Camera club snaps up accolades at audiovisual championships

SHANNON Camera Club had 11 entries for the 30th Irish National Audiovisual Championships, which was held in Dublin last weekend.
Shannon had three entries in the novice category, seven in the advanced category and one in the club category.
The local entrants enjoyed success as Ann Fitzmaurice received an honourable mention for her sequence The Clare 10k run, while Larry Stewart also got an honourable mention for his sequence The Stained Glass of Harry Clarke.
Corrie Thorn won a bronze medal for her sequence The Rescue and he also won the George and Doreen Pollock medal, cup and certificate for best first-time entrant. Noel Ryan received a silver medal for his sequence entitled The Fertile Rock and he also won an honourable mention in the All-Ireland section. He took the best overall prize in the national section and was presented with the Kieran O’Loughlin Memorial Trophy. This trophy is named after a former member of the Shannon Camera Club.
In the club category, Shannon Camera Club won the Andora Trophy for their entry Fancroft Mill and Garden. This sequence was also awarded Best Overall Sound.
In the advanced section, Edwin Bailey received an honourable mention for his Day Dream and Sheamus O’Donoghue was awarded a bronze medal for his sequence Clarinbirdge Market Day. There was an application for a distinction for his entry Coole Legend, while he was awarded a licentiate from the Irish Photographic Federation for work on his sequence, which tells the story of Lady Augusta Gregory of Coole Park.
John Rowell was one of the judges and he said he was very impressed with the entries from Clare. “I want to go there, I want to go to Clare, I have seen so many beautiful images that I have to come back and spend some time in the west and visit the Burren and perhaps make my own audiovisual of the area.”
Edwin Bailey said the club were delighted with the success. “We’re thrilled to bits, it was a great success and a great weekend.”
He said the club are very active with weekly meetings. “We’ve about 40 members, it fluctuates a bit from year to year. About 12 or 13 are interested in creating audiovisuals. Audiovisuals are a sequence of still photography put together in a slide show but with audio attached as well, so there is music and voice over.
“We have a photo league, members bring in photographs, we assess them with a voting panel of three who give feedback and we try and improve the quality of the photographs and that’s a highly successful exercise with our members.”
Shannon Camera Club meets on Monday nights at 7.30pm in the Oakwood Arms between September and May, except on bank holidays. Further information on the club is available on www.shannoncameraclub.com.