Photography – Lesbury Village Hall

Photography Group

We had our first meeting in the comfort of the village hall as the newly restructured Lesbury Photography Group, continuing the great work of Colin Platt who founded the club some years ago. We have a small committee and have a full programme for the upcoming year including photographic days out and indoor workshops and presentations.

The group is primarily for beginners of all ages who would like to improve skills and

develop their interest in photography.

Meetings take place on the 1st Wednesday evening of each month from:

7.00pm – 8.30pm

For further details, please contact Jenny Garside:

Tel: 07768 895144
Email: Jennygarside20@gmail.com

Visitors are very welcome.
We meet at the Village Hall in a relaxed, informal & friendly atmosphere.

SEPTEMBER 2026

We had 11 members attending and three sets of images to review and critique

“Heritage” was set by Ian and there was a good response of 42 submissions. Ian chose his favourites which were submitted by Jenny, John, Dave and Tess – well done! The selected images are below

The group did a photo walk around Newcastle a couple of weeks ago organised by Jenny , with 8 members participating, and 26 images were submitted for review. Jenny chose her favourites, which were from Peter, Dave and Ian. The selected images are below.

Finally, we are continuing the new initiative “Taken in the last month” for members to submit 2 images of any topic that had to be taken since the last meeting. 17 images were submitted, which was excellent considering it was a new idea, and all members voted for the favourite, with “Mirrors” by Jenny getting the most votes – well done to her for a great image. Jenny’s image, plus the runners up from Dave, Tony and Ian are below.

Next month the challenge category is

One image – 4 ways

The brief for this is to submit 4 images, meeting the following criteria

One image cropped and / or processed in 4 different ways, or
One location, with 4 very different images

Also – in preparation for the November practical light painting session everyone should bring their cameras to the next meeting to get some instructions on settings and so on

“Taken in the last month” will also be continuing for 2 images taken since the Sept meeting

Looking ahead, the schedule is:

November	Light painting – practical session (no challenge this month)	Jenny to lead this session
December	Annual Competition – enter 5 from this year	Enter 5 photos of any topic Must have been taken in 2026, but can have been shared this year External judge planned to assess and award prizes
6^th January – a late Xmas dinner	No meeting this month – please let Jenny know if you will be attending the belated Xmas dinner at Foxton Golf Club. Partners welcome too
February	5 of your best (any topic / time)	Enter 5 photos of any topic Can have been taken at any time, but not shared with the group before

That’s all for now – do get in touch with any questions or comments, and see you at the next meeting

Should you wish to join Lesbury Photography Group either phone Jenny on 07768 895144 or drop her a line on Lesbauryphotogrpahygroup@gmail.com or just come along from 7pm on the first Wednesday of each month to the Lesbury Village Hall, Main Street, Lesbury, Alnwick NE66 3PP

Peter, Shelley, Jenny and Ian

AUGUST 2026

The August meeting was held in late July due to the hall redecoration, and we had 9 members attending and three sets of images to review and critique

“Unusual angles” was set by Peter and there was a good response of 48 submissions. Peter chose his favourites which were submitted by Jenny, John, Shelley, Tess and Ian – well done! The selected images are as follows

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The group did a photo walk around Alnwick a couple of weekends ago, with 5 members participating, and 28 images were submitted for review. Shelley chose her favourites, which were from Tony, Ian and Jenny. The selected images are as follows:

Finally, we started a new initiative “Taken in the last month” for members to submit 2 images of any topic that had to be taken since the last meeting. 16 images were submitted, which was excellent considering it was a new idea, and all members voted for the favourite, with Denise getting the most votes – well done to her for a great composite of arctic terns. Denise’s image, plus the two runners up from John and Ian are as follows:

Next month the challenge category is HERITAGE, set by Ian

The brief for this is to submit up to 5 images, meeting the following criteria

Topic must reflect the theme of heritage – built heritage such as castles, stately homes, churches, old buildings, bridges, railways and so on. Or other heritage related topics – transport, interesting objects, old cars etc
Images should show a variety of photographic techniques, such as conversion to mono, shallow depth of focus, low key, looking through another object, symmetry, choice of lens and so on – something that lifts the images from being a simple snap of a subject

