Potters Bar & District Photographic Society

07/06/2026

The photographic cliché is that “the best camera that you own is the one that you have with you”. To many this means a “proper” camera with interchangeable lenses, lots of settings to set and other “clever” stuff. However, to many people these days their mobile ‘phone is the camera that they are most likely to have with them. Surely, though, that is not a “real” camera?

Well, last Monday at Wyllyotts Theatre Tom Peck FRPS disproved this view. Tom has just gained his Fellowship of the Royal Photographic Society (it really does not get much higher than that) using his telephone’s camera.

We had an evening of variety with Tom explaining how he goes about getting his images and then demonstrated some of the many photo apps that are available to use; many of them free.

If you are not already a member of The Society, perhaps you missed the chance to get more from your ‘phone and this evening was just the incentive that you needed to visit us. Up to three visits (Wyllyotts Theatre, Monday evening from 7:30) can be free before realising that membership is just what you need to develop your photo skills, whatever you use to make the images!

One of Tom's iPhone images is shown below.

04/06/2026

Twelve of the of the best photos from members of the Society are now on display at Wyllyotts Theatre for all to see, until 29th June. Whenever Wyllyotts is open to the public our pictures are there to be seen in the cafeteria area. A cup of tea, possibly a piece of cake and good pictures. What a winning combination.

02/06/2026

New exhibition of photos at Wyllyotts Theatre.

12/05/2026

An evening of very different photography on 11 May. Matt Macpake (www.mattmacpake.co.uk) is a multi-award winning photographer and tutor at the University of Hertfordshire.

Matt’s photography included one of his early projects “To and from the North Circular”. With a mission to “make the banal beautiful” he walked along the A406 for many days photographing the people, buildings and other things that caught his eye. It is amazing what can be found when you take the time to look rather than drive past in a car.

In more recent years Matt has gone back to working with film and uses one of the largest (hand held) cameras around, a Mamiya RB67. Shooting mainly black and white film images he said that this type of photography slows him down (compared to shooting using a digital camera) so he gives more time to each individual image.

The bulk of Matt’s work is project based. That could be his family, the North Circular, The Westway (a section of the A40 in west London) that, once again, featured his eye for the people seen around the road as well as structures, how early morning light plays on some otherwise routine pieces of infrastructure etc. Not all his images are black and white and he enjoys experimenting with colour and composition. Matt was the first to admit that these experiments do not always work, but that unless you try, you may never find a new style. As he said “just thinking about things does not make them happen”.

As a result, Matt gave us many suggestions for how to plan a project (many of his may take months in the preparation) and even when a location is chosen, several photos can be taken just travelling to and from it.

Thanking Matt, the Society’s Secretary, Sam Segar, said “that was absolutely fascinating and it is a long time since we had seen anyone who still does the majority of their photography on film and it was very nostalgic and a presentation very different to ones we often see. It is also rare to see someone with the “focus” and drive to complete project after project and it is fascinating to see”.
An enjoyable evening of pictures that were very different to stereotypical “Camera Club images”.

28/04/2026

The Drones Club (with apologies to PG Wodehouse).

An evening of pictures and videos giving a very different take of the world around us.

Alison Jenkins and her husband, Simon, demonstrated how even one the simplest of commercially available drones can take stunning pictures. Alison showed a wide range of pictures including some of well-known landmarks (Tower Bridge, The Millennium Dome/The O2 etc), but from a whole new angle (literally). She showed the capabilities of modern photo drones with straight-forward videos plus time-lapse and “hyperlapse”* making even otherwise mundane scenes, eg an M25 junction, seem dynamic. Landscapes also benefit from the drone treatment and Alison showed a selection of stills and video ranging from just up the road in Ware to the Highlands of Scotland.

Drone flying is governed by strict rules laid down by the Civil Aviation Authority (and its EU counterpart for flying on the other side of “the channel”) and Alison gave the details of the various levels of qualification necessary for safe and legal flight. She also busted a few myths about where you can and cannot fly.

This was definitely an evening of different imagery and the number of questions at the end of evening showed how much interest was shown, summing-up Helen Frost commented on how much we see the footage that results from drone flights but now we got to see what goes in to getting them in what was a “really, really, excellent evening”.

Our next meeting at Wyllyotts Theatre is on Monday 11th May and will be by Matthew MacPake a multi-award winning photographer and photography lecturer at The University of Hertfordshire.

* hyperlapse is an advanced form of time-lapse photography that adds camera movement over long distances

25/04/2026

As Douglas Adams says in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, “Space is big-REALLY big”. This does make deciding what to photograph when looking upwards a bit difficult as there is so much to choose from. Add to that, that the stars and planets can only really be seen when it is dark, makes the “how” bit of photography a bit difficult too.

Enter our speaker on 20 Apr 26, Les Brand, a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society and “amateur” photographer. The main thrust of Les’ presentation was that you do not need expensive, specialist equipment and that most people’s standard camera kit will get you some decent results. Les then proceeded to prove it with some spectacular pictures taken from his garden in Essex.

The big problem with astrophotography in the Potters Bar/London area is light pollution from streets, buildings etc, so he showed us some suggestions of low(er) light areas that would give us some starts.

Les then demonstrated how to take some strong base images and t
how to pull the most information out of them by using both “standard” and specialist (often free) software.

Having covered the how and why of astrophotography Les then made some suggestions for (also, often free) mobile phone apps that would guide us to the “where” the various stars, constellations etc are.

President for the evening, Helen Frost thanked Len for a wonderful evening that certainly encouraged us to go out at night and look up, however big Space may be.

The, less than perfect photo (it was dark!), shows Les Brand explaining a point during his presentation.

22/04/2026

It must be true, it's in the Welwyn Hatfield Times

Another successful exhibition for Potters Bar camera club | Welwyn Hatfield Times

Two photographers have claimed trophies at Potters Bar & District Photographic Society's annual exhibition.

20/04/2026

After two weeks at The Galleria, the results are in for our annual exhibition. Well over 100 votes were received, spread across many of the pictures on display.

Two trophies were up for grabs, The Hornby Trophy and The Exhibition Cup. The Hornby Cup was donated to the Society in 1968 by Gerald Rickwood, then the manager of Hornby's camera shop in Potters Bar who we were pleased to welcome back to the exhibition a few years ago. The cup is awarded to the maker of the print that receives the most votes and this year that was won by David Fordham with his picture “No room at the Inn”. The winner of the Exhibition Cup (most votes received for a member of the Society’s General Class) was Manjari Shah with “Spot the difference”.

The Society’s Exhibition Secretary is Fiona Adamson who said “the amount of space given to us at The Galleria always allows a wide range of subjects to be displayed and this year was no exception. As always, we are grateful to The Galleria for allowing us this opportunity to give the public a chance to see our work”.

The Society meets at Wyllyotts Theatre, Darkes Lane, Potters Bar on Monday evenings from 7:30pm. The full programme can found at pottersbarphotosoc.org.uk. We believe that photography should be for everyone and it does not matter what a members’ skill level or photo kit may be, anyone is welcome and up to three initial visits can be free.

26/12/2025

A selection of our images that scored full marks in internal competitions during 2025.

26/12/2025

Throughout the year we hold a series of internal competitions. Independent judges come to Wyllyotts Theatre to assess our images and give scores of up to 20. It is fair to say that we do not always agree with the scores given but here are a few where the photographers did! This semi-random selection of those awarded 20 points during 2025. They show the range of images entered by members; travel, wildlife, studio, flowers, portraits and reportage.

New season starts on 12 Jan 26 at 7:30pm.