Chairman: Mike Sadler (Telephone 01661 823519)
Using first a Kodak reflex and then an 8mm movie camera, I began taking mainly holiday and family photos in the 1950's. I moved onto 35mm slides with an Agfa Silette and then a Pentax SLR, but really expanded this hobby once I acquired a Fuji S7000 digital camera (and more recently an Olympus) plus a Sony Camcorder, when, importantly I don't have to pay for films and processing! Since retiring from banking in 2000, I am able to devote more time to photography and enjoy putting together short audio-visual films to try to encourage the family to look at my holiday photos. I also enjoy entering competitions, but with varying degrees of success. A long-time member of Ponteland Photographic Society, I am keen to see the membership grow and for the Club to develop its influence in the community.
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Treasurer: Frank Thomson (Telephone 01661 823191)
When I was at school, I became a member of the Forfar Photographic Club , where I learnt something of the dark arts of developing and enlarging the photos I took on my mother's folding Kodak. I have had a succession of cameras since then by Zeiss, Pentax and Canon. I joined the Ponteland Society more years ago than I care to remember. I enjoy taking photographs for my own pleasure - mainly records of places and events. Having been brought up on computers (I wrote my first Fortran program in 1961) I like to tinker with digital images, and to keep on learning more about the capabilities of the image editing programs. About five years ago I retired my Canon SLR film camera, and I now favour a Canon SLR Digital camera, though I have a compact camera for those times when the camera bag gets too heavy!
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Secretary: Gary Smith (Telephone 0191 2170038)
I first took up photography some 50 years ago, having been bitten by the bug helping my father show 16mm home movies, and I am still in hot pursuit of better photos. Now retired after a career in public sector management, I enjoy the challenge of computer techniques for digital imaging, mainly using Photoshop and Lightroom. I am particularly interested in photographs which observe people and the urban environment, and photos that “make me think”. I gave up shooting film about 10 years ago and currently have Canon cameras, both SLR and compact, and also a recently acquired digital rangefinder camera. I strive to produce good quality A3 prints and also have a long standing interest in audio visual work, happily producing DVD shows for the family.
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Vice Chairman & Programme Co-ordinator: Veronica Congleton LRPS
I have dabbled in photography for many years, never really giving much thought to the what, why and how the image was taken. All this changed when I was given a compact digital camera for my birthday four years ago. Learning which button to press and when took time and commitment however, however the overall results made me want to take my photography further. Members of the Ponteland Photographic Society came to my rescue by giving me friendly photographic guidance as well as providing the encouragement for me to purchase my first Digital SLR camera, a Canon 400D. This opened up a whole new world to me which I was keen to develop further and so decided to try and gain a distinction from the Royal Photographic Society; I am happy to say that I was successful and satisfied the standards required to become a Licentiate member in November 2008. I have now moved on to a NIKON D300 and really enjoy taking photographs of people, animals and of anything 'moving'. In fact photography has become my main hobby. I really do enjoy the whole range from planning and taking to printing and mounting the outcome of my endeavours. Click here for my gallery.

Committee Member: Rod Smith (Telephone 0191 236 7839)
[Equipment and Website Co-ordinator]
My love of photography comes with the challenge of capturing the beauty of what I see around me. Turning a full colour, 3 dimension scene into something which conveys even part of it’s original beauty is a satisfying achievement. Photography is a constantly inspiring, challenging, thought provoking and even annoying especially when I see something from a new viewpoint.
Some of my best pictures where taken with my first SLR - a £30 Zenit-E which survived a fall down the stairs of a cross channel ferry over 40 years ago! Unfortunately no longer with us it was replaced with a succession of Contax, Kodak, Minolta and Canon models all of which have helped me to prove that the price of the camera is inversely proportional to the quality the pictures! Click here for my gallery.

Committee Member: Denise Weatherburn
[with responsibility for Publicity]
I was a happy snapper with my compact camera until I went backpacking. I knew I would be going to places and having experiences that would never be repeated, so even though I knew nothing at all about photography, I got my first entry level SLR. It has served me well trekking up mountains, when I sometimes wished I didn’t have it, but it has grown into a hobby where I want to grab shots of places where I wouldn’t mind going back to.
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Committee Member: Bill Norfolk
[Members Co-ordinator]
I have always been a keen snapper and progress recorder, and also had a spell of monochrome developing and enlarging. Later I graduated to digital with a 2.0 MP Olympus compact, however getting my first digital SLR, which coincided with my retirement and desire to broaden my photographic knowledge, made me re-evaluate where and how I took my images. Observing what other photographers produce, together with supplementary reading, has helped me look at a subject not as just something to be recorded, but as something that is of interest and or tells a story. Joining Ponteland Photographic Society and the help and support I have received has given me further confidence. I use the seasons, our garden and our visits and holidays to pursue a hobby I enjoy.
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Competitions Secretary: Hank Craggs (Co-opted)
I took up digital photography around 2008 and joined PPS in 2009 and I wish that I had done this long ago! For me, amateur photography is like any worthwhile hobby; a vast and never ending subject where learning is continuous and personal improvement is ongoing. Trying techniques out for yourself and learning from other club members and invited guest speakers is very rewarding especially when, on the odd occasion and usually by accident, the results are positive.
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