RPS Landscape Group Newsletter, October 2018

NEWSLETTER OCTOBER 2018 / VOL. 3 / NO. 7

CONTENTS

© Duncan Locke see page 4

Editorial Welcome to the October newsletter.

You may be wondering why the September edition did not appear? It was simply because there were not enough articles, or images, to warrant a newsletter.

I hope it’s because you were out filling your cameras with good images – in preparation for flooding me with articles over the winter months. Go on ! Try me!

You’ll find an article from our Chair, Richard, about this – hoping to generate a little more activity. However, the gap has created a bumper edition, this time.

Meanwhile, Duncan Locke has continued his fascinating article from June about his trip to China.

Please keep your articles and images flowing!

01 Editorial 02 Portland Field Trip 03 News of Vacancy – Secretary to the Landscape Group 04 China – part 2 by Duncan Locke 06 News from the Landscape Group Chair – Richard Ellis 08 Drones 10 Architecture 13 Members’ Gallery 14 Adding borders 18 Southwold 20 Peak District 22 The Gower 24 Wirral 26 What’s on 27 Events

Submissions The deadline for submissions to the next newsletter is Saturday 8th December. Please note that it may be necessary to hold some submissions for a future newsletter.

If you have an idea for article, please send a brief synopsis of the purpose and content of the piece. Please submit your images as jpegs, sized to 72 dpi with 1200 pixels along the longest edge and borderless.

Please send all submissions by email to: landscapenews@rps.org

Regards, Mick Rawcliffe, Newsletter Editor

NEWSLETTER OCTOBER 2018 / VOL. 3 /NO. 7

A night to remember.... by Kevin Gibbin.

One Saturday night in June a group of landscape group members gathered at Portland in Dorset for a workshop on shooting landscapes and skyscapes at night.

The evening started before dark with a briefing by event leader and professional photographer Ollie Taylor, running through the technicalities involved in shooting at night.

Once it got dark - which, being June, was late into the evening! - the group went on to put their theory into practice, shooting both landscapes, featuring the famous Portland Bill lighthouse, and the night sky.

For those of you who missed it, we are planning another similar event with Ollie in the future so keep your eyes on the landscape group events page at www.rps.org.

Alistair Lofthouse

Francis Peckham

Alistair Lofthouse

Francis Peckham

David Glyde

David Glyde

NEWSLETTER OCTOBER 2018 / VOL. 3 / NO. 7

Vacancy - Secretary of the Landscape SIG Pauline Benbrook has decided to step down as secretary to the group at the AGM in March – this is to allow her to focus on other charity work. I would like to thank Pauline for her excellent and dedicated service to the group.

We are now looking to recruit a secretary for the Landscape SIG. This is a key role on the committee and one of the three mandated by the RPS for the SIG to function. The other two roles are chairman and treasurer.

The duties of the secretary role are primarily administrative rather than photographic.

The key duties are to -

Arrange an annual schedule of SIG committee meetings and ensure that all committee members are informed of the schedule

-

Make suitable arrangements for the holding of all SIG committee meetings – whether these are online or face-to-face

-

Compile agendas for all committee meetings and circulate these approx. one week in advance of each meeting

-

Ensure effective minutes are recorded at all meetings and distribute draft minutes to all committee members within one week of each meeting

-

Send a monthly welcome email to all new members of the SIG providing relevant information about the group

-

Arrange an annual general meeting in accordance with the group’s constitution and relevant society procedures in conjunction with the chairman

-

Organise nominations and elections to the committee in accordance with the group’s constitution and relevant society procedures

If you feel that you are able to take on this role the please contact Pauline or Richard to have a discussion of what the role entails.

Pauline Benbrook – landscapesecretary@rps.org Richard Ellis - landscapef16@gmail.com

NEWSLETTER OCTOBER 2018 / VOL. 3 /NO. 7

Be There Early!

Further into China Duncan Locke LRPS

I did take some wide panoramas, which although a useful record of the scene, did not work as well photographically as the close-up abstracts.

In deeper water the seaweed is grown on ropes hanging from floats again providing an interesting and unusual seascape.

In the June 2018 Newsletter I described two superb Chinese landscape locations: the Yellow Mountains and the Zhangjiajie National Forest Park (NFP). These formed part of a combined landscape and nature photography group tour of China that I did in April 2017.

