How To Improve Club Photos And Increase PR And Goodwill (Part 2)

Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Look at this picture of Harrovian Speakers. I like it because it makes a change from the usual standing still pictures.

 I could chop the distracting chair on the right. Sometimes foreground objects and people are a distraction. At other times they help create a feeling of depth.

I could remove the blank floor in front to make people bigger. If I make the people bigger, if it's taken just on a smartphone, not with a professional camera on a tripod, I might find too few pixels (dots) and blurry faces. Removing the blank floor is what I usually do. However, in this instance, I left it because cropping made the picture look too crowded and busy. You can slide a piece of white paper or even your forefinger over the photo to see how cropping will affect the composition.

Sharing With Subjects
Sometimes a club requires you to submit all your photo to the President or video master or whoever manages the club website. They might put up all your photos unedited. Or select only the winners of competitions.

The video master might be away on holiday or busy with work. Meanwhile, club members are phoning you and asking, Where can I see my photo?

This involves you in chasing and hassling the video master. It wastes your time.

An alternative is to send each photo individually to the video master and the subject. You might do this with half a dozen excellent photos, such as the VIP of the evening (the secretary might forward this attached to the thank you to the mayor).

Sending Individual Photos
You might send the carbon copy to a member of your family who is a speaker. You might send yourself a copy, in addition to the sent file, to keep track of what has been sent if you have to send photos intermittently.

Sending Photos In Bulk
Some recipients won't want to be sent photos one by one, because this clutters up their email inbox. They will want the whole lot together, such as in Dropbox.

Audience Photos
If there's a lull in proceedings, for example, whilst a speaker is trying to set up the projector, you can fill the time, save time later, and keep the audience entertained by taking audience photos.

First picture. Too many front seat gaps. One person in front row looking down at notes

On the other side of the aisle, I have vacated the seat on the right but somebody has leaped in to fill it. But we have a gap.

I could crop the photo to cut out the empty seat in the front row - but we would lose the lady on the far left. Maybe we can crop the photo to make a picture just of her. Let's tidy up those bags on the floor. Push them back and make them parallel to the chairs. 

The left is perfect. The centre is perfect. 

We have an empty chair on the right, but lovely smile from the girl, Satya, behind the empty chair.

Now I am back in my chair and somebody else is taking the photo. 

Next time I shall make sure the entire front row is filled, or ask the person sitting on the far left to move to fill the empty seat.

I don't have a wide angle lens, so I have to take a photo first of the audience on the left, then on the right, finally the centre to catch those in the centre aisle and get a duplicate of some members of the audience.

Filling Front Rows
I have lots of audience photos which look like gappy teeth. Seats in front are empty. People at the back are too far to be seen. The members of the audience look small. Better to have people at the back come forward.

Why do people sit at the back? Those guarding the door may need to leap up to welcome latecomers. Anybody who needs to leave early might choose to sit near an exit at the back. Some people are just shy.

If there's an empty chair in the from row, such as the one you have vacated, ask somebody on stage to step down and take the chair. Or ask somebody behind to take the seat in front.

The more you communicate with the subjects of photos and the club, the more you can keep everybody happy and learn new ways to take even better photos to please more people.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer.

Where to share your travel photos and stories

Problems
1 You have photos you'd love to share but one friend is on Facebook but not LinkedIn, another is on LinkedIn but not Facebook, or you'd just like more followers.
2 When you try to share something, you get asked for a password.
3 You keep hearing about other sites but have no complete list.

Answer
1 Use Sharethis
2 List all non-vital passwords somewhere secret not immediately obvious to somebody sitting in your office or kitchen but which will be found by family or colleagues if you die. For example: in a password page taped inside a cupboard door, behind picture frame, under your desk, under the phone, under the shelf of a bookshelf, behind a picture in a frame, behind a clock, under a carpet or rug, behind a minor, under a desk lamp, inside a CD, in a photo album, behind a noticeboard, at the back of a calendar, - look around your home and office, the number of places is endless but make sure it could not be thrown away or stolen or easily found by an intruder.
2 Here they are alphabetically.
Digg
Email (the most private, you can send individually but you can also send to groups, however most sites have an address limit to prevent spam, so if you belong to a club which has two hundred members and the limit is one hundred addresses, you may have to divide your club address list in half alphabetically.
Facebook
Google Plus
LinkedIn
Instagram
Pinterest
Reddit
Stumbled upon
Tumblr
Twitter
Wordpress

Story
I have been relying on one or two sites. I now need more.

