Resume of the Photography Group meeting held on 20th February 2019

Group Leader John Snell welcomed seven members of the group to the meeting, and gave a warm welcome to new member Philip Legrove.

John thanked the members who have already given him the types and model numbers of the equipment they use to take their images. If you haven’t already done do so please let him know what equipment you use, as this could be helpful for future meetings.

Photography exhibition. The Ayuntamiento has verbally agreed that the Sala Exposiciones in La Senieta will be available to us to mount our U3A Photographic exhibition from 19^th – 31^st May. The plan is to mount the exhibition on the Sunday and Monday 19^th and 20^th May, be open to the public from 21^st – 30^th May, and dismantle the exhibition on Friday 31^st May. At earlier meetings, several members put their hands up with offers of help. Could you please email me and let me know if you are able to help with the mounting and/or dismantling of the exhibition, and also if you will be available to be present on days during the exhibition either AM or PM. Please let me know your availability. We will also need plenty of ladders!

The subjects groups, and suggestions of where and how to have images printed and mounted are in more detail in the resume of the December 2018 meeting, which can be found at   https://local.u3amoraira-teulada.org/resume-of-the-moraira-teulada-u3a-photography-group-meeting-on-19th-december-2018/

Outings.  Last year several group members went to Denia to see the Fallas. The effigies are erected on or about the 14^th March and burnt on the 19^th March. There was interest in going to the Fallas again this year. Both Denia and Calpe have effigies and burnings, so perhaps it might be an idea to try Calpe this year. There is some information about the Denia programme at https://www.denia.com/en/programa-de-fallas-en-denia/ but I have not yet found much information about the Calpe programme, although I expect it will follow a similar format. Please let me know if you are interested in joining a group outing, to see the effigies, processions and mascletá during the day, and having a spot of lunch, and whether you prefer Denia or Calpe. The burnings take place during the hours either side of midnight.

Another good occasion for photo opportunities is during Easter Week, particularly the Good Friday processions, which are on 19^th April. Calpe is possibly the best local one to go. There is some information at   https://www.calpeonline24.com/info/calpe-fiesta-semana-santa-easter but I will obtain more detailed information on routes and timings.

Tom and I have talked about an outing to Altea, perhaps meeting initially at the Russion Orthodox Church and then continuing on the town where there are several photographic opportunities in the old town and also at the coastal area which has been extensively reworked recently.

Subject videos. Having taken our photos, it’s a good idea if we can cast our own critical eye over them to see where we might improve. A short YouTube video was shown which covered the main points that we should look for. See the link “Photo Critique Part 1 with Doug McKinlay” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HD1h_7OPmGc

Monthly challenge. The monthy challenge was “Shadows”, but before we looked at our own efforts, a short tutorial video on shadows was shown. See the link “Shadows in Photography by Doug McKinlay” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGLMC9j-e6o Several group members had brought or sent images of “Shadows”, and it was interesting to look at them after seeing the tutorial videos. Many thanks to those that contributed.

Next Monthy Challenge. New member Philip Legrove drew the challenge out of the hat, which is “Candid Camera”. My dictionary defines candid camera as “taking informal pictures of persons, frequently without their knowledge.” I think we need to be a bit careful with this one, especially if we intend to take images of people we don’t know. I looked at a tutorial video recently on “Street Photography”, which recommended that if a photographer is taking candid pictures of someone that he or she doesn’t know, it is better not to show the face, so that the subject can’t be easily identified.

The next meeting is scheduled for 20^th March at the Martillo Bar at 1030.