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Last weekend 17 members of The Vale attended the Welsh Photographic Federation`s 36th Photographic Convention at Lampeter. Some of our members are seasoned attendees of this weekend but many were new to it. It also coincided with one member`s birthday so we had yet another chance to celebrate.
Everyone arrived safely which was lucky considering the floods that we all had to drive through to get there. Some of the local flooding in the Vale was still there on Sunday evening on the way home.
Delegates stay in the student accommodation which is adequate and clean but not five star. Each room has a tiny bathroom, a single bed, a small desk and a wardrobe. You don`t spend much time in it though so it doesn`t matter much. There is also a communal kitchen area with fridge, cooker, kettle (supposedly) and tables and chairs. The evening starts on a Friday evening with a dinner in a local hotel followed by a get together in the kitchen area with a great deal of wine and lager from the local Spar, crisps, dips, nibbles and lots of fun and banter.
The lectures start at 9.15am on Saturday and continue all day with breaks for coffee and lunch. There is an annual competition for best print and best slide which is judged by Kevin Thomas FRPS who comes in for a great deal of stick every year but still keeps coming back. These awards are made at the evening dinner. The lectures continue until Sunday afternoon.
This year, on the Saturday evening we were treated to a birthday cake as it was a member`s birthday and so there were extra drinks for a toast. (oh dear – see photographs !!) The cake was delicious and was accompanied by grapes and strawberries as well.
These evenings tend to be quite loud (see video clip) and sometimes other clubs`delegates call in to join in. Sometimes they call in to complain about the noise too !!!
On the whole a great deal of fun is had by all. Some years the speakers are better than others – mind you it depends a lot on what you like; but the bottom line is you get two nights bed and breakfast – again not gourmet meals but as much as you want with cereals, yoghourts, full fry and toast etc, two cooked lunches, two three course dinners, tons of coffee and biscuits, two full days of lectures and three outdoor sessions to photograph models for about £140.00 to say nothing about the social aspects of the weekend. Every other photographic convention that I`ve seen advertised costs at least three times as much as this so no wonder I`ve already had e-mails from people putting their names down for next year.
This year a lot of the raffle prizes were donated by Jacobs (four camera bags and three 4GB SD memory cards) and Permajet (two boxes of 50 of A3 inkjet paper). These prizes were worth a great deal of money and it was very generous of the two firms (who were present for the whole weekend) to donate them. Jacobs also held a free prize draw for a Canon G9 camera which was won by a very lucky Eric Stevens of Cwmbran Photographic Club.
Have a look at the photos and video clip and if it appeals to you do think about joining us next year.
Jan
Lampeter Convention 2008