Well here we are again, after what can only be described as a very mixed summer. The first meeting was very well attended and we welcomed six new faces, who we hope will join as members. I would ask them to come to some more meetings before they make their minds up, as the first meeting of the season is hardly typical. New folk are sometimes put off by the sight of big mounted prints. We are a bunch of friendly people who enjoy their photography, but who do not take things too seriously. Photography is to be enjoyed.
Our Chairman Chris kicked off with a very comprehensive run throughout the make up of the new season’s content. He told us of the new arrangements for our internal competitions and also a bit about our external comps. The subjects for the set subject competitions will be: ‘The Ordinary made Extraordinary’ for the PIs and ‘Minimalism’ for the prints, so that will make us all put our thinking caps on! Chris then introduced all the members of the Committee that were present, and included me as the Club Sage! I have always thought they were wise, not this one.
We currently have an exhibition of our pictures in the Storrington library and are planning to have another in Old Mill Square. Chris requested that we each bring two prints to the next meeting for selection for this example of our work, in addition to our entries for the first competition, two prints Any Subject, and on this occasion we are requested to e-mail our two PIs to the Projected Image Competitions Secretary (see his recent e-mail).
Back to Chris’s remarks, he told any members old or new to ASK about anything that they do not understand with their cameras, preparing and mounting prints, camera settings, anything. If the member you ask cannot answer your query they will know someone else who can.
At our AGM in May, John Gauvin, who retired as Print Secretary at the end of our previous season, had said at the time "I am giving up photography" and proceeded to rush off at the break. He was bluffing, as usual, as what he was in fact doing was rushing off to Heathrow to catch a plane to Finland to photograph Brown Bears. He gave us a very amusing description of his adventures with his wife accompanying him. He poured a cup of coffee over his only pair of trousers, endured some very basic conditions and nearly froze to death for a lot of the time, However, he did get some very good pictures of Brown Bears.
Then we saw some of Robert Mitchell's pictures of various subjects including his wife; an unknown butterfly; some pictures of some fine locomotives on the Romney and Hythe railway; Alice in Wonderland and other subjects.
After the break, Martin Tomes gave us a very slick and well prepared slide show called ‘Fuchl am See’ which was of his recent holiday near Salzburg in Austria. It was expertly set to classical music chosen by his wife Ruth. (I am afraid to admit that if I ever try something similar it would be set to Elton or Simply Red).
Finally, Chris gave us a slide show of his Summer holiday trip with his wife towing a caravan (the car towed it, not her) up to the northernmost tip of Scotland and back showing his route on maps. We saw stunning landscapes (nearly all taken with his brand new Wide Angled Lens). with wonderful Mountains and Rock formations (several of which a youthful Chris had climbed). There were some great pictures taken in Edinburgh including the very expensive Parliament building, and several views of the Forth Bridge. He had to hurry through his last bit as we ran out of time,
And so ended a very good start to the new season.