"watch IT and C"

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Tuesday, 17 February 2015
21st Group TRAINING LAPTOP Purchased for Member-Photography & Technology 
Training.


Wave your FLAGS HIGH!

21st Group now have a Laptop & Large TV Screen Monitor / Photo & Business 
Software

Yesterday-Monday 16th February will go down as a major milestone for 
members of the group. 

The group now own a NEW High Specification HP Laptop, which is currently 
being set up and properly configured by a Group Sponsor Company, Amita UK 
Ltd, of Middlewich Cheshire.

On completion of this work the Laptop will be made available to the group. 
The Laptop will be used at Group Monthly Meetings by members wishing to 
brush up their skills using the latest Photo Post Processing / Business 
Software, or used to present to the group, using the projector and large 
screen.

This will help to reduce the need for the continued use of members 
personal technical equipment at meetings, and more importantly will 
provide the group with a new training facility, using the latest 
photography and business software.

Plans are being made to also use the laptop at other times to help members 
with any One to One, and small groups training at the Willowmere, either 
over weekends or at other nights using Willowmere.

Watch this space for more details of the training plans over the next few 
weeks, when these have been fully thought through and details finalised.

The laptop and other technical equipment yet to be purchased, has ONLY 
been enabled by Grants provided by both Middlewich Town Council and 
Cheshire East Council. 

More GRANT and local SPONSOR funding is still required by the group.

Grants will always be a task worth completing by the group, but help from 
local sponsors will also be sought by the group over the next few months 
and years to ensure the groups continued progress.

Cliff Astles


Friday, 13 February 2015
GROUP AGM- 1st Group AGM will take place. March / April 2015.


Photo by Cliff Astles Visit to group by Middlewich Mayor. 
Mr Paul Edwards & Consort, Mrs Sonya Edwards

Recently all members have been contacted by Mrs Melody Smith using the 
Group Web Page and the new membership software, we will be using to 
register members. Members who are already registered will have received 
confirmation by email. New subscribers will receive email confirmation on 
registering. If you have not had an email you are NOT registered.
I would like to think that all members who have either not registered, 
would please do so at the earliest so we can have a full and complete 
list of members.

IF, by some admin error you have not been contacted by Melody would you 
please make sure you make contact with her and provide the necessary 
requested information. There is a link ( http://eepurl.com/bbn-Rb) on the 
fb page to enable you to add your details personally. All members are 
required to do this. If you are reading our fb group page you are 
considered to be a member.

There is also a Member Registration document on the group Facebook Page 
which can be printed off and handed in when next you attend a monthly 
meeting, or photo outing.

Additionally and part of the conditions for the Group to remain part of 
CVS-Cheshire East is that the Group has a formal list of members, 
contactable via e-mail (these days, or by telephone) so that in 
emergencies, or for group EVENT cancellations or days out, all members 
can be made contact with, and advised of changes.

It is also necessary for members to be contactable when notice is given 
of the Groups intention to hold the Group AGM, so that members can attend 
the AGM, place votes for any changes etc.

The main topics for a formal Group AGM are as below.

To hear the Chairman's Report
Thank Committee Members for their services to the group.
To present the Group Accounts
To elect new committee members if necessary.
To allow for other group members and non members to present 
"any other business" & ask questions.

Please help by ensuring your membership has been correctly registered.

Cliff 

Thursday, 12 February 2015
Group Photography Training for those who wish for MORE!!


Photo by Cliff Astles. 
Testing out my recent gift of a NOKIA Lumina phone, with Carl Zeiss Lens, 
Camera.
21st Group members enjoying a night of the recent 365 days of Photograpahy 
@ TATTON HALL.
Presentation and Photos by Mark Willaimson, one of Cheshires better known 
North West, & UK Professional Photographers, now based in Knutsford, 
Cheshire.


I may have confused (which is not unusual for me, these days :( ) members 
of the of the 21st Century Technology & Camera Group with my recent POLL 
regarding ADDITIONAL photography training for members wishing to progress 
more rapidly, than they feel they are doing.

I have been approached by a number of members wishing to obtain more 
specific photography training (using their own camera), as although 
attending our group meetings, most of the time, but for work related and 
other reasons do not get to use their new skills either quick enough, or 
for as long a time as they would wish.

