We welocome Judge: Rebecca Entwistle to our club this evening for our annual Portrait competition. It is always a delight when a Judge is as warm and encouraging as Judge Entwistle, she brought her insight and critical eye to bare on our Photographs and with encouragment and critique made her decisions. Thank you again to our Judge for her efforts and insights.
Open Competition No Restrictions 2022
After the success of our Soul Train photographic assignment we return to regular comptitions and we welcomed Judge Terry Hewitt to officiate. As always with Judge Hewitt we were treated to insightful and relevant critique, which will help them members grow and grow. Congratulations to everyo who took part and thanks once more to Judge Hewitt.
Soul Train at the Theatre Royal
We were approached by Soul Train to photograph their wonderful show at our local theatre. We have to thank all the cast of Soul Train and the staff at the Theatre Royal St Helens for allowing us access and time to cover the show. Both Stephen Sheridan and Paul Simms did a wonderful job in capturing the energy and fun of the evening. As camera clubs we sometimes are thought of as tied to one or two genres of photography, however at St Helens camera club we pride ourselves on the fact that we cover all genres. Hope you enjoy the pictures from the night. Credit to the performers at Soul Train. All images are copyright by Stephen Sheridan and Paul Simms. all rights reserved 2022.
SoulTrainShow
Latest Results – Annual Exhibition
We come at last to our Annual exhibition showcasing work created by our members throughout the year, we were joined by Judge Rob Hockney DPAGB BPE5 who had a difficult job in scoring our efforts from this year. Many thanks to everyone who contributed and most especially to Judge Hockney on the evening.
2022 Landscapes comptition
We were rewarded by a night of high quality landscapes this evening and more so by the insights and comments of our guest Judge, the widley regarded Judge: Paul Williamson LRPS. Who was a real inspiration, guiding our competition with comments and useful advice. Thank you Judge Williamson.
St Helens Interclub Comptetition Results
The St Helens Interclub competition took place last night via Zoom, the host club was Ormskirk CC. The judge was George Steele from Bury PS
Results for the Nature/Record Trophy (all entries were nature)
5th Ormskirk CC (64)
4th Wigan PS (66)
3rd St Helens CC (68
1st = Warrington PS (70) & Atherton PS (70)
Results for the Open Trophy
5th Atherton PS (130)
4th Wigan PS (134)
2nd = St Helens CC (136) & Ormskirk CC (136)
1st Warrington PS (139)
Congratulations to Charles Connor and Colin Douglas for getting images into the ‘held back’ section and scoring greater than 17.
Tillman Kleinhans ARPS EFIAP/g DPAGB BPE4*: A 50 year Retrospective
As part of our restart program in 2021 we are presenting a few of our members Biographies and experiences in the Art of Photography and where better to start than our esteemed member and highly respected Judge Tillman. In this article he describes his journey in photography from his beginnings in traditional film photography to his up to date approach to digital photography.
Thank you to Tillman for allowing us to showcase his outstanding contribution to the Art of Photography.
Tillman Kleinhans ARPS EFIAP/g DPAGB BPE4*: A 50 year Retrospective
On the 23rd of February 1971, I bucked the family trend and got a camera (Zenit B + Helios f2 lens) for my 21st birthday instead of a posh fountain pen. 50 years on and without a break, I’m still as passionate (Marj, my wife, says obsessive) about photography as I was then – probably more so.
What made me decide to get a camera? At that time in my life I was at Teacher Training College and when I should have been revising for Chemistry and Physics exams in the college library, I would find myself distracted by the Amateur Photography magazine. Those and the subsequent Photography books I would read (when I should have been studying!) fuelled a desire to have a go at photography to fill an ‘arty’ void that I wasn’t ‘allowed’ to pursue at school.
Within weeks of getting the camera, I had moved the wardrobe in my bedroom and turned the resulting alcove into a makeshift darkroom and started monochrome printing. That and colour transparency became the mainstay of my photographic output during the BC years (Before Computer). I joined The St Helens Camera Club in 1976 (still a member!) and in 1979, encouraged by my Mother in Law, I successfully applied for my LRPS using monochrome prints. During the mid 80s I was invited to become an L&CPU Judge and Lecturer – I’m now also a PAGB Judge. Although I would photograph any subject, I found that I most enjoyed producing images that were a little ‘different’ from the usual camera club fare and I particularly liked architectural graphic and abstract images. I also realised that the image was more important than the way it was produced and this idea led to some good debates over the years, especially during the home processed v trade processed prints ‘debates’ of the late 80s and early 90s and more recently with ‘Photography v Digital Art’ discussions.
I started the transition from film to digital in 1996, but it wasn’t until 1999 that I decommissioned my last darkroom, which meant I no longer had to share the utility room with the cat or my wife, as I would scan and digitally print my negatives and slides and I could now do my own colour prints. Within a few more years I had sold all my film cameras and had gone totally digital. In 1998 I achieved my CPAGB with colour slides, in 1999 my DPAGB using prints and 2000 saw my successful ARPS application in Visual Arts with a mono print submission based on patterns and textures.
I have really enjoyed the AD years (After Digital) which opened up a whole new range of possibilities for the creative photographer, and I look forward to the photographic challenges of the future.
Fortunately, spending all that time reading and learning about photography didn’t stop me becoming a Science teacher, a career that lasted 39 years until my retirement and I was fortunate to be able to teach photography at all the schools in which I worked.
hands 1980s
St Helens Camera Club – September 2021 re start.
After a very, very difficult time we are pleased to announce that we are starting our actual club meetings again on the 6th September 2021.
May we take the oppertunity to thank everyone who has helped to support the club in the past year, including Judges, Committe members and the entire club members.
On the web site we are publishing the interim Syllabus for 2020/2021 and updates will follow as we book guest speakers and events for the upcomming season.
Please continue checking the web site and our facebook page for updates. Assuming the current situation continues as planned then we can all meet up again in September.
Should the situation change then we will announce them as quickly as posible both on this Web site and on our facebook page.
See you all soon and Keep well and Keep safe.
Our Final Competition competition of the 2020/2021
And so we come to our last competition of the 2020/2021 season and what a strange season it has been. We must congratulate all our members for their high quality enties to our competitions. In this strange year everyone has risen to the challenge of the various lockdowns and produced outstanding work.
We must also congratulate all our Judges throughout the season for their efforts and advice.
Hopefully later in the year we can continue with actual meetings and resume our social calendar, so until we can meet up in person, Stay safe and keep well, see you all later in the year.
St Helens V Atherton competition
This years competition was neck and neck until the final few images, and Atherton proved to be too strong, pulling away and taking victory late in the competition.
The quality of the enteries was exceptionally high from both clubs and our Judge on the night was hard pressed to seperate the two clubs, however late in the competition Atherton managed to pull away from us with two stunning twenty point images.
Congratulations to Atherton on a very hard fought contest and well done indeed to our members who submitted images of the highest order.
Looking forward to next years competition where circustances will allow we hope to meet face to face in the more traditional mannor.