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Apart from a brief fling with a Zenith film camera when I was a teenager, and later taking holiday and family photos, I didn’t really get into photography until I bought my first digital camera which allowed me to see what I had taken instantly, instead of waiting a week or more for prints to come back. I then took a City & Guilds course in photography.  After completing the course I wanted to continue to learn more about photography so I joined NOPS, which gave me the support I needed, and with monthly competitions it also gave me a reason to go out and take images I would not normally have thought about, and a reason to practice my post processing skills (and still does).  

In the 80’s I carried out studio work for a marketing company which began my interest. In the 90’s I became Digital Print Manager for a company and even though I was working abroad I was travelling around a lot and did not have time to carry on with my photography. I met my wife in 2006 and her (adult) son was very interested in photography and this sparked my interest again having someone to talk to about equipment etc. I then purchased my first Nikon, a D300 digital camera. Due to health confines I only used my camera infrequently. I then purchased by Sony AR74 in 2022 and following a chance meeting with Nick Pearce at Langar airfield (both of us taking photographs), this spurred me on to join the Outlaws in 2023.

January 2024 – Members Choice Competition

January is traditionally the start of the Outlaws competition year and “Members Choice” is the first competition of the year. It is a stand-alone competition having both PDI and Print sections. It is open to all members and the contributions especially in the DPI format were quite significant with forty-six entries in total. 

The judging is carried out by the attending NOPS membership and the PDI images are projected onto a large screen with several run throughs allowing members to make notes and each can come to their own individual top six entries (members cannot vote for their own image) in order of preference. 

The Print competition takes part in the second part of the evening (after the tea break) with prints being displayed on the bespoke easel allowing all images to be placed side by side for direct comparison and all subject to the same lighting conditions. Again, judging is carried out by the attending members on the same basis as the PDI competition, no voting for your own image and your top six in order of preference.

After a few years of thinking about it and putting it off, I eventually applied for my CPAGB.

I had previously attended a workshop on the awards.  I got the impression from the “judges/Lecturers” on the day that I might get my DPAGB, but almost certainly would get my CPAGB.  The lecturers saw the CPAGB as the most important award as it got you recognition of PAGB patronage.

The Outlaws year comes to a close with an Awards Evening and presentation event.

The members of the Outlaws gathered together mid December for the annual awards evening and both Lois & Lester were presented with their well deserved trophies for Outlaw of the year, Print & DPI respectively. All of the awards were presented by Nick Pearce the club chairman and co-event producer Chris Houldsworth. Many other awards were presented on the evening including the David Cawthan Trophy for “PDI” & “Print” to Malcolm Nabarro (PDI) & Nigel Stewart (print).