SOCIETY
  • Home
  • About Us
  • Contacts
  • Programme
  • Groups
    • Main Group
    • Video Film-Making Group
    • Monday Afternoon Group
    • Nature Group >
      • Nature Group Archive
    • Urban Group
    • Practical Group
    • Record Group
  • Galleries
    • Club Galleries
    • Members Galleries
  • Main Group - Record of Speakers
  • News
    • Latest News
    • Newsletter
    • Archived News >
      • 2023
      • 2022
      • 2021
      • 2020
      • 2019
      • 2018
      • 2017
      • 2016
  • Competitions
    • Results >
      • Results PDI 25/26
      • Results Prints 25/26
      • Results PDI 24/25
      • Results Prints 24/25
      • Results - PDI 23/24
      • Results - Prints 23/24
      • Results - Video
    • Competitions & Entry Dates
    • Rules and Awards >
      • Photographic Competitions
      • Video Film-Making Competitions
      • Image Sizes
  • History
    • Club Celebrations
    • 1978 - 2013
    • 1903 - 1978
    • Before 1903
    • New Club Premises
    • Officers of the Society
Picture
​Tynemouth Photographic Society

NORTH TYNE AREA PDI COMPETITION - 31ST MARCH 2026
Picture
Winning Image - Subway Ghosts - Chris Parker
Picture
Chris receiving the NTA PDI Trophy
A well attended night at King Street Club for this competition which was hosted by North Shields PS.
The judge for the event was David Ord of Ryton & District CC and six Clubs from our North Tyne Area had eight entries each and it turned out to be a close scoring competition with a high standard of images throughout.
 
The final scores were;
North Shields PS 210 - joint 1st
Gosforth CC 210 - joint 1st
Tynemouth PS 202 - joint 3rd
Whitley Bay PS 202 - joint 3rd
Ponteland PS 199
Cramlington PS 189 
Our congratulations go to North Shields PS and Gosforth CC, who will share the Trophy for six months each.
Our own Chris Parker achieved 30 points with the winning image 'Subway Ghosts', well done Chris.

A wonderful buffet was provided by our hosts and there was a huge selection of  prizes for the lucky raffle winners.

AN EVENING WITH OUR OWN ARTHUR SMITH DPAGB - 22ND JANUARY 2026
After the Christmas break, the Society resumed its series of lectures with the packed house of over 30 members and guests enjoying a wonderful evening featuring Society member Arthur Smith. Arthur joined the Society in 1989 noting that he was interested in photography from a young age and he was especially interested in darkroom work and the numerous ways photographs could be produced using a multitude of techniques.

He began his talk with a short history noting that photographs were first seen as a replacement for painting and drawing capturing scenes and images which had previously been the domain of traditional artists. Indeed, during the Victorian period it was a common practice for wealthier society to create ‘cameos’ such as tragic ‘deathbed’ scenes where the young daughter suffering illness is being comforted by her mother and sister whilst the father figure stoically peers into the distance out of a window; such images of pathos were widely popular in middle-class society at this time. Arthur demonstrated the methods used to produce photographs at this time highlighting the use tintype plates with his own examples noting that this process can be used to produce photos very quickly and that there was a strong trade in producing such images for sale at fairs, carnivals etc.

Arthur’s demonstration of the production of ‘tintypes’ led to wider demonstrations of his expertise in the darkroom using numerous techniques to produce superb eye-catching photographs. The examples he showed to the audience drew numerous gasps of admiration from the appreciative audience and his prints were of the highest quality. Arthur did note that he had ‘discussions’ with a number of competition judges on occasion as to the validity of some of his work in terms of criteria for competitions although there could be no doubt whatsoever that the images were stunning and very much enjoyed by the audience.

Arthur is clearly a ‘larger than life’ personality and some of the anecdotes he shared caused much hilarity; he noted that his picture had appeared in a national newspaper, not to praise his photographic skills but rather whilst lying in a hospital bed. The ‘Sunday Sun’ printed a photo showing him being treated after coming to grief with a moped whilst holidaying in Greece. He said that he thought he had ‘got away with it’ when he returned to work as no-one had seen the photo only the be ‘rumbled’ when a colleague who had been off work for a couple of days challenged him and his secret was greeted with much hilarity by his workmates!

