Norwich & District Photographic Society looks forward to an exciting new Season
At this time of the year the members of the Society are normally pre-occupied with staging their Annual Exhibition at Norwich Cathedral and looking forward to welcoming an influx of new members who have in recent years turned up during the first weeks of September as the new Season begins. In the past three years alone, the Society has grown by more than a third and last season reached a peak of eighty members.
Covid-19 means that during the past months the Society has been forced to change but we continue to innovate and despite all the difficulties we look forward with excitement to our new season which opens on Tuesday 1st September with an online illustrated photo-talk from the very talented Bilbao born photographer Iñaki Hernández-Lasa, FRPS - FIPF – AFIAP who is now living in Ireland.
When on the 16th March the Prime Minister announced the first measures to combat the pandemic the third time in just over 100 years our Society could not meet as a group - two world wars and now a pandemic – but we were determined to bounce back strongly...!
Our first action was to appoint a small steering sub-committee with the brief to keep the members connected with one another and to steer the Society through these difficult times. This In Focus team, each chosen for their particular skills, met immediately and took the view that the pandemic was an opportunity to take the Society in new directions and allow the members to take part in events that previously had not seemed possible.
Throughout the summer months has put together a revised programme that has been presented online. These have proven to be very successful, with good attendance and we thank all our members, speakers and judges who have adapted to this medium.
To date we have heard twelve Special presentations from accomplished photographers (including Julian Elliott, Thomas Peck, Ruth Grindrod, Guy Edwardes, Tony Worobiec, Allan Walls, Mark Seymour, Elaine Butler, EJ Lazenby and David Keep with others already booked during August and beyond ) from as far away as France, Ireland and the USA. On one or two occasions members themselves gave presentations - to great effect. All this by means of Skype conferencing.
Several of our own members have stepped forward and also made outstanding presentations about their own photographic interest and image processing skil
We have held friendly weekly photo-competitions and quizzes that members have actively participated in.
Finally, we have held the last round of our annual Photographer of the Year competition and the Image of the Year competition with great success online.
Besides organising the weekly online meetings every member has received each week a personal eNewsletter that has also proved to be extremely successful. Besides making sure everyone is kept up to date with what is going In Focus has offered the chance to spotlight the photographic journeys of individual members and other items of interest.
Lock-down seemed like an unmitigated disaster but the Society has come together and continues to flourish and now our special interest groups are also re-starting as Covid-19 restrictions are relaxed. Of course, we are not out of the woods yet, but the signs are very promising - during this period we have even increased the membership and welcomed new paid up members to the fold.
We are looking ahead to the new Season and being able to use the skills we have learned to further improve and innovate. To learn more about the Society visit our website www.ndps.info or use the link below: