SUCCESS + EXHIBITIONS + PERSONAL ACHIEVEMENTS + OUTINGS News Camera club
Parkstone CC Parkstone Camera Club in Poole introduced a PDI competition for those who miss seeing members’ images and entering competitions. Members could anonymously submit two images into a competition on an open theme. After the closing date, members then voted for their favourite first, second and third images, which made them appreciate the predicament faced by judges. A
Alsager CC Geoff Reader, Alsager Camera Club’s programme secretary, says: “The last face-to-face club meeting was in March 2020. Since then, we have tried several online options, before realising that Zoom had become the default for most clubs, judges and presenters. We organised our 2020-21 programme back in January of this year and made a decision in May to move the programme online for September through to December 2020. The majority of booked speakers and judges have agreed to work via Zoom. “We held our fourth internal contest for last season online with a judge from Northern Ireland. One nice thing in the current situation is that distance is no longer a restriction when booking judges and speakers, although one photographer who lives in an idyllic location in the Peak District said he would love to present his talk online, but can’t get so positive that the competition will continue monthly even after lockdown. The club’s publicity secretary Caroline Jenkins says: “We are planning on returning to physical meetings at the start of September, subject to our venue being ready and giving agreement and adherence to government guidelines. It will be good to meet up again in person. wide range of images were entered and, interestingly, almost half the entries were chosen as first place by somebody. The winning image was a striking architectural shot taken by Malcolm Barents. He says: “It just shows how subjective it is when judging an image. If you want to win, then you need an image that’s a little different and makes the viewer question what they are looking at.” It was also encouraging to see new member, Carolyne Miller, who had been reluctant to take part in a normal club competition, enter a couple of images and she was among the winners. Carolyne says she decided “to dip a toe in the water and was pleasantly surprised” at the outcome. Member feedback was
DroitwichCC
“ We have taken advantage of technology and had several video presentations over the past few months with speakers from far and wide, including France and Ireland, which we definitely could not have done before,” says Droitwich Camera Club’s publicity officer, Dave Hull. “We have now invested in an annual video communications subscription to ensure that we can continue to have such presentations when our new season starts. We’ve run regular lockdown competitions on a range of topics – the only rule being that the images must have been taken since March when the pandemic began. In addition, to ensure that we remain engaged with our members, we have published a monthly newsletter for the first time. This has not only kept everyone informed, but it has also included articles, stories
and images frommembers on a wide range of topics. “Our members have also been entering external competitions and the above image of amethyst deceiver mushrooms won Robin Couchman a place in the Worcestershire Wildlife Trust 2021 calendar. “We’re looking forward to the new season, which starts on 7 September and although we are not able to meet face to face, we have a full and exciting programme of speakers, competitions and events that will take place virtually until we are able to resume our normal meetings. These presentations will be onMonday evenings, our usual meeting night. “To help everyone, our subscription fees are unchanged for another season
“For those that aren’t comfortable, we also plan to have some Zoom sessions. The situation is continually being reviewed to see if this will be possible with the impact on our planned programme. Certainly, challenging times ahead!” parkstonecameraclub.org.uk
Spectrum PhotoArt visual exhibition Spectrum is a group of six photographers from the south of England: Nenne vanDijk, Jay Charnock, Penny Anderson, RosemaryWilman, SandyWhite and Lesley Rees. The group’s planned exhibition could not go ahead this year, but there is a small virtual exhibition on the group’s website. spectrumphotoart.co.uk North Fylde PS “Our club opens 1 September if we can use our meeting hall at the local church,” says Wayne Paulo, the club’s exhibition officer. “If not, we will be doing Zoom talks from the last Tuesday in August. We are still producing our club newsletter and there’s a movie of our online exhibition playing on our website. Plus, at the moment, Angela Carr CPAGB is taking out small groups each weekend in the Blackpool area so members can get advice and learn about photography.” northfylde-ps.co.uk
and the usual weekly fee of £3 is voluntary until further notice.” droitwichcamera.co.uk
a reliable internet connection. He said he got good internet in remote India and in the Himalayas, just not around Buxton!” Geoff also suggests a great place for UK camera clubs to keep in touch and find online judges and speakers is facebook.com/groups/ UKPhotography alsagercameraclub.co.uk
Clacton Camera Club is holding fortnightly get-togethers on Zoom to keep everyone’s photography going in readiness for the start of the club’s new Clacton CC
season on 11 September. The evenings are free to attend for members; for non-
members, there is a fee of £3. clactoncameraclub.co.uk
Issue 80 | Photography News 11
photographynews.co.uk
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