Therefore, as we are about to purchase a new laptop for the 21st group, 
and for a small sum, we can have the CRAFT ROOM at the Willowmere in the 
evenings and Sundays to use for more in depth and more camera related 
training, with members who wish to do this, and pay a small amount for so 
doing.

I have considered it would be making more use of the Group Laptop and 
Group Member Skills, to help these members who wish to have more ONE to 
ONE or small group photography training more often.

Therefore, to gauge the level of interest for this more concentrated 
training, which is member requested, what we should charge members for so 
doing at prices they can afford to pay, which would indeed make much more 
use of the group laptop, so I put out the previous POLL.

What perhaps was not made clear by the POLL was that monthly group 
meetings with both internal and external presenters will continue as 
normal, with both photography related presenters, and later some measure 
of related technical training for photo post processing and other related 
topics, and also subjects requested by members, as long as these are in 
keeping with what we are about.

Viz, Member requested photography training, would be in addition to the 
normal and FREE to members, the monthly "Instructional Photo Outings" 
which are so very popular, and a GREAT help to attendees.

Myself, and at least one other member has expressed interest to do this 
training with members, and no doubt when it becomes operational, there 
will be more member volunteers, to make this work even better.

As a guide to costs to be charged to members. Costs of doing something 
along the same lines, but NOT photography related as such, are done by 
Age UK would be some :-

£50.00 for a home visit. No time specified, but must assume a one hour 
session at home.

£ 10.00 for One to One on Computers, on the very basics of computing and 
the Internet. Perhaps 30 mins ?
I can't see this being done for £ 10.00 per hour, but this could be true.

£ 10.00 for attendance in a small group session (as proposed). This could 
well be for ONE HOUR.

Therefore, the prices that I was suggesting are somewhat less than a 
fully blown national charity is charging.

I would need to confirm these prices as it is not to clear on their web 
page if the "sessions" are for 30 mins, or 60 mins. So we will have to 
assume they are for 60 mins.

I will put up the POLL again to gauge members reaction and interest when 
members have had time to read this at their leisure and can react to the 
revised POLL with the more information provided.

Comments / reaction for ALL to see can be placed on the group Facebook 
Page.

Or if you are interested in helping other members with training as above, 
just in-box myself and we can plan the way ahead together.

It is intended that the Group Laptop (when purchased) will be made 
available at the monthly group meetings for members to use for personal 
training, or being shown more detailed information by a suitably 
qualified member.

The newly purchased 32inch HD TV will also be connected and used as the 
laptop monitor using the Laptop HDMI Connection, with a suitable cable, 
so members can also view what is going on with the training.

Persons using this high value group asset, will always have a qualified 
member around to make sure it is not being incorrectly used.

It will NOT be connected to the Internet, as yet until Willowmere has 
their own WIFI connection.

Hope that the above helps.

Cliff

We NEED YOUR Photos-Group Photo Presentation-Feb Meeting.


Barbara Astles, Getting to grip's with a Blue Eagle?
at Peckforton Castle-Instructional Photo Outing

Member Update-Member Photo Presentation for FEB 18th Group Meeting

Members, the CUT-OFF date and time for photos from our photo trip to 
Peckforton Castle is fast approaching, so please make sure you find time 
to process your own selection of 10 photos, no bigger than 500K in file 
size, so we can have a good presentation of these wonderful Birds of Prey 
at the next group meeting. Some of the shots provided by members this time 
are quite STUNNING, so need more :)

CUT-OFF DATE IS SATURDAY 14TH FEBRUARY 2015, BY 10.00 PM.

I already have a large number of member photos, but we can still have more!!

Topic for this months photos is still "GHOST" pictures from around Cheshire, 
plus Peckforton, and of course any of your own photos of our local 
feathered friends.

Cliff

Wednesday, 11 February 2015
HOORAY-HOORAY-HOORAY
 

Three cheers for the NEW A5 Marketing Brochure, for General Group Marketing.

The new general group marketing A5 (small) brochure has today arrived, all 
2,500 of them!

They will be available at coffee / tea break for members to take 10 off 
-per person (or more if members wish to have more) to give out to, family, 
friends and work colleges to make sure we get the message out to as many 
new potential members as possible.

They will also be distributed to many local libraries, what's on in 
Cheshire etc, and other similar places to help with our groups awareness 
in Cheshire campaign to recruit members to the group.

More members, means more financial security and makes the group  more 
future proof. 

