Friday, 13 March 2015

CVS-Cheshire East-Marketing & Press Information-March 2015.

Photo by Mal Wetton-Sunset in the Gambia 2015.

CVS-Cheshire East does the 21st group proud again !!

It is very nice to know that we have a great relationship with CVS-Cheshire East, as they still manage to get our marketing and press info published for the group even though they have very many more groups asking for help in this way.

So, a big THANK YOU to them for again making sure we get something in their press that the group has recently achieved.

Cut and paste the LINK below into your Internet browser to see just how good the info is :)

http://www.cvsce.org.uk/news/latest-news-21st-century-technology-camera-group


Cliff



PS CVS-Cheshire East have also sent the below LINK to be shown to our members.

Well worth the effort to have a look at all the other things they do for the £ 45.00 per year.

http://www.cvsce.org.uk/news/latest-news-21st-century-technology-camera-group

Cut and paste into your browser to see the other info that CVS-Cheshire East do for the group :)







Thursday, 12 March 2015

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


Tuesday, 10 March 2015

Group Brochure-Circulation throughout Cheshire.

This is the latest A5 Group Brochure and has been designed and sized in such a way as to be both interesting to GRAB people’s attention, and also small enough to be able to go into any SHOP WINDOW without taking up to much of the shop door or window display space.


We still have loads of brochures available to get out into Cheshire, and believe we now have sufficient members to help to get these out to a much wider range of towns and villages and therefore to more potential members.

Your help would be much appreciated.



Member Update-March 10th 2015

I have today been out in Middlewich and have gone into all the shops on the main High Street, and other places of note, i.e. Pubs that were open, and have asked the owners, and managers if it would be possible for the leaflet to be displayed in their shop windows or notice boards. Not one establishment refused to do this, and so encouraged by their keenness to help the group, I will also be out this evening to do the same into the very many take-away shops and other eating places hoping to get a similar response.

Therefore, I would like to think that current group members who live in or near to Sandbach, Northwich, Crewe, Winsford, Holmes Chapel and any other place not mentioned may like to volunteer to do the same for their own town or village? Would those members interested in helping in this way please IN-BOX me on FACEBOOK with your home or business address, and I will let you have 25 (or as many requested) of the above brochure, by post. More members mean more security for the group to continue into the future, without any financial problems. Member attendance at meetings is the ONLY source of generated income for the group, so more members mean’s more income, and a more secure future for the group.


Cliff

10th March 2015









Monday, 9 March 2015

Member photos for the MARCH 18th Group Presentation.

Photo by Cliff Astles-Marbury Park and Lake.


Photos-Member Monthly Meeting-Wednesday 18th March

Following the again, well attended, "Instructional Photo Outing" to Marbury Park last weekend, I have put out this Blog as a reminder note for members that the cut-off date for photos to be e-mailed (21stctncg@gmail.com) to myself, for inclusion in the members monthly photo presentation, is.......SATURDAY 14th MARCH by 10.00 pm.

A number of members have already placed their photos from Marbury onto the Group Facebook page, and this is great to see so many good photos from our afternoon out. Plus a few taken going to and from Marbury ;)..... No names mentioned, no pack-drill, so they say ;) Getting your photos to me early will allow us to have sufficient time to collate all the photos into a MS PowerPoint presentation. 

More photos enable members to compare their own photos, to those taken of the same topic by other members. This I believe is a good aid for all members to see what progress they are making with their own photography

I ONLY need to have 3 to 5 of your photos from EACH of the below sections, around 500 K in size.


Photos Required.

A)    SUNRISE / SUNSETS.

B)    SPRING Flowers.

C)    Photos from the visit to Marbury Park this last weekend.

Please let me have your photo contributions early, so I don't have to rush getting the final photos into the presentation.

Thanks

Cliff




Friday, 6 March 2015

Middlewich Shop-Wanting Group Photo Exhibition-YAH!!!

Birmingham Town Hall-November 2014- Venue for the Birmingham Community Gospel Choir-Charity Concert.



This is just an attention grabber for our members to know in good time. 

I have been approached by a new shop owner in Wheelock Street, Middlewich-Cheshire, for the 21st Group to provide sufficient photo materials to put on a good general exhibition. When TBA, but watch this space.

This combined venture will give some much needed publicity for the new shop owner and the group for more members to join.

Details will be announced when we get together, but there is quite a lot of wall space for photos /  canvases etc, and we may also be able to get an old PC ( I have one) that will run MS PowerPoint with member photos running a continuous photo presentation, with a small bit of advertising for the group in the shop window.

Group ideas back to myself as to how we can make this go well :)

Cliff


Thursday, 5 March 2015

SUNRISE on a NEW ERA of the 21st Century Technology & Camera Group



Photo By Cliff Astles-Sunrise over Mow Cop, Biddulph-Staffordshire


21st Group-Member TRAINING on Photography, Basic IT for Photography & MS Office for Business, plus MUCH, MUCH More :)
 
The Group has purchased (from GRANT Funds) a NEW HP Laptop. This has been configured and made live by our Group  Sponsor, Amita UK Ltd, so we say thank you to Darren Astles MD, for his good services :).

