Rosie Armes  FRPS DPAGB BPE2*

Rosie is a member of Chichester Camera club and a keen supporter of the infrastructure of amateur photography both in the UK and abroad, gaining her DPAGB in 2006 and FRPS in 2008.

She will photograph any subject providing she responds emotionally to it, and her preferred subject matter is street photography within which there is a human element that can tell a story of their environment.

Rosie also enjoys capturing what the eye cannot see. Movement, be it flight, wind or the passage of light fascinates her and offers a great deal of scope to produce an image that is less tangible than a record shot.

Steve Smith  FRPS MPAGB

His passion for photography started back in 1978 when he joined High Wycombe PS whose members at the time included Bill Carden FRPS. In 1984 he gained his Associateship with darkroom B&W prints and at the time had work regularly accepted into International and National Exhibitions including the London Salon. Photography ceased altogether in 1986 due to business commitments, until his passion was re-kindled back in 2004.

He joined Amersham PS in 2004 and spent the next two years coming to grips with the different technology that was available. Although most subjects will be taken, it is street photography “People and their Environments” that most appeals to him.

His Monochrome prints are renowned for their quality and his images have won many National and International awards. At the 2009 PAGB Inter-Club Print Championship he has won the gold medal for the “Best Monochrome Print” for the third year in a row.

In 2008 he gained his Fellowship with a panel of prints titled “The Citizens of Cuba and their Environments”. The saying that is so apt, “A Moment in Time”, to capture everyday occurrences, events and people, that is the challenge and the reward for him.

Presently he is planning other trips to Cuba to capture more images to enable a book to be published. In November 2009 Steve has a one man exhibition at the Museum “Las Parandas de Remedios”. Remedios is a small town some 250 miles from Havana where Christmas is celebrated like nowhere else.

Steve has recently moved home with the intention of creating a darkroom to house his collection of enlargers and equipment. Although he is currently working in digital he is eager to start printing silver prints again using his preferred Pentax 67 MK2 camera.

He is a member of the PAGB Executive and is the Treasurer for the awards.

Dave Yates

Dave’s introduction into photography was when he bought himself a box brownie for 6d (around 3 weeks pocket money) from Woolworths, however his serious interest began in 1993 when he joined Smethwick Photographic Society.

He became President of Smethwick Photographic Society in 1999/2000 during which he played a major part in the acquisition and renovation of the 'Old School House' - now the Clubroom for Smethwick. In 2006 he once again took on this role.

Despite all the PSA & FIAP medals which he has received over the years, the highlight for Dave was his invitation to become a member of the London Salon.

He gets great enjoyment touring throughout the UK and Ireland giving lectures and judging competitions.

His main interest throughout the years has been monochrome work, with the successful series of pictures created for his website ‘My Monochrome World by Jambo Habari’ (www.jambohabari.com/).

Recently Dave has ventured into what is, for him, the mysterious world of ‘Colour’, creating hand tinted and toned prints digitally, echoing what he used to do in his old darkroom.

Sandy Cleland  FRPS AFIAP

Sandy has been interested in nature since very early childhood but it was the television programmes such as 'Look' with Peter Scott and the 'On Safari' series with Armand and Michaela Dennis that kindled his passion to record nature on film - starting at the age of 13 with standard 8mm cine film.

He has been a member of Edinburgh Photographic Society for over 40 years and has held the positions of President and International Exhibition Secretary. Sandy is currently the External Competition Secretary.

The Royal Photographic Society has also been very important to Sandy. He became an Associate in 1980 and a Fellow in 1986. Both awards were with nature slides. He has also been involved with the Licentiateship Panel both as a panel member and a Chairman as well as being a member of the A & F panel for nature. At present he is a member of the Distinctions Advisory Board.

In the past, Sandy has tended to work on individual images but now he likes to work on panels of subjects. This in part is mainly due to digital as it is now much easier and less time consuming to produce prints. With slides it was not so easy to do panels as each slide is on the screen as an individual image. Prints on the other hand, can be more easily viewed and related as a panel.

Natural history has always been and still is Sandy's main interest but he enjoys all types of photography, especially subjects such as landscape and the more creative aspects of image making.

Sandy has always enjoyed his hobby, visiting other clubs and meeting with kindred spirits. His enthusiasm for photography today is as strong as when he first started, having been rekindled by digital technology.

Barbie Lindsay  EFIAP MPAGB FBPE

Barbie is a photographic obsessive. She lives and thrives on the photographic medium. Her world is seen through the eye of the lens and her life totally revolves around her love of photography.

Born in Ipswich, Barbie acquired her first camera at the age of 11. She had always hankered after a career as an artist, but never fulfilled this dream. Instead, she turned her artistic talent to photography in 1982 and is now working in the print lab of a large schools photography company, despite hating kids!

Her love of photography has developed over the years. Firstly using trade processed printing, then onto transparencies and monochrome darkroom work, before progressing to colour darkroom printing and finally changing to digital in 1997. She lectures across the country, judges nationally and internationally, and continues to enter photographic competitions whenever she can. Barbie was appointed a PAGB judge in 2005.

Her biggest achievement to date was being part of the gold medal winning team, representing Britain in the worldwide FIAP biennial print competition. In the same competition she also won an individual silver medal. She has had numerous photographs published in books and newspapers, including one image used as a phone card for BT.

Her aim is to pass on her love of photography to as many people as possible regardless of ability. Barbie is a founder member of the 'Beyond Group' whose aims are to encourage others to push their photography beyond the usual club situation. To encourage them to enter exhibitions, to judge, to lecture and of course to produce more images of the highest standard. (www.beyondgroup.info/)

Russell Lindsay  AFIAP MPAGB ABPE

Rusty has been interested in photography for over 20 years. In the early days, he produced both mono and colour prints in the darkroom. In 1997, however, he started scanning his negatives and slides into a computer and producing his prints digitally. Since the year 2000, he has been totally 'digital', having dispensed with film altogether and using Fuji digital SLRs to capture his images instead. He is a digital imaging specialist by profession, and works in the imaging lab of a National Schools Photography Company.

Rusty creates many of his images by using composites - combining several images together to produce the final picture. In most cases, the picture starts off as an idea, which then has to be transferred to whichever photographic medium he has chosen to use. He cannot leave it to chance, that he might stumble upon such a vision. More still, he needs to be in total control and therefore has to create the picture himself. It may simply be by setting up the scene beforehand, or by photographing each element separately and then bringing all the components together to create his final image. Digital manipulation obviously lends itself to this type of work, far more so than the darkroom ever did.

Rusty himself considers that he is a photographic artist rather than a photographic reporter and will photograph anything and everything if he thinks it could make a good image. He likes an added element of humour in his pictures but alongside everything else that he produces, quality is of paramount importance. He also judges and lectures around the photographic circuit as well as exhibiting work nationally and internationally - picking up numerous awards along the way.

Like Barbie, Rusty is also a founder member of the 'Beyond Group'.