We’re also continuing the Taken in the last month category for 2 images of any topic

As ever, please send your submissions through to lesburyphotographygroup@gmail.com by the Monday before the meeting. Reminders will be sent a week before though

On 26^th August we are having a trip to Newcastle for a photo walk – meet at Alnmouth Station at 10.10 sharp – and please let Jenny know if you are coming

That’s all for now – the next meeting is on Weds 2^nd September

May 2026

Top 5 from over 60 pictures from May’s meeting, where the challenge was “Old”.
Old Mill – Dave Jackson
Unhinged – John Godfrey
Church Hill – Shelley Willis
Ticket to Ride – Patsy Manson
Locked cobweb – Peter Hall

April 2026

April’s challenge was ‘Nature’ and once again the images were superb.

Top five were:

Lone Crocus – Ian

Barn Owl with Prey – Dave

Robin – ???

Briksdalsbre Glacial Runoff – Tony

Wren – Dave

March 2026

March’s challenge was V,W,X.Y.Z. and we had some cracking photos submitted.

X-treme Spiral Slope – Ian

Watery Windows – Ian

Vertigo – Ian

Water 6 (the one with the deer) – Trevor

Volcano – Peter

March 2026

We recently visited Barter books as a group and were allowed to take photos inside.

November

At November’s meeting, the images beginning with the letters ‘S’, ‘T’ and ‘U’, which were submitted at October’s meeting, were assessed by a professional judge, Stuart Skelsey. Here are the results:

First, Second and Third

Congratulations to Ian, Ken and Peter for their images being awarded first, second and third places!

See their winning entries below:

Highly Commended:

In the ‘highly commended’ category were images taken by Ken and Ian below:

Commended:

Well done to John (G), Shelley and Ian for their images being ‘commended’:

October

The theme for October’s meeting was ‘S, T or U’. meaning that all images should have a title beginning with an ‘S, T or U’. Some of the 76 images submitted are shown here.

Also in October there was a field trip to Howick where the subject was ‘landscapes’. Some images are shown here.

At November’s meeting on 5th November, a professional judge, namely Stuart Skelsey, will be judging and commentating on 54 of the ‘S, T or ‘ images. The results will be presented on the night.

On 4rd December we have our Social Evening at Foxton Golf Club. This means that there won’t be a theme for the December meeting.

The program for January 2026 and beyond will include: –

– Books/Song Titles

– Pets

– Portrait

– Fungi

– Bridges

Here are a selection of photos from the visit to Howick.

September

The theme for September’s meeting was ‘Action’.

Approximately 40 images were projected and a selection is shown here.

Colin made a short presentation explaining the various camera settings shown on various cameras.

The theme for October is the alphabet using any of the letters S, T and/or U. Please provide up to 10 images.

Here are a selection of images taken during the visit by the Photography group to Felton Greenhouse.

August - Fundraising evening for Lesbury Photography Group - Tom Cadwallender

On 6th August, Tom Cadwallender, freelance Ornithologist and storyteller extraordinaire, presented a talk about ‘Winter Birds of the Northumberland coast’ .

As many of you will know, Tom is an excellent storyteller and the evening was very informative and most enjoyable.

Click here to some of Tom’s photos from this fundraising evening.

July's meeting

The theme for July was Black & White.

As you can see, there were some very impressive images showing the impact of a simple conversion.

The group is now focussed on the fundraising event on Wednesday 6th August. 52 tickets have been sold so far, with 4 weeks to go.

See above for details of this event.

May's meeting

The theme for May was ‘TRANSPORT’ which covered a wide spectrum of images; with some shown here.

In parallel with this, a field trip was arranged to the Aln Valley Railway (AVR) and 10 x members were present. The staff at the AVR were extremely helpful and provided a chaperone to get us close to the action as possible without being in danger. The link to the AVR website is https://www.alnvalleyrailway.co.uk

In return for the generosity of the AVR, the Photography Group is putting on a Social Evening on Wednesday 4th June. We shall be providing refreshments and of course displaying a range of photographs taken during the field trip on 21st April.

During June the theme is ‘INSECTS’. Jenny has organised a field trip to John Manners farm on Tuesday 27th May, details of the event are included in Jenny’s group email.

