Country ConnectS Captures
“I never noticed that before” “If only I could capture that moment!”
“If only I had a better camera!” “If only I knew how to take that picture!”
Join us on our Country Connects guided walks this Spring and Summer and you will have the opportunity to learn some valuable hints and tips to help unleash your creativity using your smartphone camera. A professional photographer will be joining us on our Country Connects walks from March 2024 through to August 2024, providing lots of hints and tips to the group, challenging us to look at our surroundings from a different perspective and advising on how to capture those beautiful moments in nature experienced when out walking, landscapes, flowers, plants, trees or maybe even a bird or animal, using your smartphone camera.
We would love if you would share your images with us after each walk. Photographs taken on the walk can be uploaded to this website using the link below. One photograph per person per walk will be accepted. The theme for each walk is nature and landscape. If there are people visible in the image, a signed consent form must also be supplied. (See T&Cs) Approved images will be shared on our Country Connect Captures Gallery page. In September, twenty images from across all six walks will be selected for the Country Connects Captures Exhibition which will take place during Wexford Walking Trails Fesitval 2024.
So come and join in the fun on our Country Connects walks and let’s get creative!
PS Did we mention? This is a free event!
The project is kindly supported by Creative Ireland Wexford and Wexford County Council.
Background Information About the Project
Overview
Country Connects Captures offers those engaging in the Country Connects monthly social walks the opportunity to engage in a creative photographic activity as they enjoy their guided walk, extending the benefit of the walk and developing a new skill. A photographer will join six of the monthly walks from March through to August, providing hints and tips for capturing nature photos using a camera phone during the walk. The approach will be experiential, with participants encouraged to ‘give it a go’ , while also gaining creative insights from the photographer as they walk. Key rest points in the walk provide an opportunity for more group guidance and highlighting key techniques. Participants will be given the opportunity to submit one photo from each walk to be published in an online gallery record of the walk, hosted here on Wexford Walking Trails website. Selected photos from the gallery will form a public exhibition during the Wexford Walking Trails Festival in September.
Project Aims
The aim of the Creative Connect Captures project is to extend the benefits of walking beyond physical exercise to creative thinking and expression through developing a new creative skill that can be used in every day life using equipment already owned. An introduction to photography skills presents walkers with a new aspect to a walk, inspiring alternative creative ways to view a familiar path. Through the Creative Connect Captures Gallery and Creative Connect Captures Exhibition, we aim to extend the reach and benefit of skills learned beyond the six walks included in the project, and expect further engagement in future walks as a result of the experience gained through this project. The project aligns to Strategic Priority 3 & 5 of the Wexford Culture & Creativity Strategy, developing and promoting existing walks, and encouraging participation in activities with the natural environment assets of a community to enhance wellbeing.
