Camera club SUCCESS + EXHIBITIONS + PERSONAL ACHIEVEMENTS + OUTINGS News Camera club With the country in lockdown, club seasons have ended early, while exhibitions, events and lectures have all been postponed or cancelled – including those we publicised in the last issue. But it is not all doomand gloom, and thanks to the internet and conferencing software, many clubs are continuing to havemeetings, talks and competitions – and all done virtually. Photography News caught upwith two clubs using conferencing software We would love to hear from all clubs with your lockdown stories. Please send emails to clubnews@photography-news.co.uk . Deadline for the next issue is 8 May. Calling all clubs
Fstop FotoGroup STEVE MUNDY: “We were very proud that, just two days after the lockdown was announced on 23 March, we ran our first virtual meeting online using the videoconferencing platform, Zoom. We had over 20 members fully participating with a discussion on the work of Margaret Bourke-White. The platform chosen proved to be very easy to
connect to, even for the less technically savvy members, and went without a hitch. We even managed to include one of our members who is currently stranded in Trinidad. “We chose to use Zoom for its ease of use and wide compatibility. We particularly wanted a system to facilitate the active discussions, along with the ability to present high-quality images. The whole set-up was extremely easy, and while the free version is for
Croydon Camera Club
MIKE FARLEY: “Croydon CC ran its first virtual meeting 1 April for the fourth round of our DPI competition. “As the club’s chairman, I led the meeting and the event was popular. We had one of the highest ever entries for a digital competition, 75 in all, with a good turnout of participants. Most people coped well with the Zoom software, but it was worthwhile having two practice sessions beforehand and I’d written a guide for members who were uncertain about the technology. One thing I would add is that I’d asked participants to use meaningful names rather than nicknames. It makes it easier for everyone to know who is present. We also knew from earlier testing that we could run DiCentra, our competition software, and everyone could view the images. “At the start of the meeting, I ran through what was going to happen so everyone was aware of the process. I
also made sure everyone could see the judge, Rob Bonfield, when he introduced himself. “I‘d spoken to the judge beforehand. Unlike a normal meeting when judging is on-site, he made sure he saw everything beforehand, because we do not want to rely on the image quality of a videoconference. “During our run-through, he mentioned a couple of images which did not look quite right on his monitor, but I saw the same effects he described when I viewed them on my own screen. “There were some lessons for us. It is better to have one person to host the meeting and manage Zoom and another to operate the competition software. We did overrun slightly, but we will be able to manage the timing better next time.” Croydon CC meets every Wednesday
up to 100 attendees, it is limited to 40 minutes, so went for the paid version to accommodate our longer meetings. “Members joining the meeting were sent an invitation with a link, which for most platforms requires a small program to be downloaded on first use. We have users connecting with Mac, PC, iPad and even a simple web browser and our members connected up without any problems, because it’s that simple. “The only thing that has caused a minor issue for a few members is that many desktop PCs do not have a microphone or camera as standard. We do encourage active discussion so a microphone of some description is key, and fortunately they can be bought
quite cheaply these days. Also, the ability to allow any member to share their desktop with the group certainly makes presentations easy without forcing everything through one person. “Following the resounding success of our first meeting, we have also added another evening meeting each week – Tutorial Tuesdays. “In these trying times, and with some members self-isolating, it was a real hit as it made it very easy to continue the love of photography along with the social contact and interaction that has become the core of our group.” New members are always welcome, so if you would like to know more, please visit fstopfoto.group or drop Steve an email at admin@fstopfoto.group
evening (except during August). c roydoncameraclub.org.uk
Issue 76 | Photography News 11
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