April's meeting

Our last meeting took place on the 2nd April supported by 12 members, with 4 members unable to attend.

Two very informative videos were played, showing the basics of Landscape

photography and how to move objects within an image.

The theme for the month was ‘Signs of Spring’ and 42 images were displayed; a selection is shown below.

A field trip has been arranged to the Aln Valley Railway and to date 10

members have subscribed.

Last but not least, Tom Cadwallender has been booked for the 6th August next. More details will be published later for this fundraising event.

The next meeting will be on Wednesday 7th May.

March's meeting

The attendance at the March meeting was very good and everyone gained a further insight into the use of light when photographing still life objects.

These images show a tiny sample of objects used during the evening and will act as a reflection when we plan to repeat the format in a few weeks time.

Many thanks to Ian Fordham for bringing in so much equipment and for leading the group through such an interesting session.

Thanks also to Nicola Richardson for keeping our web pages up to date, enabling the group and those wishing to join to view the activities each month.

Next month’s meeting is on 2nd April and the main theme is ‘Signs of Spring’.

Happy Snapping, Colin.

February's meeting

Two new members, namely Dr John Inman and Ian Pothecary were welcomed to the Photography Group at the meeting on 5th February.

The main theme was from the letters P, Q and R, where photographs beginning with these three letters were submitted. A few examples from 48 entries are shown here.

Trevor presented a series of excellent photos depicting his time spent at NASA.

Images will continue to be resized to 1600 x 1200. The recommended image viewer is https://www.faststone.org/download.htm

Ian has kindly offered to bring and set up his studio lighting system next month on Wednesday 5th March.

If anyone has material for presenting to the group please let Colin know. At the moment throughout April, May & June, we have Denise presenting image processing and Colin’s South American journey from Chile to Rio.

We thank Nicola Richardson for publishing these monthly meeting updates on this website.

The theme for March’s meeting is ‘Still Life’. Ian and Colin will meet to discuss the set up. Any ideas are welcome.

January's meeting

On Wednesday 8th January, we welcomed Stuart Kelsey (profession Judge) and Dr John Inman, a new group member.

Thanks to all members who had managed to submit images resulting in an almost full house.

Words of encouragement and very informative comments were presented by Stuart resulting in a very enjoyable evening.

Stuart judged 50 x photographs submitted by group members and he presented the following awards to 5 members:

2 Commended awards
2 Highly Commended awards
An outright winner award was given to Jenny Garside

Well done everyone and in particular to Jenny!

Next meeting

Our next meeting is on 5th February.

The theme is ‘open’ with a slight twist. Each photo must be entitled with the first letter beginning with P, Q or R. We have used this format at previous meetings with great success. If you have any queries, please let Colin know.

Please provide between 3 and 5 images entitled P, Q or R. Images should be resized to 1600 x 1200 pixels and emailed to colin.platt2@btinternet.com by Sunday 2nd February.

December's meeting

Lesbury Photography Group’s social evening took place on Wednesday 4th December at The Coach Inn in Lesbury.

Awards were presented to the following:

Jenny Garside (Banded Damoiselle)
Peter Hall (Torres del Paine)
The outright winner was Ian Fordham with a stunning black and white image named ‘Contemplation’.

November's meeting

Message from Colin to all members:

“Thanks so much Ian for your presentation; your time and preparation which made it a great success. Please also thank Marion for her help with setting up and dismantling.

Ian, all members present learned something about your presentation and the feedback has been extremely positive. Didn’t Kathryn [model] do a great job! I plan to send her a selection of images. Perhaps we can have a follow up using inanimate objects.

The proposed new scoring system was used during the first part of the evening with all images from the Favourite Five theme displayed. I’ll keep everyone informed regarding a solution [which John and Frank will be working on] for dealing with the number of variables that the new scoring system will have to deal with.

Here are some images of Kathryn from the presentation.

Looking forward to seeing everyone at our social evening at ‘The Coach Inn’ in Lesbury on Wednesday 4th December.”

October's meeting

Owing to the low turnout due to holidays (6 members present and 7 apologies) we chose not to run the scheduled ‘Knockout’.

We trialled a suggested marking system which was successful and will be presented at the 6th November meeting.