Picture
Back to the photography and Arthur showed numerous eye-catching and technically brilliant prints including cyanotypes, pin-hole camera images, multiple images printed on a single photograph and an intriguing set of photographs of the night sky which, when combined actually showed the Plough constellation through a series of pinholes.

Over recent times, he has embraced the use of Lightroom and Photoshop and explained how he uses post-processing to produce vibrant, unique and attention- grabbing prints of a vast range of subjects including: landscapes, wildlife; (flora and fauna), urban, street and documentary prints. He noted that he feels that he is not a great portrait photographer preferring to show people to enhance the scene rather than make them the main subject.

He noted that he uses what might be termed ‘modest’ equipment rather than technically advanced and expensive kit and now, due his deteriorating eyesight uses his mobile ‘phone to produce high quality images enhanced by using simple software as he sees fit.

Once again, Arthur regaled us with his photographic ‘adventures’ with his ‘muse’ Betty….! He described how he obtained the display mannikin from Fenwick’s and charmed us with some wonderful stories superbly illustrated with ‘Betty’ modelling at some iconic locations such as Roughting Ling, Blyth South Beach bandstand and also at the Society’s former meeting room in Tynemouth. Although the use of the ‘model’ was somewhat quirky, there was no doubt whatsoever as to the high quality of the prints she starred in.

The next set of prints Arthur displayed were of flowers which he froze in the ‘freezer. He explained that he created pleasing arrangements of fresh flowers on a shallow tray and then gently added water ensuring the arrangement was undisturbed before carrying to the freezer and chilling down. The flowers were then photographed and produced some spectacular results with the petals having ice crystal ‘highlights’ which glistened in the light. However, this is not a straightforward exercise and Arthur noted that it often takes quite a number of attempts to get the flowers frozen in a photogenic arrangement. Again, his dedication and perseverance was manifest in the exceptional prints he showed us.

Arthur has been asked to show some of his prints at exhibitions and his prints have graced the front cover of a number of photography magazines; he was very proud to have shown a set of beautiful prints of Holy Island at Lindisfarne. This exhibition was very well received indeed. Also, a large number of his prints have won awards and prizes, and it was easy to see why given their quality.
He pondered the thought that photographers may well exhibit the tendency to be ‘show-offs’ as we all like to have our work seen by a wider audience and it is always nice to have positive feedback and appreciation of our efforts.

Everyone concluded that it had been a wonderful evening and that Arthur really brought his work to life with his explanations, insights, humour and wonderful stories about his photographic journey. We were also treated to a superb buffet at Arthur’s request and provided by Tina Ormerod, Margaret Warren and Dorothy Wilson.

This included wonderful cake decorated with one of Arthurs favourite photographic subjects; mushrooms and enjoyed looking at some of his work up close as we marvelled at his dedication to photography.

Thanks Arthur!

Andy Louch
23 January 2026
ROY ELWOOD EXHIBITION AT TPS 17TH JANUARY 2026
Picture
Roy Elwood. FRPS, MPAGB, APAGB, EFIAP
Let’s start by saying that you do not get all those letters easily!

Starting at the end, it was when I saw the magnificent display of Roy’s work and memorabilia at his funeral afters, that I thought this and the room full of his prints at Whickham’s celebration of his 100th birthday MUST be somehow displayed to the wider photographic community and general public.

So the seed was sown and with us having our own rooms here, I mentioned the idea to Carolyn and Whickham members. She and David Stout were very keen, and the germ grew into the full exhibition we see now. Can you show your appreciation to them both?
I first met Roy when he joined Tynemouth PS in the mid 1970s. According to a foolscap duplicated record I hold, he lived in Moorfield, Jesmond at the time. A big man with a huge laugh – you knew when he was in the room.

Already an accomplished photographer, his monochrome prints were something to behold (all darkroom then of course).
Roy quickly became a member of the committee and I remember him sometimes having, what might be called forward looking comments which took some of us by surprise, but on consideration were wise.

His reputation for tasteful nude pictures became widespread, causing consternation from some of our female members. I was a huge fan of these. Roy produced some very clever prints, the main one I remember being a circle, cut like a cake with a picture in each segment – remember, long before digital was dreamt of - many of us were gobsmacked, so Roy gave us a printing demonstration in the darkroom. He made it look so easy.

He also won the mono print section of our Annual Exhibition one year, with a print of rooks on the branches of a tree – even though it had mistakenly been hung upside down so the rooks were sort of hanging off the branches.

