SUCCESS + EXHIBITIONS + PERSONAL ACHIEVEMENTS + OUTINGS News Camera club BeaconCameraClub The deadline for submissions to be included in the next issue of Photography News is 3 January 2021. Please send us your news
“Our club is still managing to thrive despite the Covid-19 pandemic,” says Colin Walls ARPS, membership secretary of Beacon CC. It’s a very active club, has more than 100 members, weekly meetings all year and special interest groups. “Many camera clubs have suspended operations; others have embraced using online facilities tentatively. Our approach was to take a problem and change it into an opportunity. “First, we moved our weekly meetings on to Zoom, which we quickly realised had a number of advantages,” Colin reports. “We organised some high-profile speakers who otherwise might have been too expensive – the only requirement was that they were awake during the UK evening! ”The special interest groups did not want to be left out, and Zoom has worked well for most of them; others have had outings when government guidelines have permitted,” he adds. “Looking to the future, we anticipate being able to meet in person again one day, but we will probably continue to ‘broadcast’ meetings on Zoom and host occasional speakers via the platform. There are really no downsides to using Zoom. “Of course, we would rather have had a normal year, but we are confident that we can emerge from Covid-19 a better and more vibrant club,” concludes Colin. beaconcameraclub.co.uk
Battle Photographic Society
Battle PS has continued meeting over Zoom keeping its membership together. “Members have lots of energy and meetings are well- attended. New members have joined this season and more are welcome. An events calendar has been produced, with options for live indoor meetings and outdoor photo shoots when possible,” says Liz Blackwell, the club’s publicity officer. “We asked members for two images each, which were displayed on the club’s website. They
presented images of their choice and talked for one minute about each of them. Also, the first monthly PDI competition took place recently. A three-way competition was held alongside clubs from Hailsham and Rye. To date, there have been two Zoom workshops and more are set to follow in the near future,” she reports. “In addition, special interest groups have been set up for projects, like black & white and flower/macro, among others.” battlephotographicsociety.co.uk
Wokingham&EastBerkshireCC
Thanet PS
Sheffield PS
“The Wokingham & East Berkshire CC is currently meeting every two weeks via Zoom,” says Roger Holdsworth, WEBCC chairman. “Actually, given the present circumstances, we believe that it may not be possible to meet face to face for some time, so we have planned a virtual programme for the rest of this season. “We have a variety of activities planned including talks, online PDI competitions and tutorial sessions run by club members,” continues Roger. “To date, we’ve run one round of our PDI competition and we’ve heard from speakers, such as Slawek Staszscuk and Chris Palmer. Speaker sessions are open Lorraine Finney is the new chair of Boscombe CC, replacing Martin Sotheran. “I’m honoured to follow in Martin’s footsteps and we are all grateful for his leadership,” she says. “I’m determined to ensure the club continues to serve its members during the Covid-19 crisis, embracing Zoom meetings and smaller external groupings. We aim to emerge from Boscombe’s new chair
“The club’s virtual meetings are proving popular and have
“Our club currently meets online on Zoom and we are still having lectures, competitions and talks on how we can take better pictures with constructive ideas from our club members,” says press officer, Wayne Paulo. “All in all, it works well – without having to drive.” Meetings in December include ‘Covid Hell!’ with Phil Hodson DPAGB NorthFlydePS created opportunities for talks by photographers from around the UK,” says Rod Giddins, Thanet PS’ publicity officer. “It’s also been easier to make late changes, if a booked speaker has cancelled. One change enabled us to enjoy a talk on the use of textures by Jane Lazenby. “Our first digital image contest was judged by Kylie-Ann Martin from the Great Barr PS. She cast her expert eye over 46 images from the intermediate group and 43 from the advanced group, offering a detailed critique of each image.
The intermediate winner was John Draper, with his stunning image of a horsefly (pictured above). Laura Drury won the top three placings in the advanced group,” reports Rod. The annual membership fee remains £35. Non-members can attend virtual meetings for £5. isleofthanetphotographicsociety. co.uk
to visitors for £3 – tickets are available from Ticketsource and the link is available on the club website. “We look forward to the happy day when we can meet again, face to face.” webcc.org.uk
Traditionally, Sheffield PS has put on its Perspectives exhibition every November for two weeks in the SheffieldWinter Gardens. “Sadly, that’s not going to be possible this year and we have decided to hold an online exhibition, hosted on our website, as an alternative,” says publicity officer John Gorman. “The key feature of our annual Perspectives exhibition is to give members an opportunity to display images of their own choice, without any judging or selecting involved. So from 21 November, we have 27 members presenting up to six images of their work.” sheffield-photographer.org.uk
the crisis fitter and stronger, with an exciting agenda guided by the needs of the members.” boscombecameraclub.co.uk
on the 1 December and a PDI contest on 8 December. northfylde-ps.co.uk
Issue 83 | Photography News 13
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