The Facebook group which '˜lens' itself to photography

Yorkshire & Around Photographic Group offers a big difference to its snappers – they all pitch in to help each other whenever they can.

If you are new to photography, just got your camera, don’t know how to set it up, be it a pocket camera, a bridge camera or a DSLR, Canon or a Nikon, the group’s members can help you learn.

The aim of the group is to teach new tips and tricks.

Ron Ella of Yorkshire & Around Photography Facebook group, said: “We have some fantastic photographers who know what to do, where to do it and how best to do it – this will help you improve your photography a guarantee to you.

“If we don’t know the answer, we will find out.”

The group tries to meet up at least once a month, weather permitting, for a day out on a shoot, whichi enables members to help each other with learning.

“We have a walk take a few shots, have a coffee, and if we can, a bacon butty. We try to cut down on transport, we tend to give lifts where possible so not always using loads of vehicles.

“If you can only attend for an hour or two that’s fine, it’s up to yourself.

There is no central HQ for meetings, photographers communicate via a Facebook group with images posted online, encouraging constructive comments and chat.

“The only things we do face to face is meet up on our outings, which are a good day out,” said Ron.

“You can copyright your photographs on our group, we also forward many photographs to the local newspapers so you will see them in print along with thousands of the public.”

Topics of interest are wide-ranging, varying from wildlife and landscape to sunsets.

As a group, they do get discount on many places and have a list of sites to visit

Although the area is currently basking in the warmest summer in years, winter time offers its own opportunities.

“We try to do different things on the dark mornings,” said Ron. “Have a go at sunrise on the seafront in and around Scarborough, Bridlington, Flamborough and Filey – it’s not an early start when the sun doesn’t rise until 8am.

“Now on a good evening we meet on the beach and we do some ‘wire spinning’ – you may well have seen the photos on Filey Beach patterns made on the beach...great evening a thing worth doing and taking part.”

In February, group members spent a weekend away, staying in two Scandinavian huts in the Yorkshire Dales, near Leyburn.

“This was a great weekend for all the members who attended, a great learning curve for the new members who learnt a lot about using their cameras.

“We headed out to Bolton Castle to get some great clear sky shots then returned to the camp to get more through the trees. We visited Leyburn, on an evening shoot, Aysgarth Falls, plus a drive through the countryside. We are considering another trip out later this year – there is room for a good few members to attend lots of huts.”

Once a year, the group aims to have an open exhibition mainly for the new members to display their collection of photographs. The next is in the Evron Centre in Filey on Sunday September 23.

Visit Yorkshire & Around Photographic Group on Facebook and have look at their work – some of which we have featured on this page.