks so interesting.
15/05/24
A brilliant Club visit to Brownsea Island last Friday (10/05). The weather was perfect and after coffee Members scattered throughout the island to pursue their own photographic opportunities over some four hours. Wild fowl from the hides were rather scarce but few could resist the red squirrels behind the church. The island and Poole Harbour as a whole was bathed in Mediterranean sunshine with one Member even sailing across independently. Again thanks to Jean Dixon and Mike Brown for organising and we look forward to more 'expeditions' next season. See a selection of images here.
30/04/24
We have finally reached the end of our season meetings with the AGM and Members' awards. Jean Dixon gave a summary of the year's events and was warmly thanked for her splendid service as Chairperson - now succeeded by John Ives. Details of next year's Committee will be posted shortly. Jean gave us hints of an exciting programme next year which includes some prestigious photographers and we all look forward to this. Annual awards (images here) were duly presented by Jean and the evening was completed with a selection of Club competition images .Although the meetings have finished for this season we can still look forward to another Club outing to Brownsea Island (10/05) and our Annual Exhibition on August 24th in Wareham town hall.
07/04/24
As we head toward the end of the season our final internal competitions - League Comp.5 and Best of Year - have been completed. Well done NIgel Gidney for Best of Year in both DPI's and Prints and Nigel again and Gordon Chamberlain in League 5. Full results here. Our Best of Year competition, ably judged by John Tilsley, again demonstrated the amazing range and quality of our Members' work. Many thanks to all Members who make the time and effort to enter the competitions which form the heart of Club activity and do start collecting possible images for next year!
28/03/24
Yet another busy month including a Club outing to Athelhampton House - a small number of Members but it offered interesting forms and subjects in a beautiful garden and architectural setting.(images here)
We were also treated to an excellent presentation by Tony Worobiec ( https://www.tonyworobiec.com/) - a local but nationally rated photographer. Tony gave an articulate and instructive interpretation of his approach to Minimalism with a splendid display of prints and images. A Zoom presentation by Inaki Hernandez (https://www.ihlphotography.com/ ) also impressed Members with superb images of architectural detail in minimalist almost abstract forms. Again full of hints and explanation with photographic art at its best.
The Club also won the Shaston Challenge - a three way friendly but close competition with Shaftesbury and Ringwood so congratulations to the Members whose images were selected.
10/03/24
Another recent successful Club outing was to Sculpture By the Lakes. We were so pleased that we went ahead with our visit in spite of the weather. The rain stopped as we arrived and gave us perfect conditions -overcast and still. The reflections were excellent and the still- dripping sculptures and catkins were a photographer's dream. Much time was spent trying out ICM and multiple exposure inspired by our recent talk from Andy Page. We finished off with a very cosy coffee by the log fire in the cafe. See some of our images here.
SCPF(Southern Counties)
After a nail biting round 7 of the SCPF League it was down to the last round to decide if we stay in League One or be relegated to League Two. So, we were delighted to have come 7th in the last League competition thus putting us just above the relegation zone. Huge congratulations to the participants - especially given that there are 70 Clubs overall! The challenge once again is to stay up in League One next season.
03/03/24
We have been incredibly lucky to have had recent presentations from two talented professional photographers. Mark Bauer (https://markbauerphotography.com/profile/) is local but of national repute as a landscape photographer.(LPOTY) We were reminded of the great opportunities on our own doorstep and how to make the most of light and composition. Andy Page(https://www.silverliningphotography.co.uk/) also excels at traditional landscape photography but also showed us a more abstract and thought provoking interpretation. We all learn so much and find inspiration from such gifted photographers.
Well done NIgel Gidney for winning both PDI and Print sections of our League 4 competition. Full results here.
01/02/24
After 5 out of 8 rounds WCC is holding it's head high in SCPF Division 1 with some excellent 10 scores by Nigel Gidney and Gordon Chamberlain. The latest Round was hosted by Wareham. However with three rounds yet to come we hope to improve our position further by the end of the competition.
Member Graham Tarrant gave an excellent presentation last week on 'Great Bear Country' to a full house of Members and guests. He travelled by yacht along the Alaskan coast and we were treated to many fine images of bears and whales as well as evocative coastal landscapes.
A recent Club outing was arranged for a morning photo shoot at the two main churches of Wareham - both originally Saxon but with St Martin's largely unchanged with some fine wall paintings.(Images here) Quite a challenge with available light but nevertheless enjoyed by all attendees. Many thanks to Jean Dixon and Mike Brown for continuing to organise these sessions.
17/01/24
Happy New Year to all Members and browsers!
