Drive-Thru Photography Bee!

This is a draft post!  We’ll update it as more info becomes available.  (See late breaking news below!)

Time: 1pm March 13

Location: Grace Church

Around this time of year we usually bring our rugs to Grace Church where they are transported to the location of the OHCG Annual Conference and put on display with rugs from other branches across Ontario.  It’s pretty amazing to see hundreds of rugs all in one place - such works of art!

This year will be different as the OHCG Annual will be a virtual event.  They’re going to do their best to ensure we have as great an experience as in previous years, but it will be delivered via Zoom.  We will still see an amazing display of rugs, but it will be in a slide show instead of in person.  We didn’t do a display in 2019, so it would be great if we could pull out all the stops and do a really big one this year!

The OHCG has asked each branch to gather photos of their members’ projects, and submit them to our Image Advisor, who will create a slide show for the Annual Conference on April 17.  Normally we’d do this as an in-person thing, but with Covid conditions, we need to be mindful of how we approach it.

We’re going to do it in a “touch less” manner, where we can photograph your projects while you remain inside your cars - think of a drive-thru photography bee!  It will take place on Saturday March 13 at 1pm at Grace Church, 440 King St E in Cobourg. Here’s how it will work:

1. Select the projects you want to display.  They can have been completed in any year you like.  The only caveat is that the project cannot have been displayed at a previous annual. 
2. On the day of our Photo Bee, put your projects into the trunk of your car, along with a page providing specific info about those projects.
3. You head to Grace Church and pop your trunk open (hopefully without even getting out of your car).  We’ll have helpers on hand (masked, of course!) who will collect your projects to be photographed outdoors.  (We’ll also be using liberal doses of hand sanitizer before we approach every car!)
4. We’ll ask you to park in the church parking lot while we take the photos.  On hand will be member Gwen Brice who knows her way around a camera!
5. When the photos are complete, we’ll put them back in your trunk, and you can head on home!
6. Gwen and Jennifer will assemble the photos and deliver them to the OHCG Image Advisor.
7. April 17 you’ll be able to see your projects, along with all the other branches, in an amazing cavalcade of projects!

A few things to be aware of:

• Gwen Brice will be our primary photographer for the day - she has lots of expertise in photography, so we’re fortunate to be able to access her skills!
• we will keep an eye on Covid restrictions and will adjust the above plans to ensure we comply with the latest public health guidelines for social distancing
• If it’s at all possible we will also try to hold tail gate party on the photo bee day.  We won’t decide this until the week of the photo bee, so stay tuned for more details.  Even if we do the tail gate party, if you prefer to remain in your car to minimize your social distancing, that’s ok, too!
• The church will NOT be open to us, so no washrooms!
• What if you prefer to remain in your home, but have projects you want to display?  You can send us your photos via email and we’ll include them with the rest! Just make sure that they’re at least 1024 x 768 pixels and at least 1 MB (megabyte). Format can be jpg, png or tif.

If you’ve got a project (or more) that you want to include in our display, let us know via email to nrhookers@gmail.com, and tell us whether you’ll come to the touch-less event, or you’ll send us your photos via email.  Alternatively you can call Jennifer with this info.

*** Late breaking news:  Karen Kaiser may also be there on March 13, with things for sale!  This is, of course, subject to weather and pandemic conditions permitting.....fingers crossed!  Stay tuned for further updates.***

Zoom Bigger!

Tanya’s latest rug

Have you considered zooming, but are put off by having to look at such a teensy screen?  Never fear - we have a solution.....if your TV is new-er - eg purchased in the last 5 or so years, it can take the place of your teensy screen!  I tried it out this morning, and it works just fine! If you’re not comfortable monkeying with your TV settings, perhaps you have someone in your household, or bubble who can handle this for you?

Here’s how to tackle this “zoom bigger” thing:

“Airplay” is a feature that allows you to use screen mirroring with an iPhone or ipad.  It won’t work with Android stuff, sadly.  It’s commonly found on TV’s purchased in the past few years.  There are similar products like GoogleCast, but I’m not familiar with them, tho i suspect they do the very same thing.

a) with Airplay all you have to do is select “input” from your remote, and choose AirPlay.  Then go to your phone or ipad, swipe down from the upper right and choose Screen Mirroring and

b) select your TV (probably the only option there), and

c) bingo, whatever is on your phone or ipad is now on your TV screen.  Here you can see a shot of Tanya’s rug that she texted to me.  I’ve shown it on my phone, and because i have screen mirroring turned on, it’s now also appearing on my tv.

This feature is great to use when you want to watch a youtube video....or when you’re on a zoom call, and want to see it the big screen.  Particularly useful if you’re taking a zoom workshop, like all those lovely ones available through the OHCG for the Annual Conference!

Here’s a screenshot i took of a test zoom meeting (between the hubby and i - the only people here!).  If you squint really hard you’ll see my teensy iPhone in front and the same image on it as on the TV.  You still need an iPhone or ipad to act as the camera for the zoom call, but your TV screen replaces your ipad/phone screen.

Another possibility to do all of this is via a laptop with an HDMI port - it all sounds quite techy but if you have access to someone in the know, it’s really quite easy.