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TPS are pleased to report that two more members of the club have just been awarded a Licentiateship distinction for the Royal Photographic Society (LRPS). Marie-Ange Bouchard and Brian Smith successfully submitted their panels of 10 prints for assessment by the RPS judges in Bath - the panels are now viewable in our Galleries section.
Both Marie-Ange and Brian will be happy to accept congratulatory drinks at any of the summer pub meetings!

With the conclusion of our AGM we have now reached the end of the official programme for 2006-7; all the competition results are now in, and can be seen here. Congratulations to all the new trophy holders. Trophies and cups will be presented at our annual dinner on June 7th.
We're not quite done for the year, however. Our summer programme of informal meetings and outings has now been published, to keep us all busy.
As a result of the AGM, there have been some changes in the club committee officers, and these will be posted on the Contacts page shortly.

The simplicity of digital cameras combined with home computers has opened-up serious photography to a whole new group of enthusiasts. You can now make competition quality pictures without locking yourself in a darkroom for hours on end. The recent increase in the membership of TPS is a testament to the widening interest in the subject.

On Thursday 25th January TPS held its first audio-visual (AV) members evening, for showing AV presentations produced by members using still images and accompanying musical soundtracks. With 12 digital AVs submitted, plus one traditional slideshow, the evening was judged a resounding success, and a tribute to the enthusiasm and talent of our members. More details here.

The new season has started well, with several prospective new members coming along - but we can always take more!

The Summer Challenge was well supported, with members giving brief talks on their summer activities on topics ranging from Tuscany to cuddly Toys, Butterflies to Bouquets.

** Our first digital competition is due to take place on 5th October - members should consult the submission guidelines when preparing their images for submission.

The current version of the TPS Handbook is also now available as a PDF download here.

The season's programme ended with our AGM and annual dinner, at which a new Committee was elected, and some competition rules changed to allow for the inclusion of digitally projected images using our newly acquired projector and laptop. Competition winners were presented with their awards at the well attended annual dinner, which took place this year at the GrassHopper, Westerham.

In addition, a special award of a lifetime membership was made to our Secretary Steve Elms, in honour of the ceaseless time and energy he has brought to the running of the club over many many years (and long may he continue).

Further to the receipt of the money from our Awards for All grant, mentioned below, the club is now the proud owner of a high resolution Canon XEED SX50 digital projector. Soon to be added to our equipment resources will be a laptop computer, and monitor profiling equipment.

The press release and accompanying photo for the award can be seen here.

Paul Knivett, our club Treasurer, has good reasons to celebrate, along with other club members:

1. TPS has been awarded a new grant from the Awards For All section of the National Lottery fund. This grant will enable the club to purchase a digital projector, laptop computer, and software in order to stage more events such as digital imaging workshops, digital photo and audio-visual (AV) presentations, and ultimately to run new competitions for digital images and AVs.

2. Paul has also recently been awarded an ARPS distinction, taking to two our ARPS count among current members, and acting as a spur to the rest of us.

Well done Paul.

Jayne Britton has become only the 2nd club member ever to gain an ARPS Distinction in 40 years (according to our records). The first ARPS was for Dr Don Withey who was club chairman between 1994-1999, so that makes Jayne our first female ARPS.

We've yet to see her panel, but it will hopefully be on show during our RPS Panels evening later in November, but its bound to be stunning.

Well done Jayne.

Our studio evening on the 27th was unusual for a number of reasons - an EGM, a dog - but primarily because we were treated to a special presentation. Mr Graham Philips, who, along with his father, was a founder member of the Caterham Community Camera Club in 1964, returned to the club to present us with a magnificent glass trophy, to be awarded annually to the member most deserving it, as decided by a vote of all members.

Mr Philips gave a short but entertaining and informative speech, and presented the trophy to the current chairman Gerard Mulryan - pictures here

On Saturday 8th October TPS will be holding its annual exhibition and open day. There will be an exhibition of prints and projected images, and members of the club will be on hand to discuss photography and provide information on the club to people who may be interested in joining us. Entry is free to all.

The event will be held at the United Reformed Church in Harestone Hill, Caterham (opposite Morrisons car park) from 10am to 4pm; everyone is welcome whether you are interested in becoming a member, or would just like to while away some time looking at photographs and enjoying a cup of tea or coffee.

