background - Kidlington Camera Club Photo Group

Foresters Hall
In 2018 we had completed 15 successful seasons in the hall after moving here in September 2003 from Gosford Community Education Centre.

Foresters Hall is to be found in High Street, Kidlington (map) where we enjoy a congenial atmosphere with its own bar and easy parking as well as a 10pm finish. As the Hall is on the first floor it offers a lift for the convenience of members. Members and visitors alike are agreed that the club has a more welcoming ambience than our previous venue and the bar is naturally a very popular bonus.

Kidlington Camera Club's 50th Anniversary
In the season of 2010 - 2011 the club reached its 50th anniversary. The club held its first meeting on 27 February 1961 with the first subscriptions being paid and on 24 April Kidlington Photographic Society was formally constituted.

By way of celebration committee organised a public lecture in Exeter Hall on 20 April 2011 where the speaker was Joe Cornish, the highly-regarded landscape photographer. This was a highly successful evening with all tickets sold and an enjoyable, interesting and inspiring talk given by Joe accompanied by his superb photography. We were grateful to our exclusive sponsors T4 Cameras of Witney for their support.

Relaunch of KCC website
As part of the 50th anniversary celebrations, a completely new look to the club's website was the objective, with a more sophisticated design and some new features such as the slideshows. At first glance viewers may think the colours austere but the aim was to offer a neutral background to allow the images to shine out and dominate the page. The site includes a new feature in presenting a portfolio of images from the winner of Photographer of the Year.

KCC online
The end of season update includes competition winners for the colour and B&W print and PDI of the Year for the relevant season and provides a link to the rule explaining how someone wins the title of Photographer of the Year. Competition is stiff and we are usually kept on tenterhooks for the result right up to the last club evening. Congratulations to all our competitors for producing excellent work.

The gallery page tries to show images from as many members as possible and not just winners - some members are not currently entering competitions after all. In addition we are keenly aware that even the best judges have their personal tastes and opinions and we have all suffered from inconsistency in marking at one time or another. This is a chance for everyone to show their pictures and for the full range of work to be seen by visitors to the site. In addition we want our site visitors to feel 'I could do that' and in doing so perhaps get them started without feeling daunted.

The site includes downloadable PDF files for competition rules, subject guidance notes and three on a theme competition guidance. All continue to be available for members and are updated as new versions are issued. In addition there are links to downloads for PDI competition software, MLSlide for both Windows and Mac together with tutorials.

Exhibitions
Our annual exhibition for Oxfordshire's annual visual arts festival, Artweeks, is held in Kidlington Library in May, sometimes followed by a display in the foyer of Exeter Hall for the month of June. We were grateful to the Library's manager for allowing us to use Library premises.

Do visit one of our future exhibitions if you can and you will see at first hand the quality and range of work that our members produce; if you want any further information you can telephone the numbers provided with the displays or contact us.

Annual Social
At the end of each season, in April, we hold the Annual Social. Not only do we use this occasion to relax together but we also include the presentation of trophies to winners of the previous season's competitions and to Photographer of the Year. Congratulations to all the winners and to everyone who took part.

Our Digital Equipment
In November 2010, with grateful thanks for support from an anonymous benefactor, we purchased a new digital projector with the higher resolution now available which has proved to be superb. The old projector was starting to fail in that its colour rendition was less than perfect, and the knowledge that we were to host a round of the CACC Rosebowl in December 2010 spurred us on to provide something better. Meanwhile the old projector is being repaired to act as standby. In addition, after 7 years' faultless service, it was time to update the laptop for a faster model.

Our move to digital started in March 2005 after our award to buy digital projection equipment under the Lottery 'Awards for All' scheme, and after much deliberation the following August saw the purchase of a laptop and a digital projector, along with other accessories to make a fully functioning system. This equipment was essential as we moved more and more into a digital world.

We are very fortunate to have a member to write software for the club for sorting, showing and marking digital images under competition conditions and this was 'test-driven' for the first competitions proving very successful in 2005. We are hugely indebted to Geoff Bridges for that. The following season, 06/07, saw projected digital images eligible across all competitions. That has become the norm with slide categories discontinued in accordance with the decision of AGM 07. Meanwhile, Geoff produces regular updates to his excellent Magic Lantern software including a partner programme, MLSlide, which members now use to prepare their images at home, thus making the job of the Competition Secretary easier. The latest updates include co-ordination with Excel scoresheets of the entered images, both PDI and print, so that calculations for Photographer of the Year are much easier with a permanently running database of a season's competition scores.