A few months ago I joined an online community of practice for social media and online collaboration. The community uses the Communities of Practice platform devised by Steve Dale at the Improvement and Development Agency. The community is made up of social media practitioners and those with an interest in Web 2.0 developments,  who mainly work  in the public sector.

I work closely with one of the facilitators of the community Dave Briggs who, in addition to being a prolific blogger, is also a Change Manager at the information authority. I was pleased to be able to help out at yesterday’s ‘Big Day Out’, an opportunity for members of the community to meet in the real world. As not all of the community members were able to attend on the day, we thought it would be good to record the event and make video of the presentations and discussions available through the community website.

 I hope to be able to post a sample of the event video here shortly.

One of the main reasons that I wanted to join a camera club was to have the opportunity to share my photos with a wider audience and to get some (hopefully) objective feedback and comment. Last night was the first opportunity I had to do this by entering an image into the Stella Pole plate competition for the best holiday photograph. This is an annual competition with the only real criteria being that photos had to have been taken on holiday - there is no restriction on subject.

The photo I entered was one I had taken last year when we visited the Zermatt as part of our summer holiday. I had quite a few pics to choose from but decided to avoid the ‘obvious’ Matterhorn shot and go with one of a memorial which is on top of a viewing platform on the Klein Matterhorn.  I like this picture mainly because of the contrast between the dark wood of the crucifix and the clear blue of the sky - which goes really dark towards the top of the picture because of the altitude.  

Unfortunately I didn’t get placed in the top 3 (although a really nice mono print of the Matterhorn itself did) although I did get a few votes. I was also heartened when, talking to a few of the members after the meeting, a couple of people said that they thought it was a good first effort. Oh well, onward and upward!

Yesterday I was down in London filming the MIAP Learner Registration Service launch event. MIAP is a national programme which will streamline the collection, handling and sharing of information on learning and achievement for education and training organisations. It is part of a number of data reform projects in the education sector which include the information authority and a soon to be launched Data Service.  I have been providing communications consultancy support to the information authority for the last few months including work on the development of their community portal.

A draft video of the event is currently going through the necessary approval processes before it is signed off but I hope to be able to post a sample here soon.

I have been thinking about joining a camera club for a few months now but have always been put off by the experiences of quite a few people on the forums who have found their local club uninviting or elitist or just not very good.

Anyway, I decided to try one for myself and, for the past 2 weeks, have been going along to the Coventry Photographic Society on a Monday evening – they encourage potential members try the Society out for a few weeks free of charge. Coventry PS is pretty much everything I hoped it would be; a friendly group of photographers, somewhere that actively encourages new members, a ‘safe’ environment for sharing and discussing work, and best of all a venue that’s about 5 minutes walk from the flat I stay in during the week.

I was therefore more than happy to hand over my £20 annual subscription last night to become a fully fledged member! Next week is a ‘Holiday Photo’ competition so I am off to trawl through my slide collection for a suitable entry.

Last year I started the Open College of the Arts ‘The Art of Photography’ course. The qualification is designed to give students an introduction to the application of the principles of art and design to photography rather than focusing on technical intricacies of shutter speed, aperture, etc. Unfortunately, after submitting my first assignment (which I was generally quite happy with) my work situation changed and I had to put things on hold.

Well, the new year has seen a renewed commitment to pick up where I left off and I have been in touch with my tutor to check it is OK to continue with the course – it is! I have agreed to get Assignment 2 completed by the end of the month so am currently reviewing recent slides and digital pix for suitable examples which convey the theme of colour. After a few months of ‘aimless’ picture taking it feels good to have focus again.

Last week my cousin’s band Retrospect performed at my grandparents’ 60th Wedding Anniversary party.  I have been meaning to video them for a while but never found the opportunity, until now. As it was a party, positioning was a bit limited and there was quite a lot of ambient noise. However, I think the clip below gives a sense of how good they are.

 

I recently invested in a new lens, the Sony 70 - 200 mm F2.8 G. It is by far the most expensive lens I own but I was compelled to buy one after seeing the results of comparable Nikon and Canon lenses whilst on the Annabel William’s training day I recently attended. I was more comfortable buying this lens though, over say the CZ 16-80, because it is designed for a full frame digital sensor meaning I can use it without difficulty on my old Dynax 7 - which still gets plenty of use.

Although I have had the lens for a few weeks, last weekend was the first time I had a real opportunity to use it. I was visiting friends in Edinburgh and thought the zoo should provide some decent photo opportunities - despite the weather being a bit miserable. I was blown away by the quality of the images the lens produces, far more detail and far nicer bokeh than my cheaper lenses. Plus the weight of the beast means you get a good workout at the same time!

Opened this weeks edition of AP to find that a picture I submitted to the Picture Post letters page had been published. The picture was one I took on the Annabel Williams Contemporary Photography Training day I won through AP a few weeks ago. This is the first photograph I have ever had published and it was quite a pleasant feeling.   

Welcome to White Collar Boy. This is my first blog, through which I will be publishing examples of my digital video and photography work. If you would like comment on any of the posts on this site I would love to hear from you.

boy@whitecollarboy.com