Community

Camera club revisits the 1980s

Published

10 years ago

March 4, 2016

Tranquility: One of Jeff Driscoll’s many works

IT WAS IN THE LATE 1980s that the club’s guest speaker Jeff Driscoll last visited Tenby Camera Club. The meeting held on 15th February was partly a revisit to his days of film and dark room procedures up to today’s modern digital and Photoshop techniques.

Jeff is from Swansea and is a member of the Abertawe Camera Club, his talk would take the club members on a journey through his personal world of photography entitled ‘Welcome to my World’.

When Jeff first took up photography he used a Ricoh XR7 and Mamiya 645 camera, which was first of a series of 4.6 x 6 SLR’s film cameras. He explained that under the heading ‘Early Days’ he showed members images that he had digitally re-mastered from the slides taken from the years gone by. Using his engineering background he showed the club simple methods and construction of a mini-studio with soft boxes and lighting all for a few pounds rather than spending hundreds. He showed examples he had taken and how he achieved colour popping and cross polarization 30 years ago, and how the ‘Harries Shutter’ a strip device with three colour filters. The effect is to produce by re-exposing the same frame through red, green and blue filters in turn, while keeping the camera steady. This generates a rainbow of colours around any object that moves within the frame. Jeff went on to show images of waterfalls captured with the ‘Harris shutter’ technique.

It was obvious to the audience that Jeff had a vivid imagination, and when his projects has he called them were displayed the wow factor came up. He had goldfish floating in light bulbs, a Coca Cola can floating with liquid pouring out into another can. His fascination for space was displayed when he explained how he constructed his image of the millennium falcon and a distant planet. He started asking himself am I a photographer taking models or a model maker taking photographs?

Due to work and family commitments it would be many years before Jeff returned to photography. It was only in the last six years he picked up the camera and his next title for the evening was ‘The return – Digital what’s it all about then?’ As he explained to start over again he went out and photographed everything, landscapes and in particular waterfalls, fungi, wild life, butterflies and dragon flies and using a compact camera with a waterproof housing photographing tropical fish. Following on from taking the previous images Jeff introduced us to his ‘Super Macro’ images. Macro photography became a fascination from almost the first image he took, using a 105mm focal length macro lens and extension tube allowing him to be within millimetres of the subject.

Following a short break the talk continued with ‘Still Life’ and ‘Smoke Trails’. To complete this journey of Jeff’s his final title was ‘Photoshop – is it really a dirty word’. His images again were stunning and his imagination was just outstanding and seemed to have no boundaries.

The Chairman thanked Jeff for this memorable evening and hoped it wouldn’t be 30 years before he came again.

Community

Narbelles WI support Food Bank with festive donation

Published

14 minutes ago

December 14, 2025

Tom Sinclair

Group marks December meeting with charity collection and Christmas celebrations

NARBELLES WI rounded off the year with a festive December meeting featuring a bring-and-share buffet, party games and a Secret Santa gift exchange.

Members also used the occasion to support families in need across the county, collecting food items and presenting a £120 cheque to Ann Watling from Pembrokeshire Food Bank. The donation represents the proceeds of the group’s bucket collection during Narberth Civic Week 2024.

A spokesperson for the WI said the group was delighted to finish the year “with fun, friendship and a chance to give something back to the community.”

(Photo: Narbelles WI members presenting the cheque to Ann Watling, Pembrokeshire Food Bank.)

Community

Annual charity carol service raises funds for good causes

Published

23 hours ago

December 13, 2025

Tom Sinclair

MID and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service held its annual Charity Carol Service on Wednesday (Dec 10) at Ebeneser Baptist Chapel in Crymych.

The event brought together members of the local community alongside Fire Service staff for an evening of carols, readings and festive refreshments, marking the Christmas season in a warm and inclusive atmosphere.

This year’s service supported two important charities — the Fire Fighters Charity and Cancer Research Wales — with all proceeds going directly towards their ongoing work.

A total of £597 was raised on the night, which will be shared equally between the two charities.

The Service thanked the congregation at Ebeneser Baptist Chapel for hosting the event, as well as everyone who gave their time, support and generosity to make the evening such a success.

Community

3 Amigos toy bike run under way across Pembrokeshire

Published

24 hours ago

December 13, 2025

Tom Sinclair

Castle Inn fun runners back festive charity event

THE ANNUAL 3 Amigos Christmas toy bike run is under way this afternoon (Saturday), with hundreds of motorcyclists setting off from Pembroke to raise funds for children’s services.

Riders gathered at The Commons car park in Pembroke from around midday before departing shortly after 1:00pm. The festive convoy is travelling along its traditional route, taking in Pembroke Dock and continuing through parts of the county including Neyland, Milford Haven and Haverfordwest.

The event is organised by the 3 Amigos and Dollies Motorcycle Group and has become a much-anticipated Christmas tradition in west Wales, with toys and donations collected for children receiving care within the Hywel Dda University Health Board area.

Also supporting the event are fun runners from the Castle Inn in Pembroke, who have been fundraising in aid of the 3 Amigos. The group are pictured alongside participants from today’s run.

The 3 Amigos have been raising funds for children’s wards and health charities for more than twenty-five years, with their Easter and Christmas events continuing to make a positive difference to young patients and their families.

Organisers have thanked the public for their support and asked road users to be mindful of the large convoy as it passes through towns and villages this afternoon.

Photo caption:
Festive fundraising: Fun runners from the Castle Inn, Pembroke, pictured supporting the 3 Amigos Christmas toy bike run (Pic: Martin Cavaney/Herald)