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On Friday 3rd February, a 'first-time' visitor to KPS - NICK JENKINS ARPS, AWPF - brought us his talk with projected images called "The Great Outdoors"
We thoroughly enjoyed an evening of inspiring landscapes and seascapes - with a smattering of Nature pictures too. We saw many of the excellent pictures which can be seen on his website: www.freespiritimages.com

This evening we were taken well 'back in time' with the presentation by John Long of prints dating back to the formation of the Society in 1948. We viewed beautiful darkroom work finalising with a collection of 13 prints given to KPS by Frank Reece Winstone for safe keeping. All 13 prints were over 100 years old and are now kept in the Bristol Record Office. John had arranged to collect these prints for our enjoyment - thank you John, it was the highlight of the evening.

KPS have an Annual Exhibition and the winner of the best print of the exhibition is awarded the Bennett-Salanson Bowl. In the second half of the evening we were shown all the winning prints from the beginning to today's date which obviously spanned the darkroom and digital eras.

Mike Callenger is a members of KPS and this evening he gave a presentation of his work which was absolutely superb. The first half of the evening was taken up with prints covering wildlife to his travels around the UK and America. Beautiful prints which would add enjoyment to any home. The second half we were taken to places where most of us would not even attempt, trekking miles and sometimes arriving to disappointment after all the effort. The images were just breathtaking but the stories behind the capturing of the images were even more interesting. Thank you Mike, you certainly entertained us.

Rather unusual to see members arriving with a notebook and pencil - but essential this evening when Ray Grace ARPS conducted a Photoshop Clinic. Ray explained all about layers, shortcuts, raw files and was able to demonstrate techniques and answer questions previously put to him by members. A very instructive evening!

The first meeting of the year brought us Barry Mead FRPS, EFIAP, MPAGB with the talk titled "Oh No, not another evening with Barry Mead"
We were entertained a series of projected images of Kenya, Florida, Yellowstone and other locations - including pictorial landscapes, people pictures and wildlife including lots of those feathery things which come under the generic heading of 'ducks' !
It was also most interesting to see some of Barry's creative work and the programme had warned us that we would see a section on bats!

During the last meeting of the year, I was given a great surprise by fellow members of KPS to celebrate the fact that in a week's time I will become an octogenarian!
During our refreshment time, the lights went out and Vanessa Herring came in bearing a birthday cake made in the form of a Canon Camera, very cleverly designed and made by her daughter Philippa McFeat. Later I was also presented with a Birthday card signed by the members, and also a delightful framed print for my wall. This print is by Barry Senior Hon.FRPS, Past President of the RPS.
To say the least, I was overwhelmed by the thoughtful gesture of my friends, and I thank them all most sincerely. The big day is actually the 26th. Pictures by Adrian Herring and Geoff Cole

For our final meeting of 2011, we held a fun night on Friday 16th December, when we split into 6 groups for a "Match the Picture" competition. The idea being that one group puts up a picture and the other five have to try to match it. Great fun - and lots of cheating! Our Vice-Chairman Adrian Herring was the "judge" (?) and in this picture one group had the nerve to put up their picture on a mobile phone!
We then broke for refreshments and general chit-chat - so ending another successful year for Kingswood P.S.

At the end of the four Quarterly Competitions the winners were:
Open Prints;
Trophy John Long ARPS
2nd Peter Phillips LRPS
3rd Elizabeth Restall LRPS

Open DPI's:
Trophy Peter Phillips LRPS
2nd Jeff Morgan
Joint 3rd Adrian Herring
Mike Martin

Intermediate prints:
Trophy Pat Bryan
2nd Dave Bryan
3rd Colin Crossley

Creative Tankard;
Winner Mike Martin
2nd Elizabeth Restall LRPS


left to right Mike Martin, Peter Phillips, Pat Bryan, John Long

The Open Class Print results were as follows:
1st "Swanage Old Pier" by Peter Phillips LRPS
2nd "That Way" by John Long ARPS
3rd "Casa Batllo" by Adrian Herring ARPS



The Open Class DPI results were as follows:
1st "A Length Ahead" by Vanessa Herring LRPS
2nd "Flower Impression by Mike Martin
3rd "The Potter" by Peter Phillips LRPS

The final part of our Quarterly Competition for 2011 took place on Friday 9th November and was judged by PAT EMERY who gave careful consideration to both the Intermediate and Open Print Classes and the D.P.I class.



