THE chairman of Holsworthy’s Phoenix Camera Club welcomed Chris Robbins to the August meeting with his introduction to the wonderful world of wildlife.

Always an interesting speaker and winner of numerous awards, his work has been featured in numerous publications, including the illustrations for several books.

Chris showed the group pictures taken in India, Africa, Spain, Portugal and Gibraltar. Members saw amazing shots of flamingos, Ibex, and Dik Dik and shots from a hot air balloon, which gave him a different perspective on the game animals.

Closer to home, there were shots of British wildlife in all its forms, stoats, various mice, foxes, deer and birds and in macro, snails, aphids, caterpillars, moth larvae, carpet moths, glow-worms, fleas, flies, beetles and spiders, to name but a few.

He spends weeks slowly erecting hides up by nests so that the birds get used to him being around. To photograph the hornets’ nest, he spent days watching them go about their business.

Members felt that, as usual, it was an entertaining evening with some spectacular photos.

September brought to the club Brian Galbraith the judge for the Low Light competition. He spent a few minutes giving information on himself and in particular his experience as president of the Western Counties Photographic Federation, which involved him in a number of judges coaching courses.

Based on his experience he suggested that photographers should be aware of the need for entries to ‘catch the eye’ of the judge; when selecting images, try flipping them and converting to black and white before making any decisions, and to not to be afraid to try altering images as ‘they don’t have to be true’.

He then critiqued the 21 colour images, holding back a selection as he went for further comment at the end, finally selecting: Colour — 1, Woodland Glade by Michael Stickney; Monochrome — 1, A Wonderful Find by Eric Mitchel.

The group’s successful exhibition at The Castle in Bude attracted large numbers of very positive comments in the visitors’ book.

The club also held a evening at a member’s house, showing the benefits of shooting in RAW over jpeg and using Lightbox.

Phoenix Camera Club is a small, friendly group whose members share a common interest in creative photography. There are new and exciting ideas lined up for future meetings, photo shoots, competitions, talks, workshops, etc, so whatever your age or ability, if you would like to get more out of your camera, then go along to see them.

The group meets on the first Monday of every month at the Skills Centre in Holsworthy from 7pm to 9.30pm. To find out more contact membership secretary Roger Young on 01409 259345 or visit website www.phoneixcameraclub.com