On this page:
Current Photo of the month and Peoples' Choice - see below
Previous POTM & Peoples' Choice winners
(this link opens at jervisbay.jalbum.net)
Assessment: 11th March 2026
Landscape / Seascape
Always a favourite genre amongst photographers and, as expected, we were treated to an array of incredible scenes in both the colour and monochrome sections with just a handful of images appearing in the open subject category. Our judge for the evening was club member Ian Brown, known to us all as a bird photographer par excellence. Ian provided excellent feedback and his comments were almost universally complimentary. On occasions, he acknowledged that lighting or composition might have been improved in some manner but on the understanding that unless you (the viewer) are standing when and where the photo was taken, you cannot necessarily assume the said improvements could be guaranteed by shifting viewpoint or waiting for better light.
We had sufficient time after judging was completed, awards were meted out and refreshments were partaken for a discussion session. One by one, each image was highlighted and the artist invited to speak about their photo. Details such as where the image was made, how it was taken in terms of what kind of exposure, what lens was used, whether a tripod was included etc. This sort of interaction is, in my mind, a valuable learning opportunity for all.
For me, one of the biggest surprises was the back story behind the photo of the month. Dave Macquart (that's two months in a row now Dave!) told us how he resurrected an old monochrome film negative from a hiking trip to the Karakoram mountains in Pakistan decades ago. He set up the negative on a light table and photographed it with his current digital camera in macro mode. In so doing, he obtained a large, clean digital file that could be magnified to s size many times greater than the original negative. From there is was a simple matter of inverting the image during post-processing so that negative became positive, tidying up a few blemishes on the negative and printing it out. Brilliant! This is thinking outside the square. There must be others amongst us who possess a catalog of old worthy negatives as well. Why not have a go at a project like this yourself? Maybe we could even have a future set subject based around this idea.
Peoples' choice was awarded to Joseph for a dramatic image of a stark landscape in Arizona, USA. Dramatic colourful striations in the soil were reproduced exceptionally well and the sunset sky with clouds and slanting light rays were the icing on top.
Well done to these two members for their recognition. See below for Dave's POTM and Joseph's Peoples' Choice images.
Photo of the month - March 2026
Dave says "The image was a copy of a B&W Negative of an image I took in 1992 using a Pentax SLR, not sure which one as I carried two bodies, one for Colour Slides and the other using B&W Ilford Film. The photo was taken on the upper reaches of the Biafo Glacier in the Karakoram Mountains in northern Pakistan, as part of a two week Glacial Traverse Crossing from the Indus Valley over into the Hunza Valley.
The process of copying was as follows. I sat the negative emulsion side up on a light box and photographed it using my full frame Pentax DSLR with a macro lens. I then imported the digital copy into Lightroom, Flipped the image horizontally, reversed the tone curve which then means the Exposure, Contrast, Highlights, Shadows, White and Black sliders are reversed. Once I was happy with the look of the copied digital image, I then printed it as A3 on Hahnemuhle Matt Fine Art Smooth Photo Rag 308gsm Paper. Obviously, I will be delving into the archives following the results of this copy".
Above: Dave Macquart's Biafo Glacier
Below: Joseph Horvat's Red Ravine Sunset