Tip
Keep a brightly coloured book or a book with a brightly coloured label for your passwords.

Action
1 Decide which posts and photos you wish to keep secret such as
a) Children
b) Your current location 3 Your future travels. (Maybe OK if you are a blogger and have somebody permanently at home, such as a family member, parents, relatives, maid, au pair, butler, colleague, staff, guest, video camera linked to your phone or neighbour to alert to intruders. Or if you have no home because you are constantly travelling.
2 Make a list of sites. Link them to automatically update.
3 Embed links in your blogs.

Author
Angela Lansbury is a travel writer and photographer.Currently on Facebook, LInkedIn, Twitter. Soon to be on 'all of the above'.

Dehesa Tapas Bar-restaurant: my bad reaction to bar stools, good but expensive food, but not enough

Dehesa
Evening started badly. Bar stools.

What I think of Bar Stools
Horrid. Nowhere to put your handbag except on the dirty floor out of reach. Trying to fit into a tiny stool wearing a winter coat. Nowhere to put your coat. These stools do have a back.

Unfortunately we were coming from another event and had to go to the extra expense of a taxi to arrive on time. We were dropped in Regent Street and ran through following satnav on a phone. On time!

Even so, our relatives had arrived first. They were already settled into the straight wall banquette seats, whilst we had the awkward bar high stools opposite. I beamed enthusiasm. I did not want to disrupt our event by making them move.

Food Size and Dividing
Small portions. We were dividing between four. We ordered two portions of the starter. Asparagus with a smidgen of goat's cheese on the end, in a shallow sea of honey. Up comes a plate containing two. Everything was like that. I thought you got tapas for sharing. Everything had to be cut diagonally.

Sharing Plates
Plates not easily divided are an absolute disaster in groups, especially if you have any kind of hierarchy. I mean a work situation such as boss and employee so that one has to constantly defer to the other. In a family, older brother and his wife and younger brother and his wife. Or any situation where one is trying to please another.

Fish and meat
Most of the dishes for starters contained shellfish, to which I am allergic.
I had a lovely fish with tiny morsels of something delicious. We had two meat dishes. They also had lovely sauces and morsels of mushroom or fruit. With four of us sharing every plate it was quite hard to get your share. The meat was dark and shiny and looked raw. I thought it looked undercooked and was stringy and got in your teeth. Everybody else loved it.

Potato
We ordered (potato) chips. Very Spanish style, brushed with red pepper powdered or chili powder, which added visual appeal and flavour. Served with two small pots of dips.

Desserts
We told them we were sharing but the deserts were not shaped for sharing and not served for sharing. We had to play yo-yo with the plates. Could they have served us half portion each, or two plates as well as two spoons. I can tell you that I have been to five star restaurants which do so. Do they think it's bad form to share a dessert?

Shared Desserts
If you are running a tapas bar, which is designed for 'sharing' I think a table for four should be served all dishes for sharing. Otherwise the diners end up not sharing.

Whoever gets to eat the bigger portion or keep the whole dish feels guilty and the others feel resentful. However much you try to smile and be obliging, you are constantly on the alert to grab the first half, the last half, not be the first to dip in, and so on.

I don't want to go back. I must remember to tell them I'm a blind one legged cripple (not true, just joking) and will walk out with my group if I am given a bar stool. The more I think about it, the more cross I get. I did not enjoy the meal at all.

Completely put me in a bad mood. The family asked if I wanted to go onto a film with them but I said no and we went home. Two of us felt that despite having starters, two meat courses, two fish courses, two shared desserts, one coffee and three drinks, glasses of tap water all round, we were still hungry. A hungry diner is not a happy diner.

The service charge is twelve and a half per cent. To cap it all the bill includes a supposedly optional donation to charity, already printed on the bill so you would have to make an embarrassing fuss to delete it.

I would have been a lot happier on a chair nearer the ground with my feet on the ground. The semi-circular seating near the door. That's what I want next time.

