Saturday, June 28, 2014

Club Photo Shoot tomorrow - Sunday 29th June

 
This month's photoshoot will take place along the North Sligo coastline on Sunday (29th June). We will be leaving the Crescent, Boyle at 9am and meeting up in Streedagh, Sligo at 10am. Please remember as this is an outdoor shoot, be prepared for all weather conditions. We always have fun when we visit the sea-side, so we look forward to seeing you all on Sunday!

Wednesday, June 11, 2014

Inis Oirr - Doolin Ferry Friday 13th June

Most members travelling to Inis Oirr this weekend for our annual photo shoot have opted for the Doolin Ferry crossing. This is now booked and paid. We are travelling with Doolin2Aran Ferries and our contact at the pier is Joe. He has a list of those that paid at our recent meeting. Members that have not paid and wish to travel via Doolin can avail of the discount price when they buy their ticket at the pier.
Once again, ferry crossings to Inis Oirr on Friday are; 10am, 11am, 1.00pm (4.00pm maybe?) and 5.30pm. Allow at least 3-hours for the trip from Boyle.
We look forward to seeing you all at the Inis Oirr Hotel on Friday evening.

Wednesday, June 4, 2014

Agenda - Club Meeting Tuesday 10th June

The Agenda for the June meeting is as follows;
  • Chairperson's Address;
    • Recent IPF Distinctions recipients and distinctions sitting next September.
    • Annual Photographic Weekend 2014 - Inis Oirr. Up-date and travel details. Members are asked to bring payment for the ferry which must be booked in advance to avail of the group discount. Full details HERE.
    • Boyle Arts Festival - Club Annual Photo Exhibition - Submission of images for selection process now due. Details HERE. Also, details relating to this year's designated charity and raffle. Marion will present a rota to supervise the exhibition during the festival. Participating members will be asked to sit for at least two one-hour periods.
  • Des O'Dwyer and Matthew Gammon will select the 'Photo of the Month' from the BCC Flickr Group Pool.
  • This months 5-minute talk will focus on the IPF Licentiate panel submissions by Peter, Matthew and Mick.
  • This month's Motivation is 'Technology'. Images must be submitted before mid-night on Friday 6th June.
  • Tea/Coffee Break
  • Group Sessions - BRING YOUR CAMERA! ... and say a prayer for good weather. A series of mini-workshops will be conducted. Below is a selection of the subjects that will be covered.
    • Out-door portrait - Tony murphy
    • Using flash, Fill-flash and Off-camera flash - Peter Kelly
    • Composition and Still-life - Joe Kennedy
    • 'Smoke' photography - Brian Munnelly
    • Advanced members will be available to demonstrate and advice beginners on camera settings and other issues.
Members should note that the door fee for meetings is €3.

We look forward to seeing you all.
New members always welcome.

REMINDER - Submission of Images for Annual Club Photo Exhibition during Boyle Arts Festival

Members are reminded once again to consider their images for this year's exhibition during Boyle Arts Festival. Select four images (Highest Resolution Files - ideally 4800 pixels at widest side) and bring them to Tuesday's Club Meeting on memory stick or CD. Alternatively, members can load their images on-line via the Dropbox Folder created by Des.
The submission fee, which covers printing and framing costs, is €35.00. Members can collect their framed photo after the exhibition.
All proceeds from sales will go to a designated charity. We will also have a raffle during the exhibition for the purpose of generating funds for the club.
The exhibition will open on Thursday 24th July in advance of the Boyle Arts Festival launch.

More details HERE.

Travel Details for Inis Oirr Weekend Photo Shoot - Friday 13th to Sunday 15th June

The Plassey - Inis Oírr TMP_0586

The long anticipated return to Inis Oirr is almost here! More than 20 members will travel to the Island on Friday 13th June. Members should decide if they wish to travel by plane or boat (details below). We plan to meet up at Hotel Inis Oirr on Friday evening but I recommend to travel across early (if the weather is good) and make the most of the day! The hotel is a short walk from the harbour, many will remember it from our last visit. We will firm up on details at the meeting next Tuesday and answer any questions you might have about the trip.

Travel Options
Travel options listed below. For the ferry, we need to decide weither we travel (as a group) from Doolin or Rossaveal to avail of the group rates. Once registered as a group, we don't have to travel together but need to pay in advance (bring cost of ferry to the club meeting). My personal preference is to travel from Doolin as there are more options regarding departure times and the crossing is just 30-minutes. Granted, it's a long drive to Doolin from Boyle but it takes you through The Burren and some very beautiful countryside, so allow time to enjoy this if interested!
Flying is an alternative. There are a number of 'scheduled' flights from Connemara Airport (see below) and the 10-minute flight-time is very appealing indeed. As I recall, the plane can take about 8 or 9 people so if a group decided to travel together, then an additional flight could be negotiated. Individual members will need to make their own flight arrangements by contacting Aer Arann (number below or visit their WEBSITE).
All options will be discussed at the meeting on Tuesday 10th June.
Looking forward to the weekend!
Tony.

Travel by Boat from ROSSAVEAL

From Boyle to Rossaveal Harbour (091-568903) - Allow 2 hours 30 minutes travel-time.

Boat departs from Rossaveal Harbour on Friday at 10.30am and 6.30pm.
Boat departs from Inis Oirr on Sunday at 8.45am and 4.30pm.

