News

Thursday 30th April 2026 - AGM and Chairman's Cup

After the AGM, Paul judged the Chairman's Cup competition. Paul appraised 39 images over the three set subjects; Atmospheric, My Island and Stripes. He was keen to acknowledge all those images that 'met the brief' and gave kind and encouraging help to images that maybe didn’t quite fit the bill – he did however award 10 x 10s which was very popular. 

Mike came out as overall winner (it was very close) and the trophy was awarded to him at the end. Don, our newly-elected chairman, then thanked Paul for his many years of work as Chairman and presented him with a gift and card from the members.

Thursday 16th April 2026 - Spring Cup

The club held our Spring Cup on Zoom, enterprisingly judged by Andrew Weatherburn, a new appraiser to us.  Before the evening began he commented that it was refreshing to see images from so many different styles of photography and his scores reflected this.  Steve won with his uber clever 'Mossy moonshot' composite, Keith was 2nd with his menacing street picture 'Being followed' and Mike was third with his minimalist 'Lonely tree'. 

Paul presented Steve with the Spring Cup trophy.

Wednesday 15th April 2026 - Jack Skeel B&W Print Trophy

On Wednesday several of us were made to feel very welcome by our friends at the IWPS who ran the 2026 Jack Skeel black and white photographic print competition. As a club we do not usually show prints but three of us entered to support the evening. Despite being well out of our comfort zone, Don and Keith both had a score of 18 with a holdback (aka shortlisted for the winners rostrum) and Suzy did even better with a score of 20, a highly commended award and two other holdbacks!

Thursday 9th April 2026 - Mobile Photography

The club met in the library at Niton for an evening devoted to smartphone photography. In the first half Steve showed two videos which explained in some detail the technology involved in the cameras of mobile phones. It's fair to say that most members' minds were blown as they learned how it is that phones are often able to outperform our cameras.

Steve then connected his phone to the projector and ran through some of the amazing functions that it can perform assisted by a very clever internal processor and some AI. By the end most of us were thinking 'We need a new phone!'

After the break we showed the phone photos sent in by members to highlight some of the situations where a phone can handle difficult light conditions including night photography, fireworks, sunsets, inside cathedrals and shooting into the sun directly.

Thursday 19th March 2026 - 'Light and Shade' and Open

The first half was the set subject 'Light and Shade'. Sue B was first with 'Water under the Bridge', Liz was second with 'Tulip - Barely there' followed by Paul with 'Subterranean'.

After the break Suzy took first and second with 'Busy at the Beach' and 'Rainy Day at Lock Lomond'. Sue C's shot of a giraffe was third 'Lunch at Longleat'. Our appraiser for the evening was the admirable Carol Walker from IWPS.

During the break, Paul presented Suzy with the Autumn Cup Trophy, 2025.

Wednesday 18th March 2026 - Hasselblad Trophy

Several of our members submitted images for the Hasselblad Trophy hosted on Zoom by the IWPS. This is for individual members of all the Island's clubs to enter their best work and as expected the standard on show was exceptional.

Don scored a very creditable 19/20 in 4th place with his fine and clever example of black and white photography, 'High Rise Puddle' and was awarded a 'Highly Commended' by the experienced and entertaining judge Paul Hendley.

Suzy then scored 20 and was placed a remarkable 2nd (only narrowly beaten by a great example of black and white street photography) with 'Impact Zone', her beautiful unique drone shot of a surfer and breaking waves.

We also had official confirmation of our final league placing after coming 2nd again in the last league fixture of the season. We came equal 3rd (but beaten into 4th on individual picture scores) - a brilliant effort considering it was our first season in div 5, after 2 consecutive promotions and making us the highest placed Island club in the entire Southern Counties league system!

Thursday 5th March 2026 - Chris Cornford Talk on Commercial Photography and Edit/Swap

We met in the Library and had a thoroughly interesting and entertaining talk about the production of the Isle of Wight Observer (the Island's free newspaper) by Chris Cornford. He showed examples of photographic equipment and techniques he employs for maximum impact, sporting action and record shots for the paper.

In the second half of the meeting Chris helped us review our Edit/Swap images. 14 members sent in their shots which were then re-distributed randomly back for editing and post-processing. In the examples below: Paul edited Don's original, Sue B edited Mark's, Steve edited Sue B's and Shani edited Keith's. There was a lot of discussion about how and why the results were achieved.