You can sit outdoors on the corner of the block looking up the pedestrian alleys leading in two directions. The main pedestrian alley leading to it is lit by seasonal lights and flanked by other amusing restaurants, shops and pubs. You are a short walk from Regent Street and Oxford Circus station. London right now is thronged with crowds of jolly people.

I managed to scoot down the steep staircase to the toilets. I thought, no good for wheelchairs or people with knocking knees and awkward ankles. Nor drunks misplacing their footing.

Dehesa, 25 Ganton Street, London WIF 9BP
+44 (0)20 7494 4170
info@dehesa.co.uk
saltyardgroup.co.uk

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

Dehesa Tapas Bar-restaurant: my bad reaction to bar stools, good but expensive food, but not enough

Dehesa
Evening started badly. Bar stools.

What I think of Bar Stools
Horrid. Nowhere to put your handbag except on the dirty floor out of reach. Trying to fit into a tiny stool wearing a winter coat. Nowhere to put your coat. These stools do have a back.

Unfortunately we were coming from another event and had to go to the extra expense of a taxi to arrive on time. We were dropped in Regent Street and ran through following satnav on a phone. On time!

Even so, our relatives had arrived first. They were already settled into the straight wall banquette seats, whilst we had the awkward bar high stools opposite. I beamed enthusiasm. I did not want to disrupt our event by making them move.

Ranting Against Bar Stools
I did my pole-vaulting impression, perched with the uncertain air of a parrot shifting about on bar, about to speak words everybody waited for. I tried to look agile and nonchalant.

Being on a bar stool put me in a bad mood for the whole meal. Are you sitting comfortably? No. I feel like I am in an airport lounge, or eating a snack of pot noodles on a trapeze. Bar stools must be designed for drinkers at bars, so they move on quickly to make way for others, and fall off as soon as they have had the second drink; approved by people who want the most uncomfortable chairs in order to get a quick turnover of diners who don't linger.

Did I say any of this? No. (It's our secret!)

Bar stools have only one use. Sitting up high to play electric organs on x shape supports.

Food Size and Dividing
Small portions. We were dividing between four. We ordered two portions of the starter. Asparagus with a smidgen of goat's cheese on the end, in a shallow sea of honey. Up comes a plate containing two. Everything was like that. I thought you got tapas for sharing. Everything had to be cut diagonally.

Sharing Plates
Plates not easily divided are an absolute disaster in groups, especially if you have any kind of hierarchy. I mean a work situation such as boss and employee so that one has to constantly defer to the other. In a family, older brother and his wife and younger brother and his wife. Or any situation where one is trying to please another.

Fish and meat
Most of the dishes for starters contained shellfish, to which I am allergic.
I had a lovely fish with tiny morsels of something delicious. We had two meat dishes. They also had lovely sauces and morsels of mushroom or fruit. With four of us sharing every plate it was quite hard to get your share. The meat was dark and shiny and looked raw. I thought it looked undercooked and was stringy and got in your teeth. Everybody else loved it.

Potato
We ordered (potato) chips. Very Spanish style, brushed with red pepper powdered or chili powder, which added visual appeal and flavour. Served with two small pots of dips.

Desserts
We told them we were sharing but the deserts were not shaped for sharing and not served for sharing. We had to play yo-yo with the plates. Could they have served us half portion each, or two plates as well as two spoons. I can tell you that I have been to five star restaurants which do so. Do they think it's bad form to share a dessert?

Shared Desserts
If you are running a tapas bar, which is designed for 'sharing' I think a table for four should be served all dishes for sharing. Otherwise the diners end up not sharing.

Whoever gets to eat the bigger portion or keep the whole dish feels guilty and the others feel resentful. However much you try to smile and be obliging, you are constantly on the alert to grab the first half, the last half, not be the first to dip in, and so on.

I don't want to go back. I must remember to tell them I'm a blind one legged cripple (not true, just joking) and will walk out with my group if I am given a bar stool. The more I think about it, the more cross I get. I did not enjoy the meal at all.

Completely put me in a bad mood. The family asked if I wanted to go onto a film with them but I said no and we went home. Two of us felt that despite having starters, two meat courses, two fish courses, two shared desserts, one coffee and three drinks, glasses of tap water all round, we were still hungry. A hungry diner is not a happy diner.

To cap it all the bill includes a supposedly optional donation to charity, already printed on the bill so you would have to make an embarrassing fuss to delete it.

