Pew Sheet – 4th April 2021 Easter Day
The Rector writes ‘Happy Easter ! It’s such a shame we can’t be together in church at this joyous time but we can still celebrate our Risen Lord, each one of us in our own homes…. and we can only pray that we will soon be back together again. God bless you all’

Random Notes CCCLXXIV
Photographs now form an important part of our weekly streamed services. It started with using some photos Canon Elaine took, and then I added some from my (far too infrequent) country walks.
After that we started to ask for contributions from the Union of Parishes, with many people submitting photos to date.
It’s clear some people are digging out their digital camera and taking it for a walk, whereas others, like me, are relying on their smartphone. My camera gear consists of a now elderly Nikon D90, and my even more elderly Canon EOS 400D, and my Samsung smartphone. Guess which one gets used the most? My smartphone reliably delivers good landscape photos or closeups of flowers and plants, even in poor light. There is a saying that your best camera is the one you always carry with you and in this case it’s certainly true.
How important are the photos to our Sunday services? The answer is extremely as the photos actually form part of our online liturgy. If a hymn or a piece of music does not have the accompanying words, I try to pick a visual that reflects the mood of that hymn or the service. Also, I’ll try and pick a “morning” photo for the prelude and an “evening” photo for the voluntary.
For example, for Palm Sunday I went with a gorgeous morning photo for the prelude to reflect the celebratory tone of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem. I then picked a very striking photo of the moon for the silent end to the service, which I felt fore shadowed our passage into Good Friday later this week. Most of the time, your photos are used with intent. The photos that do not form part of the service itself go into a slideshow which is used as a lead-in to each streaming.
Some of you will have noticed that the odd photo appears sideways or even upside down, a technical problem that I have yet to fix. I try to rotate photos between the service and slideshow every week. Also, as the seasons change, I’ll be phasing out some older photos as newer ones come in. What about the quality of the photos? Most people will have a smartphone or camera that boasts 12 megapixels or much more. We stream video in a format called 720p which is just under 1 megapixel. So even a snapshot hurriedly taken with an old smartphone or camera is usually of good enough quality to insert into our stream. So please don’t be put off if you don’t have a fancy camera. The only technical constraint is that landscape photos (wider than they are high) are preferred as they will the screen better. So, please send me your photos. Pictures from in and around Monkstown and Carrigaline and environs are very welcome.
You can email them to simonwoodworth@gmail.com.