Author: LPS

On Sunday 8th February 2015 members of Llanelli Photographic Society visited Pembrey Country Park to shoot zombies and other creatures of the night. They zombies were there for an Academy Of Creative Arts photo shoot and it gave LPS members a good opportunity to gain experience with working with models, off camera flash and other techniques.

Amongst the shoots there were girls in cages, a coffin and even a live Hawk getting involved in the action. There was a bit of blood and gore too! Everyone enjoyed the session and some fantastic images have already been shared on Facebook – a handful you can see below.

LPS would like to thank Kiefer, Spencer, Amy, Caviar, Geraint and Sarah Thomas for letting us get involved. Hopefully we’ll be meeting up again soon!

The first Open Print competition of 2015 was held at Llanelli Photographic Society on a cold 4th February! Leigh Woolford, from Gwynfa Camera Club, provided the judging and critique. His warm and amiable approach to judging made up for the fact that the heating at Dafen had failed. Thankfully the cold didn’t prevent an enjoyable and interesting evening for all.

After commenting on the various prints submitted by members Leigh had a top list selection of six – but who came out on top?

Well, it’s congratulations to Ed Shum who won with a beautiful shot of his son – titled ‘Fall’. This is Ed’s first win in an open print competition. The full top six as chosen by Leigh were:

1. Edmund Shum – Fall
2. Clive Martin
3. Pete Francis – Turkey Balloon
4. Alun Lewis – Hard Right
5. Jason Dale – Poppy Memorial
6. Graham Harries

Congratulations to all who made the top six and a big thanks again to Leigh, who we hope to see back at LPS again in the near future.

The Llanelli Photographic Society held it’s Annual General Meeting on the 28th January 2015. The meeting was well attended and after the formalities of the reports from the current committee and items from the agenda, a new team was elected to help run LPS throughout the next 12 months.

Ray Rees remains as Chairman whilst Jason Dale and John Ellis also stay on in their roles of Secretary and Treasurer. Tony Collis stepped up to take on the position of Internal Competitions Secretary whilst Jay Harries signed on as External Competitions Secretary. Steve Milton agreed to join the committee as Minutes Secretary.

LPS would like to thank all those who helped on the committee during 2014. This includes Jackie Davies who steps down as Internal Competitions Secretary and Carole Ann Smith who has left the post as Minutes Secretary after a number of years in the role.

During the AGM a sub-committee was convened to look into how LPS could celebrate it’s 125th Anniversary during 2016.

The 2014 season at Llanelli Photographic Society concluded on the 23rd January 2015 with the Annual Awards Dinner. This event celebrates the winners of the club’s various competitions throughout the year.

The Awards Night is also when the LPS Print and Digital Image Photographers Of The Year are announced along with the overall LPS Photographer Of The Year Award. Throughout the year points are awarded for positions in the LPS DPI and Print competitions. The members with the most points in the Print Competitions, DPI Competitions and DPI plus Print competitions win the titles.

This year’s Awards were held at The White Lion Inn in Felinfeol and all enjoyed a fabulous carvery meal.

After the food, certificates were presented to the winners of the club’s competitions and then it was time for the big prizes.

Congratulations go to Steve Milton who won the Print Photographer Of The Year award for the second year running.

Congratulations also go to Jackie Davies who won The Digital Image Photographer Of The Year award. It was a double celebration for Jackie as she was also named The LPS Photographer Of The Year 2014. A very well deserved accolade!

A big well done to Steve and an extra big well done to Jackie!!

After the formalities, LPS President and current Chairman Ray Rees took centre for some fun awards. These were given to members for their outstanding achievements in music, aviation, art, motoring and portraiture.

Amongst the recipients were Pete Francis, Jackie Davies, Jamie Morris and Graham Harries. Overall it was a fun night and a great way to celebrate the past year. 2015 promises to be even better!

2014 Winners List

Ray Rees Special Effects – Richard Johnson
5 Panel DPI – Jennifer Williams
Dave Roberts Memorial – Netley Davies
AV Competition – Graham Harries
Ken Jones Memorial – Richard Johnson
Ivor Russell Our Carmarthenshire – John Ellis
5 Panel Print – Jason Dale
Best Colour Print In The Exhibition – Netley Davies
Best Mono Print In The Exhibition – Clive Martin
People’s Choice In The Exhibition – Jason Dale
Digital Image Of The Year – Jackie Davies
Print Of The Year – Pete Francis
Print Photographer Of The Year – Steve Milton
DPI Photographer Of The Year – Jackie Davies
Photographer Of The Year – Jackie Davies

Images by Ray Rees

The first DPI competition of 2015 was held at Llanelli Photographic Society on 21st January 2015. The theme was “Wet Wet Wet” which gave members an open book on how they interpreted the theme. This resulted in plenty of images of rain, waterfalls, sea as well as bubbles in a bath. Ray Rees kindly gave the critique on the night.

