I was sorry to miss the first competition night of the new season last week – unfortunately I arrived back from holiday with a stinking cold, and I don’t think any of you would have appreciated me turning up and passing it on…

Congratulations to everyone who entered and especially to those who were awarded the higher scores. From what I hear it was a good evening, though a little rushed, partly due to the tragic accident on the A38 which delayed the start, but also due to the number of entries that the judge had to get through. The club is somewhat the victim of its own success here – we have (I think) our highest ever recorded membership, but that means lots of competition entries.

The committee has been discussing possible ways of making future competition nights less rushed and more enjoyable for everyone. We have a little more flexibility over the meeting times than we had in previous seasons, and one possible answer is to run a little longer on competition nights, either starting earlier or finishing later (or both). Another possibility would be to restrict the number of entries to two per member rather than three, but we would prefer not to if it can be avoided. We would value feedback from members on which of the above changes they would be happy (or happiest) with – I know that starting earlier may present challenges for some.

We have also noted that the “advanced” members often end up getting the raw end of the deal on nights where we run out of time – the novices get lots of critique, but the judge speeds up at the end to try to finish on time and the advanced images are dealt with very quickly. This is a shame for all members, since everyone could benefit from listening to the critique of these images, as well as being unfair on these members. It has been proposed therefore that in future competitions we will adjust the order so that we don’t always leave the advanced images to the end. In particular, it has been suggested that on print competitions there is much to be said for having the advanced images viewed before the interval so that members can view them up close during the break.

Coming up this Tuesday we have our first Studio Night of the season, so make sure you bring your camera. If you have a choice of lenses, usually something like a 24-70mm or equivalent will work well. For the benefit of new members I have forwarded an email from Mark, our Studio Night co-ordinator, describing how these work. Our model this week is Valentina – I’m not sure she has modelled for us before, so should be a chance to get some new images.

We often run a sales table on model nights, and I propose that we will do so again this week. THere’s still a good stock of photography-related books and print framing material (and no doubt a tripod or two) at the club waiting to be sold, and please bring along any surplus camera gear or related junk/treasure if you would like to sell it. You can choose to donate anything from 15% to 100% of proceeds to club funds.

I have had a note from our social secretary Helen Cox indicating that she plans to resurrect the “BPS T-Shirt” purchasing opportunity. You may have seen some members wearing these at special events such as the High Street stall, or inter-club competitions. At this point Helen is trying to gauge interest for a potential bulk purchase – cost likely to be around the £12-13 mark. Anyone interested please talk to Helen or me.

Finally, a quick reminder that tea/coffee during the break are £1 and biscuits 50p – the exceptions being whoever is collecting refreshments for the judge/presenter, and whoever brought the milk (usually me).

That’s all for this week – I look forward to seeing you all on Tuesday.

Richard