In 1989 Roy became President of Tynemouth, but when, in committee he was proposed as President, the first thing he said was that he would not wear a tie – eh? I nearly fell off my chair. But we still elected him. Very sadly, before then Rosalind had passed away and it was only very near the end that Roy actually told us how ill she was. I was privileged to be given a copy of her book Botter Living, by Roy, at her funeral.

I think that for a time Roy was a member of both Tynemouth and Whickham clubs, but eventually left us when he lived in Burnhopefield.
Who could blame him!

Howard Wilson
17th January 2026

NORTH TYNE AREA PRINT COMPETITION 27TH NOVEMBER 2025
Picture
The North Tyne Area Print Trophy
Tynemouth PS Retain the NTA Trophy!
The interclub competition hosted by Cramlington, gave us two good results.  We won the competition - retaining the trophy - and Arthur Smith gained Best Print with his Print 'The Preacher'.  
​Arthur's image was made on his iPhone.


Picture
The Quaich Trophy - Best Print
Bill Broadley was the judge for the competition and he gave a very good critique of each print.  There was some really good work displayed and it was an excellent night.
Howard Wilson had the pleasure of giving Bill Broadley a vote of thanks for his judging and also thanked Colin Livingstone of Cramlington CC for hosting the event this year.
Our top scorers were 'The Preacher' by Arthur Smith with 30 - he holds the quaich for a year, 'St Mary's in the Mist' by John McGuinness with 29, 'Hi Viz' by Peter Stevens with 28 and 'Chris' by Alan Forster also with 28.
Picture
The Preacher - Arthur Smith
Picture
St. Marys in the mist - John McGuinness
Picture
Hi Viz - Peter Stevens
Picture
Chris - Alan Forster

PRESIDENTIAL EVENING 25th SEPTEMBER 2025
Picture
Presidential Evening by Linda McGregor: Adam Lang, Lang Shot Photography
 
Last night at the Society we enjoyed the second evening of the new season and, for her Presidents Evening, Linda had invited Adam Lang, a photographer based in Gateshead.
An excellent turnout of members were treated to a really interesting talk illustrated with some wonderful images taken by Adam who introduced us to his distinctive style of photography capturing street and travel scenes which kept the audience entranced throughout.
 
Adam noted that he had only really got serious about image taking some 10 years ago when he obtained his first ‘serious camera which gave him the ability to shoot in conditions when most of us would stay inside! He took us on a journey from Newcastle city centre to Portugal and the Czech Republic taking stunning photographs of the street scene and in particular getting brilliant shots in fog, heavy rain and snow as well in more benign conditions proving that poor conditions do not need result in us staying indoors; indeed, as Adam stressed and demonstrated, heavy rain, snow and in particular fog can provide the most atmospheric of conditions for photography.
 
His street scenes after dark were some of his best images and his use of medium telephotos were especially stunning noting that most street scenes tend to be taken with 35mm or 50mm lenses.
His ability to capture the vibrant colours of buildings in Lisbon and Porto complemented by the iconic trams in these cities were especially noteworthy and he noted that he rarely uses a tripod instead relying on using the high ISO capabilities of modern equipment.
He noted that he is keen to create photography ‘projects’; a current idea is to capture images of barbers whilst on his travels. Food for thought there!
 
His final section saw us return to Newcastle with a number of spectacular images of the streets around the Tyne Bridge and Quayside and I’m sure there will be a number of members, myself included, who will be looking out for damp, misty evenings to head up to ‘The Toon’ this autumn!
 
Huge thanks to both Adam and Linda for a brilliant evening ending with a splendid buffet provided by our President over which we could enjoy and admire some of Adams prints and discuss our next ideas about where to point our cameras!
 
Andy Louch
26 September 2025

The Stan Bewick Summer Challenge 25/26
Picture
Picture
The results of the Stan Bewick Summer Challenge competition was held on 18th September, the first night of our new 25/26 season. 
This is a new competition in memory of Stans life and work at Tynemouth Photographic Society and members were asked to return an A4 print of their individual subject, taken over the summer break.
All the prints were hung in a display around the downstairs room, showing only the title of the print and no authors name.    
Stans Niece Amy and his brother Denis joined us for the evening and they chose their favourite top three prints.
In first place was Diane Wailes with 'A Seat', second place went to Chris Parker for 'A Reflection' and third place was Terry Dawson with his print 'A Door'.
Denis and Amy presented Diane with her trophy, an individual piece of glassware from the Sunderland Glass Centre.
Members and guests enjoyed refreshments, time to chat and enjoy being back together again for the new season.
Picture
Picture
Picture

