Presentation of LF at Bolton Camera Club

[Joanna Carter]

Hi folks, just to let you all know that I will be speaking at Bolton Camera Club on Thursday 28th October at 7:30pm. Guests are welcome, just let me know if you would like to come and support the cause

[mark e mark]

Hi Joanna,
Hope the talk went well. Any interesting questions from the floor?

[Joanna Carter]

Hi Mark

Yes, the evening went very well. When I did the presentation, I didn't do it as a "from the front" session. I prepared by setting up the camera on a tripod and placing about 6-8 40" x 32" prints around the room. I started with a short intro to myself and the type of camera I use, followed by a brief description of the big pictures. Then I had several large tables with a load of A3+ proof prints and people circulated around the tables, looking at, discussing and asking questions. After the break, I issued the challenge for anyone to have a go at loading a double dark slide using a Calumet Dark Room

What worked so well was that people were able to ask all sorts of questions and not be fixed in a chair, in a darkened room, watching a never-ending procession of pictures. Those who wanted to were able to see what it was like to look through the camera and see the peculiar effect of front tilt giving a "band" of focus, which moved up and down when you focused in and out

We had about thirty people there and nobody seemed to be bored. One of the members took the opportunity to build a new easel for showing photographs, which could easily take a 4' square picture ; something that came in useful for me and, maybe will prompt others to break out of the "standard" 50cm x 40cm matts into bigger things.

[Nigels]

Good one Joanna.

We had a spare evening at our camera club last year and so I volunteered to talk about LF. I thought just 15-20 mins to give our members just a taster. I was quite surprised by the interest in LF since everyone in camera club land has embraced digital to the almost total exclusion of film of any size.

I started by arriving with my ruck sack packed and allowed people to test it for weight. Gasps ensued! I then showed all the gear and how its used. I had some prints but nothing bigger than A3 unfortunately. My little adhoc talk ended up being nearly an hour including questions and discussions.

Although I was surprised by the interest, unfortunately it didn't result in anyone having a go for themselves - yet.

I want to get a decent set of prints together and do something a bit more formal and take it to local clubs - one day!

p.s. Took it to a still life studio evening last week and after taking a couple of pictures with the camera, my 45SU became quite a populer subject for a few people.