League 3 results (09/01/24) can now be found in Internal Competitions. Well done to the winners.
We have already had two great presentations this year by our own Tim Green (https://www.timgreenphotography.com/) and also Dapper and Jude (https://www.dapperandjude.com/). Tim took us to North Dakota and Montana with evocative images of abandoned farmsteads and autos - remnants of the old settler West, while Dapper and Jude showed mainly portraits of elderly isolated farming inhabitants of northern Romania. The latter were beautifully lit, full of character and important evidence of a rapidly disappearing way of life. All were high quality images with interesting and informative themes.
20/12/23
We have enjoyed a very successful first half of the season with high standard presentations and Members showing their usual impressive imagination and skills in League Competitions 1 and 2 (Internal Competitions) as well as in the Theme Competitions.
We ended the year with an entertaining Christmas Club evening with a selection of short AV's and presentations by Members which took us to Peru, Italy, Brazil, Canada and Norway together with some creative and skilful interpretations of our local area. Most of all we were treated to a magnificent 5* buffet organised by Jean Dixon and her team - a feast for the eyes as well as the stomach! (see images) and now look forward to an equally successful New Year. Best seasonal wishes to all .
01/12/23
Well done so far to those Members whose images were entered for this year's SCPF league. We are currently third out of eight in Division1 after two rounds but plenty of rounds still to come going into next year. A great start however.
12/11/23
Well done Mike Grigsby and NIgel Gidney who won The Intimate Landscape competition for prints and PDI's respectively. The brief was well interpreted by Tony Worobiec who judged with great perception and clarity. Full results here.
A group of members also visited Kingston Lacey last Thursday focussing on the Japanese garden with Jean Dixon ably modelling as a coy geisha! The weather was kind and colours were stunning. Images can be seen in Club Activity/Kingston Lacey 2023.
26/10/23
October has been a busy month at the club. As well as the usual excellent presentations an outing was organised to Dorset Falconry Park - a challenge to capture the 70mph peregrine falcon but lots of opportunities with a range of raptors. We've shared an epic photographic exploration of Western Canada with Di and John Tilsley, wonderful wildlife images from Adrian Davies (https://www.adriandaviesimaging.com/ ) and superb landscapes from Jack Lodge.
(https://www.jacklodge.co.uk/). Jack not only showed outstanding images and prints but gave us a wealth of information on his thoughts and techniques - instructive and inspiring. Finally a very enjoyable Club 'Knockout' evening was won by Nigel Gidney with his excellent Highland Cattle portrait.
01/10/23
Congratulations Jean Dixon and Mike Grigsby- winners of DPI's and Prints respectively in the first League Competition of the season. Full results here.
24/09/23
A great start to the season. Brian Chard ( Link here... ) treated us to many splendid wildlife images - especially of birds- with a variety of habitats and activity. Great technique and enormous patience and mainly local - exotic locations not always necessary! The SCPF presentation reflected the extremely high standards of the region for all of us to aspire to and last week Andrea Hargreaves ( Link here...) demonstrated outstanding imagination and processing technique with her mysterious and evocative images of a Nordic world of dragons and goddesses. A lively discussion of 'photography or art?' ensued!
10/09/23
Pictures from an Exhibition! Click here.
13/08/23
2023 EXHIBITION
A huge THANK-YOU to everyone who contributed to our Exhibition in any way, We all felt that it was a very successful day: our prints were shown off at their best and hundreds of people heard about Wareham Camera Club and its programme and friendliness.
As an extra bonus we were able to offer people the most delicious homemade cakes and drinks and they could win prizes in our legendary raffle. We made £113 on teas and £144 on the raffle - plenty of money to pay for the hall and have a bit left over.
Many thanks to everyone who helped in any way.
Jean Dixon
Chairperson
01/08/23
We were delighted to be asked to exhibit 18 framed prints in the ‘Not Just Sundaes’ community cafe, Trinity Church, South Street. The cafe is a hidden gem, a place to enjoy a coffee, home made cakes or a light lunch. The building is a beautiful historic building that used to be the Church of The Holy Trinity. The Exhibition will run for the Summer. See images here.
02/06/23
Continuing the garden theme from the Holme Gardens visit around a dozen members met at Carey's Secret Garden near Wareham yesterday.(01/06) A morning of wonderful sunshine, brilliant colours (roses, lupins, alliums etc) as well as learning about the garden's history and the current project of restoration and community involvement. Check their website : https://www.careyssecretgarden.co.uk/.Jean Dixon and Mike Brown organised the visit and suggested a range of techniques we could try. A very successful and enjoyable morning and images can now be seen here.