4th September - Presidents Night

Welcome back to the new season at Cramlington Camera club.

The evening started with the usual welcome back to all and then a moment to reflect
on the Passing of our friend Derek Parker who passed away in June.
This was followed by a short talk on how to present your Jpgs for competition’s and
the reasons why.

I took great pleasure in introducing our first speaker of the season. My good friend
Helen Rowlands(Madfencer photography)
“From Darkness into Light” Photography and Mental Health.
Helen very eloquently introduced herself and started her talk about how moving
from her home in Guernsey to University in England and competing as an
international fencer in the Commonwealth Games. She talked about her PTSD
diagnosis in 2018 and how Covid had on her life. Helen continued to explain her
entry into photography from her enjoyment of taking images on her phone and
entering online photography challenges. Eventually encouraged to get a camera,
Nikon D3400 and very winning the “challenges”. One such challenge “TIME” was
an evocative self-portrait and an outright winner. Helen then went on to show images
of her progression through Colour, black and white, her love of Aurora hunting and
onto her wedding photography. She discussed how photography has helped her, by
getting out with your camera can reduce your stress, giving a sense of purpose,
allowing your creativity to flourish and also meeting people. We finished with a
short Q&A .
We finished in true club style with a round of applause and thanked Helen for her
time and energy.
​
So overall the evening was a very positive start to season
Colin Livingstone
President