I also visited two other equally good locations: the coastal area around Xiapu, which is very popular with Chinese photographers, but rarely visited by foreigners and the Li River famous for its Karst Mountains and cormorant fishermen. As with the Yellow Mountains and Zhangjiajie NFP these destinations get very crowded and you had to be there (very) early to have any chance of getting your camera set-up at the front!

We spent four days in Xiapu, which is on the south east coast of China roughly half way between Hong Kong in the south and Shanghai in the north; the nearest big city and airport are at Fuzhou. Xiapu is at the centre of a large seafood producing area where shallow water and many inlets and offshore islands provide shelter for seaweed farming and fishing. Put ‘Xiapu China’ into a search engine to find its location and to find images of the area.

Bringing in the Seaweed Harvest Fishing is from boats and keep nets supported on bamboo poles, again driven into the seabed, provide more abstract shapes and also work well in monochrome.

Photography of the seascapes at Xiapu falls into two categories: abstract shapes and forms and images of people working in this abstract background. Many of the images that I took worked better in monochrome than colour especially as the light was not always great while we were there.

In shallow water, seaweed farming is on bamboo poles driven into the shallow muddy seabed. There are literally tens of thousands of poles which provide endless abstract shapes from a good vantage point.

Abstract – Boat Amongst Bamboo Poles

Feeding the Fish

Fishermen and Boats Waiting for the Tide

NEWSLETTER OCTOBER 2018 / VOL. 3 / NO. 7

The area around Xiapu is very popular with Chinese photographers often in organised groups and equipped with the latest expensive camera gear! Numbers are such that in five locations that we visited local entrepreneurs had built hotels (in varying states of completeness!), generally about four or five stories high and with viewing platforms on the upper floors and roof just for photographers.

Fortunately there were no restrictions on non-residents using these very useful platforms.

One entrepreneur had gone even further by creating an artificial seascape just for photographers, with keep nets, sandbanks and when the tide was just right a smartly dressed fisherman paid to row his clean shiny boat between the nets.

Cormorant Fisherman Before Dawn The fisherman was excellent and we photographed him for nearly three hours starting in virtual darkness and ending in full daylight just as the river started to get busy. A great experience, but again you are aware that the fisherman makes his living by posing for photographers not from catching fish!

Photogenic Keep Nets with ‘Fisherman’ Some of what you photograph at Xiapu may not be quite what it seems! However, it is a very big seafood producing area with many hard working Chinese families making a living from the sea. The photography is excellent so do go if you get the chance.

From Xiapu we travelled to Guilin before transferring to a hotel in Yangshuo which is about 75km south of Guilin on the Li River. Put ‘Yangshou China’ into a search engine to not only find its location, but also to find images of the river and the landscape.

We spent four days in Yangshuo, which is one of the main tourist centres on the Li River, which is famous for its dramatic Karst Mountain landscape and cormorant fishermen. I stayed in Yangshou in 2010 on a previous photographic tour and like much of China, it had changed enormously in the seven years since then and is now much bigger and more commercial with many more shops, restaurants, etc.

We didn’t arrive in our hotel until late evening and were just settling in when our guide announced that we had to leave at 0345hrs the next morning to photograph a cormorant fisherman. Why so early! The reason was so that we could travel to a secluded spot on the Li River, well away from any other photographers and take pictures of the fisherman at first light. The river is also calm at this time in the morning so good for reflections before it is churned up by numerous pleasure boats.

Cormorant Fisherman at Sunrise We made several attempts to get good images of the Li River and Karst Mountains from high viewpoints including at dawn and dusk. Unfortunately conditions were misty and overcast with uninteresting light so I decided not to include any images here.

As with Xiapu, this is a great area for photography so do go if you get the chance, but the usual warning applies: Be There Early!

NEWSLETTER OCTOBER 2018 / VOL. 3 / NO. 7

Chairman’s Chat I hope you all enjoyed the previous newsletter – Mick is to be congratulated in keeping the high standard set by Jim. It was a very impressive newsletter.

We have delayed the publication of this one due to a lack of content. Despite many appeals for articles, photographs, details of interesting places very few people come forward to say that they will write an article and even fewer actually deliver.

As I meet members of the group their enthusiasm for landscape photography is palpable, yet as soon as I suggest they write about some of it, they become shy and mutter something about their work is not good enough. The way to improve, is to put your work out there and get some feedback and the newsletter offers an excellent route to get your work seen by a wider audience.