I would have been a lot happier on a chair nearer the ground with my feet on the ground. The semi-circular seating near the door. That's what I want next time.

You can sit outdoors on the corner of the block looking up the pedestrian alleys leading in two directions. The main pedestrian alley leading to it is lit by seasonal lights and flanked by other amusing restaurants, shops and pubs. You are a short walk from Regent Street and Oxford Circus station. London right now is thronged with crowds of jolly people.

I managed to scoot down the steep staircase to the toilets. I thought, no good for wheelchairs or people with knocking knees and awkward ankles. Nor drunks misplacing their footing.

Dehesa, 25 Ganton Street, London WIF 9BP
+44 (0)20 7494 4170
info@dehesa.co.uk
saltyardgroup.co.uk

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

Dehesa Tapas Bar-restaurant: my bad reaction to bar stools, good but expensive food, but not enough

Dehesa
Evening started badly. Bar stools.

What I think of Bar Stools
Horrid. Nowhere to put your handbag except on the dirty floor out of reach. Trying to fit into a tiny stool wearing a winter coat. Nowhere to put your coat. These stools do have a back.

Unfortunately we were coming from another event and had to go to the extra expense of a taxi to arrive on time. Even so, our relatives had arrived first. They were already settled into the wall banquette seats and I did not want to disrupt our event by making them move.

Being on a bar stool put me in a bad mood for the whole meal. Are you sitting comfortably? No.

Food Size and Dividing
Small portions. We were dividing between four. We ordered two portions of the starter. Asparagus with a smidgen of goat's cheese on the end, in a shallow sea of honey. Up comes a plate containing two. Everything was like that. I thought you got tapas for sharing. Everything had to be cut diagonally.

Sharing Plates
Plates not easily divided are an absolute disaster in groups, especially if you have any kind of hierarchy. I mean a work situation such as boss and employee so that one has to constantly defer to the other. In a family, older brother and his wife and younger brother and his wife. Or any situation where one is trying to please another.

Fish and meat
Most of the dishes for starters contained shellfish, to which I am allergic.
I had a lovely fish with tiny morsels of something delicious. We had two meat dishes. They also had lovely sauces and morsels of mushroom or fruit. With four of us sharing every plate it was quite hard to get your share.

Potato
We ordered (potato) chips. Very Spanish style, brushed with red pepper powdered or chili powder, which added visual appeal and flavour. Served with two small pots of dips.

Desserts
We told them we were sharing but the deserts were not shaped for sharing and not served for sharing. We had to play yo-yo with the plates. Could they have served us half portion each, or two plates as well as two spoons. I can tell you that I have been to five star restaurants which do so. Do they think it's bad form to share a dessert?

Shared Desserts
If you are running a tapas bar, which is designed for 'sharing' I think a table for four should be served all dishes for sharing. Otherwise the diners end up not sharing.

Whoever gets to eat the bigger portion or keep the whole dish feels guilty and the others feel resentful. However much you try to smile and be obliging, you are constantly on the alert to grab the first half, the last half, not be the first to dip in, and so on.

I don't want to go back. I must remember to tell them I'm a blind one legged cripple (not true, just joking) and will walk out with my group if I am given a bar stool. The more I think about it, the more cross I get. I did not enjoy the meal at all.

Completely put me in a bad mood. The family asked if I wanted to go onto a film with them but I said no and we went home. Two of us felt that despite having starters, two meat courses, two fish courses, two shared desserts, one coffee and three drinks, glasses of tap water all round, we were still hungry. A hungry diner is not a happy diner.

To cap it all the bill includes a supposedly optional donation to charity, already printed on the bill so you would have to make an embarrassing fuss to delete it.

I would have been a lot happier on a chair nearer the ground with my feet on the ground. The semi-circular seating near the door. That's what I want next time.

You can sit outdoors on the corner of the block looking up the pedestrian alleys leading in two directions. The main pedestrian alley leading to it is lit by seasonal lights and flanked by other amusing restaurants, shops and pubs. You are a short walk from Regent Street and Oxford Circus station. London right now is thronged with crowds of jolly people.

Dehesa, 25 Ganton Street, London WIF 9BP
+44 (0)20 7494 4170
info@dehesa.co.uk
saltyardgroup.co.uk

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.