The winner, as judged by members of LPS, was Jennifer Williams who sent a lovely looking cupcake to Davy Jones’ Locker for her brilliant ‘Making A Splash’ entry.

The top six was completed by Steve Milton & Jason Dale (equal second), Jennifer again in 4th, Alun Lewis taking 5th place and Corris Edwards in 6th.

Congratulations to all.

Trostre Camera Club held their annual Brian Jennings Trophy on the 20th January 2015. Llanelli Photographic Society won the event the previous year and we were hoping for further success this year. However it wasn’t to be with just one point splitting first/second and second/third. The winners were Tenby with 90 points. They beat LPS into second place (89 points) and Kidwelly into third (88 points).

LPS were leading after three rounds but a 20 pointer in the final round clinched it for Tenby. Congratulations to them!

The scores for the LPS prints were as follows:

Steve & Rosalie (Graham) – 17
The Lonely (Colin) – 17
Cwm Idwal (Jay) – 17
Fallen Leaf (Jackie) – 20
Face Full Of Fish (Jason) – 18

Congratulations to Jackie for scoring 20 points and well done to all those who’s prints were selected.

Finally a big thank you to our hosts at Trostre CC for a fabulous evening and an excellent buffet. See you again next year!

For our second meeting of 2015 members of Llanelli Photographic Society were asked to share their favourite images of 2014. There was a great response with over 100 images being shown on the night (14th January). The images invoked memories of family, friends, pets, holidays and events.

Below is a slideshow/video of the images shown on the night.

The slideshow lasts around ten minutes but you’ll see a wide range of subjects and styles from current members of the club. We hope you enjoy it.

Our next meeting is on the 21st January 2015 when we’ll be judging and critiquing entries from our first Digital Image competition of the year. The theme is Wet Wet Wet!

At last night’s (7th January) meeting the members of LPS were asked to select their choice of best DPI and best print from the winner images of 2014. The best DPI was chosen from the five themed competitions and Special Effects competition whilst the best print was selected from the five Open Print competitions and the three special comps (Dave Roberts, Ken Jones & Our Carmarthenshire).

The winning DPI was “Drip Drip Drip” by Jackie Davies. This lovely shot of water drops on a feather won the first competition of 2014 which was on the theme of Still Life.

The winning print was “Burmese Spinning Girl” by Peter Francis. This image was the winner of the final Open Print competition of 2014.

Congratulations to both Jackie and Peter!

Tonight (7th January) sees the start of a new year at Llanelli Photographic Society. We kick off as is traditional with a look back at the winning images during 2014 before making a selection on which image is the best DPI (digital image) and Print.

Usually the winner is chosen from the five themed DPI competitions and five Open Prints, but this year we’re including the Special Effects winner in the DPI group and the winning prints from Our Carmarthenshire, Ken Jones and Dave Roberts competitions.

You can review the winning images from 2014 – why not let us know your favourite?

The first week back is also a chance to catch up with old friends and hopefully meet some new ones. If you’re thinking of joining us in 2015 then feel free to pop down to Dafen Community Hall – you’ll be made most welcome. The club is for everyone interested in photography and hopefully this year’s programme offers something for everyone.

Throughout the year we hold a number of internal competitions but in addition we have some exciting speakers joining us during 2015. These include in the first few months – Dave Mason, a Street Photographer from London, Ian Cook who will be discussing Sports Photography and Nigel McCall who will be talking about his Landscape Photography.

A new feature in 2015 at LPS is a monthly studio night. This is a chance for members to get to grips with the studio equipment that LPS has and develop their skills and hopefully have a bit of fun too.

The final DPI competition of the year at Llanelli Photographic Society took place in December and the subject was Night Photography. Amongst the images were night landscapes, in car shots and fireworks. Graham Harries casted his eye over the entries and provided a useful and interesting critique.

The winner, as judged by members of LPS, was Graham with his Llanelli Celebrates shot!

The top remainder of the top six were Jason Dale, Jackie Davies, Dave Rees, Steve Gladdy and Arthur Mallet.