Camera Clubs and Coronavirus

My local camera club haven't said they're closed yet which is mental as the average age of members puts most in the red danger zone.

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Gareth
Welsh Photographer

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And therein lies the problem for HMG. You, like me, can go for a walk in open fields without much chance of contact. That's not the case in an urban area. But HMG must have the same rule for everyone, and Joe public will criticise them if they don't. Same with 'If you're 70 or over...'. Nothing suddenly changes on your 70th birthday, but they have to give a precise age because Joe public wants and needs a clear instruction. As for clubs and societies, if the age of every member is 70, the risk to members is little different to if they were all 69. Same with speed limits, safety doesn't suddenly deteriorate at 70mph. But in all such cases there has to be a cutoff that applies to everyone.

My guess is that a lot of gardens will be looking a lot better than they do now after all the attention they will get from self-isolated over 70's. And there's no reason why those with a garden shouldn't also have a long-distance chat to a neighbour over the garden fence.

Steve

The young and/or able have more of a responsibility than the elderly or at-risk to stop this, simply because they're in a better position to do so. I say this as healthy 39-year-old with parents and parents-in-law who are all old enough to be high risk, and some with additional health problems that make them particularly vulnerable.

People need to stop thinking "What if I get the virus?" and start thinking "What if I pass the virus to someone who's at higher risk and they die because of me?".

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Pentax hybrid user - Digital K3 & K200D, film 645 and 35mm SLR and Pentax (&other) lenses adapted to Fuji X digital
Fan of DA limited and old manual lenses

Schools, bars, cafés, restaurants and coffeeshops(!) are all closed here in the Netherlands, until at least April 3rd.
Schools are doing digital teaching but are open for the kids of people in essential jobs.
Ban on meetings of over 100 people. Most churches, mosques etc have also closed.
First case in my town is a woman in her 40s, and the youngest patient in intensive care in the Netherlands is a 16 year old. My son't girlfriend a nurse in her early thirties is in quarantine and awaiting testing.

I'm not sure I agree with the isolating of over 70s "for their own good" as if over 70s can't decide for themselves. It will also mean they are seen as the source of the illness, rather than the younger symptom free carriers quietly spreading it, and result in poorer health for them in the longer term, mentally and physically.

Anyway if you don't have to mix with people don't. Stay safe everyone!

The problem here is that over 70s are more vulnerable so are more likely to need hospital beds and respirators, both of which are in short supply. Also to reduce the exposure of medical staff. The strategy is to flatten out the peak demand to try and manage this, although the more I think about it I cannot see a four month incarceration working. The Government is assuming that friends and neighbours will run around making sure essential items like medication are delivered but many will not and it isn’t realistic over that length of time.

+1 for what RobL says.

How many discussions, debates, arguments have I had over the years with elderly relatives who wouldn't make sensible decisions for themselves and didn't seem to care about the impact on other people ... ???!!! My wife and I still have the scars. (Not saying it applies to all over 70s, of course.)

It will be interesting to see whether younger people who have started to work at home want to continue doing so after this blows over. Not doing the daily commute must be attractive for some. Might this be the beginning of the end for rush hour on the road and overcrowded rush hour trains? One can dream...

Steve

Those over seventies will ignore any ruling about staying home for four months anyway. Meanwhile othhers will become less and less fit, stuck in their homes, getting more and more depressed, so that when the virus panic is over they will be in need of more care than perhaps was otherwise the case.
As I said certainly here in teh netherlands it is not only the elderly with underlying conditions who are in ICU and dying. In Spain the 21 trainer of a football team has died of it, young fit and dead.
I'm all for social distancing but do not pick on just one sector of the community. Stop the pop concerst, rugby matches, half marathons, close the clubs and pubs. Take it seriously but it is everybody's problem.
I see there is already a #boomer remover tag for it. Sorry but that just isn't funny.

I agree, Gwyn, and if the Government enforce home isolation on all senior citizens, hopefully there will be widespread non-violent protest agaiinst that edict by people of all ages. Instead the contrary behaviour should be encouraged - those who are able and symptom free should be able to enjoy a walk with the dog and/or in the park and/or in the countryside, provided everyone of every age-group keeps their distance from one another. It must be of great benefit to physical, emotional, psychological and immune system health to continue enjoying such simple activities particularly during spring and summer. To deny the elderly those valuable pleasures, when for some it might be their last year in this world anyway, is nothing short of cruel and outrageous.

Philip

We've suspended all meetings until at least the end of April. All my bookings for judging have also been cancelled till the end of April. After that, we'll see what happens.

That leaves us with online activities, but also the possibility of visiting places that will now be very quiet. But where?

Arley Hall is still open. English Heritage have closed all their manned sites, although the free ones are still open.

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Best regards, John

The first victim in our household is a new sofa from Laura Ashley which is unlikely now to be delivered. I hope there is someone at Barclaycard to pick up the phone.

There was, after an hour of musak and a cheery voice saying how busy they were!

Many Camera Clubs in the Midland Counties Photographic Federation have announced their closure until September. My bookings for Judging and Talks have been cancelled. I have agreed with 2 clubs to judge downloaded images, to complete their seasons competitions.

Lets hope that this situation clears sufficiently for them to re-open in the autumn.

Graham

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Friendly Regards
Graham

I'm a member of Durham Photographic Society ( around 80 members currently) and we've decided to suspend our weekly Thursday evening meetings until further notice. Unlike many camera clubs we meet all year round with only the Christmas/New Year period left blank
We keep in touch via a DPS Facebook page which attracts lots of new images every week. I've suggested we take a leaf out of the PUF weekly and monthly comp systems and set up a weekly or monthly comp with one image per person and the winner of the previous week setting the next subject and judging the results. The idea seems like it might catch on.
David

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PPG: http://www.pentaxphotogallery.com/artists/davidtrout

Our camera club has also suspended our weekly Thursday meetings. Last night we had been due to have presentations by two members about their photographic work. The committee and the presenters did a great job of getting everything set up to do the presentations by the power of the internet using "Go ToMeeting" It worked really well the photographers presenting from their homes and all club members able to watch, comment and ask questions from their homes. We had a great meeting! It really worked. About 40 of our 60 members tuned in and the presentations were recorded so they are now available for those that missed it or want to see sections again.
Very lucky to belong to a club with such a clever and proactive committee

Nigel

Ditto, but whilst we have technologically savvy members nothing can replicate the traditional decant to the pub afterwards.