Nicola, the previous RPS Volunteer coordinator, tells me people find it easier to volunteer for a one-off task such as writing an article. So, I wonder, why do we get such a poor response. The volunteer rate in the RPS landscape SIG is about 2%. Put this another way – if you had a three-form entry for a primary school and asked for volunteers for the nativity play you would only have Mary and Joseph.

There are over 750 members of the group, so if everyone submitted one article we would have an abundance of riches for Mick to put in the newsletter and Robert to put in the magazine. We would have location guides, interesting landscapes from travel and abstract landscape work to name but a few. If you are not sure about the type of article you could produce then please have a look at previous editions.

To paraphrase Kennedy “ask not what your SIG can do for you but what you can do for your SIG”. We really do need more of you to come forward with contributions. Please give some thought to an article you could write and then turn that thought into action.

NEWSLETTER OCTOBER 2018 / VOL. 3 / NO. 7

You can send it to Mick for the newsletter at landscapenews@rps.org or for the magazine to Robert at landscapemagazine@rps.org. If I can help in any way you can contact me at landscape@rps.org.

Thank you very much for what I hope will be a deluge of articles.

Richard

Women in Photography One hundred years ago, women got the vote and to help commemorate this wonderful event the RPS is organising a programme of celebration. The first is the delivery of 100 medals for pioneering female photographers. If you know a landscape photographer who you think fits the definition of a heroine then please let us know at landscapef16@rps.org. You can get more information at www.rps.org\100heroines.

The RPS is also planning a symposium to celebrate women in photography so if you know a cutting-edge female photographer who could contribute to this please let us know at the above email.

Finally, we are looking to run some landscape events focussed on female photographers.

These will run between April and June 2019 to coincide with the symposium. If you would be interested to run something e.g. a mum and daughters photo workshop or guided walk then please step forward. Again, you can email at landscapef16@gmail.com

NEWSLETTER OCTOBER 2018 / VOL. 3 / NO. 7

A bird's eye view Earlier this year the Landscape Group ran its first event for drone photographers - or would-be drone photographers. The aim of the workshop was to give participants a taste of drone photography whilst, at the same time, explaining the (extensive!) safety and regulatory considerations that must be taken into account when using drones for aerial photography. By the end of the day, whilst everyone enjoyed the event, those of us who didn't already own drones mostly came to the conclusion that many pilotphotographers must either spend a lot of time on getting all the right licences and permissions in place or they fly without strictly abiding by the law and adhering to the Civil Aviation Authority's Drone Code!

Nevertheless, the weather was ideal and the flying was fun. Whilst no masterpieces were created on the day, we all managed some interesting shots in two different locations on the Wirral coast.

Mark Reeves

© Mark Reeves

© Mark Reeves

© Gaynor Davies

© Gaynor Davies

© Gaynor Davies

© Mark Reeves NEWSLETTER OCTOBER 2018 / VOL. 3 / NO. 7

All three images © Mark Reeves

NEWSLETTER OCTOBER 2018 / VOL. 3 / NO. 7

Building on success

Architectural Workshop

Report by Mark Reeves For fans of modern architectural photography, Manchester has to be one of the best destinations in the UK and so was chosen as the location of a recent workshop led by professional photographer Colin Jarvis. Love them, or hate them, there are modern buildings all around the city, interspersed with its industrial revolution era redbrick and stone. And, of course, just next door there is Salford Quays, home to the Lowry (theatre and arts venue), Media City and Daniel Libeskind's iconic Imperial War Museum North.

It was one of those days with cumulus clouds making their way across the blue sky, driven by a chill wind. Good for architectural photography but only when the clouds were in the right place at the right time!

Knowing the locations well, Colin led the group to many varied locations around the city, ensuring that we were at each of the different buildings at the best times of day and, after a break for a pizza, on to capture Salford Quays at dusk.

It was a long and tiring day but one memorable not only for the great range of locations but also for the fact that we were joined by 13-year-old Rona, the Landscape Group's youngest member.

ImagesII Images Š Rich Barrett NEWSLETTER OCTOBER 2018 / VOL. 3 / NO. 7

© Gaynor Davies

© Gaynor Davies

© Rona Bhattacharya

NEWSLETTER OCTOBER 2018 / VOL. 3 / NO. 7

Architecture Workshop continued

© Mark Reeves

© Mark Reeves

© Mark Reeves

© Rona Bhattacharya

© Gaynor Davies

NEWSLETTER OCTOBER 2018 / VOL. 3 / NO. 7

Members' Gallery

Abandoned at Tymarnhayle Lindsay Southgate LRPS Editor’s note --

Only one individual image has arrived since the July edition.