On Saturday 17th September TPS will be hosting a stall at the annual Hurst Green village fair. Prints by club members will be on display and available for purchase. Members will be on hand to discuss photography with anyone who cares to visit.

The programme for the 2005-06 season starts on the 1st September with a Members Evening, and fun Summer Challenge competition. Its the ideal time for prospective new members to come along and find out what the club is all about.

Even though our formal programme has come to an end for the summer, we nevertheless have a series of informal activities arranged throughout the summer. Details can be seen here.

As the current season comes to a close, TPS extends an invitation to members and other local photographers to join us for informal meetings and drinks over the summer. For our first summer meeting we will be at The Bull in Chelsham on 23 June around 8pm. For more details about the society and an informal invitation to take part in some of our activities download our invitation.
(The invitation requires Acrobat Reader - download from here if you don't already have it.)

The 3rd round of the Colour Print competitions was completed on the 31st March, and the overall winners announced. Details of the current winners can be found on our Results page, whilst full details of every participant are recorded on the TPS private message board.

Yet another TPS member has gained an RPS distinction - Karen Baldwin successfully submitted a panel of 10 beautifully printed images to gain a well-deserved LRPS distinction. Her lovely panel can be seen in our members Gallery here.
Congratulations Karen.

Take sixteen apprentices, a make-up artist, hairdresser, three photographers and a dedicated Orpheus support team. Add a large quantity of cosmetics, hair gel, wax, some shaving foam, lights, cameras, music and action. Stir together for a day...

TPS were delighted to be invited to support the Orpheus Fashion Show event this month. Steve, Paul and Jayne transformed the Orpheus' Dry Studio into a Fashion Studio for the day. In between shots the apprentices were transformed by Emma and the Orpheus team. In a take-off of the high street fashion studio apprentices were encouraged to be glum for the before pics - no mean feat for such a fun-loving group of people - then the music turned up, the mood lifted and the dancing began for the after shots. The results were shown on Fashion Show day (18th March) and can be seen here. We also took some photographs during the Fashion Show itself and these can be seen here.

We'd like to take this opportunity to thank everyone at The Orpheus for allowing us to be part of this event and for being so welcoming, encouraging and enthusiastic throughout. We'd particularly like to thank Meriel for her meticulous planning of the fashion shoot timetable and to congratulate her and the whole team on a fantastic evening show.

Regular members were delighted to be joined by some new visitors and also by many new friends, who have come along in recent weeks, returning with a view to joining TPS. These evenings provide an opportunity for hands on advice and experimentation: we had a full range camera equipment in use from pocketable digital compacts to full blown SLR systems with a choice of lenses. Everyone was able to use their own kit, and many took the first step to switching off the fully automatic mode. We also had the Society's own digital camera available, which found its way home at the end of the evening with a long time member and film enthusiast.

Paul gave us a great overview to using the Society's studio lighting, encouraging everyone to have a go. As usual he was well into the spirit of things, acting at various times as model, assistant and studio manager. As I'm sure you now all know the equipment is available for members to borrow and try out at home. The still life setup used lighting you probably already have at home - anglepoise lights with daylight bulbs and white card reflectors. Jayne set up subjects of flowers and shells and discussed backgrounds and depth of field with anyone prepared to listen.

We hope that you all enjoyed the evening and that you will come along again sometime soon. From our new members we would very much like to hear your views on what you would like to see as future events, and how we can help you to get the most from your membership.

We are holding a Studio Evening on Thursday 17th February. This is a chance to try your hand at some portrait photography using the club's studio lighting. Experienced members will be on hand to set up the studio, and will explain what they are doing and how to get the best from the lighting, as well as giving everyone a chance to try their hand at portraiture. If you aren't up for people photography we also have a still life studio setup showing you how to create your own mini-studio at home with some simple equipment and lighting.

TPS meet in the Community Centre, Caterham on the Hill. Cost: £2, TPS members free.

