Welcome to Toowoomba Photographic Society
Our aim is to promote, improve, share and enjoy photography in Toowoomba and the surrounding district offering many services, all specifically designed to improve photography and photographic skills in a friendly social atmosphere. Membership is open to all comers regardless of whether you are a beginner, an amateur or a professional photographer.
To join our club please follow the instructions at About the Club. Additional information about the club can also be found here.
About our Club Our newsletter - Cable Release
by MyPhotoClub Colin, May 31, 2017
Get Creative with Roberta – Zoom session tonight
Topic: Toowoomba Photographic society
Time: Nov 24, 2020 07:00 PM Brisbane
Join Zoom Meeting
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Meeting ID: 859 9783 6327
Passcode: 208616
by Tryg Helander, November 24, 2020
Volunteers Needed!
It is that time again, TPS is looking for BBQ Volunteers for Sunday 29th November.
We will need 12 people divided over two shifts of 4-4.5 hours. We start at 7:30 am and finish about 4:30. Please indicate if you can help and your preference for morning or afternoon.
This is another big ask of our hard-working volunteers, I realise, but this is really great fundraising event for us. Thank you in advance. The Prez
by Tryg Helander, November 19, 2020
Expression of Interest
This email is for an expression of interest in a full-day workshop in studio portraiture photography.
It is envisaged that this will be on a weekend (Saturday or Sunday) in the new year, possibly as early as February. The course will teach the use of studio monoblock strobes, speed lights and continuous lighting, use of light meters, choice of modifiers, backdrops etc.
This course will have a cost, around $40-50, depending on the number of participants. Ideally, there will only be 15 maximum on the course. I will, however, run the course for a minimum of 10 participants.
There will be some light pre-course reading. All equipment will be supplied.
You will only need to bring a camera (and tripod if you have a special need for your own). Please indicate your interest by email to the president.
by Tryg Helander, November 19, 2020
Graham Burstow – “Looking to the Future” and other writings and list of his achievements and honours.
Unfortunately the second in our Photographer’s Retrospective series featuring Graham planned for 26 April 2020 was cancelled due to the pandemic. It would have followed the launch of his 4th book in March. Graham sent the committee an article “Looking to the Future” (November 2020), which I have incorporated into other material planned for the April event. The tribute to Graham that I never got to deliver appears below with a link to the articles and list of honours and award attained by Graham.
Introduction to Graham Burstow’s Photographic Retrospective by Geoff Adams.
“Thank you for all for attending tonight.
We have a great roll-up, and we knew we would, as Graham Burstow is so well-known in the photography community, and the Toowoomba community in general.
This year marks the 115th Anniversary of Toowoomba Photographic Society, one of the oldest photographic societies in Queensland.
For more than half that time, Graham has been a member of TPS.
He joined TPS in the year that I was born. That’s a coincidence by the way.
Apart from my grey hair, the clue to the year is that the Korean War was still raging.
I had the job of retyping Graham’s updated honours and awards list gained during his life in photography of 73 years.
It is a four page document of 5,000 characters including 1,000 words.
So you will forgive me if I don’t try to read this out.
It is available on the TPS website.
Instead, I will just briefly describe the time I have known Graham Burstow.
Graham was one of the first TPS members to welcome me when I first joined a few years ago.
Graham was one of the first to ever say to me, “I like that image you entered in this month’s competition”.
Graham was one of the first to ever say to me during a TPS event, “you should be up there giving a talk”.
I hope I haven’t disappointed you, Graham.
Graham has written that when judging a photo he looks for the “heart” in the image.
No-one has a bigger heart than Graham Burstow, as will be obvious from his presentation.
Without any further ado, please welcome Graham.
by Geoff Adams, November 18, 2020
New Equipment Purchase
Members, I am writing to report that your committee approved an ‘equipment’ spend at our meeting last night, from the dedicated account set up for this purpose.
The club will be getting;
Table-top 9-colour PVC backdrops (120x200cm) and stands.
A portable two-colour backdrop (2.1×1.5m) with C-Stand and magnetic holder.
6 x Godox Pro Triggers (each camera type)
6 x Godox TT350 speedlights (each brand)
3 x X1R receivers (Canon, Nikon and Sony)
A ColorMunki Display Calibrator
2 x Grey Cards (white balance profiling)
A Triopo quick soft box and Bowens mount.
This purchase equates to $2600 of the $4000 in that ‘equipment’ account and these will boost our workshop and training opportunities for all members.
by Tryg Helander, November 17, 2020
Creative Photography zoom meeting tonight.
Members will be aware a new category has been added to the list for TPS competitions next year. Jenny Graff will guide us through the new award category definition and Roberta Edwards will also give us some clues on this new field.
I expect we will see a blooming in the work being presented next year from those photographers who have been somewhat constrained in their photographic expression to date. By introducing this new category, there should be no confusion in the minds of any viewers about what this work represents.
But it isn’t as simple as lining a few items up and saying the finished image is “creative”.
Tune in tonight for explanations, tips and tricks in our new category.
Topic: Toowoomba Photographic society
Time: Nov 17, 2020 07:00 PM Brisbane
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by Geoff Adams, November 17, 2020
2021 competition year now open
Special thanks to Margaret Kebble and Roberta Edwards for organising the 2021 competition year on the website. I have just put up my January entries as usual.
Note that the new creative category is now also available for anyone interested in this type of photography.
