Ludlow Photographic Club Newsletter – 4-4-20

Dear Members

Welcome to our second Newsletter. I hope these will be a regular feature but coming at irregular intervals, depending upon the time taken to accumulate suitable content.

So my first request is for news, images and ideas from our members. Please send me anything you feel is relevant, interesting, amusing, educational or newsworthy.

Projected Image Competition

This will take place on Tuesday, 21st April with Terry Livesey judging our images at his studio and recording a video of the images and his comments.

Please support your club and send your images – up to three per member – to Rosemary by 14th April.

We will send out copies of the video or a link to video (to be decided – this is all very new!) as soon as we have received it from Terry.

Terry Livesey Landscape Challenge

This is a weekly photo editing challenge organised by Terry. Each week he demonstrates how he edited one of his images and then invites anyone to have a go. He then reviews these images in a short YouTube video a week later.

This a link to his latest challenge: https://www.terryliveseyphotography.co.uk/landscape-edit-challenge-02/

Future Competitions

We are very grateful to Terry for offering his services as a remote judge and are actively trying to find other enlightened judges who are adapting to the current situation.

The Learning Zone Do you have a spare minute or 20!

Check out these videos on technical aspects of photography and please let me know what you think.

Exposure Compensation - https://youtu.be/-uem6UnBHRY

Raw v JPEG – https://youtu.be/-_z9MZPlKvM

The Dalgarrog Dam Disaster

Llyn Eigiau, a lake at the edge of the mountains in , Wales, was the origin of the worst dam disaster in Welsh history.

In 1911, a dam three-quarters of a mile long and 35 feet high was built across part of the eastern side of the lake to supply water for the hydroelectric power station in the village and power the aluminum works next to the station. A tramway was constructed to bring materials for the dam from .

It is reported that the original contractor withdrew from the project, unhappy that corners were being cut in the construction of the dam. And indeed, his misgivings were realized. In November, 1925, after 26 inches of rain fell in just five days, the Eigiau dam failed. The water flowed down to Coedty Reservoir, which rapidly caused its earth bank dam to burst as well and release billions of gallons of water.

The torrent of water, estimated at over 70 billion gallons, flowed down into the village of Dolgarrog, creating massive damage and leading to the loss of 16 lives. The death toll could have been worse, but it was fortunate that the breach occurred on the night when the local community hall was used as a cinema. The hall was on slightly higher ground, and many of the town residents were safe inside.

The remains of the dam are easily accessible on foot from a parking lot about half a mile away from the breached dam wall.

A close look at the remains of the Eigiau dam today reveals that the foundations were insufficient, and close observation reveals large lumps of unmixed concrete. The dam material that can be seen through existing holes tends to break away easily and is clearly badly graded. After the disaster, an additional breach was created in the dam to ensure that water could not build up to dangerous levels. A Parliamentary investigation led to more stringent rules on British dam construction, as part of the Reservoirs (Safety Provisions) Act in 1930.

Today the lake covers an area of about 120 acres (about half the impounded area when the dam was in use) and is only about 32 foot deep.

Next Newsletter

Coming soon I hope but I need your images, stories and comments.

I will end with this quote:

How to travel from your sofa "The world will be ours to roam in once more. But during our collective confinements, aside from the obvious inconveniences, we might come to cherish some of what is granted to us when we lose our customary liberties. It cannot be a coincidence that many of the world’s greatest thinkers have spent unusual amounts of time alone in their rooms. Silence gives us an opportunity to appreciate a great deal of what we generally see without properly noticing, and to understand what we have felt but not yet adequately processed.

We have at present not only been locked away; we have also been granted the privilege of being able to travel around a range of unfamiliar, sometimes daunting but essentially wondrous inner continents."

- Alain de Botton - Financial Times article

With best wishes

Paul