News - Members' Articles

Keith shows us some of his excellent photographs of steam on the railways all taken with a Leica M. He also recalls the days many of us 'boys' remember of trainspotting when we were kids.

Returning to September 2025, we hope members who are on their way to Worksop have a good weekend and send our best wishes to all members.



Alersford Sunset Mid-Hants Railway




Corfe Castle Station, Swanage Rly




Maintenance, Ropley Station Mid-Hants Railway




Mendip Vale - East Somerset Railway




Nr. Bishops Lydiard, West Somerset Railway




Near Kingswear




Paigton





Simmering, Corfe Castle Station, Swanage Rly




Evening, Staverton Station




Proud Railwaymen, Alersford Station
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Dennis Steel's Whitby Goth Weekend
Dennis tells us about the Goth Weekends in Whitby and, as well as showing some great portraits of the Goths he gives us history and information about the event and also tells us the best way of travelling to Whitby and where to get the best food!



Olivia




Amelia




Ava




Ivy




Lily




Willow




Derek




Two Faces




For Freshly Smoked Kippers
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This week Pam Lewis has written a short article about her most used Micro Four Thirds lenses that perform well in this format.



Tiger - 100-400mm




Rose - 12-60mm



12-60mm




Kingfisher - 100-400mm
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This week Dennis takes us to the splendid flower festival in Madeira to see some of the splendid costumes. He uses two Leica CLs. The ending of the CL / TL line by Leica was a decision many users were annoyed by and we can see why.



Leica CL 18-55mm




Leica CL 18-55mm




Leica CL 18-55mm




Leica CL 18-55mm




Leica CL 18-55mm




Leica CL 18-55mm





Leica CL 18-55mm




Leica CL 55-135mm




Leica CL 55-135mm





Leica CL 55-135mm




Leica CL 55-135mm - HDR














18-55mm
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This week Alan describes his experiences with the D-Lux 8 and it seems to be a fine camera. We hope you enjoy the photographs.



A Very Rare Beast




Across The River Exe from Lympstone Harbour




Departing Alresford




Dredging at Exmouth Marina




Motorcyclists at Westbay Dorset




Oh Bouy!




The Goat Walk - Topsham


We should all have received our copies of the Newsletter by now. Unfortunately we forgot to put the author's name on the last article. It is by John Lewis.
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This week Keith tells us about his visit to St Aldhelm's Head and the way we used it as part of defending the Nation in WWII.

In addition we've changed the slide show on the home page and added some photographs to the gallery.

It is with great pleasure that we welcome a new member to our Fellowship. We would like to welcome Peter Ryder of Liverpool. We hope you enjoy your membership Peter and look forward to seeing you at one of our weekends.



St Aldhelm's Head Chapel




St Aldhelm's Head Chapel




Monument To Radar




Some Come To Bird Watch.
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Excessive heat in the United Kingdom is likely to be the new normal; so say our meteorological experts. This will have all manner of consequences for amateur photographers. In this week's article, DAVID ASKHAM considers how our Leica Fellowship members could adjust their lives and cope with excessive heat.



He flags up the dangers to health, the need to drink plenty of water, and how one could gainfully use those enforced periods of inactivity, while sheltering from the sun and resting.



Cled Lewis has also written a welcome greeting to our new members on the President's Page.
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We have a number of new members that we would like to welcome to the Fellowship. They are David Phillips, Douglas Richardson and Philip Rigby. In this article, Philip tells us about his introduction to Leicas and about his photography.



















In addition, Denis Gilbert has listed some equipment that he would like to sell. Please look at the Equipment for Sale page:

https://www.leica-fellowship.org.uk/members-equipment-for-sale
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This week Dennis shows the fine black and white photographs taken on an M11 Mono of the elegant York Station and of the fascinating resort of Scarborough.



York Station




York Station Clock




Scarborough - Fisherman's Wharf




Scarborough - Fisherman's Wharf




Scarborough - South Bay




Scarborough - Grand Hotel, South Bay





Scarborough - Winking Willy Fish and Chip Restaurant




Scarborough - Winking Willy




Scarborough - Harbour Bar Ice Cream Parlour
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Bletchley Park - Ken Davis

Ken describes the incredible story of Bletchley Park, the British centre for intelligence gathering and distribution in World War II that helped win the war and laid the foundations for modern intelligence services as well as being the place where the first digital computer was installed using the principles laid down by the genius, Alan Turing - Colossus. This was designed by Tommy Flowers of the GPO and built by the GPO teams.
John Tiltman and Bill Tutte cracked an encyphering system that no one understood, working on a machine no one had seen, giving an ‘impossible’ number of combinations – 1.6 million, billion of them. That was why we needed an electronic machine to search for the keys and settings used by the Germans
Bletchley developed into a place where all sources of intelligence were pulled together to give Allied commanders the best information ever provided to war leaders.
The article is longer than usual but we hope you find it well worth reading.



