Member photos-Marketing & Press.

Winter Sunrise-Over the old ICI Lime Beds-Middlewich-Cheshire.

Group use of member photos for Marketing and Press.

It is now some time since we asked group members for their permission for the group to use any of their photos submitted for use in order to create marketing and press interest. With the recent move to Flickr by the group to better display photos, I thought it was worth mentioning again.

We would obviously wish to continue to use member photos, but ONLY if members have no objection to them being used in this way. Therefore, would members not wishing for their photos to be used, please let me know via e-mail, so I do not make any mistakes.

The group has been able to gain many more members by using photos in this way, and we will continue to use them in the future.  Additionally, it is in the group’s future interest to gain more members and I would like to think that members will continue to send photos to any of the local papers, as they continue to request local photos to be submitted to them, where a mention of the group would not go amiss.

Cliff

Group members working together.

Photo by Paul Macready

Photo by Paul Macready

Group members, working together to improve their photography.

One of the main objectives when initially forming the Group was for the more skilled members to offer help, and give guidance to other members, who were just, perhaps starting to use a digital camera, and wanting to get up to speed quickly. We believe we have achieved this in no short measure, with many new to photography, quickly creating photos of merit.

It was very satisfying therefore to see recently, that Paul Macready (using his excellent photos above) was helping member Donna, to also try to achieve a similar quality photo by providing photo settings and other advice, for her future use when presented with a similar photo opportunity.

With the move from placing group photos on Facebook, to members now  using Flickr, we can not only now see members photos in much better quality, but Flickr also provides all of the  technical information regarding photo settings for members to see for themselves, so they may use the information in order  to improve their own photo skills. A BIG step forward for the group members. 

The group continues to grow with new members and the more conversations that take place of this nature, the better and stronger the group becomes. Thanks to members like Paul, Mal Wetton, Brian Roberts, and others that help in this way, we are achieving one of our main goals with the group.

Getting members to shoot quality photos, all of the time J

Cliff

Two pictures (see wingtips) are to show what happens when you use a shutter speed of  1/640 sec. 

Heron............ slight blur at the wing tips), which does give a nice motion effect, that you may wish to have?

Seagull...........when you use a much higher shutter speed (1/2000 sec). The wing tips are quite clear, with no motion to speak of.

Flickr-Now being used for Group Photos

Photo by Cliff Astles-Business end of a Pirhanna Fish



Member Use of the new Group Flickr Photo Galleries

Great to see that many of our group members are signing on to Flickr, and creating a personal account for use of their own photos, and are then adding photos themselves onto the group Flickr account for the three topics for APRIL's member photo presentation.

You will no doubt see for yourselves that the presentation, clarity and facilities for the use of photos using Flickr, are so much better for the group than when we were using Facebook.

Hopefully, more members will do the same, so that we have plenty of photos for APRIL, and loads of time to get the photo presentations compiled using the new group Flickr accounts.

Topics for this month’s member presentation are:-

Still Life

Family Pets

Queens Park, Crewe.

We will progressively be making more use of the Group Web Site, with less activity on Facebook, so members need to start to use the Web Site as the main group activity and information centre.

Cliff 

Thursday 2 April 2015.

Photography Coach Tour-North Wales

Photo by Cliff Astles-Swallow Falls-Betws-y-Coed-North Wales

North Wales Photography Coach Tour-Sunday May 17th-2015

This is the last request for group members (particularly for our newer members) who would wish to attend this day out for the group, to confirm to myself they would like to go. The coach will take 38 passengers, and currently we only have 24 confirmed bookings with a number of members paying in full, for the trip.

More fuller details of the day can be found on the Web Site BLOG pages.

Who...........................21st Century Technology & Camera Group Outing.
What..........................Photography Group Coach Tour.
When.........................Sunday 17th May from Middlewich Town Hall Car Park
Times.........................Leaving at 9.00 am & arriving back between 8 and 9.00 pm.
Costs.........................Cost per person is only £15.00.

There is a toilet on board the bus and we have had prepared (by a North Wales Photographer) an itinerary for the day, with places to stop to get the best photos from the journey.