Submission Guidelines Please send your Members' Images by email to landscapenews@rps.org.

Please submit your images as jpegs, sized to 72 dpi and with 1200 pixels along the longest edge.

It would also be helpful if you would provide a caption and a note of any RPS distinction that should be added to your credit for the image.

The deadline for the next newsletter is Saturday, 8th December 2018. Thank you!

NEWSLETTER OCTOBER 2018 / VOL. 3 / NO. 7

Speeding up your workflow; adding borders in Photoshop This article will explain how to go from this

to this

in seconds!

The key to adding borders and frames is successive resizing of the "canvas"; the imaginary base layer of all images in Photoshop. Enlarging the canvas, as opposed to the image itself, leaves the image untouched whilst extra pixels are added around it to make NEWSLETTER OCTOBER 2018 / VOL. 3 / NO. 7

the canvas bigger. By repeating this process several times, borders of different thicknesses and colours can easily be added.

To see this in practice, try the following: 1. open any image in Photoshop 2. From the menu select Image > Canvas size This will open the following dialogue box:

The top section of the dialogue box reports the current size of the image in pixels. Below, it asks what size you would like the new canvas to be. You have the option to specify this in pixels, in various measures such as inches or cm, or as a percentage of the original image.

Ticking "relative" will allow you to specify the new size relative to the old size, whereas leaving this unchecked you will have to specify the new size in absolute terms. For example if you wish to increase a 6000 x 4000 pixel canvas to 7000 x 5000, you can either: • leave "relative" unticked and enter the new size of 7000 x 5000 or • tick "relative" and enter 1000 x 1000 - which will have the effect of adding 1000 pixels in each dimension.

Whichever approach you choose, the result will be the same.

[Note: if you specify the new canvas size as a percentage, say 10% relative, the canvas size will expand by different amounts in each dimension - in the case of a 6000 x 4000 image it will grow by 600 pixels in width and 400 pixels in height.]

The "anchor" is used to specify where the new pixels are added. By default, Photoshop will add the pixels around all four sides of the image so that the image remains centered on the canvas. We will leave this default setting unchanged.

NEWSLETTER OCTOBER 2018 / VOL. 3 / NO. 7

Finally, and very importantly, the "canvas extension colour" must be specified. If you wish to add a white border to your image, you should specify white.

To frame the above sunset image (which was 2700 pixels x 2700 pixels), I used the following steps: 1. increase the canvas size by 6 pixels in each dimension with the canvas extension colour set to black. This adds a thin (3 pixel) black stroke border to the image.

2. Increase the canvas size by 400 pixels in each direction with canvas extension set to white. This adds a small white border all around the image.

3. Increase the canvas size by 6 pixels in each direction with canvas extension set to black. This adds a second thin black line.

4. Increase the canvas size by 2000 pixels in each direction with canvas extension set to white. This adds a large white border all around the image.

5. Increase the canvas size by 560 pixels in each direction with the canvas extension set to grey. This adds the grey frame to the image.

To automate the process, so that in future you can do this with a single click: 1. Open the Actions pane by selecting Window > Actions from the main menu. This will open a new pane similar to the one below:

2. Click the "create new action" icon (5th from the left at the bottom), give your action a name (such as "Add Borders") and then click "Record". When you do this the round record icon should turn red. Photoshop will now record whatever actions you take.

3. Complete the canvas resizing steps as above (using whatever dimensions you like) 4. When you have finished resizing the canvas, click the square icon next to the red circle to stop recording.

NEWSLETTER OCTOBER 2018 / VOL. 3 / NO. 7

In future, when you wish to add the same set of borders to an image, just open Window > Actions, click on your Add Borders action and then on the triangular play button at the bottom of the dialogue box.

You can now use this ability to record actions to automate many processes that you may perform regularly in Photoshop - e.g adding titles or a signature to an image, resizing an image for a camera club DPI competition, adding a group of commonly used layers such as levels, curves, high-pass filter, monochrome conversion etc.

Mark Reeves LRPS

Note from The Editor Mark has provided a useful insight into making borders and retaining the procedure in “Actions”. If you find this type of article useful, and would like to learn more, please let me know and we’ll see what else we can provide.