Thursday 19th February 2026 - Action and Open

We welcomed Paul Moran, during his visit to the Island, as our appraiser for this clubnight competition. There were 27 images in the 'Action' section and first prize went to Trevor with his perfectly timed shot of a fiercely-contested rugby lineout. Sue C was second with a super shot of the Red Arrows and Mike's record of a near-collision during the Round the Island Race came third.

In the second half of the evening, the winner of the 'Open' competition was Paul with 'Golden Ceiling'. Second was Sue B with 'Cold Winter Birches' and Suzy was third with 'Riders in the Mist'.

Wednesday 4th February 2026 - SCPF PDI Competition. Our Home Fixture

Members from the other clubs in SCPF Digital Image League Division 5 joined Niton on Zoom for our home fixture. Sue Sibley was the judge for the evening and gave an educational critique for each of the 64 images.

Our highest scoring images were Tracey’s flowers 'Fallen Beauty' and her mono fireworks 'Fire Centre' – both scoring a solid 9. We were placed equal 4th with our friends at IWPS. There are two more rounds to go.

Thursday 22nd January 2026 - 'Action' Tutorials and Members' Presentations

In the first half of the meeting we watched two video tutorials to provide some motivation for the set subject of our club competition to be held on 19th February.

In the second half, four of our experienced members each gave a short inspiring presentation;

• Shani recounted her experience of a visit to antarctica with the help of a slick professional video of the trip

• Ali's talk on astro photography was beautifully illuminated with some of her stunning photos

• Sue B explained the process she had to follow to achieved her licentiate (LRPS) and showed us the portfolio of diverse images she submitted

• Mike showed us some of his unusual aerial shots of familiar (and unfamiliar) locations on the Island

Thursday 8th January 2026 - Welcome Back Lunch at Puckpool and Photo Challenge

Sadly, our much-anticipated annual New Year get-together was cancelled thanks to the arrival of storm Goretti which battered the Island in the face of amber warnings forecast by the Met Office. It may be possible to set a new date for this outing.

Wednesday 10th December 2025 - Mix and Match Challenge at IWPS

A large Niton contingent was hosted impeccably at Arreton by the IWPS for an inter-club Mix and Match challenge. The impartial judge, Nick Henry, was initiated into the spirit of this fun seasonal competition notable for its noisy audience participation.

When the final results were calculated it turned out that IWPS were victorious. Despite Niton's impressive image points total, our matches failed miserably with one low score of 0 (zero) which was less than impressive against a perfect 10 scored later by IWPS.

We were all treated to some excellent Christmas refreshments at the end of the evening amid muttering about a possible return match next year.

Tuesday 2nd December 2025 - Brighstone Christmas Tree Festival

Paul, Shani, Gerry and Steve spent an enjoyable afternoon setting up and decorating the Club's Christmas tree with a selection of many new photography-themed ornaments.

The tree is on show in the Wilberforce Hall as part of the Brighstone Christmas Tree Festival from Thursday 4th to Sunday 7th December.

Thursday 20th November 2025 - Autumn Cup

Niton and District Camera Club held their annual Autumn Cup on Zoom, attended online by most of the members and appraised by Gladys Perrier. There were 45 entries and a variety of different styles of photographs were held back by the judge as she chose 11 to see again.

For the 2nd competition in a row, Suzy one of our new members, came first with her stunning colourful drone picture of crashing surf 'Impact Zone'. In 2nd place was Liz's arty minimalist shot of 2 lilies and Sue C took 3rd with her super sharp and detailed hawk picture.

Thursday 23rd October 2025 - Minimalist and Open

Our first Judged competition of the new season saw Robert Mowat from Focus Ryde Club come to Niton to Judge for us. The 2 sections, Minimalist and Open, were well supported by members with some interesting images. Our newcomers did brilliantly with a first place, a second and a third. Well done ladies!

Minimalist was won by new member Suzy with her beautifully dreamy landscape 'Breaking Dawn'. 2nd was Sue B's classically simple breaking waves 'Watercolour' and 3rd was Mike's cleverly seen lines and angles street shot 'The Big Step'.

In the Open, Tracey won with her stunning nature image 'Sunset Deer'. 2nd was Suzy again with her arty surfing picture 'Party Wave' and 3rd place deservedly went to another new member, Clare with her unusual and very well executed sunset shot 'Golden Hour'.