The Intermediate results:
1st "Sanctury before the Storm" by Colin Crossley
2nd "An English Country Garden" by Pat Bryan
3rd "Flight of the Bumble Bee" by Dave Bryan

On Friday 2nd December we should have had a visit from Paul Foley FRPS, but due to hospitalisation we was unable to be with us. Paul had arranged for a colleague to lecture in his place, so we had the pleasure of hosting DAVE MASON with his talk "I'll get me Coat"
Dave is a member of Arena, London Independent Photographers and Mirage groups, and is a 'street photographer' A great evening evolved with great pictures delivered with thoughtful comments and a great sense of humour!

On Friday 25th November, one of our own members Adrian Herring ARPS, DPAGB presented a excellent evening of prints and projected images from his trips (with Vanessa) to the Ukraine, Croatia, Barcelona and many others locations. This was in our programme as "The Chairman's Evening" - although since the recent AGM, Adrian is now Vice Chairman! He is a Fotospeed Sponsored lecturer and my photograph shows him with some of his images on Fotospeed sample sheets.

Peter Phillips LRPS (left) was presented with the VIVIAN CROUCHER MEMORIAL PLATE for the best individual print in the 2011 Kingswood Salver competition (see report and illustration below) The presentation was made by Rod Wainwright ARPS.

At our meeting on Friday 18th November, Tony Poole ARPS was presented with the "Clubman of the Year" trophy for his assistance with the running of digital workshops. He is seen here with the Chairman Adrian Herring ARPS, DPAGB

The Annual General Meeting of the Society took place on Friday 18th November. Several existing committee members "changed hats" and we are pleased to welcome two completely new committee members, these being Larissa Pleydell-Roberts as Hon.Secretary and Andy Beel FRPS as Hon.Programme Secretary. After many years of membership and committee service, both Brian Cheer ARPS, DPAGB, APAGB (left) and Geoff Nash (right) were presented with Honorary Life Membership by the outgoing Chairman Adrian Herring ARPS, DPAGB.

The Competition bearing our name is a Western Counties Federation inter-club event, and this year we received a Highly Commended award with this set of prints:



The Plate for the best print in the whole competition was won by our member Peter Phillips LRPS with his print "Horgabost Beach" seen extreme left in our panel

23 clubs entered and the judge was Margaret Salisbury FRPS, FIPF, EFIAP, APAGB

The Group of award winners:
Back row left to right: Mike Martin, Dave Edwards, Shaun Boycott-Taylor, Pat Bryan, Eddy Lane
Front row: Elizabeth Restall, John Long

This event was held on Friday 11th November and we were delighted that so many visitors joined our own members to view the Exhibition. Eddy Lane ARPS, one of the three judges (the others being John Tilsley ARPS, DPAGB, APAGB and Di Tilsley CPAGB) was in attendance to present the awards.
The Trophy for the Best Print in the Exhibition was awarded to Elizabeth Restall LRPS for
"Lonely Rock" (the same print also received the Best Colour Print award and the Best Pictorial award)



The Trophy for the Best Projected Image went to Mike Martin for "Film to Frame"



To see the full results click here - 1 Awards Listing

It would be of considerable assistance to the Competition and Exhibition Secretary of you would download this PDF file and print yourself a set of entry forms for the 2011/2012 season. Click here: Kps Comp Entry Form

I am delighted to report that Kingswood Member John Hoddinott had a highly commended picture in the "Landscape Photographer of the Year" Competition with his picture 'Jurassic View, Man-O-War Bay, Dorset, England' It has been featured in the book and will be on display at the National Theatre in London during December and January.
This is John's comments which accompanied the picture:
"I had been watching the storm clouds moving slowly out to sea, so as I breathlessly hurried down to the beach, I very nearly passed by this wooden fence, almost flattened by the recent strong winds and now lying in the grass. Luckily it caught my eye and I was immediately reminded of a huge bone structure, left from some prehistoric beast, which I thought was rather fitting for an area known as the gateway to the Juassic Coast"