Camera clubs
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“York Photographic Society recently had an exhibition in the Chapter House of York Minster,” explains Allan Harris, president of York Photographic Society. “We had been given the run of the building for two evening sessions and we were asked if we would stage an exhibition in the hope of raising some funds for the building. Members donated prints of our evening sessions and some were taken at other times. We knew that the exhibition space in the Chapter House is challenging, a 12th century building with a very high ceiling and poor light levels, but the exhibition boards presented plenty of space. “Having received all the images, it fell to me to frame them. We have a supplier in Halifax who sells good quality frames, oak finish, at a very reasonable price so we bought 50 and I ended up framing 46 pictures. Dismantling, glass cleaning, checking for stray dust and then fixing mirror plates took me two days. “The exhibition looked great and the comments book had some really encouraging things to say about the images. Having a unifying theme held the exhibition together and seeing it in the context of the historic building was another positive thing. Although we managed two press articles about the show, sales were disappointing. Only three images sold in two weeks. By comparison, we held our annual society print exhibition in York this summer and sold six images in two days. I don’t think that a price of £60 for a framed original image, mostly on archival materials, is steep. How much is a photograph worth? Maybe there wasn’t the emotional appeal of animals or people in the shots? “If we held it again we would need better lighting, even more publicity, possibly cards or other smaller mementoes of the exhibition. Overall, it was a very worthwhile exercise and when we next go for an evening photo shoot in the Minster we will have more idea of its photographic potential.” YorkPhotoSociety SPOTLIGHT If you want your club featured in Club Spotlight, write 200 words about your club and why it’s going places, then send the Word document and up to five JPEG images frommembers to clubnews@ photography-news.co.uk.
After the successful event last year, Southampton Camera Club is delighted to host another lecture by Travel Photographer of the Year 2013, Timothy Allen on 9 November. Tim is probably best known for his work on the BBC book Human Planet , which accompanied the TV series. Travelling the world, Timothy records the lives and customs of people wherever he goes. His photographs of people and their environments are stunning and his stories of the peoples’ lives and the extraordinary efforts he makes to capture the images are totally absorbing. He seldom has time to lecture, so this is a rare opportunity to hear him speak about his work and see his amazing images. The lecture is at Thornden Hall, Chandler’s Ford, starting at 2.30pm on Sunday 9 November. Tickets are £10 and can be booked at events@southamptoncameraclub.co.uk. Our human planet TPOTY winner Timothy Allen returns to Southampton for his second talk
π To find out more, go to www.southamptoncameraclub.co.uk.
Northallerton Camera Club put on its annual exhibition in the town hall in September. All the competition winning prints and PDIs from the previous year were shown to great success, with record crowds enjoying the images as well as the biscuits, scones and tea put on by the club. November’s line-up of events includes It’s a Knock Out, a female versus male PDI competition, on Monday 3rd; summer outing PDI judging on Monday 10th; Step into my World by Richard Cochrane on the 17th; and a trip to Easingwold for an inter club competition on the 24th. The club has also invited all members to the 2014 NYSDPA competition, hosted by Guisborough Photo Group on 28 November at St Nicholas Parish Church Hall in Guisborough. Held annually, the competition pits all photographic clubs in north-east England against each other, as they each submit six prints and six PDIs. Northallerton CC will host next year’s competition. Finally, congratulations to club member Pauline Potany, who has been awarded her ARPS, having completed her BA Hons degree at Cleveland Art College. Northallerton Camera Club meets on Mondays at 7.30pm at Brompton Methodist Church Hall, Northallerton DL6 2QC. News from Northallerton
Sedgemoor CameraClub takes its first steps
Setting up a new camera club is a challenge, but the effort can be totally worthwhile, as Brian Bateman, press officer of Sedgemoor Camera Club, explains: “Four months ago a handful of people decided to set up an additional camera club here in Bridgwater. Sounds straightforward, doesn’t it? It’s not. The name, Sedgemoor Camera Club, and a venue, a community centre in the village of Wembdon, were chosen. “First of all a small steering committee was formed with a chair, vice chair, secretary, treasurer, programme secretary, webmaster and press officer. Later, they were joined by two loyal support members, who helped us plan the vision and future of the club. “As well as the photography side of the club, much emphasis was going to be placed on the social side. Our aim is to be a friendly club with lots of fun, but we acknowledged that the majority of members would be eager to learn the basics of their camera and the art of taking a good picture. We are fortunate in having a few experienced members willing to share their knowledge. “We will have club competitions but that is a little further down the line. For the time being it’s all about
people and their desire to learn. Hence our motto, ‘Focused on learning’. “Much of our success has been due to word of mouth and a very talented web designer Ian Durston, who has spent countless hours creating a superb website which has proved to be very successful. Ian also set us up with Chimp Mail and 102 people have registered an interest and they all now receive a weekly newsletter.” Sedgemoor CC meets on Wednesdays at 7.45pm at St George’s Parish Centre, Wembdon.
π To find out more, go to www.sedgemoor.co.uk.
π To find out more, go to www.northallertoncameraclub.co.uk.
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Issue 13 | Photography News
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