It also means we are helping the local community get to grips with today's 
home and work place technology, creating a friendly and welcoming 
environment for residents of all ages to learn and help others to 
understand technology, and how to get the best from their own digital 
camera, mobile phone cameras, and much much more.

Money to pay for the brochures / project was from the Cheshire East and 
Middlewich Town Council's GRANT for community groups awarded to the group 
in 2014. We will continue to apply for such grants, and others in the 
future.

Cliff


Tuesday, 10 February 2015



Getting best use of the group laptop


Exciting news!  We are about to buy the laptop to aid training for the 
group. We need to be clear on the benefits of this laptop and how it can 
be put to ‘best use’. In order to do this we need your input.

This is very important!........and is costing the group a great deal of 
the hard earned GRANT Funds.

It is envisaged that the laptop will have two main functions plus a few 
options to be considered:

Firstly to provide a means to present information to the group at the 
regular monthly meetings. Until now we have relied on the use of members' 
and guest speakers' own computers.


Secondly, the laptop will be loaded with software including image 
processing software, MS Office Suite and other packages which would 
beneficial to the members of the group. 

The purpose of this will be to enable training on the use of this software
to the group through both the monthly meetings and, potentially, on a 
1 to 1 or 1 to a smaller group as required. This is the area which we need
most input from members as it is important for us to understand what 
features of training will be of most use and how we can provide this.

Providing Internet connectivity for occasions where it is available for 
accessing and training on using on-line resources. There are also on-line 
training resources that could be used such as YouTube features. The 
provision of 'interface software' to allow the connection of other 
hardware such as tablets, phones etc is also under consideration for 
future ideas the group is considering.

With the point above in mind, the group will also have to install, and 
keep updated, anti-virus software. This will have a recurring annual cost.

The laptop will also be the primary storage place for the administration 
files of the group. These will be in a separate section from the 'member' 
section and will be passworded. The password will only be shared with 
those who need access for administrator duties.


With all of these points in mind , we will put out a poll to gather 
information in the near future. This would be a good opportunity to test 
the mailing system that the group has set up recently. With this in mind, 
here is  a link to enrol on our members’ list on Mail-Chimp which is the 
package we are using to provide this service. 

http://eepurl.com/bbn-Rb

It is VERY IMPORTANT that each group member enroll on this as this will be 
our primary list of members to maintain our charity status. It will be 
used so we may reach ALL members, at the same time, should we need to 
cancel or postpone a meeting, event or photo outing, at the last minute.

ALL members must be on this list, so we need you to make sure you all 
register.

Your data is safe and this particular software package, which is used by 
government departments,  is set up to ensure that we follow both data 
protection and 'spamming' rules about storing and using data.

So many improvements, so little time!

Onward and upward,

Cliff Astles,    Mel Smith


Things are developing!






Nice sequence of shots of the Indian ( Hawk ?) Owl coming in to get his 
chicken leg from Barbara.

Update for Members of the 21st Century Technology & Camera Group that were 
out Saturday 7th February, at Peckforton Castle testing out their new 
found skills with their cameras. 

I am still POST Processing shots taken at Peckforton Castle, and will be 
using PICASA3 (FREE!!!) for the JPEGS, and Lightroom 4 for the RAW images. 
This will be a great test to use both photo post processing software 
packages and then compare a few of the end results. 

Still "Horses for Courses" as I have found out over the many years I have 
been taking photographs, both paid and un-paid for the post processed 
photos.

So still a very long way to go today and into next week, with my post 
processing, but with the quality of the Birds of Prey close up images, 
using my latest 50 mm Prime Lens, I will this time really enjoy the post 
processing, for a change :)

Have just completed the sequence above using PICASA3 (first) with the 
JPEG images and these are not too bad for JPEGS. I quite like this 
sequence of photos, so have placed these up for others in the group to 
view. More later.

I am now looking forward to completing the same shots using Lightroom 4 
with some of the better close up images, as no doubt using Lightroom 
SHOULD / will make my better images, a "tad" better than using PICASA3.

A REALLY enjoyable day out for all the group, and a tad cold at the top 
of Peckforton Hills, but good for the soul and our members photography 
experience.

Quite funny, to see that the Wives of Cheshire, or is it Cheshire Wives, 
also enjoy the Castle and setting, on Monday night. 

But I bet they paid a small fortune to spend time at Peckforton, but 
nicer for the Group as we got it FREE :)