Our Members Present

Andy    October 11, 2016

Thursday the 9th October, brought our first session with presentations from the members, with contributions from Dave Martin, Tony Maynard-Smith, Gareth Kitchener, Sam Hallas and Andy Hyde. As Andy explained at the beginning of the evening, the aim of the “Our Members Present” night is to allow anyone who wants to, to give a short presentation on a photography related subject of their choice.

Our Member’s present… isn’t that a Member’s Mini?
Several people noted that the name of the evening had changed from “Member’s Minis” to “Our Members Present”. Andy explained that the format of the evening had been changed slightly to allow the committee to mix “Member’s minis” and “Tutorials” in a single session which gives us a little more flexibility later in the season.

Introduction to the new website – Andy Hyde
new-web-siteThe evening started with Andy giving a guided tour of the new website www.HitchinCameraClub.org. In his presentation Andy explained what was on the website, and how to navigate the site and how to find information.

You can see Andy’s presentation here….(Download)

Thin whiteAndy also explained how he saw the web site developing and asked for members to look our for information to publish for example;

  • Up-coming events – Which might provide interesting photographic opportunities
  • Places to visit – Perhaps with tips on the best day to go or where the best views can be found.
  • Reviews or recommendation for kit.

Colin asked whether there could be a for sale or wanted section included. Andy stated that this was already in place (if you want to advertise something just contact our web team Andy, Tony, Tom , or Marcus).

Dave asked a question about previous competition images. Andy advised Dave that all new Digital competition entries will be shown on the website, but there hadn’t been time to transfer the previous entries.
If you’re interested in doing this work for club please let Andy know and he’ll explain what’s needed.

A visit to San Gimingano – Tony Maynard-Smith

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Another presentation was given by Tony who showed a series a of images describing a walk around the outskirts of a medieval Italian town which he visited recently during a walking tour of the area. Tony illustrated his talk with a number of pictures showing views of the town, and some interesting history about the towers built by wealthy residents.

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Hitchin Wedding Dress Exhibition – Sam Hallas

posterSam showed a very interesting AV (Audio video presentation)  he’d shot and produced of the recent Wedding Dress exhibition held in St Mary’s Church during July 2016. The video showed many of the wedding dresses, the church flowers and some interesting stories around the exhibits.

Sam was also keen to talk about his new Camera – a Canon 100D, which he’d chosen specifically for it’s ability to shoot video and the fact that it has a socket for an external microphone which produces greatly improved sound.

You can read all about how the AV was produced here … http://www.samhallas.co.uk/hitchin/st_mary_dresses.htm

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Photographic Panels – Dave Martin
Dave Martin gave a short presentation about his experiences with entering for (and achieving) a number of photographic awards, including a ARPS and DPAGB. Dave explained the judging process and the order of events for an assessment day as well as showing his successful panel.

Images reproduced with kind permission of Dave Martin.

Aurora HDR 2017 – Gareth Kitchener
Gareth gave a review of some new software he recently purchased, called Aurora HDR.

Aurora HDR is software for the Mac (only) which allows the user to combine images shot at different exposures to allow pictures to be produced with greater dynamic range (See Tony’s article on HDR here).

Gareth showed how the application was used and some of the many filters and controls available to modify your images.

You know you’re a photographer when… – Andy Hyde
you-know-youre-a-photographer-whenAndy rounded off the evening with a short fun presentation of humorous comments and observations, gleaned from the internet, to help you recognise when you’re a fully fledged photographer,

Including;

You know you’re a photographer when…

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Your camera bag is worth more than your car

You know how Bokeh is pronounced

Your friends and family don’t bother taking cameras to events if they know you’ll be there