12th December 2020

Next Monday Night

We have our Shoot With Me next Monday night.  It is our final session of 2020.  So, as we share and enjoy the creative efforts of our fellow members, we encourage everyone to wear a Santa hat, participate in a seasonal manner and perhaps we can close out our session with a toast of your favourite beverage.

We had many challenges to deal with in 2020 and next Monday night should be a celebration of what we achieved. 

Christmas Break (and keep your camera close)

As we all take a well deserved Christmas break, we hope Santa Claus will fill your stockings with wonderful toys.  We encourage you all to capture your sense of this Christmas, either classic and cliché or maybe with an unusual perspective or twist. 

Christmas /  New Year Arrangements

The last Newsletter in 2020 will be on the 18th December and will contain POTW results for the Winter Wildlife theme. We will not be announcing any new weekly themes over the Christmas period until we publish the first Newsletter on the weekend of the 9th of January. 

The first Monday session in 2021 will be on the 11th of January. At this event, we will provide an opportunity for members to display their Christmas / New Year photos, introduce the incoming committee, have a general discussion on what 2021 may bring and finish with a general discussion session.

2021 Annual Subscription

The annual subscription for 2021 for renewing members of €50 is now due. Please ensure that you pay by 28th February 2021. Payment can be made by PayPal at https://www.offshoot.ie/subs or bank transfer. Please email treasurer@offshoot.ie for BIC and IBAN details.

Accessing Video Recordings of Meetings

We've added a new feature to the website. You can now access the recordings of past Zoom meetings from the OffShoot website.

These videos are available in the Videos section of the Member's Area at https://www.offshoot.ie/member-area/. You will need to login to the website to see the content of this section of the site.

Every member has a login to the site. If you don't remember your login details go to https://www.offshoot.ie/login/ and select the 'Forgot your password?' link. Enter the email address you received this newsletter with and reset your password. Once you've reset your password you can login and catch-up on speakers you missed. Happy catching up!

Outings

Notices have been sent by email regarding pending outings.

Remember, while we can limit the number of members attending an outing, it is up to individuals to act responsibly at a given location to ensure that our group do not contribute to socially unsafe situations.  For example, in cramped or constrained pathways, old buildings, places of interest, etc.

Weekly Flickr Theme: "Winter Wildlife"

Remember to include the Theme Name at the start of the image title.  

See more about how the OffShoot Weekly Flickr Theme works at https://tinyurl.com/flickrthem.

The weekly theme for the week beginning Sat 12th December is 'Winter Wildlife'. We'll leave it to your imaginations...

Upcoming themes will include the following:

(Dates are approx dates for when images can start to be posted to Flickr, usually a Friday night or Saturday morning)

2021: Look out for the 2021 themes shortly.

Speakers and Outings

Here are the next scheduled meetings and events for the Society:

Members will be able to attend our outings by registering for specific outings. Keep up to date with the latest events at https://www.offshoot.ie/whats-on/.

Just a note for new members – if you want any of your pictures considered for the photo of the week, you just have to post them to the OffShoot Flickr group at:

https://www.flickr.com/groups/offshoot_society.

There’s also the latest images published on Flickr that are displayed on the OffShoot home page.

 [Note. To join the Offshoot Flickr group, you must first be a Flickr member. Then send the email address used to join Flickr to webmaster@offshoot.ie. You will get an email when you have been added to the group. Please be patient as this is a manual process.]

Literature by Wendy Hannan

Dodder River Kingfisher by Ken Dobson

If you come across one you want to share let us know at newsletter@offshoot.ie.

Thomas Heaton: Photographing That Beautiful Morning Glow (Landscape Photography)

PiXimperfect: Mind Boggling A.I. to Fix EXTREME Blur!

The dates are yet to be fixed, but the submission date will be early January, and the judging a week or so later. And this time we're aiming to have live judging (remember that?).

Because of the time constraints of live judging, there will be a limit of 3 images per member, with no Open section.

The theme is "2020 Vision", so whether you're looking forwards or backwards, inwards or outwards, get your best shots ready for digital submission early next month.

Irish Photographic Federation Web Site:

https://irishphoto.ie/

Congrats to all our members who contributed to the wonderful results at the recent Shield competition.

Most recent news and articles posted:

https://irishphoto.ie/news/

Distinction Sittings and Availability:

https://irishphoto.ie/distinctions/assessment-dates/