In the Herald - April 29th - Zooming in on Great Snaps

The Club's in the local paper again this week. Many thanks to all the photographers, Clive Watkins and The Irvine Herald.....(click on images below to view full screen)

During the spring and summer Irvine Camera Club would usually spend Wednesday evenings on photographic field trips in and around Ayrshire.  The purpose of these outings is for the more experienced photographers to share their knowledge and to guide and advise those that need some help with their cameras.  We would typically set some challenges for the members, usually to come up with three images on set themes.  The members would then have a week to select their images and do any post-processing they saw fit before presenting the results to the other club members at our clubroom in Dreghorn.

 This year our summer season field trips are now limited to our houses, gardens and wherever we can get to on our daily walks.  All in strict isolation of course.  However, we do still meet every Wednesday evening in the “cloud” so at least we can still continue to admire, appreciate and advance each other’s photography.

 The challenges set this week were for the members to take, and process, three photographs.  A silhouette, a flower and close-up detail shot.  I am glad to report that everyone in the club had a go at the challenge and we had an entertaining and informative evening of discussion and learning on the back of some excellent photography.

 The Zoom platform once again came into its own, allowing us all to have a good light-hearted blether before we got down to the business of going through our collective work.   Each image was shared in turn, with the photographer taking a few minutes to talk about why they took the photo and what they were aiming for in the post processing (if any).  The beauty of the Zoom system is that it allows the screen to be shared and for the presenter to demonstrate different post-processing techniques.  All of this while the group joins in to contribute their thoughts on what does and what doesn’t work for them.  All in all it is a really great way to learn from each other.

 Next week’s theme is “life in lockdown” where we have asked the club members to provide three photographs of what life looks like for them at the moment, making sure that they of course pay heed to all of the rules and guidance relating to staying at home and not meeting up with others outside of the family in your house.  I’m very much looking forward to seeing some creative takes on this one!

 In the meantime, if you would like to get involved with Irvine Camera Club please find all the details at our website www.irvinecc.co.uk and join us on our Facebook group.  You’ll be assured of a very warm “virtual” welcome!