Aggregate Competition
Our club runs several image competitions each year. The Aggregate Competition is held monthly on the second Tuesday of each month at our Club Meeting. Here submitted prints and projected digital images from our members are commented on and scored by a judge. Images are awarded:
| Awards | Aggregate Points |
| Honour | 6 |
| Merit | 4 |
| Highly Commended | 3 |
| Commended | 2 |
| Out of Category | 0 |
As part of the Society’s Aggregate Competition, members are divided into B Grade, A Grade and Salon Grade:
- B Grade is for those members who wish their entries to be judged and scored. Points are accumulated towards an Aggregate score.
- A Grade is for those members who have achieved a higher standard of photography. Their images are also judged and scored, with points accumulated towards an Aggregate score. To be eligible for consideration for re-grading to “A” grade, a “B” grade member must receive a certain percentage of competition points in one competition year. Currently this is 55%
Members eligible for re-grading are advised prior to December, the start of the new competition year. The management committee makes the final decision on re-grading.
- Salon Grade is for those members who have attained the highest possible standard of photography within our club – an A Grade member must attain 60% of competition points in a competition year to move to Salon Grade.
At the end of the Competition year (December), awards are made to those members with the most points in the various categories for each Salon, A and B Grade. Members may enter images in the ‘Set’, ‘Open”, ‘Creative” and/or ‘Field Day’ subject categories in any or all of the following formats:
- Prints (all grades – colour or monochrome)
- Projected images (all grades – colour or monochrome
The definitions for each section category are:
- Open subject: photograph can be an image of anything
- Set subject: the topic and definition is specified in the TPS Calendar on our website.
- Creative subject:
Creative Photography
Definition: Creative photography is the altering of reality
Explanation and Guidelines:
It is an extension of conventional photography into creative art, and its purpose is to take the image beyond the literal through the use of imaginative skill or originality of thought.
There should be a significant photographic content, and inclusion of mixed media of any kind (paint, transfer, digital etc) is welcome. It can be a collage or a montage. The final result must be all the photographer’s own work. This includes any tools used to alter the image that are not native to the software used, such as
- Extra brushes that add photographic elements such as snowflakes, raindrops, leaves etc
- Replacement pre-sets such as skies, sunsets, scenery
- Expansion packs
If you use image manipulation software you can
- Combine two images then experiment with different blending modes and opacity
- Experiment with the inbuilt tools such as colour replacement, invert, free transform, perspective warp, puppet warp, liquefy
- Create your own backgrounds by photographing interesting textures, skies, sunsets and scenery
If you are not using image manipulation software there are many other ways of being creative, such as
- Using in camera effects such as zoom pull, multiple exposures, intentional camera movement
- Cutting and pasting of printed images to make collages and montages
- Painting on prints or hand colouring
- Field Day: any outing, activity, function or event listed by TPS as an opportunity for members or members to take images and enter them in this category.
Only THREE entries can be entered in any monthly competition. The images can be shared amongst any of the categories / formats or they may all be entered in one category / format. Any one image may only be ever entered FOUR times in one year by choosing 4 of the 5 possibilities – either in ‘Open’ subject, in ‘Set’ subject, in ‘Field Day’, in ‘Creative’ or in the End of Year competition.
Note: Where images have content that may be regarded as disturbing or offensive to the majority of our membership or the public in general, TPS may exercise its right to not display such images.
Alice Black Memorial Trophy
To perpetuate the memory of our late member Alice Black, the club has introduced the ‘Alice Black Memorial Trophy’ to be contested each year on a perpetual basis.
At each month’s Aggregate Competition the judge will select an image from the highest level awards of those entered as the monthly Alice Black Image – they will use their own criteria to select the image. Where Honour awards have been given for a competition, the Alice Black will be an Honour winning image, or if no Honour awards have been given, the next highest level of award (Merit, etc).
All images submitted in the Aggregate Competition have the potential to become a possible winner of the Trophy as there is no restriction on the grade of the entrant or the medium in which the image is presented. The Alice Black image chosen each month receives an additional 2 points to the points already awarded.
As part of the “End of the Year” competition, the judge will choose the winning image from the eleven images chosen by the monthly judges. There are no points awarded for the overall winner, in common with other EOY awards.
by Geoff Adams, November 15, 2020
Saturday Night Workshop – 14th November
Astrophotography at Ravensbourne – 6pm
(Gus Beutel Lookout)
Bring a tripod, a wide lens, a remote or cable release and a chair!
by Tryg Helander, November 13, 2020
Alice Black November 2020
To perpetuate the memory of our late member Alice Black, the club has introduced the ‘Alice Black Memorial Trophy’ to be contested each year on a perpetual basis.
At each month’s Aggregate Competition the judge will select an image from all those entered as the monthly Alice Black Image – they will use their own criteria to select the image regardless of the score given. All images submitted in the Aggregate Competition have the potential to become a possible winner of the Trophy as there is no restriction on the grade of the entrant or the medium in which the image is presented.
This month’s winner is Jasmin Lord with “Everything is Rosy”.
by Geoff Adams, November 13, 2020
2020 entries – all digital
Following the decision to reallocate all print entries to the appropriate digital category for 2020, this task has now been undertaken.
Please check your entries to ensure they are in the right grade and category, as errors are possible with this process. This is YOUR responsibility as it is to read to email notices from your club.
Please let me know of any errors including the name of the image, where it is now, and where it should be, by Friday pm. The process of tallying pointscores, etc will commence this weekend.
Thank you for your attention.
by Geoff Adams, November 11, 2020
