WHAT’S ON
All our meetings are held on a Thursday night from 7.30pm, unless stated differently below.
We have a wide range of lectures, competitions and practical evenings for the enjoyment of our members.
11th September 2025
Lecture
We welcome Darren Holden with his lecture “Pretty Vacant.” This is a documentary insight into urban exploration, and derelict sites right across the UK and Europe.
These sites include large industrial sites, power stations, asylums, hospital theatres and cinemas and pretty much everything in-between.
For the past 20 years Darren has documented hundreds of sites, some long gone and others redeveloped or still derelict. The talk gives some idea on what has become a very popular pastime on social media.
To see Darren’s images on Instagram please click this link.
Sunday 14th September 2025
Mono Print and PDI Competition - CLOSING DATE
Closing date for this Print and PDI competition.
All submissions must be in the correct format and be received before midnight tonight.
Good luck to all who have entered!
18th September 2025
PDI Competition Round 4
The judge will be John Riley
Deadline for entries: Midnight Sunday 7th September 2025.
Good luck to all who have entered!
25th September 2025
Mono Prints & PDIs Competition
The judge for tonight will be announced shortly.
Deadline for entries: Midnight Sunday 14th September 2025.
Good luck to all who have entered!
2nd October 2025
Lecture at Bury
This is a joint meeting with Bury Photographic Society, and they are the hosts
Both clubs welcome Ian Beesley with his illustrated lecture.
Ian is an award-winning and internationally acclaimed artist and photographer. His work has been exhibited nationally and internationally.
He was a course leader for the MA in photography at the University of Bolton and he is a British social documentary photographer who has focused on northern England, particularly Bradford, since the late 1970s.
Ian’s work is held in the collections of the Science Museum and Smithsonian Museum Institution. He has published 25 books, and in 2012 he was awarded Honorary Fellowship of the Royal Photographic Society.
To enjoy Ian's images please visit his website by clicking on the link below
This meeting starts at 7.30pm and will be held in the function room at the Fishpool Liberal Club, 79 Nelson Street, Bury, BL9 9HX.
Sunday 5th October 2025
Open Print Competition - Round 4 - CLOSING DATE
Closing date for this print competition.
All submissions must be in the correct format and be received before midnight tonight.
Good luck to all who have entered!
9th October 2025
Lecture
We welcome Sean Conboy with his illustrated Lecture on Architecture.
An internationally renowned photographer, Sean Conboy provides architects, construction companies, designers and the world of advertising and marketing with a standard of work that only leaves you questioning the standards of others.
With projects ranging from giant multiplex cinemas to multi-storey structures, Sean Conboy is often challenged with complex mixed lighting and atmospheric surroundings. A keen visual awareness, extensive technical experience and the finest large format equipment ensure you a result that simply can’t be found anywhere else.
Sean Conboy uses a variety of camera systems and equipment that enables him to consistently produce the some of the best architectural, industrial and commercial photography in the world.
Sean Conboy is a proud ambassador for Hasselblad.
16th October 2025
Open Print Competition - Round 4
The judge for tonight will be Steve Proctor.
The deadline for entries : Midnight, Sunday 5th October
Good luck to all who have entered.
23rd October 2025
Lecture
We welcome Gary Jones with his illustrated lecture on Wildlife.
Gary Jones is a Professional Wildlife Photographer and Guide, based in North Wales close by to the beauty and ruggedness of the Welsh Coast and the mountains of Snowdonia.
Since an early age he has had a passion for the outdoors and especially Wildlife, and by trying to photographically record what he saw in the wild, it eventually turned into his profession.
He is an accomplished mountaineer and spends a lot of his time in the Mountains but whatever he does and wherever he goes the camera always goes with him.
Although Gary enjoys photographing all wildlife subjects, his passion is birds, especially raptors, Ospreys are his absolute favourite bird, and he spends a huge amount of time in the Spring and Summer photographing them.
He is also a Professional Guide and Workshop host.
Sunday 26th October 2025
PDIs for the Smartphone Competition - CLOSING DATE
Closing date for this PDI competition.
All submissions must be in the correct format and be received before midnight tonight.
This is a fun competition for images taken and edited on a smart phone. Members can enter up to two images.
Good luck to all who have entered!
30th October 2025
Inter Club Competition with Bury
We host the second round of our inter club competition with Bury PS.
Each club will enter 10 Prints and 10 PDIs, and independent judge Graham Currey will comment and score each one.
This is a great opportunity to enjoy wonderful images from both clubs, and for members to renew friendships
Sunday 2nd November 2025
PRINTS and PDIs for the Concept Competition - CLOSING DATE
Closing date for this Prints and PDIs concept competition “Contra Jour”.
All submissions must be in the correct format and be received before midnight tonight.
Members can enter up to two Prints and up to two PDIs
Good luck to all who have entered!
6th November 2025
Smartphone Competition
Images taken and edited on a mobile phone can be entered in this fun competition.
The closing date for entries was Sunday 26th October.
Jet Lendon from Jet Black Squares Smartphone Photography returns to pass her constructive thoughts and comments on each image.
Jet is the founder and Creative Director of Jet Black Squares. Combining her former teaching career in the East End of London with a more recent corporate photography business of 14 years, she has created a hub for everything creative surrounding the smartphone.
13th November 2025
Concept Competition Round 2: “Contre-Jour”
This is the second of two Concept competitions, and is for Prints and PDIs.
The Judge will be confirmed soon.
Members can enter up to two Prints and up two PDIs.
The closing deadline was Sunday 2nd November
Contre-jour is a photographic technique that involves shooting directly into a light source, such as the sun. The technique originated in painting and has been used for decades. The French phrase contre-jour literally translates to "against daylight".
Contre-jour creates bold contrasts and is often synonymous with silhouette photography. To manage the tonal range, you can use in-camera exposure compensation and histogram controls. You can also apply shadow reduction in software to bring out details in the backlit subject.
Contre-jour produces backlighting of the subject. This effect usually hides details, causes a stronger contrast between light and dark, creates silhouettes and emphasizes lines and shapes. The sun, or other light source, is often seen as either a bright spot or as a strong glare behind the subject.
For examples enter “Contre Jour in photography” in your search engine and click on “images”
20th November 2025
Photo Critique Evening
We shall be looking at some past entries in our competitions and discussing them with a positive critique.
The process is to learn what makes a good image, and what can be done to further improve an image, either by camera work when taking the image, or in editing techniques.
Club member and professional photographer Dave McNabb will be leading the discussions.
27th November 2025
Lecture
We welcome our own club member Brian White with his illustrated lecture on Wildlife.
Brian has been a professional photographer, and tonight his entertaining lecture will be about his recent trip to photograph wildlife in its natural habitat.
Brian’s passion is to capture a sense of place or an expression of a person, wildlife or landscape from interacting with subjects hoping to achieve a pleasing photographic image.
4th December 2025
Fun Competition
The judge for tonight will be Rebecca Entwistle.
The deadline for entries : Midnight, Sunday 23rd November.
This is just for fun, and full details will be published here soon.
Good luck to all who have entered.
11 December 2025
Fun Quiz
Tonight we are holding our annual fun quiz. There will be a range of subjects to test your general knowledge, and photography is unlikely to be included!.
We welcome members to bring their partners, spouses etc. to this fun meeting.
18th December 2025
Christmas Break
There is no meeting this evening, and we are closed until our next meeting on Thursday 8th January 2026.
We wish our members and their families a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, and extend the seasons greetings to all our readers.
The details of “What’s On for 2026” will be published here nearer the time.