At our last meeting on March 22nd we decided to take full advantage of the predicted good weather forecast for the weekend and we organised an outing to the Dingle and Slea Head area. At that meeting we also had a workshop on using the minimal amount of gear to take portraits. Out next meeting is scheduled for April 5th for which we will be running an Open Competition.

A dozen members met up at O’Donnells pub in Mounthawk at 2 pm on Sunday 25th of March and as forecast we had glorious warm weather but unfortunately there was a hazy sky which was not conducive to taking landscape photography. Before the off we set ourselves the following goals and photograph as many of the following as possible:

Harbour scene, beach scene, wildlife, architecture, a ruin, flora, landscape, candid street scene, pub or shop front, a portrait of a member and finally take a picture using fill flash.

We arrived in Dingle around 3 and gave ourselves 40 minutes to have a walk around the town to take pictures of Street Scenes, Doorways and Buildings. We then left for Slea Head and the Grotto and those of us who stopped managed to get some fine shots of very obliging Herring Gulls who allowed us to get very close. From there we went to Dunquin and stopped at a car park with spectacular views of the Blasket Islands and we then had a well-deserved coffee break in the Dunquin Pottery Shop and Cafe. After that we made one more stop at the Kilmalkedar Romanesque Ruin near the village of Murreagh. We lingered in the area for a long time soaking up the beauty of the landscape and watching the sunset. All in all it was a great day.

At the March 22nd meeting we watched around 20 minutes of an hour long video with Jeff Cable on how to take good portraits with as little gear as possible and then we put some of it into practice. The main shot we tried to replicate was to shoot a picture that only lit the subject and consequently did not show any background clutter. After getting the set up to work correctly all of those with Canon Cameras achieved the shot unfortunately those with Nikon’s and Pentax could not as the cable would only work with the Canon brand.

I hope to see you all at our next meeting on April 5th and I look forward to seeing you best shots in the Open Competition for which there will be a €5 entry fee.

For further information contact Francis Foley on 087 905 4161 or francis.foley@live.ie or visit our website at http://ardfertcameraclub.weebly.com. Remember that we always welcome new members and guests to the club which has a relaxed and friendly atmosphere, no need to have a fancy camera, come along and learn how to take better pictures. Francis Foley

Natural light indoors was the theme for our meeting held on the 8th of March and it proved to be one of the most difficult themes that we have had this year with many people including myself struggling to get a decent picture that complied with the theme. Dillon Boyer was a worthy winner in the end with a beautiful picture he took at the entrance to a museum in France. The second place went to Yvette Shea who took a stunning portrait of one of her best friends on a recent visit to London and Tommy Toomey came home in the third spot with his photo of the water font in his local church. Both Tommy and Yvette recorded equal marks (124 points) in the competition but Yvette gets the second spot because she got a higher number of maximum marks.

The Top Ten in the Competition were:

1.     Dillon Boyer                  126
2.     Yvette Shea                  124
3.     Tom Toomey                 124
4.     Donal Stack                  117
5.     Siobhan O’Connor         114
6.     Margaret Raggett          111
7.     Maura Miller                  111
8.     Paul Keeling                  110
9.     Francis Foley                110
10.  Steven Horan                110

The Top 5 in the Photographer of the Year Table is:

1.     Dillon Boyer                                          135
2.     Tommy Toomey                                    108
3.     Maura Miller                                          94
4.     Francis Foley                                        86
5.     Steve Baker & Margaret Raggett            73

We have decided to drop all meeting competitions and only have Open competitions from now on and the next competition will be held on April 5th which is just before the Easter weekend. At our next meeting on March 22nd we will run a workshop on Portraits and we will also show some tutorial videos. We are planning to have a club outing to the Dingle Area on March 31st or April 1st, all of people who attended the last outing in Killarney enjoyed the event and leant a lot by taking part.

For further information contact Francis Foley on 087 905 4161 or francis.foley@live.ie or visit our website at http://ardfertcameraclub.weebly.com. Remember that we always welcome new members and guests to the club which has a relaxed and friendly atmosphere, no need to have a fancy camera, come along and learn how to take better pictures. Francis Foley