Thursday 9th October 2025 - Summer Outings Challenge

We met again at the beautiful old library building in Niton for our first competition of the new season.  Giving our members another chance to blow away the cobwebs, we had a look at the images we have taken at the various photo outings the club arranged in the summer break - at Osborne, the Round the Island race, a Beaulieu expedition, the Fastnet race and the Havenstreet Steam Fair.

We had 47 quality photographs appraised by the Club's 3 qualified judges; Paul, Sue B and Keith. With 2 new members entering their first event and another attending, it was good to see fresh faces amongst the established members.

It was a close contest with only a few points separating the entries, but the first 3 were;

1. Ali with her dramatic shot of the Fastnet with an RNLI rib racing across

2. Sue C with another fine Fastnet shot

3. and one of our newbies, Suzy with a beautiful aethereal waterfall

Well done all!

Thursday 25th September 2025 - Holiday Snaps

This was our first meeting of the new season. Although several people were still off sunning themselves we had a good turnout with 2 new prospective members. The evening (apart from the break for tea, cake and a catch up obviously) consisted of:

• Video tutorials from the excellent Steve on the subject of minimalist photography...which is the subject of our next competition

• A look at the 8 pictures chosen for our forthcoming  Southern Counties 'Fed' league fixtures

• A lighthearted critique of pictures our members (too many to mention) took during the summer

Friday 22nd August 2025 - Havenstreet Steam Fair

The final outing of our summer programme took us to the steam fair at Havenstreet. Several members visited on a sunny bank holiday weekend and took shots of the magnificently steamy event. The images below are from Mike, Shani and Keith.

Our winter programme of evening meetings begins again on Thursday 25th September with a review of members' holiday pictures and a minimalist photography tutorial.

Saturday 26th July 2025 - Start of the Fastnet Race

The fourth outing on our summer programme was to the start of the Fastnet Race. Ali and Sue C managed to get through the crowds and chaos on the Cowes seafront, Steve and Trevor took up positions on the beach at Fort Victoria and Mike was stationed up high on the Needles Battery looking down on the competitiors as they zoomed past.

Monday 30th June 2025 - Minster Challenge and Exhibition

The Isle of Wight Forum of Camera Clubs sponsored an exhibition of photos taken of the Newport Minster. An invitation was issued to each club member in January and the pictures submitted were printed up by the Forum and put on open display at the Minster through the month of July...to great acclaim. Niton members submitted 8 of the 31 images on show. An A4 poster, advertising the club (what it is about, the type of activities, when we meet) was also on display and business cards were provided for anyone interested to take away.

These external and internal images were taken by Mike, Keith, Shani and Sue B:

...and these were from Norma, Steve, Sue C and Paul:

Friday 27th June 2025 - Day Trip to Beaulieu

Despite the best efforts of the ferry company to shipwreck the event, a happy band of club members spent a delightful day at the splendid Beaulieu Motor Museum and Abbey. Many thanks to Chris for providing comfortable transport.

The photo-challenges for the day were 'Golden Age of Motoring', 'Sculpture Interpretation' and 'Open'. The results will be viewed and critiqued (along with images taken at the other summer outings) on a clubnight in the autumn. (9 Oct)

Saturday 7th June 2025 - Round the Island Race

The Club was fortunate enough to be invited to watch the race from a private garden in Niton. There was a superb view of the action as the yachts came round the southern point of the Island and there were spectacular views of unintended gybes and tangled spinnakers as the more inexperienced crews struggled with the conditions in the shifting wind. Many  thanks to Mike for arranging this opportunity.

Thursday 22nd May 2025 - Outing to Osborne

The Club's first outing of the summer was to Osborne where members enjoyed a day wandering around the extensive grounds while some lingered to take in a tour of the House. Most of the party started in the walled garden which was at its best and proceded to visit the terraces in the bright sunshine. We then walked down to Queen Victoria's private beach where we stopped for lunch at a picnic table before enjoying the walk through the rhododendrons up to the Swiss Cottage. A most enjoyable day out.

Friday 16th May 2025 - All Island Competition

Some of us entered the 'All Island' competition organised by Ryde Focus and open to members of camera clubs on the Island. 57 high-class PDIs were judged by Nick Henry which led to 19 held back with 3 highly commended and 3 then ranked in first, second and third place.

It was a really successful evening for Niton; Tracey was awarded first with her image of 'Spring Tulips' and was highly commended with 'Wild Garlic Spread'. At least two other Niton images were held back; Don's moody seascape and Keith's intriguing interior with two figures by a window. Well done Tracey and well done Niton!

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