Archive Print Exhibition - The Beacon Centre, North Shields 2025
A PHOTOGRAPHIC EXHIBITION OF PAST TIMES IN OUR AREA 
To co-ordinate with the North Shields 800 celebrations we have chosen 24 images from our extensive Archive collection to assemble a display in The Beacon Centre, North Shields.
​These 
pictures portray historical local scenes and events, some of them dating from 1860.
Over time, some of our members have taken the time to digitalised these wonderful old pictures, which now enables us to print them.
The collection of chosen prints, details of how to purchase a copy of our 'Archive Pictures of the old Borough of Tynemouth book'  and information about our Club is all part of the display and the space was kindly offered to us by the Beacon Centre team.
On set-up day in the Centre, there was quite a bit of interest from local people viewing the prints and a few of the Archive books were purchased. 
Thanks must go to the members who enabled this event to take place, Howard Wilson, Henry Tennant, Tina Ormerod and Linda McGregor. 
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture

The Annual Print Exhibition on tour 2025
After 2 weeks at the Oxford Centre Longbenton where it was very well received and enjoyed by visitors and staff, our Annual Print Exhibition is now at the White Swan Centre Killingworth for a two week stay.
Many thanks to Howard and Henry for assembling and displaying our members prints. 
Picture
Picture
Picture

Video Film-Making Group
The video group AGM and Presentation Night was held on Monday 14th April. The picture below shows, from left to right, Group Chairman Dave Peffer and cup winners John Burton, Alwyn Scott, Doug Tweddle and Trevor Ermel.
Picture

100th Birthday Celebration
An Exhibition and a celebration on the occasion of his 100th birthday for Roy Elwood FRPS MPAGB APAGB EFIAP and Honorary Life President of Whickham Photographic Club was held on Friday 4th April 2025.

As Roy was a member and past President (1989-1990) of Tynemouth Photographic Society, the current President and guests were invited to attend the celebratory evening at Whickham Photographic Club.

The Print Exhibition was from the past seven and a half decades of his excellent photography and the prints included Roy's love of the human form, natural light, composites and monochrome photography including his successful FRPS panel of nudes.  

A wonderful buffet, refreshments and a warm welcome were provided by the Whickham members.

The attending members from Tynemouth Photographic Society were current President Linda McGregor, past Presidents Howard Wilson and Alan Forster along with members Dorothy Wilson and Trevor Ermel.
Picture
Current and past Presidents of Tynemouth Photographic Society - Howard Wilson - Roy Elwood - Linda McGregor - Alan Forster
Picture
Trevor Ermel - Howard Wilson - Roy Elwood - Linda McGregor - Dorothy Wilson - Alan Forster

Masters of Print Success

The coveted Masters of Print competition is a yearly competition, usually held each December, followed by a public Print Exhibition in various venues around the country.

As the name implies, this is a print only competition in three categories - Mono, Colour and Nature and may be entered directly by individual photographers who are members of PAGB affiliated clubs, as we are in the Northern Counties Photographic Federation. 
Clubs from all over the country enter this prestigious photographic event and only 60 prints are selected each year.


Of the 60 selected there are gold and silver medals awarded for each of the Mono, Colour and Nature sections.
Tynemouth Photographic Society are proud to announce that our member, Peter Stevens, won the silver medal in the colour section with his print 'The Hand'. He was presented with his medal on behalf of NCPF President Gerald Chamberlin by our President Linda McGregor. 
Picture
Picture
'The Hand' by Peter Stevens - Silver Medal winning print

North Tyne Area Print competition

Last night four of us attended the N Tyne Area print competition hosted by Gosforth club.  The judge was David Ord.  We came away winners and Linda was presented with the cup.
Picture
I have attached a copy of my score sheet for the night.
Picture
Picture
David didn't rush things and gave a good description and judging of each entry.   He explained that marks were tight as all the prints were good and it would be unfair to give a good print 20 out of 30.

A Gosforth member's print 'The Velvet Touch' was judged best print, and very nice it was too.

The room was packed out and Whitley Bay had 20 members present! 

Gosforth provided a superb buffet, complete with chips and there was plenty for everyone.  

An excellent night, topped of with an excellent result for us.  Thank you to all members who produce prints and allowed us to select from their work.