Email to landscapenews@ RPS.org

NEWSLETTER OCTOBER 2018 / VOL. 3 / NO. 7

RPS Landscape Group Day Out at Southwold and Walberswick – 22nd September 2018 The day was spent photographing the coastal landscapes of Southwold and Walberswick, which are situated both side of the river Blyth and Southwold harbour. I knew the area well so I could assist my fellow landscape group members as much as required. But sorry to say I was restricted in my movements due having a fall a few days earlier, which led to having sciatica pains in my back/legs. (On the mend at last) 12 members had put their name down to join me on the day, but 5 did not attend, most likely due to the distance they had to travel combined with the bad weather forecast for Suffolk. In the end we had reasonable weather, with good light at times and with no significant rain fall. Some people would say that bad weather is just what you need for good moody Landscapes.

We met at the entrance to Southwold Pier for coffee and we then spent the morning photographing the beach, pier, beach huts and nearby coastal buildings. High tide was around 09.30, so not much sand to be seen, but there were plenty of waves.

Some members bought sandwiches, but others joined me for lunch at the Harbour Inn where we had their well-known Cod and Chips After lunch the group visited Walberswick to take photographs of the dunes and the beach. Low tide was at 16.00, which exposed the old wooden stanchions from the old harbour entrance.

There was a range of travelling methods used to get from the Inn to Walberswick, some went the long way by car, others walked via the bridge west of the Inn and then down the river bank or by a ferry row boat service to east of the inn. (I understand since our weekend visit the foot bridge has been closed for safety reasons) Barry Freeman ARPS DPAGB APAGB.

St Andrew’s Church, Walberswick by Matt Clarke

NEWSLETTER OCTOBER 2018 / VOL. 3 / NO. 7

Southwold groyne and marker post

By Barrie Freeman

Marker Post by Barrie Freeman

Southwold Pier by Matt Clarke

Southwold Groyne by Matt Clarke

Artist at Southwold pier by Frank Kinch

Southwold Lighthouse by Frank Kinch

Blythe exit to the sea at Walberswick

By Fran Grimsdell

Southwold Pier by Fran Grimsdell

NEWSLETTER OCTOBER 2018 / VOL. 3 / NO. 7

Workshop Review – Staffordshire September 2018 Kevin Gibbin Six aspiring (well – at least that describes me!) landscape photographers gathered at 6am in the car park of the Three Horseshoes Inn on the Leek to Buxton road to join with Wayne Brittle, our guide and mentor for the morning. Sadly the promised 8% probability of rain became 100% actuality but happily this did not detract from the day as we shared a very enjoyable few hours with Wayne, discovering new locations and, in my case, rediscovering one, Ramshaw Rocks. My previous visit to the rocks had been in very different circumstances on a fine summer evening for the sunset!

Our hoped-for sunrise failed to materialise in the drab, wet conditions but this did not prevent us venturing out of the cars and undertaking the short climb onto Ramshaw Rocks and their fine tooth-like rocky projections. Wayne was able to point out a number of features along with suggestions as to how to incorporate them into our images to best effect.

After about 40 minutes we set off by car to Rudyard reservoir in the hope of obtaining more images there but conditions militated against any reasonable photography.

Happily we were able to obtain a warming cuppa from the boatman at the reservoir boat club while we surveyed the immediate area for possible future reference. Into the cars once more we headed for a lone tree on Grindon Moor; once again conditions precluded any realistic prospect of decent images but the location certainly provides fertile possibilities with appropriate light.

Our final destination of the morning was a derelict barn – how photographers love dereliction – just north of the Roaches, another accessible rocky outcrop just north of Leek. This time the rather drab conditions proved completely appropriate for the subject, the partially roofless barn being open to the elements. The main decision making was how to secure the best composition in order to show the tumble-down nature of the barn against the landscape.

My observations on the day? It was a pity about the weather but that is landscape photography in the British Isles and there are those who happily declare that some of the best weather for such image making is among the worst that Joe Public finds acceptable! Certainly we were able to make some images and Wayne proved a very accommodating and supportive mentor; from a personal perspective he provided excellent and appropriate advice on composition tailored to my own level without in any way being condescending and, in addition, introduced us to some excellent locations for further visits. I very much look forward to being able to attend a couple of lectures that Wayne will be giving over the next couple of months to see more of his own work.

