YOUNGSTERS in the Vale of Clwyd have certainly been in the frame!

The Rotary Club of Denbigh has been working with pupils from Years 5 and 6 at Ysgol Pendref to develop their skills as young photographers with a view to competing in Rotary’s young photographer competition.

The young photographer contest is a well-established and successful competition, organised and promoted by Rotary International in Great Britain and Ireland.

It is open to all schools and college communities and those who are home educated, along with any other young peoples’ community organisations. There are three age groups.

The junior competition is for those aged between seven and 10 years, with an intermediate category for 11-13 year olds and a senior section for 14-17 year olds.

The theme for this year’s competition was ‘Through my eyes’ and the competition aims to encourage young people to experiment with photography, use digital and/or traditional methods of photography, demonstrate interpretation of the topic, and express ideas through the medium of photography.

As preparation for submitting entries for the young photographer competition at club and district level, Rotarians Tim Webb and Dewi Roberts led workshop sessions with eight learners from Ysgol Pendref.

This was aimed at guiding them to produce a portfolio of three photographs based upon the theme ‘Through My Eyes’ in colour or black and white on photographic paper.

During the first workshop, Tim gave a talk on the historical development of photography and showed learners a number of old cameras and other equipment.

The pupils then had a go at photography themselves within the confines of the school’s play areas, using traditional cameras in addition to the school’s digital tablets.

A second workshop was then organised for learners to try out their newly developed skills in the local area, when the group ventured out into parts of the town, including the castle, Lenton Pool and St Mary’s Church.

The group used the final workshop to edit and prepare their entries for the club competition.

Kaylee Hamlett’s series of three photos not only gained first prize in the club stage of the competition, judged by Tony Griffiths of Denbigh, but also went on to gain first prize in the district contest.

The work of all eight young photographers is currently on show at Denbigh Library.