Howard Wilson

Annual Print Exhibition 2024

Our Annual Print Exhibition was held at our Club Rooms at Howard Street on Saturday 11th & Sunday 12th May 2024.
The event ran from 10am to 4pm both days.

As usual the exhibition was manned by members who had generously volunteered their time.

As well as viewing a wonderful selection of member's work, visitors could enjoy light refreshments, chatting to our members and a chance to vote for their favourite print in the exhibition.

Every print was labelled with the photographers name, a title and if successful, the award they had been given by the judge of the exhibition - Graeme Clarke.

There were many votes cast over the two days and when counted after the event, the prints with the most votes were: 

Picture
1st Place - Chris Parker 'Stan'
Picture
2nd Place - Peter Stevens 'A view from Hadrians Wall'
Picture
3rd Place - Chris Parker 'Reine Harbour'

Our Presentation Night - Thursday 9th May 2024
 
This was our end of season awards night and was also the launch of our Annual Print Exhibition 2024.
 
We offered a warm welcome to our invited guests - the Chair of North Tyneside Council Brian Burdis, who officially opened our Exhibition and was presented with a copy of our book ‘Archive Pictures of Tynemouth Borough’ - North Tyneside Councillor Pat Oliver - we had the new Chairman of the Northern Counties Photographic Federation, Gerald Chamberlin, who presented the trophies and certificates to our winning members and also Graeme Clarke who we thanked for judging our Annual Print Exhibition this year.
 
After the trophies and certificates were presented we enjoyed the wonderful buffet, provided by our members, and were able to chat and socialise with our guests and a number of members from some of our local Photographic Clubs.
 
Congratulations to those members who won trophies or certificates.
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture

Video Group Presentation Night - 29th April 2024
 
Most of our members were present at our final meeting of the season on 29th April 2024, when we took this 'selfie' prior to the presentation of the competition trophies
Picture

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Picture
Stan's Day
Posted 20/02/24

On Saturday 17th February we held a day in acknowledgement of the late Stan Bewick.  On display was a selection of Stan's prints, going back as far as his mono and colour Cibachrome, flush mounted 20" x 16" prints and up to his much more modern digital work. Also his numerous cameras and lenses, and various other bits of memorabilia and artifacts were on display. 

The rooms were open from 11.00 until 3.30, and President Howard Wilson and Stan's niece Amy from Darwin Australia said a few words. Her  father (Stan's brother) Dennis was also present.

We estimate that there were over 60 people in attendance, so for all of those people to be able to view the collection of prints, as well as the cameras and certificates etc. was super.  Those who were there will know that I said I had the idea of yesterday in my head since the day Stan passed away and without me asking, almost straight after that day Dennis and Amy offered anything of Stan's photographic memorabilia if we could make use of them in his memory.

Among the many visitors was Roy Elwood, past TPS President and member, and since then of Whickham club, attended even at 98 - he will be 99 in April.

As Sarah Timney, a past TPS President said to me when I asked what she thought Stan would have made of the day, 'His usual modest self, slightly embarrassed, but secretly delighted.'   I don't think any of us could have put it better.

Amy and Dennis have told me how touched they were by the display and number of people who attended - Dennis said 'unbelievable'. 

Stan's memory will live on.
images by Alan Forster and Chris Parker
Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Home
  • About Us
  • Contacts
  • Programme
  • Groups
    • Main Group
    • Video Film-Making Group
    • Monday Afternoon Group
    • Nature Group >
      • Nature Group Archive
    • Urban Group
    • Practical Group
    • Record Group
  • Galleries
    • Club Galleries
    • Members Galleries
  • Main Group - Record of Speakers
  • News
    • Latest News
    • Newsletter
    • Archived News >
      • 2023
      • 2022
      • 2021
      • 2020
      • 2019
      • 2018
      • 2017
      • 2016
  • Competitions
    • Results >
      • Results PDI 25/26
      • Results Prints 25/26
      • Results PDI 24/25
      • Results Prints 24/25
      • Results - PDI 23/24
      • Results - Prints 23/24
      • Results - Video
    • Competitions & Entry Dates
    • Rules and Awards >
      • Photographic Competitions
      • Video Film-Making Competitions
      • Image Sizes
  • History
    • Club Celebrations
    • 1978 - 2013
    • 1903 - 1978
    • Before 1903
    • New Club Premises
    • Officers of the Society