Please CONFIRM your intention to go on the trip........ASAP if you wish to join us on the trip, and also let me know of the number of seats required. Members can bring with them guests and children, costs as above.

Monies will be finally collected on the night of the group meeting on Wednesday 15th April at the Willowmere-Middlewich.

Cliff

28th March 2015.

Queens Park Crewe-Free Instructional Photo Outing.

Photo by Cliff Astles

April-Members Monthly Instructional Photo Outing

Queens Park-Crewe

Saturday 11th April-2.00 till 4.00 (ish)

Have checked out Queens Park Crewe, by visiting and believe this could be a nice local afternoon, with plenty to view and take a good selection of photos.

Flowers (hopefully) but certainly some nice trees, and at this time a number of wild birds both flying and water based will be very good for many of our newer members.

There is a Cafe' if wet, and plenty of places to rest, with the best access to date for wheelchairs and scooters, with ample free parking.

Plan to meet at the cafe' at 2.00 pm. Please, don't forget when you first get out of your car, set your camera to AUTO, get that shot, and practise, practise, practise. We will stop at differing spots during     the afternoon, where we can all try getting photos, when all using the same camera settings.

Group photo outings are FREE to group members, and are a good way to quickly improve your      photos, as well as meeting with other group members socially in a relaxed and informal way.               Also, this is a good place to try out landscape shots using a tripod. I will be on hand to give members advice and no doubt other more skilled members will be doing the same.

Cliff

Thursday 26th April 2015.

PS Also remember this next month's photo topics are STILL LIFE-FAMILY PETS  and of course any of your photos from CREWE PARK.

Member photos for March 18th Group Meeting.

Photo by Jonathan White. New group member-photo submitted for this months members presentation.

Photos required for inclusion into this month's member photo presentations.

The COUNTDOWN for member photos is neigh :)

10.00 pm this evening will be the cut off for photos to be with myself for inclusion in the March member photo presentation.

The presentation has already been completed, and thus far with some 120 plus photos submitted, this is by far the best members photo contribution since we started this, some 12 months ago this month. It must be working :)

I have included above, a photo submitted by one of our new group members Jonathan White, which fully illustrates the way in which different people see topics we present each month for members photos. Well done Jonathan.

There is still space available for members photo contributions, who may not have had time to process their photos and get them in to myself, before the 10.00 pm deadline.

SO,  SATURDAY AFTERNOON this weekend is for PHOTO PROCESSING & MAILING........................................................................... never mind watching the RUGBY!!!

Thanks.

Cliff

MARCH MEMBER PHOTOS.

Photo by Cliff Astles-                  DAFFODIL with 48 HOURS before being in FULL BLOOM

A bit like the 21st Group Member Photos to myself,  to add into the MARCH Member Meeting Photo Presentation.

Members now have only 48 hours to get photos to myself for :-

A)      SPRING FLOWERS

B)      MARBURY PARK

C)     SUNRISE & SUNSET

We already have a great photo presentation for MARCH, but there are some members who have not had the time yet to get their photos to myself, so this is quick last time reminder.

REMEMBER all of your photos HELP others to IMPROVE their photography by comparison with your photos.

Cliff

Let's get your photos on our site!

The photos underneath the main photo on the Website's Home Page are just quickly used stock photos from the web provider's (WIX) library.

We would like all of the photos on the website to be created by members of the group.

With that in mind we would like for members to provide for the Web Page a selection of still life photos that represent the following themes (links), as below.

Upcoming events

 

Previous events

 

Assignments

 

News

 

Welcome

Please, let us have these as soon as possible so we can incorporate YOUR photos in the next update that is done by Melody.

These can be sent direct to Melody Smith, using the Group Facebook Page.

Thanks

Cliff

News about the website! A message from the Webmaster (Mel Smith)

As part of the move to the website, the details of the next meetings and assignments are going to be displayed on the website rather than on the blog. There will be a link to the correct website page on the Facebook events page, but we hope that as you use the website more you will get used to where to find it.

The intention is that, whenever possible, the information will be available on the 19^th of the month. Occasionally, when there is a special event, such as the North Wales Tour, this will appear early to allow for booking time.

