Tuesday 7th Oct 2025

Yesterday’s club night was led by Tony Winfield with his excellent “Thought process in Creative Photography” presentation “Enjoy the Art Form”. It was so interesting, entertaining and inspiring. Thank you so much Tony, for generously sharing with everyone your experience, your humorous stories and especially some of the secrets of your photographic art. It was a thoroughly enjoyable evening.

Our evening was absolutely buzzing thanks to the enthusiastic turnout of 53 members! There was plenty of lively socialising and catching up while we all enjoyed the fantastic teas and cakes set up by Carol, Laura, and Tiff during the break.

REMINDER

Next week the college is closed so our meeting will be at Elgin City Football Club at 7pm.

The theme will be “Back to the Beginning”.

Not long now till SPGs’ Evening with Joe Cornish – on 4th Nov 2025 at Moray UHI Conference Hall
Door open at 5:30pm. There are still some tickets available, £12 each
Contact Lenny on 07748 151871 or Debbie on 07908 576549

There is now a New Menu on the SPG Website titled Useful Links where you can download documents such as a copy of the Syllabus, Competition Rules, Judging Guide, etc.

Tuesday 29th Sep 2025

Last night’s initial focus was on sizing images for our print competitions, demo’d clearly by Michael with some of his images from last week. Then he showed us how to go through the ordering process using Loxley Print Services. If anyone wants any further help with, please do ask. Also if you’re entering both print rounds then it’s cheaper to order both at the same time or join up with others as postage is the same whether it’s 1 or 10 prints.

Carol, Laura & Tiff tried out a different table & drinks set-up at break time which proved a lot faster…great planning all! Special thanks to Laura for her delicious Pumpkin Pie.

We spent the last 45 mins reviewing the last of the of 2024/25 Grampian Eye images.

REMINDER

Round 1 Prints has been extended and will now close on Tuesday 21st October 2025 and images need to be brought into club by that date.

Development League Round 1 Open theme, max 3 images.

UPDATE – Next week is a presentation on “Thought Process in Creativity”

There is now a New Menu on the SPG Website titled Useful Links where you can download documents such as a copy of the Syllabus, Competition Rules, Judging Guide, etc.

Tuesday 22nd Sep 2025

We had a very interesting evening yesterday with Michael Ross’s “The Learning is in the Journey.” Lenny, who is Michael’s mentor took us through his prospective licentiate panel images giving very instructive, considered & constructive feedback, along with other experienced members/judges too which I think members found very helpful.

So, a massive & appreciative thank you to Michael for letting us see and understand more not only about the work & talent that goes into gaining a qualification but on general photography skills too.

Thank you to Carol & Laura for their excellent organisation of the refreshments & to Laura for her fab rock cakes!

Next week we’ll be using some of Michael’s images to demonstrate editing in Lightroom and will have a look at how to navigate Loxley’s Printing Service.

Tuesday 9th Sep 2025

Firstly, a very big thank you to everyone who helped out last night and also to Carol, Tiff & Laura who took on the refreshment duties this season for the great job they’re doing and for Tiff & Laura’s baking…Thank you.

During the first half Lenny led us through some Photoshop editing; using the clone stamp & crop tool alongside image resizing for Photo Entry.

After our tea break Bill Rennie demonstrated how to access & navigate PhotoEntry using the ‘test upload’ option which all members can use to practice uploading images.

  • REMINDERS
    • PhotoEntry:- All the 2025-2026 competitions are OPEN to upload entries, so don’t leave it till the last minute to enter.
    • Digital League Round 1 entries are due by midnight next Tuesday 16th Sept 2025.

Download link for the 2025-2026 Season Syllabus

Tuesday 2nd Sep 2025

Our 2025-26 season kicked off yesterday evening with Lenny delivering a demo/talk about how important the presentation is of both print & digital images in relation to competition entries. Particular emphasis was on how to add borders & key-lines and resize image & canvas sizes, important when entering competitions through PhotoEntry. The club was once again well-supported this week with more new members joining the existing membership.

Next week, we’ll be looking at Loxley print ordering, Lightroom/image editing.

Download link for the 2025-2026 Season Syllabus

SPG New Season for 2025 – 2026

LOVE PHOTOGRAPHY

THEN

COME AND JOIN US

Our new season starts at 7pm on Tuesday 26th August 2025 at Moray College.

Why not come along for a chat, cup of tea and see what we can do to help your photography journey.

Everybody welcome, whether you are a complete beginner or a seasoned pro.

Lenny Smith President FSWPP/GRAND MASTER PHOTOGRAPHER

Save the Date:- 7pm onTuesday 26th August 2025

Tue 15th April 2025 – Roseisle

REMINDER that as the college is still closed we’re meeting outside again, this week at Roseisle main car park 6.45 for 7pm start. We’ll be photographing horses on the beach and dogs in the forest, so if you’ve got them, bring both long & short lenses. Look forward to seeing everyone there.

Remember to bring your camera with a charged battery and empty memory card.

Tue 11th Mar 2025

Guest Speaker – Gordon Docherty

Talk on Gig Photography

We had the pleasure of photographer, Gordon Docherty’s company as he shared with us his lifetime photographic journey. It was a thoroughly interesting presentation, taking us through his photography journey. His first interests were wildlife & landscapes to his current work in gig, sports and band photo shoot photography. Thanks go to Gordon for such a wonderful evening.

We enjoyed lovely home-baked cakes by Debbie – Thank You! they were delicious!.

Tue 4th Feb 2025

Print Competition Round 2

An appreciative thank you to Owen Cochrane, the SPF judge for Round 2 of our Print Competition – Monochrome, for travelling from Inverness to give considered & constructive feedback in person on all images. What proved interesting also was how he gave an insight into his process and approach to judging prints before commencing with the competition results.

We enjoyed lovely home-baked cakes by Debbie – Thank You! they were delicious!.

First Place

You think I Should Have Worn a Hat

by Lenny Smith

Second Place

Old Melody by Laura Main

Third Place

In the Workshop by Dafydd Walters

REMINDER that both Studio 8 – Still Life & Technical Challenge images are due in by 4am on 12th February.

Tue 14th Jan 2025

It was great to see everyone back last night after the break, having missed last week due to the weather conditions. Michael Ross led the evening by sharing with us his journey in photography from his first camera to his present day kit. It was an inspirational talk with amusing personal anecdotes. Later, he shared some of his photos, taking us through how the picture came about & what interests & excites him in his personal photography. A big thank you to Michael for a fab night.

Next week is a practical night. More experienced photographers can bring in an USB stick with 5 images and will have the opportunity to sit down with Lenny to get feedback etc.

Beginners/less experienced – bring in your cameras (full battery, clear SD card). There will be several more experienced members taking small groups to focus on camera settings/use etc.

Write down & bring any questions you have.