Camera Club successful opening

Clondalkin Camera Club had a successful opening of their exhibition in Clondalkin library on May 12.

“It went well, it has been well received, there has been good feedback in the library as we speak,” said Joe Joyce, Chairperson of the club.

The exhibition, which runs until the weekend of June 08, contains 90 images. “We had two panels, one for mono photographs and one for colour photographs,” said Joe.

The exhibition contained images which were entered into the Irish Photographic Federation National Club competition and the remaining photographs were those that members produced during the year which were entered into the club’s own internal competitions.

In the exhibition there were also some images from the Maureen Dunne Natural World competition, which is named after a former member of the club. “These were images of wildlife and flora and fauna and landscape images,” said Joe.

The Maureen Dunne competition was won by Louise Skelly with an image of a sheepdog in full flight.

The exhibition in the library was attended on the opening night by approximately 30 people and was officially opened by Councillor Francis Timmons (Ind), on behalf of the Mayor, Councillor Alan Edge.

For the summer the camera club will be on a break and will resume on September 02. In September the club will hold an introductory course to photography which the club intend to advertise on their website shortly. “We also hope to have a day in the Mill Shopping Centre where we will have a slot and a stand from which to hand out leaflets for the course,” said Joe.

For the introductory course the club take new members in over a weekend and go through the basics of photography with them.

Membership of the club has grown year on year, according to Joe.

“We have approximately 40 members currently,” he said.

The club is affiliated with the Irish Photographic Federation (IPF), which is the governing body for photography in Ireland. “The IPF provide a distinction scheme. As members photographers can progress to three distinctions on the scheme, Licentiateship, Associateship, and Fellowship, which is the highest level,” said Joe.

The club encourages members to go for these distinctions. “It provides a standard for the club,” said Joe.

There is also a very good social aspect to the club, according to Joe. “There’s no pressure, it’s up to you what challenges you want to set for yourself,” he added.

The club also goes on outdoor excursions on the Sunday nearest to the 17th of every month.

“We meet at Dunnes Stores at 9.30 am and we head off to different places. We’ve been to Bray and we’ve been to places like the Botanic Gardens through the year,” said Joe.