Wrexham Community Choir Workshop

One of the nicest aspects of being asked to go along and cover a lot of events, for work experience, this Summer, has been finding out about how much goes on in the local area, and how its allowed me to meet so many really lovely and creative people.  The message I got from Steffan, The Arts Council Manager, asking me to go along and photograph this workshop, held in The Oriel Gallery, is a prime example of this . 

I'd met with the choir, once before, at the Olympic Torch Ceremony - and I was blown away then by the fantastic music that they make .  So off I went with camera - and my youngest daughter, who is very musical and has a 'voice', and who was keen to take part in the actual workshop, whilst I photographed it.

Yet again, the members of the choir who were attending made me very welcome - its not just that they make wonderful music, its the enjoyment that they all so clearly get from their involvement with the choir, and their enthusiasm, that makes photographing events connected with them such an absolute pleasure.

The workshop started with Carol, the choir leader, taking the group through a series of warm up exercises - both physical and vocal .

It was great to see even the very young joining in :)

This didn't just 'warm' everyone up - it had everyone laughing and was a great ice breaker :)

Then started the singing - within a very short time, they were split into 'top, middle and bottom' and started off on a version of 'Pick a Bale of Cotton' - under Carol's guidance, the harmonies just seemed to pull together effortlessly, and my feet were tapping and my head nodding, within minutes - it really sounded good :)

From a photography point of view, the usual problems with light - I prefer not to use flash, when photographing something like this - apart from anything else, its distracting for the participants . Test shots had shown that with the high ceilings and artificial light settings in the Oriel, AWB worked best - with an ISO of 800. Just as the music had my feet tapping, it also quite naturally, had the singers moving - 800 was the minimum I could use and not end up with blur, and as I moved around the room, I sometimes had to up it from that too !

I spotted a window from the second floor that overlooked the gallery, and asked could I go up there, to try and get some different perspectives on the workshop, and as ever, the Oriel staff were very obliging and it wasn't a problem - not knowing I needed the circular polariser (to cut reflections) for this shoot, I hadn't brought it with me, for the lens I was using, but I did manage to get some images where the reflection from the window I was shooting through didn't intrude too much .

Back down to the main Gallery, and I just kept snapping away

The workshop lasted over an hour, and the time just flew by - at the end, I gathered all the singers for a group shot or two . . .

Just to be completely predictable - we had to have a 'jazz hands' shot :)

I want to say a big Thank you to Steffan, firstly, for inviting me along to photograph this workshop, and secondly, to every member of the choir and all the participants that made me so welcome :)  Several members of the choir were later kind enough to visit my facebook page Moments - Photography By McGrane and leave some lovely comments, the choir also asked could they use the images on their web site and facebook pages, which I was more than happy to agree to.  Best of all, the choir in association with @67 have asked me to come along and photograph 2 more upcoming events - @sixtyseven presents Africa Entsha live at The Glasshouse, Cefn Mawr and Wrexham Bandstand Marathon - which I am really, really looking forward to .  More info on these events can be found on the above links .

I really appreciate all the opportunities I have had to gain photographic experience through doing all these events - big Thank You to all of those organisations and individuals who have invited me along to take part :)