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General Meeting – December 7th @9.45am

Dear Members and Friends of Sandy Photography Club,

I am proud and happy with our group and what we have achieved in our work together over the past years.

Time for another General Meeting, the last of 2019!

Thanks once again to Mary who will be hosting the meeting this Saturday 7 December at 9.45am at Willington, Bedford.

We will meet at 9.45am in the large lay-by opposite Willington Post Office on the main road to Bedford (postcode MK44 3PS).

During the year, we have participated in Workshops and competitions.
Although we work as a group, every photographer is independent, achieving their own targets, improving skills, experience and patience.
At this meeting we will review our work and look forward to new projects in the coming year when we will be celebrating our 3rd Anniversary in January!

If you wish to start your photography adventure with us you are welcome to join at any time – just let me know by completing the form on our website (www.http://www.sandyphotoclub.uk/?page_id=18174 )

If you are not able to come, I wish you a very Merry Christmas – take only the best shots during the festive period and the New Year!

All the best to you 🙂
Carlos
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Workshop XX – Remembrance Day in Models

Dear Sandy Photography Club Members and Friends,
Remembrance Day is the time to reflect on the past, on history, and those people who never come back from war time conflict.
We remember them in November, but there people who constantly think how to make the world better based on past events.
There are many details from history, and these are beautifully captured by an enthusiastic hobbyist who has been working for months, years, bringing the memory of these days to reality.
I have recently met Lee, a very interesting person, who recreates war time scenes in miniature, and documents the scene he is creating, from scenography to the details of equipment.

We as photographers would also like to capture all these moments of history. This is an opportunity to join many passionate people together to tell the stories. Let’s catch these pieces of history by making a photographic documentary of his work.

On this Workshop, we will focus on macro photography, composition and light to get the best scene.
Again, we will use tripods, macro lenses, tubes, etc.
We will meet on Sunday 24 November at 9.30am outside Sandy Library, and then go together to the venue in Potton.
This will be a maximum group of 5 people – please let me know as soon as possible if you wish to attend, by 20 November latest.
This will be on a first come, first served basis. The Workshop will take about 3-4 hours – afterwards, we could go for lunch in a local pub.
All the best to you 🙂
Carlos
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General Meeting – October 19th @9.45am

Good news for everyone!

We will discuss our film photography, taken at the last Workshop in Bedford. There will be a mystery element of surprise for everyone, as the films aren’t developed yet. And those members who could not attend the Workshop now can have a chance to try film photography on their own and should bring 3-5 printed 6×4 preview photographs, which they have taken between the workshop and this General meeting.

We are honoured that David H, who recently joined us, has agreed to share with us his experience on image composition. Simply put, composing an image means arranging elements within it in a way that suits the core idea or goal of your work best. Arranging elements can be done by actually moving the objects or subjects.

I cannot wait to see you all again!

Carlos

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After Workshop XIX – Film Photography

Dear Members and Visitors,

I hope you enjoyed our last workshop and you learned something new. Thank you for coming along.

The weather was chilly, and the wind always blew the wrong way – but we stayed dry! There was a lot of fun, as a couple of members found old film (quite a few years old!) still waiting in the camera for the next shots!

Carlos always forgot to manually wind on his film after taking a shot! As a result, he missed a lot of great moments! There was no time for mistakes and every shot had to be well planned (in theory!).
Some of the members forgot to replace the battery – even in an old camera the light meter uses battery – as a result, all members had to practice using an old manual Russian light meter!
Autofocus on the camera on that day didn’t work, so the next experience was how to get a sharp picture without electronic support.
Generally, the birds were flying too fast, dogs running around unpredictably, and quiet landscapes were disrupted by passers by appearing from no where! Some nature was pretty, so no one could resist taking still life pictures.
The day was a challenge, but we calmed down, and warmed up, in the local pub!

We will discover the results of our efforts at the next General Meeting, which will be announced soon. Please keep following us on our website and social media.

Always yours,
Carlos

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Workshop XIX- Film Photography

Dear Members of Sandy Photography Club and Friends 🙂

It is time to go back to the beginning of our photography story. Digital is very helpful but it is only a technique that originated from the skill of film photography.

Therefore, we will meet on Sunday 29 September at 3.45pm at Lurke St, Parking, Bedford MK40 3HZ.

Photography started many years ago with plates and other materials, progressing to film photography which was developed over decades getting better and better all the time.

Finally the digital era almost killed the film technique but we should not forget where we came from.

I would like to start film photography workshops where we will focus on proper composition, and pay attention to the skill and how not to waste our time – we should start respecting the skill of photography and not relying on digital processing to get us out of difficulty.

If you are happy to, we will continue with a workshop or task every 3 months.

Let me know if you have a film camera, or if you need to borrow one; if you have more than one film camera, would you be prepared to lend it to another member who hasn’t?

