The SACC are delighted to announce that they are holding a distinction workshop on Saturday November 1st from 10am-1pm at the Horse & Jockey Hotel (close to Thurles). This workshop is aimed at those working towards a licentiateship distinction with the Irish Photographic Federation.  We’re honoured to welcome the current chairman of the IPF Distinction Service, Mark Sedgwick, as our special guest and speaker on the day.

This is open to all (i.e., not restricted to SACC Clubs) and costs €15 per person.  Please note, this workshop is solely aimed at Licentiateship levels distinctions.

We will start with Mark talking about the requirements and guidelines for LIPF and describing the most common reasons for a panel being unsuccessful.

This will be followed by showing some unsuccessful panels with feedback from the photographers involved (to whom we thank for standing up and showing their work!).

Finally, we have a feedback session where you will be assigned to one of our experienced team to get feedback on your proposed panel. If you wish to avail of this, then you need to bring 30-40 6″x4″ (or similar) prints with you. You also need to register below. Please do not bring hundreds of images! You need to narrow down your best 30-40 images BEFORE you come to us! We will also not be in the position to look through hundreds of images on your laptop!  If you have a place at the November distinction sitting and already have mounted prints, you are very welcome to attend with those too.

Please note that every part of the session is open to all who attend as this is a learning environment .This includes your one-on-one session where you will have other applicants present (just like you will be watching and learning from their feedback sessions). At all times, please respect the person who is running the feedback session you are observing.

Please arrive by 9.45am, we start promptly at 10am.  Any profit from the event will be donated to Morgan O’Neill Fund and we hope that you will stay for the afternoon print sale in his honour.

We have unlimited spaces for the workshop itself, and for observing of feedback sessions, but not for the participating in the feedback sessions themselves. So, if you wish to attend and avail of a feedback session on your images, we need you to drop us a line via the form below so we can gauge interest. This is first come, first served basis. We may have spaces still left on the day, and they will also be assigned first-come, first-served on Saturday morning.

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Morgan pictured with his young son and daughter

Below is a letter written by SACC Chairman Bill Power with regard to Cork photographer Morgan O’Neill.   When we initially approached Morgan with offers of assistance, he was very, very reluctant to accept.  He finally conceded on the grounds that when he is better, he will help others. The thing is, he already has helped many people at many levels, yet doesn’t see it that way.  That’s the kind of man he is and that’s one of the many reasons why we have already received such an outpouring of support for this campaign.

Morgan is overwhelmed by the support from all of you, and asks us to say a very, very humble thank you on his behalf.

We ask that you please co-ordinate all donations through the SACC.

Dear Photographer

In my two years as chairman of the Southern Association of Camera Clubs I have not had cause to write directly to clubs or photographers in the region, so I hope that my doing so now will indicate the importance of what I am about to ask you to do.

A week ago, I convened a special meeting of the SACC committee after we became aware that our good friend, Morgan O’Neill, has contracted two diseases called Mucous Membrane Phemphigoid and Bullous Phemphigoid. These rare chronic auto-immune diseases that affect one in ten million people. As far as we know, Morgan is the only person in Ireland to suffer from them.

Those who know Morgan as we do, know that he is the salt of the earth – one of life’s gentlemen who is an amazing Dad to his young daughter and son, and a devoted husband to his wife, Siobhán. Photographers and clubs throughout Ireland know that he lights up a club when he speaks. He is a naturally talented but somewhat shy photographer, whose images never ceases to amaze and inspire.

Unfortunately, things aren’t going too well for him and his family at the moment. Siobhán has had to give up her part-time job so that she can give him the hourly care he needs. The chronic state of his health has not been helped by the fact that the O’Neills have mounting medical bills – some of the necessary treatments he needs are not covered by the HSE. They have never asked anyone for help but when we heard of their situation we felt that as friends, we could not stand by and do nothing while a fellow photographer needed assistance. So the SACC is launching an appeal to try to help make their lives a tiny bit easier.

Our appeal to you works on three levels.