The Laptop will be used initially at monthly meetings for presenting the previous month's photo topics and member photos from our FREE "Instructional Photo Outings".

OFFICIAL GROUP TRAINING-Willowmere-Middlewich

Following discussion with Group Committee Members, we have asked Ken Rane (with myself and other volunteer members, if possible, as back up) to be responsible for a Group Training Schedule. What is being planned at this stage is that there will be TWO member training sessions. 

One will be for members wishing to do some minor training, brush up skill training, or by asking members for some direction etc at the monthly meetings at Willowmere. These at this stage will not be officially planned as we are still unsure what member training is required, but members will be able to use the Laptop, and the 32 inch TV as the monitor (so others can view if they wish). A more skilled member will be present to give guidance and a small measure of training on a number of software products the group has purchased. 

These will include the below, which will be continually added to and updated as necessary.

Post photo editing software...............Photoshop.................................Lightroom Version 5
Post photo editing software...............PICASA3.................................FREE from Google
Microsoft Office software..................MS 365 Office.........................Purchased copy.

There will also be a number of other software packages installed as Ken decides which is best suited for the group to use. We are also planning to have further funded training for members. A small fee would be required to cover the rental of the facilities at Willowmere Middlewich, on perhaps SUNDAY PM, when Ken and myself are ready  and available. Members involved in training will provide their own time FREE, and any funds raised by their efforts will be paid to the Group in order to help secure it's future.

Willowmere Middlewich-Training (ONE to ONE ) £ 10.00 per hour.

Training on fairly basic photography, and a measure of training on the supporting IT necessary for beginners to use for editing, photo re-sizing, Internet loading of photos, and e-mail etc. We will be prepared to provide such training as is deemed necessary to meet the expectations of the learner, and it will be entirely up to the trainer to decide the level of training necessary for that individual.

Willowmere Middlewich-Training (GROUP Training) £ 5.00 per hour.

It is planned that training for a GROUP of members will be similar to the one to one sessions above. However, the cost will be for each person only £ 5.00 per hour, as we plan to have groups of  FOUR to SIX MEMBERS (and no more) per training session. Members wishing to take part in these training sessions will need to make contact via email on the group Website 'contact us' page to make arrangements to attend.

Members booking places for training will be expected to pay at the start of the training session however please be aware that booking a slot with Ken confirms you wish to complete such training and the room at Willowmere will be paid for. Members who reserve a slot for training, but do not attend will be expected to pay for the missed session at the next group meeting.

Further group member training will be considered, depending upon the needs of the members, and will be down to Ken Rane to consider what training maybe necessary. A schedule of the member training plans will be made available, when all the details have been decided.

Ken can be contacted by using Facebook. 

Thanks

Cliff & Ken.


















Monday, 2 March 2015

MARCH Monthly Member Meeting Photo Presentation

Photo by Cliff Astles-Warmingham Lane-Middlewich-Cheshire

Still WANTED ---Large numbers of your Photos!!

Group Member Update for Photographs :) :) :)

There are a number of good reasons to be out and about, as we get much better weather than is normal for this time of your, so here area few reminders, when taking some more photos.

INDEPENDENT FREE Newspaper.
As a GROUP, there has been a request from the Editor of this newspaper DIRECT to the group, to let them have ANY photos taken in and around Mid-Cheshire of buildings, parks flowers, churches, people so they can use the photos to show off where we live. In return, YOU could have your very own photos printed in the paper, with information about the group, and what we are doing together to help the group and local community. Therefore, please let me have your photos, with your name, where the photo was taken, what it is, and a Caption for each photograph.

I NEED YOUR PHOTOS!!

Warrington Guardian Series of Newspapers.
The local Guardian Series of Cheshire Newspapers have a similar request. However, they want you to send YOUR photos direct to the newspaper for publication of the better local shots. See the Guardian Newspaper series for information where to send you photos.

I NEED YOUR PHOTOS

21st Century Technology & Camera Group
Finally, I have already had photos provided by members of the TOPICS for this next months member photo presentation, but NEED MORE. 

Sunrise-Sunsets, plus Spring Flowers are the ones we require, plus of course photos from our afternoon out together at MARBURY PARK on Saturday afternoon 7th March, 2.00 till 4.00 pm.

It takes quite a while for myself to collate all of the photos and place these into a MS PowerPoint presentation for the monthly meeting, so don't delay, get those photos off  TODAY. Also, please remember to re-size them to be less that 500K per photo, as PowerPoint ONLY allow 25 megabyte for the whole presentation, so please keep them small, but high quality. :)

Please let me have your re-sized photos via Group e-mail at 21stctncg@gmail.com as soon as possible as I normally get a large number from our photo days out, and would like the others asap.

Thanks

Cliff