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For many LADCC members, the prospect of a morning’s photographic outing to the beautiful city of Cartagena was too good to miss, or was it the thought of meeting at the pizzeria afterwards for lunch?

 

The photographic challenge for the monthly competition was ‘Street Scenes’, and for that Cartagena came up trumps. Members were ‘seen’ (pun intended!), with cameras poised, politely asking shoppers, workers, students and even a harpist performing in the Calle Mayor if they would mind having their photo taken!

 

This month’s winning entry, by Gary Hull, didn’t need such requests as he took a stunning photo of one of Cartagena’s urban street art murals, completed in June 2023, by a local artist known as ‘Kraser’. This is an 800-square-metre mural entitled ‘Inflexión Acuática’.

 

You can find more information about it at www.smcartagena.es. The mural is on a normally busy street, Calle Gilbert, leading down to the port but Gary, with perfect (or should it be lucky?) timing managed to capture the mural with no cars driving by and with nobody walking past.

 

Gary, who doesn’t normally use his phone for competition photos, took the photo using his Google Pixel 8 Pro mobile, explaining that by using its 12mm focal length, ultra-wide lens he could capture more of the mural than his regular camera would have done. Gary positioned himself close to the mouth of the tunnel in order to capture as much of the mural as he could. Unfortunately for him, that meant that a lamp-post crept into the frame on the left-hand side and, although it had been painted to blend into the mural, it was removed during editing as, in Gary’s opinion, it detracted from his overall image.

 

During his final editing of the photo Gary increased the contrast and brightness and also slightly sharpened the image, as the inside of the tunnel was quite dark in places, due to natural shading. If you are visiting Cartagena the mural is well worth a visit!

 

 

Last month’s meeting, where competition results were discussed, took place at ‘La Cafetería Sin Nombre’ in Los Alcázares and this gave members the chance, not only to enjoy good coffee, but to discuss the 28 photographs entered for the competition. One of the members, Les Millbank, has been struggling for a while not to come at the lower end of the monthly results table. However, this month, he produced a couple of photos that not only provoked much conversation but showed a great improvement in his photographic technique. It is from discussions like this that members are able to learn and improve on their photographic skills.

 

Les managed to capture the competition brief in an atmospheric photo taken of Cartagena’s old town. Members agreed that, whilst not perfect, the use of incoming natural light, almost as a spotlight to highlight the subject, enabled the viewer to appreciate the ‘street scene’ aspect of his photograph.

 

 

His other photo, also taken in Cartagena, whilst not credited as highly as the above, provided a great talking point and learning experience for members. Questions were asked such as “What if Les had taken the photo a second or two earlier?”. Members suggested this may have captured a subject walking across the bottom of the stairs, and enhanced the shot, rather than the finished shot where the subject had walked past the stairs. Of course, this isn’t always possible but it made a good discussion point and highlighted the importance of timing.

 

Similarly, “What if the person on the stairs had been further down the stairs or even sitting in the middle?” Would this have made a better picture? Thoughtful, constructive comments like this show that you don’t always have to talk in technical jargon in order to help someone take a better photograph!

 

 

Next month’s competition is ‘Bridges’, a seemingly straight-forward challenge, considering some of the difficult topics members have had to overcome this year. We shall see! Whilst the club takes a summer break from meeting at the Las Claras Centre in Los Alcázares, they will continue taking photos for monthly competitions.

 

The club usually meets twice a month, at the Las Claras Centre in Los Alcázares, on the first Tuesday of every month and, often, an outing toward the end of the month, where the group gets together to collectively work on the topic for the monthly competition. With modern day technology we can all keep in contact for training sessions, sharing knowledge etc via ‘group chats’.

 

They are interested in hearing from anyone who would like to join the club when the opportunity arises. You will be put on a waiting list and be contacted when a space becomes available. If you would like more information about the club, please do not hesitate to look at the website www.ladcc.es or email informationladcc@gmail.com.