Please check on link below which films you want to order – for example, do you want colour, BW, negative or slides, how many exposures (24, 36?) etc. If you are not sure, just ask! 🙂

https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=photo+film+35mm&rh=n%3A560798%2Cn%3A1104440&dc&crid=218JOZ1J50J6T&qid=1569064084&rnid=1642204031&sprefix=photo+film+%2Caps%2C138&ref=sr_nr_n_6

I envisage getting our films developed after each workshop, so that we can see your progress – I would send them all together to a photolab to cut down on cost.

Please let me know if you are able to come on the 29th.

 

All the best to you!

Carlos

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Visiting the Paxton Pits photography exhibition

Sandy Photography Club enjoyed visiting the Paxton Pits photography exhibition at St Neots Museum last week, and were delighted to be shown the full range of competition entries – our thanks to Peter Hagger for the invitation, and thank you also to Liz Davies, Curator at St Neots Museum for organising the evening and for the excellent refreshments!

We were pleased to have the opportunity to speak with other photographers from Friends of Paxton Pits, and St Neots U3A, and hope this will be the start of further co-operation and competition in a friendly atmosphere.

Please follow our news on facebook and the website, and be ready for another great event we will be announcing soon!

All the best to you!
Carlos

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Happy Faces of Sandy – Afterwards

Happy Faces of Sandy - Afterwards

Dear Members of Sandy Photography Club,

Firstly, I would like to say a big thank you to Gina, Jamie, Mary and Jenny for all your help at the Sandy Carnival event. I will be publishing the results of the project very soon.

In spite of the wind and rain, we had a lot of fun and can say it was another successful event for our Club, where Jamie and Jenny played leading roles as photographers for the Happy Faces of Sandy project.

Gina’s work has been priceless as only she could handle the administration and assistant’s work!

Mary was involved as equipment manager helping put up the gazebo and providing seating, and most importantly, donuts!

Carlos found the flashlights a challenge, positioning the light not necessarily in the right direction – but he tried!

All members of SPC would like to say a huge thank you to Kristeen Burton and the Sandy Carnival Committee for their invitation to include us at the event as part of Sandy community. We are most appreciative and enjoyed participating on the day and meeting so many different people and characters.

The event went well, and we were pleased that families wanted to join in our fun, having their portraits taken, and capturing precious moments in their life.

All the best to you 🙂
Carlos
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General Meeting – Sept 14th @9.45am

Time is flying fast… you know how I feel…
We will meet again… you know how I feel….
Adventure is waiting… you know how I feel..
It’s a new dawn, it’s a new day, it’s another …
Meeting for us… and I am feeling good… dah dum dah dum dah dum

(courtesy of Nina Simone!)

Time for our next General Meeting, which will be held on Saturday 14 September at 9.45am at Bedford Road, Willington.
If you are able to come, please let me know.
We will meet at 9.45am in the large lay-by opposite Willington Post Office on the main road to Bedford (postcode MK44 3PS).

At this meeting we will be reviewing the Workshop XVIII photographs (Wide Angle B&W), and discussing future events and Workshops.

Please bring with you your camera so we can look at the RAW files from the Workshop, and do some quick processing.

Any non-members are welcome to join us at any time!

All the best to you 🙂
Carlos

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Workshop XVIII – Afterwards

Dear Members of Sandy Photography Club and Friends,

I would like to say thank you for coming along to our Workshop, ‘Wide Angle and B&W’ – it was good to see many members enjoying the event at Great Barford. I would also like to give a warm welcome to a new member, Dave, who enjoyed his session with us.

Please find attached some ‘backstage’ photos from our evening, which you can share and like on social media.
We are planning another workshop soon  –  watch out for further announcements about this and other meetings.

 

Just for your information, our colleagues at St Neots Camera Club have kindly sent us an invitation to attend the first day of their new season, on 17 September at St Neots Bowls Club, Priory Road, St Neots at 7.00pm. Entry is free.
Also they will be holding the annual camera club exhibition which will again be held at the Priory Centre in St Neots on Saturday, 5 October 2019 from 10:00.

All the best to you 🙂
Carlos

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General Meeting – Aug 10th @9.45am

Dear Members of SPC and our Great Friends!
Following our event at Sandy Carnival, it’s time for our summer General Meeting, which will be held on Saturday 10 August at 9.45am at Bedford Road, Willington.
If you are able to come, please let me know. We will meet at 9.45am in the large lay-by opposite Willington Post Office on the main road to Bedford (postcode MK44 3PS).

At this meeting we will be reviewing the Happy Faces of Sandy photographs, and discussing future events and Workshops.

I hope you enjoyed the summer holiday season.
If you spotted any interesting subjects, I hope you photographed them!
This will be your chance to share them with us.
I will be introducing a new score system that allows us to make objective notes about our photographs.
Please upload your photos to our server in the normal way, email them direct to me, or bring along to the meeting.
Any non-members are welcome to join us at any time!

All the best to you 🙂
Carlos