NEWSLETTER OCTOBER 2018 / VOL. 3 / NO. 7

All images © Kevin Gibbin NEWSLETTER OCTOBER 2018 / VOL. 3 / NO. 7

Coastal photography in Gower – by Peter Douglas-Jones We stayed away from woodland and autumn colour as the tides were right for the beaches over the three days.

At Rhossili we split up to take photographs on the mediæval strip farming known as the Vile; and down at sea level in Mewslade Bay. Even with as few as half a dozen on a beach, it is easy to trail boot-prints in virgin sand. Courtesy prevailed; and everyone got shots.

We had an outdoor lunch at a pub in central Gower and a short drive to Three Cliffs Bay, which we caught at low tide.

On the second day the meeting was in north-west Gower for North Hill Tor, the salt marsh and ancient sea wall. We had to wait for direct sunlight, but had a little luck mid morning.

Whiteford Lighthouse (disused, cast iron sections) was deemed too long a walk for too little return. Lunch was at the Britannia Inn – outdoors again. Then we went to Broughton Bay, where cameras must be pointed away from the all-too-prominent caravan parks. We took in Bluepool Bay. This rock pool floods every tide and is scarcely larger than a jacuzzi; one of our number climbed down to it and got shots.

We ate together in the evening, widening the conversation by including someone not a photographer.

On the last day, and allowing for long homeward journeys, the meeting would end earlier.

At 9.30 the cars and camper-van were parked on the crest of Cefn Bryn, the spine of Gower, and the group walked to Arthur’s Stone, which is a cromlech. Nick Akers did well with a semi-wild pony and small pond on the common. The light was not what we had wanted but there was an unusual sky.

From there, fifteen minutes in the cars brought us onto the cliffs at the eastern end of Three Cliffs Bay, which we had approached at beach level two days before. Light on the bay itself was dull, but photographs were to be had of pools of bright sunlight on the steely surface of the Bristol Channel between Gower and the Hangmans in north Devon.

NEWSLETTER OCTOBER 2018 / VOL. 3 / NO. 7

© Mike Basham LRPS

© David Balaam

©David Balaam

© Liz Akers

© Nick Akers

©Liz Akers

© Peter Douglas-Jones

©Mike Basham

© Nick Akers NEWSLETTER OCTOBER 2018 / VOL. 3 / NO. 7

Long exposures on the Wirral coast – by Dave Whenham On a bitterly cold Saturday in October I turned up for my first ever RPS meet-up. Despite having rejoined the RPS in 2012 I have only previously attended talks and the like so this was to be my first time shooting as part of a group of RPS members.

There were around twelve of us in the group including Mick who was our guide and facilitator for the day. I had arrived soon after 7.30am for a 9am start. It was dark and very cold but I was very soon joined by another first-timer. I almost missed sunrise at 8.01am due to a call of nature but iPhone to the rescue and I had a snap for my blog at least!

We were in New Brighton on the Wirral and the main purpose of the day was long exposure photography so after a quick calling of the register there was soon a forest of tripods on the beach. It was a forest that was soon in rapid retreat however as the tide was coming in much faster than many of us expected. Stood a metre or so from the water’s edge I was lucky to get a shot composed and exposed before waves were lapping around my feet. Good job we had been told to bring our wellies. I wasn't alone in performing this tripod-wave dance either. Luckily Mick had all the tide details written down so he kept us all on the straight and narrow.

A blow-by-blow account of the day would soon become tedious so instead I will just comment briefly on my impressions of the day. I wasn't keen on going initially, mainly because there was no stated limit to the group size and I was concerned about shooting in a large group in a relatively small area. Would we be forever getting in each other’s way I wondered? I needn't have worried though as on the day common sense prevailed and the occasional photographer who strayed into shout was quickly moved by a friendly shout.

No names, no pack drill of course!

I am usually a solo photographer, occasionally shooting with a good friend but normally on my own so this was a big reservation for me but despite this I chose to go partly out of curiosity and partly because my wife told me not to be so curmudgeonly and anti-social.

I'm glad I did as I was told! Everyone was friendly and welcoming and I made a couple of new friends into the bargain. I didn't catch many of the other people’s names but spoke albeit briefly to most of them during the day - I just wish I had a better memory for names.

