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Amersham Beyond Group - 2nd April 2020

Posted: Sun Apr 05, 2020 3:28 pm
by spb
Meetings for the remainder of the 2019/20 season have been cancelled due to the coronavirus situation. However the Challenges continue;

MONTHLY CHALLENGES

All Amersham Beyond Group Challenge images can be seen at Amersham Beyond Group on Flickr.

For APS Members only this month's images are also available for viewing and commenting at the APS Members Only Facebook Site.
IMPORTANT - please spend time viewing and commenting upon the images - this is our primary source of feedback at the moment. Authors are also encouraged to provide commentary on their creations here.

#10 SILHOUETTE

#11 TEXT (created by the author themselves)

#12 PAPER
As anticipated this has been a wide field to explore and images from sheets of paper to books, typewriters and origami were received. Plenty more scope for the future…

The next Challenge is;

#13 POP ART
An art movement from the 1950’s onwards encompassed bold colours, graphics, typography, album covers, comic strips, TV and advertising. Commonplace objects were often used as subjects. Geometric patterns were employed.

I know the biggies like Andy Warhol, Peter Blake, David Hockney, Roy Lichtenstein, etc but you may have others in mind. Much of the original art was painted or drawn but photography was also used and image editors enable us to simulate paint, especially the flat colours commonly used in Pop Art with ease. Google the internet for inspiration and tutorials.

Don the sunglasses, whack the colour saturation up to ‘Neon’ and give it a go!

BACK OF BEYOND - DIARIES


Video Conferencing. I first used this technology in the 1990’s and my job at the end of the decade was to promote Voice over IP (the Internet). Whilst living in the USA between 1994 and 1997, I chaired hundreds of audio conferences with participants around the world. The technology was flaky (as it still is today) but we all learnt how to get the most out of it. Here are some tips that I learnt;
- unless your microphone is muted, keep background noise around you to a minimum as any loud noise will interrupt the meeting
- place your camera in a fixed position and preferably not looking up your nose. Waving around a hand-held phone or pad is distracting to everybody. Some light on your face would be good.
- once you have the floor, be brief but keep going until you’ve made your point and then stop. Don’t keep pausing for feedback.
- the host of the meeting may have the power to temporarily mute all other microphones (eg with Zoom) and this can be very beneficial especially for presentations where a smooth flow is important.

I have been involved in many Zoom calls in the last couple of weeks – one with over 80 participants(!) – and they can work surprisingly well. The most common issue is unfamiliarity with three basic controls; muting your microphone, stopping your video and the Gallery/Speaker View switch. This latter is important to know. The Gallery View is best for interactive discussions up to the maximum number of video thumbnails that your screen can manage. For presentations or larger groups, the Speaker View works best where the active speaker video occupies most of the screen. You can switch between the two views freely during the call.

If you have trouble getting the camera or microphone to work, check that the operating system and any anti-virus software is giving permission for the video conferencing app access to them.

Try to keep your head down and stay safe. Don't be surprised when people cross the street to avoid you.

Cheers, Steve.