A review of all the summer events with awards for the Best Summer Images.

An introduction to the new Buddy Scheme.  Those who wish to will be paired with a "Buddy" to work on a photographic project together for presentation to the club at a later meeting (3rd February 2026).   The project will involve composing an image, and processing it for presentation.  The subject matter is "Just Two".     We will try to make sure that inexperienced photographers are paired with someone with more experience.

If you would like to be a part of the Buddy scheme, you can sign up before the first meeting by contacting Nicky - programme@stives-photoclub.org.uk

Nicky will give a presentation on Camera Set up.  She will talk about camera settings and advance preparation that can help to maximise the chance of achieving the shots you would like.  She will discuss customised mode programming, customising buttons and will discuss her own particular choices of settings for different scenarios.  Although her genre of photography is primarily wildlife, this talk applies to all genres.  Preparation is key, whatever you are shooting!

For the second half of the evening, we will have an open discussion on camera settings for different scenarios, and tips from other members.  Please have a think about this in advance and contribute to the discussion if you can.   In the final part of the evening Jonathan will also help us to get to grips with photo sizing and pixel count - a subject which is often not well understood.

We are delighted to welcome Ann Miles FRPS MPAGB FBPE AFIAP back to St Ives.  Ann is a member of Cambridge Camera Club, but also an acclaimed member of the London Salon.  Ann has been a photographer all her life and taught general and nature photography at university degree level for 10 years.  She gained an Associateship in Nature and a Fellowship in Visual Arts and served as Deputy Chair of the Fine Arts Panel for 8 years.  Currently she sits on the Natural History Distiction Panel.  This reflects her wide spectrum of Photographic interest.  In a change to the previously published programme, Ann will now be talking about her techniques for creative architecture photography

This is an informal evening where we have a look at the images submitted by the teams which took part in our summer event - the St Ives Challenge.  The winning team is decided on a knock-out basis according to an audience vote.

Image - Ise Berridge

On the same evening we will have some tables set up so that members can sell any photographic equipment they no longer need.  Please have a route through your gear and price anything you bring along, making sure your name is also on the label.

There will be help available for anyone wanting last-minute advice on the following week's competition.  We will be demonstrating re-sizing of images for Photoshop and Lightroom.  For anyone wanting to re-size and do basic edits without buying Photoshop and Lightroom, Debbie will demonstrate some free software for anyone interested.  This is an informal evening and a chance to ask questions, and chat generally.

The first of our 6 Open- Themed Competitions.  Entries close one week before the competition.  We have two sections - a Print section and a Digital section.  All entries to be submitted using PhotoEntry.

More details to follow.  We are delighted to host a variation on the normal competition with Swavesey, which we hope will be a lot of fun!

The church will not be available so there is no formal meeting.  However, we will meet outside the church at 7.00pm to capture the fun of the fair.

A guide and practical session for flash photography from our resident expert, Jonathan.  Please bring a camera and memory card.

On this evening, committee will be on hand to help anyone wanting advice for the up-coming monthly competitions.  If you are unsure of the rules, how to get the right sizing and format for PhotoEntry or have any other queries, there will be help available at this meeting.

The second of our 6 Open- Themed Competitions.  Entries close one week before the competition.  We have two sections - a Print section and a Digital section.  All entries to be submitted using PhotoEntry.

Our members' exhibition will once again be held at the Free Church on 31st October2025 and 1st November 2025.  All members are encouraged to exhibit their work.  This is a great showcase for the efforts of our members.

Smart Shooting part 3 - dare to focus

We are delighted to welcome Bob to St Ives for his talk "Dare to Focus".

Bob is a professional PhD zoologist, a qualified teacher, a highly experienced photographer, Fellow of the RPS and naturalist passionate about his work and sharing his observations of wildlife with others.  He firmly believes it’s not good enough just to say “do this” but rather to say “this is how you do this”.

Bob is a wildlife photographer but his talk is equally applicable to of all other genres and is one of a series he was invited to develop to help people in their journey from the ordinary to the extraordinary and taking their photography to a new level. Each talk covers a particular area and this one covers the often-considered difficult area of auto focus. It covers fast moving subjects but also the principles and important development and approaches that will increase your success. Bob firmly believes that we too often consider autofocus has been solved especially on the latest mirrorless cameras but whilst there have been massive improvements its technique and an understanding of the principles, none of which are very complex, these are what is required to succeed and Bob will take us through them.

Bob has many years experience teaching all levels of photographers on many different cameras in workshops, 1-1’s and African Safaris. He promises us that we will leave this evening with a better understanding of what can be done, how to do it and fired up to take our cameras out and masted autofocus.

https://naturesphotos.co.uk/camera-club-talks/.

A fun evening where members' images are displayed in pairs on the screen with an audience vote for the image which goes through to the next round.  We will then invite members to talk about the images they have presented.

Committee will be available on this evening to give advice to anyone who is unsure of the rules of the Quartet and George Dellar competitions or needs help with an entry.

Tom Lane will entertain us for the evening.  Tom, will talk about "creative elements" in his photography and then for the second half of the evening will discuss his street photography.   This will include Photoshop tuition, so please bring a notepad and pen if you would like to take notes.

A huge thank you to Tom for covering the whole evening as Tony was unable to deliver his planned talk.

The third of our 6 Open- Themed Competitions.  Entries close one week before the competition.  We have two sections - a Print section and a Digital section.  All entries to be submitted using PhotoEntry.

kevin pigney - SEASCAPES & LANDSCAPES

We are excited to have included this talk on our Programme.  Not only does Kevin show us some of his amazing seascape and landscape photography, but he also shows us how to prepare for a shoot, and explains the kit required, using filters, his camera techniques and exposure and focus blending.

One to look forward to!

Naomi Saul will be judging the competition between St Ives. St Neots, Ely and Swavesey.  Members of all clubs are welcome to attend.

The quartet competition is a panel competition on any theme.

1. DPI and Prints.
2. Entries should consist of a panel of 4 separate images on a common theme and are judged as a panel, NOT individual images.
3. DPI’s should be submitted as a single digital file and the 4 images should be clearly distinguishable.
Prints can be on any number of mounts e.g. 4 images on 1 mount, or 4 separate mounts, or 2 mounts with 2 prints on each.
4. Maximum of 2 entries, not previously used in any internal competition.
5. Only the highest scoring image from each member is counted toward the final scores.
6. Only one image is to be awarded the maximum of 10 points, to ensure that there is a clear winner.

End of season social event for members and their guests