Bletchley Park Mansion




An Enigma Encyphering Machine




A Bombe Machine




Sculpture of Alan Turing




Some Key Code Breakers




Hut 6 Corridor




Senior Code Breaker's Office




Collosus - The World's First Programmable Electronic Computer with The Heath Robinson Predecessor




The Exhibition About Carrier Pigeons
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Can you remember the first time you used a digital camera? It was probably alongside your Film Leicas. Did you have an inkling about where this technology would develop and what sort of digital camera you'd be using today? Well, Alan shares his story with us.




Great Crested Grebe




Double Ender - Alnmouth




Which Way To See Exmouth Gardens




Fish Boxes




Ship Shape




Smokey Joe




Yolan
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This week Keith describes in words and pictures how to spend a pleasant time with friends capturing photographs, renewing the friendships and also learning more.
Keith's article suddenly reminded the webmaster of the number of long time friends he has made through photography and, of course, that includes our Fellowship friendships.

















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Dennis tells us about the Freemen of York and provides a great example of how to photograph interesting folk - talk to them first about what they are part of and what they represent.



A Cobbler Freeman of York




A Lady Freeman of York




A Freeman of York
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The Leica M9 was an important development in the history of Leica M cameras and may well have helped Leica continue in business.
In this article a number of members look at their work with this camera and we provide a short history of it. We also link you to an article on the excellent MACFILOS website about the camera:

https://www.macfilos.com/2024/05/24/leica-m9-looking-back-to-a-turning-point-in-camera-history/

Here are a new set of photos taken with the M9 making up part 2 of our experiences with this fine camera.



Keith Walker - New Forest


]

Keith Walker - Barrier



Keith Walker - Artist at Work




Ken Davis - Chesterfield Market 2025




Ken Davis - The Seville Mushroom




Dennis Steel - Mount Cook - New Zealand




Dennis Steel - Kaikoura - New Zealand




Dennis Steel - Grasses - New Zealand




David Askham - You Have Been Warned!




David Askham - Traction




David Askham - Scooter




Cled Lewis - Market Baby




Cled Lewis - Clothed In Red




Cled Lewis - Taking A Break
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The Leica M9 was an important development in the history of Leica M cameras and may well have helped Leica continue in business.
In this article a number of members look at their work with this camera and we provide a short history of it. We also link you to an article on the excellent MACFILOS website about the camera:

https://www.macfilos.com/2024/05/24/leica-m9-looking-back-to-a-turning-point-in-camera-history/

Here are a number of photos taken with the M9, we have more so we will make this a 2-part article with more photos next week.



Keith Walker - Sun & Shade




Keith Walker - Mudeford Nr Christchurch




Ken Davis - Chesterfield Shops - February 2025




Ken Davis - Church - Reykjavik




David Askham - Illusion




David Askham - Fins




David Askham - Blue Eyes




Keith Walker - Contemplation




Cled Lewis - Market




Cled Lewis - Portrait




Cled Lewis - Harvesting The Crop




Ken Davis - Anti-theft Protection




Ken Davis - Cafe - Seville
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Keith has bought the desirable new 50mm Summilux-M lens the mechanics of which are based on the 1950's design. He gives a good description and set of reasons for having the lens and the pictures show the performance at f1.4.




Alfie




Daffodils




Kingston Lacy Lion




Snowdrops




The Colour of Rust




Walnut Tree
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Cled has more than a soft spot for 21mm lenses and has now plunged for the 21mm Summilux. He shows us how he has used these different lenses in his article. His images show how you can use this focal length for all sorts of subjects.



Man at Prayer - Wide Angle Tri-Elmar - 21mm




Ewenny Priory Cemetery - M11 - 21mm f1,4




Ewenny Priory Chancel - M11 - 21mm Elmarit




Derelict Dram - M6 and 21mm Super-Angulon on Tech Pan




21mm Summilux - f5.6




21mm Summilux - f1.4 1/16000
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The first of our biographies is by Keith Walker who also shows us photographs of a fascinating event in London. Here are thumbnails and you can read more by opening the biography.











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This week Alan tells us about returning the Leica cameras and the rocky road he had to travel before he was happy with the camera.

Now I have an appeal. New members are joining the Fellowship and to let them meet some existing members we would like to publish a short 'bio' of existing members. We would want you to send us a photo of your handsome or beautiful face as well as a couple of Leica pictures of yours that typify your work.

In the meantime - back to Alan's photos with the Q.



Zuiderhaven, Harlingen




Willemshaven, Harlingen




Old Timer




Eleven Cities - Cycle Tour




Canal Junction, Harlingen




Charter Ships
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Gareth shows us that simply loading up a film in a favourite camera and going out to photograph whatever takes the eye provided a very fulfilling adventure.

This article will also appear in the issue of The Newsletter that you should receive soon.

A REMINDER TO EVERYONE. SUBSCRIPTIONS HAVE RISEN TO £24 FOR SINGLE MEMBERS AND £36 FOR JOINT MEMBERSHIP. PLEASE ALTER YOUR STANDING ORDER THAT WILL BE PAYABLE SOON. THANK YOU.



Gareth Lewis - Thistle




Gareth Lewis - Street Furniture




Gareth Lewis - Seed Heads




Gareth Lewis - The Rope Ladder




Gareth Lewis - Nailsea Colonnade




Gareth Lewis - Churchyard




Gareth Lewis - London Plane - Bark
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