Thursday 6th February - 3 members present

[Gill Blower]

We are trying something a little different and have 3 short presentations of 20-30 mins each :-

1st presentation:-
Roy has very kindly invited a guest speaker to present "A unique astronomical image"

2nd presentation
Jared: on Macro

3rd presentation
Gerry: The thinking process behind his images

[John]

Well thanks are due to our three presenters.

We started off with a 20 minute presentation by Roy Hesketh and his guest Fred Armstrong. Fred was amongst the team that decoded and printed the first image of the moon from the Russian Sputnik 9 lander. He was working for the Daily Express and it fell to him to operate the machinery that made this possible. I can imagine the excitement at Joddrell Bank as the picture slowly unfurled onto the 10 x 8 paper. Fred also brought along the copy of the Daily Express that carried the scoop the following day. Inspiring moment indeed.

Jared continued with a review of the equipment options for macro photography, including examples and even some image stacking shots of insects. A useful section of the evening that elicited probably more audience questions than any other. It's easy to sit back and, because we know things, imagine that everyone knows things. So it's important to share because it can inspire others to take up some new twist in photography. Everyone benefits, and well done Jared for choosing a good subject to share.

Gerry concluded with a precisely timed segment that coincided perfectly with the refreshment preparations! Gerry is a skilled photographer and he happily shared the why and how of a selection of his images. I think it's great that Gerry and others are so willing to share the details of what makes their photography tick. In years gone by, so many have overheard people saying "that's my secret and you'll have to find out" and that tells us nothing. Gerry is at the top of his game and has no fears about sharing his skills and knowledge. So I applaud that. Coupled with good humour, another excellent segment of the evening.

Many thanks to you all!

[Janice Freeman]

A most enlightening and enjoyable evening. Many thanks to Roy, Fred, Jared and Gerry for sharing the information and their skills.

Janice.

[BydoR9]

Great evening! Really enjoyed it. Didn't know about thet first photo of the moon's surface story, so that was a surpise - very interesting indeed!

Impressed by what Jared has acheived in macro with very modest kit. Great stuff!

Gerry as always was an excellent speaker, very informative and it was nice to see his less well known work too. I particularly loved the man eating chips image - superb!

Top marks all round from me

[melbarnes]

In years gone by, so many have overheard people saying "that's my secret and you'll have to find out" and that tells us nothing. Gerry is at the top of his game and has no fears about sharing his skills and knowledge.

The main reason I joined ADAPS was to get on and up the learning curve of photography quickly, so that I could get to grips with the hobby. My progression has been helped by many of the members, but in particular I have had a lot of help from Paul, Gerry, Jared, and Simon, not only in how to use the camera, but also the post processing in Photoshop et al. Sharing knowledge and "secrets" is the best way to help the ADAPS members to progress, and no doubt as they learn new techniques they can pass them back. This is one valuable source of learning and it should be encouraged rather than, as John overheard "It's my secret and you'll have to find out....".

[Paul Jones]

I have had a lot of help from Paul, Gerry, Jared, and Simon.....

Glad to help, Mel.