Photography is something that most people do from time to time whether to record a family event or to record their travels and adventures. Some people develop real skills and pursue excellence making it a hobby or profession but for many it is just matter of making a record maybe of a wedding or birthday or some other event. Modern technology makes it easier to make excellent photographs with the most humble of cameras. In fact these days more photographs are made using the camera in a mobile phone than an actual camera and there are now some professional photographers who use a mobile phone camera for much of their work.
Whether we make photographs ourselves or not most people enjoy looking at photographs and especially historic images of places we know. In fact the collecting and archiving of such photographs is major interest for some people.
I have been interested in photography for most of my life but have taken it up more seriously since my retirement. I enjoy taking photographs, editing and archiving and have amassed an archive of over 40,000 images which are all archived electronically.
I know there are some Athenaeum members who are interested in photography so I would like to see if there is enough interest to start a Photography Interest Group. I would propose that any such interest group should appeal to not only keen photographers with expensive cameras and equipment but also to those who enjoy taking photographs with a mobile phone. A photographic interest group should also include these who are interested in historic or other images and their archiving.
Possible activities for such a group could be to create an Athenaeum photographic archive, talks on photography from local experts, visits to photographic exhibitions, holding exhibitions of members photographs and photography trips.
If you would be interested in joining such a group at the Athenaeum then please let myself or the Club know and once we are open again and if we have enough interest we will call a meeting to discuss the formation of the Photography Interest Group at the Athenaeum.
David Roscoe
March2021