Firstly, we are asking photographers to give us mounted prints which we will sell at modest prices during an event we plan to hold in the Horse and Jockey Hotel, Thurles, County Tipperary, on 1st November. Any sized mounted prints are acceptable. Framed images are also welcome. Please give us one or two of your best or favourite images so that we can sell them to raise funds.

Secondly, please come to our print sale on 1st November and buy a print. Maybe your club will need prizes or items for presentations over the next while, so maybe you could buy prints for that purpose? There will be a large selection available to suit different budgets and tastes, including images from many of Ireland’s top photographers. Internationally-known photographers from outside Ireland have already offered to donate prints to the sale.

Thirdly, please make a direct personal or club contribution to the fund. All contributions received will be acknowledged. Anything you can give, no matter how small, will help.

We are in the process of setting up a SACC-managed fund, all of the proceeds of which will go towards helping with Morgan’s medical care. A link giving details of the account will appear shortly on the SACC website www.sacc.ie (as you can appreciate, this is taking longer than we would wish, but that’s how banks operate these days). Again, I must stress, not a single cent from the fund will be used for any other purpose than to help Morgan and his family.

I have been chairman of the SACC for almost two years. In that time we have organised many successful events and activities. But in our opinion this appeal is the most important project that we have undertaken.

Please help us to help Morgan and his family. This is about photographers helping a fellow photographer, friends helping a friend.

If you have any queries, please feel free to contact me (my personal email address is billpower@gmx.com) or any member of the SACC committee (John Doheny, John Hogan, Niamh Whitty, Neily Curtin).

My telephone number is 087-8113611.

Bill Power,
Chairman,
Southern Association of Camera Clubs.

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The SACC Creative Photography Competition 2014 was held in Oak Wood Arms Hotel, Shannon, Co.Clare on Saturday September 27th 2014 and was hosted by Shannon Camera Club.  This was the first time this competition was run in its new format and with over a 200% increase in entries, it looks like the future is bright!

Congratulations to all those who won awards. We were really treated to a beautiful & diverse show of work on Saturday. Individual scores will be emailed by the end of the week.

Our thanks to all involved in making this competition a success:

• The SACC Committee
• Shannon Camera Club (in particular Sheamus O’Donoghue)
• Our judges; Tim Pile and Brian Hopper who provided excellent commentary & feedback throughout
• Viv Buckley, Michael Twohig & Jason Town for their assistance
• All who entered and all who attended

We are also very grateful to Shannon Camera Club who presented the SACC with a new trophy in memory of Larry Stewart. We’ll post more information about same in another article shortly.

Speaking about the competition, judge Brian Hopper said:

“It was a pleasure to judge the Creative Photography Competition run by the SACC last Saturday. As judges, we were treated to a huge variety of images – some using creative manipulation techniques but, surprisingly, quite a number of images produced creatively at the time of capture. The final selection reflected the breath of images entered – the variety and quality was outstanding and bodes well for the development of creative photography in Ireland.”

Speaking about the winning images, judge Tim Pile had this to say:

“It was a tough decision for the judges, but in the end we were both unanimous in the winners of each section, as well as on the overall winner.

The overall winner had a beautiful feel to it, and broke many traditional ‘camera club’ rules in that the main subjects were quite small in the image and not on the thirds, and were surrounded by quite a large lighter area, but rules are made to be broken and all of the components of this image worked so well together to produce an exquisite image.

The other digital winner was quite different, and far more contemporary. The feeling of this image definitely summed up the modern young girl enjoying herself, with her iPod, headphones, and blue-dyed hair, complemented by the additional of various colourful effects.

I am a print worker at heart, and was particularly impressed by the winning print. The beautiful young woman in profile looking out from under the shawl into the forest with a dreamy look on her face, the beautiful colours in the forest and the single clear tree all made for an magnificent image where every element was just the right size and print density, making for a beautiful high quality print.”

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The Southern Association of Camera Clubs is delighted to welcome Tim Pile to Ireland and to announce details of his tour which is being organised by the SACC.

Tim will be showing us his journey from his entry into digital photography to his current work, and how and why he came to specialise in nudes. While Tim does some studio work he mostly seeks out interesting and unusual locations to work with his adventurous models, and he will be giving some tips on working on location, as well as a few tales behind the how the images were produced.