In preparation for Ian’s presentation, the Village Hall has been booked for 2 hours from 7pm. The presentation will be ‘Studio Lighting’ and will be ‘hands on” using Ian’s equipment and our own camera. Also, a model(s) to be photographed. Cameras with a ‘hot shoe’ in order to generate the flash with Ian’s assistance.

The Coach Inn has been booked for Wednesday 4th December 2024. At present there is almost a full house; just waiting for 3 confirmations.

Our January meeting will be on 8th January 2025 and Stuart Skelsey has agreed to visit for the second time to judge our ‘favourite 5’ photos.

September's meeting

At the meeting on 4th September we covered two themes, namely ‘Transport’ and ‘Wedding’. Around 40 images were displayed with comments from the authors.

Colin showed a series of wedding photos with comments on lighting inside and outside.

Please note that our meeting time has been extended by 30 minutes, so that it starts at 7pm and finishes at 8:30pm. The current fee of £2.00 will continue until the New Year, when the fee will be reviewed.

August's meeting

Thanks to those members who were able to attend the 7th August meeting and hopefully those who were unable to make it will be able to attend the next meeting on 4th September.

August’s theme was images titled with M, N or O and a selection of these images, provided by Jenny, Denise, Shelley and Ian, are shown below:

Members have been asked to prepare a short presentation on a topic of their choice, either from the current list of topics or by adding their respective topic to the list.

Thanks to Ian who kindly presented ‘HEAD SHOTS’ and how the careful use of light can impact on images. Here are 5 headshot images selected from a series of 18 images; prepared by Ian as part of his very informative talk.

July's meeting

Richard Booth was our guest speaker at the meeting on Wednesday 3rd July. Richard is an expert when it comes to nature and wildlife photography. The quality of his work is depicted in the small sample of photographs which are shown below.

It was very interesting to learn one or two tricks and Richard was very generous in sharing his knowledge with the group. We learned about the importance of compensating for light conditions and typical exposure settings in order to capture the best quality image available.

Ian Fordham carried out a short Q & A session relating to his ‘Street Photography’ presentation last month

Last month’s theme using the letters of the alphabet M. N & O rendered over 50 images and it was agreed to present these at the next meeting on 7th August.

June's meeting

We welcomed Patricia Manson as a new member at our 5th June meeting.

Ken Ramsey made some very informative comments about the few remaining images relating to his talk on the subject of ‘focal length’.

A discussion took place regarding topics for future presentations such as cropping and resizing, filters, sunsets, head shots and silhouettes (this is not an exhaustive list) and members were asked to suggest additional topics.

Trevor Robinson presented 23 images based on his holiday in Croatia. Some images from his talk are shown below:

Ian Fordham delivered a most enjoyable presentation based on ‘Street Photography’ and a selection of his images can be seen below:

May's meeting

In late March/early April 2024, John and Kathryn Godfrey took a cruise from Cape Town up the west coast of Africa, visiting Namibia, St Helena (mid Atlantic), The Gambia & Senegal; ending the cruise in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. At our 1^st May meeting John presented a wide range of photographs from the trip. A very small selection are shown here:

April's meeting

At the last meeting on 3rd April, Ken Ramsey presented a rerun of his earlier talk about the aspects of ‘Focal Length’. The presentation was to a bigger audience and the feedback was very positive and Ken managed to demystify the relationship between focal length, depth of field and aperture.

Jenny Garside occupied the second half of the meeting with a fabulous mix of photographs from her recent ’round the world’ holiday with husband Mike. A very small selection is shown here:

March's meeting

The subject matter at the meeting on Wednesday 6th March was ‘Focal Length’.

Ken Ramsey talked us through the various aspects of focal length and the impact it has on ‘depth of field’ and ‘aperture’.

Delivering a talk about this important subject is very difficult and Ken broke it down into simple terms by way of a series of images and graphics.

A few images from his talk are displayed here:

March’s theme was three letters of the alphabet (J, K, L) to begin the title of each image.

Here are some of the examples shared with the group:

February's meeting

The theme for February was Parallel Lines and/or Spherical Objects and as usual members used their imagination and came up with some excellent photos; some of which are shown here: