Bath College’s Snap and Stroll students will share images reflecting the way they see their local community at a new exhibition opening in Bath this month.
Led by Sally Collister, from In the Picture Participatory Photography CIC, the course is organised by the Adult Community Learning team at Bath College.
It was created to benefit a wide range of people, including those who are in recovery from or experiencing mental health challenges.
Students spend eight weeks exploring their town, learning how to take photographs and making a new group of friends in the process.
The new exhibition will combine photographs taken by two groups, based in Bath and Radstock, and will open at the Guildhall on 22nd August.
Students are busy choosing the final images for the exhibition and discussing how they will be displayed with university student Katie Constantine.
Irene Edgell, from the Radstock area, is taking part in the course for the second time and was part of a group trip to Avon Valley Adventure & Wildlife Park.
She said: “It’s been really good to continue on the course. The only thing is the weather, every time we’ve walked round it’s been raining!
“The first course came at the right time for me because I had lost my husband. It gave me something to do and I enjoy being part of the group.
“I wanted to come back to learn how to put my photos on the computer. I’ve got a lot of memory cards and I wanted to learn how to organise my pictures.
“Once you do this course, you start looking at pictures with a photographer’s eye rather than snapping away. It’s interesting to see how the final photos are chosen and hung to show off out hard work.”
Sally, from the Picture Participatory Photography CIC, said: “I’m so pleased to see how much participants have progressed.
“Many have gone from having little experience using a camera or computer to taking, uploading and editing the beautiful images you’ll see in the exhibition.
“Spending afternoons exploring with camera in hand and discussing each other’s’ images has been a real pleasure and there’s been a lot of laughter.
“Many participants have noticeably increased in confidence and benefited greatly from being part of a supportive group.”
The exhibition opens at the Guildhall (from 9am to 5pm) on 22nd August and runs until 25th September. For information on the Snap and Stroll course, visit www.bathcollege.ac.uk/product/snap-and-stroll.