He is an extremely prolific exhibitor, and has won over 40 gold medals in international exhibitions over the past 2 years, including a FIAP gold at Cork International Salon of Photography and FIAP gold and best image in the exhibition at Tallaght International Salon of Photographic Art. He will be showing all his award winning prints along with a selection of his stunning work. Tim is a member, and currently president, of Smethwick Photographic Society.

Tuesday September 23rd @ Imperial Hotel, Cork in association with Cork Camera Group

Thursday September 25th @ Pembroke Hotel, Kilkenny in association with Kilkenny Photographic Society

Entry Fee: €5

Start Time: 7.45pm

The SACC Committee is delighted to announce that the 2014 Creative Photography Competition will be held on Saturday 27th September at the Oak Wood Arms Hotel, Shannon, Co. Clare.

The competition is open to members of all clubs affiliated to the IPF.

The rules of the competition, which was formally known as the SACC Creative Digital Competition, have been revised and updated and the competition will open for online entries at the start of September. Please refer to Rules for full details. The competition will be judged by Brian Hopper EFIAP/g FIPF ARPS and Tim Pile EFIAP/s AIPF ARPS MPAGB.

There are two sections; prints and projected images, each catering for intermediate and advanced photographers. Entry fee is €8 for one section and €12 for two.  The definition to work to is:

“Creative Photography means different things to different people. To some, it means manipulation of images using image editing software and to others, it means breaking the rules/conventions using creative techniques in-camera such as slow shutter speeds, panning, creative compositions etc. Photographic content should predominate. For the purposes of this competition, anything goes.

The inclusion of stock images/clip art is not permitted. For example, if you wish to add a sunflower to your image, then you need to photograph a sunflower!”

Online entry is now open. Please click here to enter online registration system.

Closing Date: Midnight, September 25th.

Schedule for Saturday September 27th

10.30am-11.00am: Registration of prints
11.00am-11.30am: Judges’ preview and briefing
11.30am:  Judging begins with projected images

Judging will then continue onto prints, with a break for lunch at a suitable time, followed by awards ceremony.

The SACC Photography Draw 2014 took place on Sunday March 23rd at Hotel Kilkenny.  Congratulations to all the lucky prizewinners!

We were delighted to have received the top prize of an ‘Images of Light’ workshop from John Hooton and equally delighted to have received beautifully framed prints from five of the regions top photographers – all fellows of the Irish Photographic Federation; Iñaki Hernandez, Michael O’Sullivan, Morgan O’Neill, Seamus Costelloe and Niamh Whitty. Our sincere thanks to all who donated prizes for the draw.  We are very grateful for their generosity.

To those of you who purchased tickets and those who organised ticket sales within their clubs, thank you. You helped to raise funds to help the region to continue to grow and to improve its services.  Final thanks to John Doheny, SACC Secretary who managed the considerable logistical task of distribution & collection of tickets & monies for the draw, and also to the other members of the SACC Committee for their input.

Prize winners listed below. Please notes that prints were drawn in random order.

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With the support of many of the top photographers in our region, we are delighted to announce that we are holding a Photography Draw on Sunday, March 23rd 2014 at the SACC Interclub Competition (details of venue etc for that competition will be posted in coming days).

The top prize is an ‘Images of Light‘ workshop very generously donated by John Hooton. John is an internationally acclaimed landscape photographer and the winner of this prize will be the envy of all their photographer friends!

Those lucky enough to claim one of the second place prizes will also be the envy of their peers as they go home with one of five gorgeous framed prints donated by fellows of the region; Iñaki Hernandez, Michael O’Sullivan, Morgan O’Neill, Niamh Whitty & Seamus Costello.

We’ll also have other smaller prizes on the day 🙂

Tickets are only €5 each and are being distributed through clubs.  Please get in touch with us if your club hasn’t received any yet.  This is a limited draw – once tickets are gone, there won’t be any more released, so get yours fast!!  All ticket stubs must be returned to SACC by 17th March.

Online ticket sales are now closed!  Last of tickets on sale Sunday 23rd at Hotel Kilkenny before draw takes place.