Cost per person return; €18 (Group Rate - 50% advance deposit required).

Travel by Boat from DOOLIN (longer drive but short crossing to Inis Oirr)

From Boyle to Doolin Pier (Doolin2Aran Ferries 065-707 5949) - Allow 3 hours travel-time.

Boat departs from Doolin Harbour on Friday at 10am, 11am, 1pm, (4.00pm) and 5.30pm.
Boat departs from Inis Oirr on Sunday at 8.30am, 12.30am, 2pm and 4.45pm.

Cost per person return; €13 (Group rate, money to be delivered as single payment).

Travel by Plane (ring airport to confirm times listed below)
From Boyle to Connemara Airport (091-593034) - Allow 2hours 15 minutes travel-time.

Flights depart from Connemara Airport on Friday at 9am, 10.30am and 5.00pm.
Flights depart from Inis Oirr on Sunday at 10.15am and 4.45pm.
ADDITIONAL FLIGHTS ARE AVAILABLE FOR GROUPS - CONTACT AIRPORT FOR DETAILS.

Cost per person return; €49.00 return.

Tuesday, June 3, 2014

Club Meeting - Tuesday 13th May

Welcome
The meeting was conducted as outlined in the agenda.
  • Club Chairperson, Andy Rimmer opened the meeting. Membership cards are now available to all registered members. For NEW members, the committee have prepared an introductory letter containing club details, motivation guidelines, photo shoot schedule, etc. New members intending to take part in the annual weekend photo shoot to Inis Oirr in June must have their subscription paid for insurance purposes.
  • Boyle Arts Festival. Members are asked to submit up to FOUR images for selection. These can be brought on memory stick or CD to the next club meeting. Images should be HIGH RESOLUTION (ideally 4800 pixels at longest side) and labeled with TITLE and photographer's NAME. The committee will select ONE image per member. Images will subsequently be printed and framed. The cost of entry is €35. Members will have their framed image returned after the exhibition. Des has also prepared a DROPBOX address so entries can be submitted on-line. More details HERE.
  • The June club meeting will be an active photography session - ALL members are advised to bring their cameras for a series of small active workshops.
  • Motivation - Members are reminded to ensure their motivation entries are resized to 1024 pixels at the longest side and labelled with title, member's name and membership number. See 'Motivation' below and rules HERE.
BCC Flickr Pool - Photo of the Month
Each month, club members registered with Flickr are encouraged to put their photos into the Boyle Camera Club Flickr Pool. From the pool, a committee member selects an image and discusses it at the beginning of the meeting. This month, Jason Mallard selected Ciara Maher's photo 'High Five' and Marion Noone selected Geoff Percy's 'Flower Girl'.

5-Minute Photo
This month, Matthew Gammon gave an excellent presentation about his recent participation at Ian Ruhter's wet-plate collodion photography workshop during the Palm Springs Photo Festival. Matthew gave an informative illustrated overview of the process and showed some of the images created at the event.

Presentation
Jason Mallard discussed the essentials of digital data management, storage and back-up options. This is an area often neglected by beginner photographers (and some advanced ones too!) but giving due consideration to storage and back-up needs will counteract (not prevent) drive failure, damage and theft regarding the preservation of precious images. Entry level portable hard-drives can be purchased from €50 for 1TB of space. There are more sophisticated RAID systems available from about €350. Also, 'Cloud' storage (Dropbox, Google Drive, Flickr, etc) is becoming a viable option with initial free storage space for those 'extra' special images. This is a subject we all need to do our homework on, no matter how safe we think our data might be!

Motivation
Des O'Dwyer presented this month's Motivation. The theme for May was 'Street Photography'. Ross Magrath judged entries and Joe Kennedy read Ross's critique on selected shots. See all entries HERE.

Motivation Winners - May 2014 - Street Photography.jpg
Clockwise from Top; 'Three Sugars' – Tony Murphy, 'Guinness is Good for Me' – Nettie Wood, 'Evening in Keshcarrigan' – Sally Moffatt.

The winners in each category were;
Advanced
  1. Tony Murphy - 'Three Sugars'
  2. Mick Nolan - 'Street Musician'
  3. Jason Mallard - 'I Said No!'
Intermediate
  1. Nettie Wood - 'Guinness is Good for You'
  2. Noreen McNamara - 'Will You Come for a Pint?'
  3. Maeve Cormican - 'Feeling the Blues'
Beginner
  1. Sally Moffatt - 'Evening in Keshcarrigan'
  2. Sally Moffatt - 'Walking Dogs'
  3. Gordon Blackwell - 'Delivery Boy'
The June Motivation theme is; "TECHNOLOGY". Members can submit up to four images. Images taken before September 2013 are NOT eligible for entry!

A reminder also that the title of each photo should be;
"MEMBERS NAME - CATEGORY (Beg, Int, Adv), IMAGE TITLE and MEMBERSHIP NUMBER" e.g. “John Fox - Beg – Autumn Evening Reflection – 104.jpg”

Entries should be re-sized so that a landscape format photo is 1024 pixels wide or if in portrait format the photo is 600 pixels high.
Entries on or before Friday 6th June  to;

motivationpics@gmail.com

Group Session
Time did not allow for Group Sessions at this month's meeting, however special emphasis will be placed on reconvening these at the June meeting. See agenda shortly.