The knowledge of Mick, our friendly and approachable guide, saved all of us lots of aimless wandering and exploring as he guided us to areas of particular interest. This is also knowledge that I can apply when I return for a solo shoot at a later date.

So, what did I get from the day? Well, certainly, a few half-decent images which I am looking forward to printing in due course. I also got to chat to like-minded folk for most of my waking hours that day without boring the wife to tears. It's not something I'd want to do every day but chatting photography with some other enthusiasts was very enjoyable.

Most importantly though I enjoyed the company of a group of like-minded people.

Even this anti-social curmudgeon had to admit it was a grand day out!

NEWSLETTER OCTOBER 2018 / VOL. 3 / NO. 7

©Jim Todd

© Peter Coleby

©Jim Todd © Peter Coleby

©Richard Barrett

© Peter Coleby NEWSLETTER OCTOBER 2018 / VOL. 3 / NO. 7

• What's On Edward Burtynsky: The Human Signature Until November 24th Flowers Gallery, London In this age, the Anthropocene, we humans have more of an impact on the earth than any other forces.

And who better to document that than Edward Burtynsky?

These large format pictures are one strand of a five year project, combining film, VR and scientific research.

Flowersgallery.com

A selection of exhibitions & events which may be of interest to landscape group members

Mark Ruwedel Tate Modern, London Ruwedel's work shows how geological, historical and political events have left their mark on the landscape. The works in this display span 1995– 2012 and include images of abandoned railways, nuclear testing sites and empty desert homes.

Showing until December.

Conferences, Fairs and Festivals Kendal Mountain Festival.

15th – 18th November 2018 Kendal Mountain Festival is a true global adventure gathering and a premier adventure film & speaker festival.

It is award-winning and is the most diverse, creative event of its type in the world. Our vision is to inspire more people to explore, enjoy and represent mountains, wilderness and their cultures.

If you have, or know of, an exhibition you think may be interest to landscape group members, please email landscapenews@rps.org with details.

NEWSLETTER OCTOBER 2018 / VOL. 3 / NO. 7

EVENTS RPS South Wales Region Talk and Discussion: Mari Owen and Real Wales Photography Tours Sunday 18th November, 11:00 to 16:00 Port Talbot Following the South Wales Region AGM, all members, visitors, guests and non-members present are invited to a talk and discussion with South Wales based Landscape Photographer, Mari Owen and Real Wales Photography Tours.

Landscape Group members' day 25 November 2018 Oldbury, West Midlands Group Members and Non-Members are invited to attend the 2018 Members Day, we hope as many members as possible will be able to attend, held at the Smethwick Photographic Society’s club rooms.

The Members Day is an opportunity for members to meet informally to discuss and present their photographs, and it gives the organisers great pleasure to announce Wayne Brittle as the events guest speaker.

See here for details

See here for details

Waterfalls masterclass North Devon coastal exploration - day 2 Hartland 18th November 2018 The aim of the day will be to take in 3 locations and explore the Devon Coast. The day will involve walking up to 30 mins along cliff paths and scrambling over rocks on the sea shore. Regrettably the day is not suitable for those with mobility restrictions.

The locations will be based around Hartland. We will start at Mouth Mill bay and then move to Begberry beach and finish at Hartland Quay. These are great beaches with lots of rock structure.

See here for details

Nightshoot 24 November 2018 Bath Introduction to Night Photography Explore the wonders of nighttime photography during this creative, hands-on and revealing evening photography workshop. You will learn various creative techniques for working in low light conditions and painting with light.

During this workshop you will have the opportunity to photograph some of the renowned landmarks in the historic city of Bath - including Bath Abbey, Royal Crescent and Pulteney Bridge.

See here for details

02 December 2018 Yorkshire Dales This Yorkshire Dales on-location workshop will aim to give participants the skills to create stunning images of waterfalls, all within an area of outstanding natural beauty.

Based around the Dales between Ingleton and Skipton, we will photograph the falls at Goredale Scar, Janet's Foss, Scaleber Force and Ingleton.

We will practice using ND filters, Grads and long exposure photography. Workshop tutor Colin Jarvis will have spare sets of Lee filters for participants to use if you don't have your own.

See here for details

The Hidden Essex Coast 28 January 2019 Tollesbury This workshop focuses on discovering the hidden gems of the relatively overlooked Essex coast. There is much to interest photographers here tucked away in the creek riddled saltmarsh and meandering estuaries and we will visit two or three location that take in everything from old boats and rickety jetties to dramatic dead trees and colourful beach huts.

