Abbey Camera Club

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Minutes of meeting held on Friday 29th July 2022

 

Present:  Keith Walker; Eunice Laidlaw; Willie Hiddleston; Brian Gillespie; Jim Harkness; Angela McNay; Euan McLean.

 

Keith opened the meeting and thanked everyone for coming.

 

Matters arising from previous minutes:

 

The trip to the aircraft museum was a great night with plenty to photograph, as well as an informative talk on the Spitfire and how it was recovered.

Willie has not had any luck in getting models.

Brian has not forgotten about contacting the Police for November and the wire wool spinning.

Euan has been in touch with a key holder for the Crichton Church and he will email them, for 17th August.

Next week, 3rd August, we were scheduled to go to Shambellie, but Sue had emailed to say it is cancelled and will now be 24th August.  Instead, we will now go to Dunscore to take pictures of the Tattie Boggles and Keith will organise for the Flying Pig to be open for refreshments.  We will park in the church carpark.

The 10th of August evening will take place at Kilnford and be a portrait evening and wildlife.

 

Mount cutter – the one we have is not stocked anymore but we can get the model down from it at about £100.00 but it has no cutting board.

 

Trip to the Fringe – Estimated charge per person will be £10.00 and there are four members coming from the Dumfries Camera Club.  Keith found out it will not be possible to park at the Ikea Park and ride as the bus is too tall.  He plans to drop everyone at the back of the University of Edinburgh, where it is an easy ten-minute walk into the city centre, and he will then go and park the bus.

 

Beamish – The charge per person will be approximately £12.00 per head.

 

Thanks go to Jim for organising the Caerlaverock exhibition where five images had been sold.  It has been booked for next year.

 

Finances.

Angela wanted to clarify the new joining fee and Keith explained them.  She asked if we need to change the constitution, so this will be checked out.  It was also asked what happens if someone joins halfway through a session, and the fee would then be pro-rata.  Meanwhile, Keith looked at the constitution and it looks like we are covered and Eunice to check the last AGM minutes.

 

At present we have £1593.72 in the bank and all cheques have been cleared.  Angela enquired about the bonus ball and thinks that we should know who wins.  Keith is happy to announce winners at the club but only the number will be posted on Facebook.

Willie suggests that members pay the bonus ball monthly, in advance.

Keith had a conversation with Hunter Kennedy, the last judge we had, as we had not given him a fee, but the rule is SPF judges do not charge.

Future fees will include – Kim Ayres £80.00; Rod Ireland £37.50; Stewart Edgar, coming from Penrith will need travelling expenses and we will possibly have model fees.

 

Keith asked Angela about money raising.  We could do with raising money for a good projector, also a nice thing to have would be a good printer to print members images.  She also asked about a laptop for the likes of Jim, Keith etc., to use.  Keith has donated a Chrome book to the club.  It was also mooted that we may need to look for judges and exhibition packs.

Angela also mentioned that before we apply for any funding, we should spend some of the funds we have first.  It was suggested we get the mount cutter and mount board.  If we need to spend more, we could get the projector and prices for that to be brought to the next meeting.  Euan also suggested getting a Spider to calibrate screens.

 

Willie has had some members of the church interested in learning about their cameras, and it was reminded that when we are out members should be more pro-active with new members.  Willie will also enquire if we would be able to put images up in the church hall.

 

Jim will set up a What’s App group.

 

Exhibitions at Stove and Caerlaverock.

Ten frames belong to the club and Jim will take the images out of them.  Brian G. and Euan will buy the frames their images are in.  Angela suggested bringing them along on Wednesday evening and members can decide whether to buy the frame or take their image out of it.

 

Distinctions Update.

The members involved in this with Rod Wheelan’s have decided it is not for them.  Rod has been booked for an evening next year to do a talk similar to the one he did last session.  Jim would be especially interested in different quality papers.

 

Willie wondered about entering SPF competitions, but Keith indicated it takes of lot of preparation and commitment.  Euan thinks we are better to concentrate on club competitions and images at the moment.

 

AOCB.

Angela is keen to have a social get together before the new session begins as we have missed out because of Covid, and a fun night was suggested which we could have in the hall with a buffet.  This could be the first night back and maybe have a quiz and show images taken over the summer.  The club could get some wine/non-alcoholic drinks and Angela to sort out the food.

 

I suggested that after nights out that members submit four images each and we can compare how members saw different things to photograph at the same location.  These could be put on a gallery, along with images from The Fringe and Beamish.

Euan thinks we need to sort out the image sizes and he says that the DPI does not need to be 300, only if it is to be printed.  The long side to be 1600 px.

 

Classic Scramble event.

 

Sean was denied access with his camera.  Keith has ad a long email exchange with Corinna Bell.  All events take place on private land so we would not necessarily get access.  The next event is Lockerbie and we have been given access, but only two or three members at any one time, and you would have to report to the clerk of the course, sign in and wear hi viz.  Anyone one interested should go through Keith.

 

Jim went to the South Scotland Car Club, and he had messaged someone he knows and there was no problem with going along.  They have designated areas for photographers.

 

Themes are sought for the September competition and three suggestions from the meeting are – Long exposure; Flowers; Architecture.

 

There being no further business the meeting closed, with a date for the next meeting decided on Thursday 25th August at 7 p.m. in the church hall.

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