Camera Club members share their shots

Club’s annual exhibition open till December 8

“Putting a picture in an exhibition can be a daunting task,” Mullingar Camera Club president Noel Murphy told the group assembled at The Atrium at the Westmeath County Buildings for the opening of the club’s annual exhibition for 2023.

Nonetheless, it was a task embraced willingly by the many club members who submitted a range of highly impressive works for the exhibition. Mr Murphy said the exhibition, which runs until December 8, represented a chance to showcase the members’ individual talents.

“It is also an opportunity to publicise our work to a greater audience,” he told the gathering.

“The pictures represent a wide selection of images and styles and a wide ability,” he continued, revealing that while some of the photographs were the work of some of the club’s most senior and most talented members, some were the work of newer recruits.

Happily, he revealed, the club have had some success in attracting new members recently: an open night hosted by the club after the summer brought in approximately 20-25 new members.

Mr Murphy said the club provide members with a chance to meet fellow enthusiasts and to discover things they like.

Club meetings are twice a month, on Wednesdays at 7.30pm at Mullingar Arts Centre.

Mullingar Camera Club notes

Mullingar Camera Club held its second monthly photo competition at our last meeting. As for the first competition, each member was asked to submit one colour and one monochrome print for viewing by the rest of the club members.

For each category the prints were laid out for viewing and each member was asked to select what they thought was the best photo with just one stipulation that no member was to vote for their own work.

Once again the standard of photos on display was very high, however, in the monochrome section two images stood out, namely Bád Eddie by Rodney Cleary and a photo of his pet dog Max by Pat Weir.

In the colour section while Stuart Hayes, Marion Heavey and Ben Millet were all noted for their photos, there was a clear favourite by Seamus Carr who took a beautiful photo of a waterfall in Dun Rí forest on the Cavan border.

After the competition, members were advised about the club exhibition which runs from 14 Nov until December 8 in the Atrium of the County Buildings. Many of the photos presented on the night were selected for the exhibition with several belonging to our newest members. For the second part of our meeting club member Rodney Cleary gave a very enjoyable and informative talk on night photography and, in particular, photographing the Northern Lights/Aurora Borealis.

As a quick start Rodney suggested a long exposure of about 20 seconds with an aperture opening of F2.8 and ISO of between 800 and 1600. A sturdy tripod and head torch are also vital.

Also if you can include some interesting foreground elements, it can make your photos unique. While good sightings of the Aurora Borealis in Mullingar are rare there are still plenty of opportunities to photograph the night sky and capture images of the Milky Way and other star/constellations.