The locations suit a variety of techniques and, being a group B event, Justin will provide tuition on composition, camera settings, using filters and anything else essential to getting the best from this area.

See here for details

NEWSLETTER OCTOBER 2018 / VOL. 3 / NO. 7

Long exposures on the North Somerset coast 31 January 2019 North Somerset The stretch of coastline from Clevedon to Burnhamon-Sea, provides for the perfect location for long exposure photography. Clevedon's graceful Victorian pier, the magnificent long pier and vast stretch of beach at Weston-Super-Mare, and the striking Grade 11 Lower lighthouse at Burnham-on-Sea are our principle subject matter for this workshop, offering plenty of opportunities to make some wonderfully moody captures.

See here for details

Whitby and Saltwick Bay 07 February 2019 Whitby Whitby is a gem of a seaside town nestled around a small harbour at the mouth of the River Esk on the North Yorkshire coast. With its sweeping piers, Victorian architecture, Benedictine Abbey and cobbled side-streets, Whitby has attracted artists and photographers from around the world for over a hundred years! Due to its amazing Goth weekends held twice a year and one of the locations of the famous book, Dracula, Whitby has built a lovable reputation with a more sinister, dark side.

Saltwick Bay is a small, quiet beach made famous for its towering Nabs, Erratic boulders and an old shipwreck.

See here for details

Long exposures on the Fylde Coast 24 February 2019 Blackpool This is a Group C workshop designed to take advantage of a high tide occurring on this day. It enables you to take great long exposure shots of various coastal structures including sewage pipes (yes I know), piers, jetties and sculptures.

We will meet outside the Manchester Bar on the Promenade, there is plenty of parking along the seafront. You will need a minimum of two hours parking here because we will move location after we have finished in Blackpool. We will begin on South Shore beach, Blackpool and then head to St. Annes and Lytham and then up to Cleveleys. The workshop will run from 10.00AM until approx. 5PM. Full tuition will be given and the use of Lee filters if you don't yet own any.

See here for details

Landscape Group weekend conference and AGM 01 March 2019 - 03 March 2019 Great Malvern, Worcestershire

This will be the landscape group's second conference and AGM and it will be taking place in the scenic town of Great Malvern, on the foothills of the Malvern Hills AONB in Worcestershire. We are putting together another exciting programme of speakers and other events over the weekend with more to be announced in the coming months.

See here for details

Could you host an event?

If you know of a promising and photogenic location in your area, and you would be willing to organise an informal session for other members of the Group, please email to rps.landscape.events@gmail.com.

We welcome all volunteers and would very much like to hear from members in all parts of the UK.

NEWSLETTER OCTOBER 2018 / VOL. 3 / NO. 7

Event categories The categories below aim to help members understand what is on offer at any particular landscape group event. They are also a guide for potential event leaders who might be worried that their photographic skills are not sufficiently strong for them to lead an event.

Group A – Field trips where the guide has a good knowledge of the location (e.g. good viewpoints, good subjects, good times of day, tides if relevant etc.) and will have ideas about what to do in case of unhelpful weather or light conditions, but does not wish to offer any advice on photography skills or techniques.

Group B - Field trips where the trip leader has a good knowledge of the location (as in Group A) but is also willing to offer general technical support and advice to inexperienced photographers. The leader is NOT expected to be an expert in anything but should be sufficiently experienced to pass on knowledge of the basics.

Group C - Field trips that focus on a particular technique – such as long exposures or photographing at night. The leaders of these events will primarily offer advice about technique and location knowledge will be sufficient to enable participants to learn and practice the technique(s) concerned.

Group D - Workshops that primarily focus on skills or technique and where location is irrelevant or is a secondary consideration. These may take place indoors or outdoors. The workshop leader may have limited knowledge of the location but will be experienced and skilled in the topic of the workshop.

Booking Confirmations

A few members have contacted us because they were unsure as to whether or not they were booked on an event. Here is a brief guide to how you can check this for yourselves.

When you book a landscape event through the RPS website, the system should send you a confirmation email.

If you have not received it and want to check if you are booked on an event, then login to your account on the RPS website, select the tab labeled events and tick the box for events you are booked on.

Any events you have booked will show up in orange.

NEWSLETTER OCTOBER 2018 / VOL. 3 / NO. 7