Consequently, the 19^th of each month will be the date on which to expect updates to the website. There will be other updates of course, including those which happen automatically. At the moment these include the blog page (which is updated from Cliff’s Google + linked Blogger account) and the Twitter/Facebook feed (which is an automatic feed from the group’s Twitter and fb accounts).

We are looking into the use of a group Flickr account to update the gallery, provide the members’ photos for the slideshow and a source for the Independent newspaper to view and select photos for publication. The logistics of this is being considered by Brian and me at the moment. If you want to share any information can you please message me direct then I don’t risk missing the information on on the fb feed. This will all be officially proposed and discussed once we know it is a viable option. 

This is important, as we need to establish procedures for any members who can’t (or don’t want to) take up this option.  It is an important move for the group as it will reduce the amount of effort for both the organisers of the group and all of the members (No more re-sizing! Hooray!!)

So that all of the members are aware, there are two other major changes about to be dealt with on the website:

1)      The blog

At the moment comments are difficult to post because of the way the blog is distributed. I have started research into this and believe I have a solution. When this is in place (soon) I will inform you all. All members are welcome to submit a blog on a topic which they feel will benefit the group. Please contact Cliff to do this. It will involve you sending a Word (or compatible word processing) document containing the blog to him via email. Only expected submissions from known sources will be opened to avoid viruses etc.

2)      The forum

The forum has had two issues which we want to ensure are solved before we continue to use this particular application. Firstly, not all of the member sign in information was provided to us so we couldn’t identify who was joining the forum. This was an error in the application and we have recently been informed that they have solved the problem but I have not tested it to my satisfaction yet.

The second, and the more serious issue, was that it linked to member’s fb information automatically which potentially displayed far too much information to the wide world of the Internet. As the group does not want to be responsible for this we need to find a solution. Again, as soon as I have then we will let you know. We would like to use the forum as a means to provide Mal’s  photography Q&A (and more).

Mel Smith (Webmaster)

Topic Inspiration for members.

Photo from last Saturday's Holly Holy Day-Nantwich-more on my Facebook Site.

 

Let's see if we can get our group members as "fired up" as this Parliamentarian Army Canon Gun was this last weekend, by members looking at interesting topics for our monthly photo presentation, and places to go out together as a group on our FREE "Instructional Photo Outings".

Plus, what do our members wish to have more information on with respect to digital camera photo techniques and technical equipment, in order to continue to make the group presentations by members and outside professionals as interesting as we have been able to do, thus far.

YES, the committee do have many photo topics, outings, and group presentation subjects lined up to help members to become more proficient photographers, learn about the technology of the digital camera, photo post processing software, and other wider and interesting photo related subjects.

However, we also wish to have feedback from members on how they are enjoying being a member, what they think of the varying presentations, and more importantly, what would they like to see from the group in the future. This we can use for group marketing so that others can be stimulated by what we are achieving in our community, and get others to join the group.

We are now over 100 members, with 89 on Facebook, and other members not wishing to be using Facebook, hence one of the reasons for the  recently announced Group Web Page. 

The Web Page will progressively take over from using Social Media as the main group information provider of group information, but will continue to use social media facilities as and when this is the best way ahead.

The group FORUM, when made available to members will be used to ask for member advice on  digital cameras, technology, futures, camera photo settings etc and members will be able to discuss all of these topics, without UK and International adverts being imposed upon the group. 

It will be JUST for GROUP Members, with professional input from members and external local professional individuals and bodies.

Therefore, as I have asked members before, the group is for members and we ask for input from members to make sure we have a future timetable of "goodies" to satisfy all members, young, old, male and female.

ANY input / suggestions / feedback / suggested changes should be e-mailed to myself using the group       e-mail of 21stctncg@gmail.com.

ALL, suggestions will be considered for future use by the group, as long as these would be of interest to the majority of the group members.

Thank you all for your continued interest and attendance at outings and group meetings.

Kindest Regards

Cliff

Welcome to our new website and blog by Mel Smith (Webmaster)

 

Please feel free to explore our website at www.watch-it-and-c.co.uk and make any comments on how you feel it could be improved in the future or extra features that you would like to see. We may not be able to cater for everyone but we can try!

If any member of the group has a topic which you would like to 'blog' about then please submit it to a committee member.