East Cork Camera Group was delighted to host one of Ireland's foremost photographers, John Hooton, at our first meeting of the year at the Midleton Park Hotel on Tuesday 5/1/16.

Those present were indeed fortunate as John, accompanied by his wife Noreen, gave a master class on his photography, displaying print after immaculate print while dropping nuggets of photographic tips throughout. The images he displayed were shot mainly around the Dingle peninsula in West Kerry, which is his second home, and from where he runs courses and workshops for eager photographers from home and abroad.

As a founder member of Mallow Camera Club, John has held many positions within the club, and has been a committee member of the Irish Photographic Federation Council (I.P.F.). Presently he is one of the main adjudicators with the I.P.F. on their National Distinction Panel and has been a judge for numerous prestigious competitions.

In 2010 he was invited to join the PermaJet team of lecturers who travel the length and breadth of the UK and Ireland lecturing to camera clubs and photographic societies. In 2015 he was invited to Bristol, Cambridge and Scotland to lecture and sit on judging panels.

He is a Fellow of both the Irish Photographic Federation and Royal Photographic Society and in 2010 was awarded an M.F.I.A.P. - the highest award given by the International Federation of Photographic Art. His work has appeared extensively in salons throughout the world and he has done a number of personal exhibitions both in Ireland and abroad.

Not only a multi award winning photographer, John is also a published author with two fine photographic books under his belt. His first publication, 'Gathering Light on the Dingle Coast' was published in 2012 and features 200  beautiful images taken between the 1980’s and 2012.

His second book, 'Dingle My Own Place' was published only recently. All the images for this new book were taken over the last three years and in it he takes the viewer on a photographic journey of the Dingle Peninsula from Blennerville on the northern shore to Inch on the southern coast. Many of the images were taken during the ‘magic hours’ of pre-dawn and post dusk when the available light offers opportunities that make the difference between the ordinary image and the extraordinary image.

Our night with John and Noreen went all too quickly and if we could, we would have stayed chatting and looking at images all night. It was the ideal start to another busy year for East Cork Camera Group which will feature many more guest speakers, shoots, competitions and workshops throughout 2016.

Many thanks to John and Noreen for attending our meeting and you can find out a lot more about John and his photography at the links below:

Web: www.john-hooton.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/john.hooton.92?fref=ufi

If you have an interest in photography and would like to find out more about East Cork Camera Group, click the 'Contact Us' link and leave us a message.