We were delighted to welcome so many visitors and prospective members to our digital event on the 6th. It was a great evening and Marcus shared lots of in-depth knowledge with us on digital cameras, how they work and what to look for in selecting one. He was also able to give general advice on the plethora of digital imaging software out there, and some basic tips on how to use those to make effective changes to our 'not so good' images. This is a theme that will be developed over the course of our programme and will come up in our future educational evenings.

We look forward to welcoming many of our visitors back to future events and seeing some more regularly as new members.

TPS will be holding an evening focused on Getting the most from your Digital Camera on Thursday 6th January 2005. If you received a digital camera at Christmas, this session could help you to get the best from it. Marcus will be hosting this evening and providing some valuable insights for everyone.

Our weekly meetings are held in the Small Hall (at the rear of the) Community Centre, Caterham on the Hill. Cost: £2 to visitors; TPS members free.

BBC Southern Counties have invited TPS to take part in a feature about digital photography. Our Chairman, Marcus Scott-Taggart, will be talking to Mark Carter about digital cameras, photography, the club and specifically the digital evening that he is hosting at the society on Thursday 6th January.

The feature will be broadcast during the show on Christmas morning.

TPS are proud to announce that our Chairman, Marcus Scott-Taggart, has begun his first full season as a photographic judge with the Surrey Photographic Association. Marcus attended the judges' assessment day with the SPA last season and on acceptance was approached by several clubs asking to include him in their programme. Marcus will be visiting Horley, Grayshott, Cheam and Epson as well as returning to Camberley, which was the very first club at which he judged. Marcus is the Chief Consultant at Pira International (UK Printing Research Association in Leatherhead) responsible for Prepress and Graphic Technology. His "day job" revolves around imaging technologies and the quality of colour & monochrome reproduction for all forms of publishing and packaging. Last season Marcus gave a presentation to the club about colour and colour vision, for this season he is preparing an introductory talk about getting the best from your digital camera and recognising how your traditional photographic skills do translate into parallels for the digital world.

On Saturday 23 October, we will be holding an open day to celebrate the club's 40th anniversary. There will be an exhibition of prints and projected images, and members of the club will be on hand to discuss photography and provide information on the club to people who may be interested in joining us. We also hope to be able to demonstrate our studio equipment and digital camera, and will be giving practical taster sessions of our new educational programme which is being launched this season. Entry is free.

The event will be held at the United Reformed Church in Harestone Hill, Caterham from 10am to 4pm; everyone is welcome whether you are interested in becoming a member or would just like to see some photographs and have a cup of tea or coffee with us.

Paul Knivett has long been a keen photographer and last year took the decision to formalise this interest by pursuing a degree in photography at NESCOT. Paul has always done well in club competitions (he has been a member of TPS since 2001) and has been able to develop his photography further through the challenges set over the last twelve months of study.

In 2004 he put forward an excellent panel of slides from his travels in Peru for assessment by the Royal Photographic Society and was successful in gaining the LRPS distinction. Paul's panel can be viewed in his portfolio on the RPS website. Congratulations Paul, you have our best wishes for your second year of study and we look forward to hearing of more well deserved successes.

The new season of meetings has now started, so plenty to keep us busy over the coming months. Steve has produced a newsletter to start things off, with a roundup of recent and forthcoming activities. Those who missed it can download it here.

New Pot-Pourri gallery added to the Gallery page.
Reminder: Last summer meeting on the 19th, at the Barley Mow in Tandridge village.

Images from the Orpheus Centre project are now available online - click here.

The new TPS website is now up and running - this is it. Hope you like it.

Saturday 17th April from 11am to 3pm. at The Orpheus Centre , Godstone, Surrey.

TPS will be exhibiting the photographs taken during our year long project with the centre. These pictures were taken at a range of events, beginning with the Open Day held last July, and many more from the performances and concerts that have been staged since.

We will also be showing a range of other work by TPS members, who will be available to discuss the project, the many photographs on display, and photography in general.

The final winners of the 2003-4 Colour Print Competitions have been announced.

• Large Colour Prints, Joint Winners: Jayne Britton & Karen Baldwin
• Small Colour Prints, Winner : Jayne Britton
• Commercial Colour Prints, Winner : Charles Toovey

Full details can be found on the Competitions page.

icSurreyOnline publishes a story about the TPS association with the Orpheus Centre.