‘In house’ entertainment
SILEBY Photographic Society members entertained themselves at the meeting held on Monday, December 16.
This was the last gettogether of 2019 and, as such, members enjoyed a light-hearted evening of conviviality when they either provided a small selection of images to view, or mince pies and other festive goodies to sample during an extended refreshment break.
Tony Naylor set the ball rolling with his projected images featuring steam locomotives and close-up photography of their moving parts.
Richard Storier entitled his presentation “All Roads to Gweek”. A very quaint little place, out in the sticks and by the sea, seemingly a perfect spot for the local fishermen to build and restore their boats in the peace and quiet of their secret haven.
Peter Wood had visited Yellowstone National Park in 1995 when slide photography was the order of the day, and good images were projected of this iconic part of the world.
Peter had recently revisited the same area, however, capturing similar pictures taken from the same stand-point. It was fascinating to note the beneficial effects that today’s digital photography had on the projected images, and the positive results which had been obtained. Great images.
Pete Smith, a natural history and wildlife photographer, showed examples of the magnificent images which he had submitted to the Royal Photographic Society which had enabled him to be accepted as an associate member of the RPS.
Mission accomplished and his images proved the point.
Mick Wilkinson presented his own take on wildlife and natural history with beautiful images which had been captured in his own garden of busy bees collecting nectar, summer roses, poppies and tulips. Yachts in Anglesey and the Eileen Donan Castle completed his display.
Mike Belson, another natural history and wildlife photographer, presented a humorous display “How Not To Do It”.
An excellent photographer but he proved that sometimes wildlife will just not co-operate in front of the camera lens, turning away at the last second, or just flyng off when he thought the perfect picture was in the bag!
Marika Nute presented a real mix of images. Busy street scenes in Chicago contrasted with images of various flowers, sporting activities and hot air balloons.
Margaret Hawksworth came armed with “Two on the List”.
A recent visit to Alaska provided what she had hoped for and Margaret was able to get relatively close to watch a brown bear busy catching salmon for its lunch, and then was able to watch as it swam away to cross to another island, no doubt for more of the same.
Rock climbing in Yorkshire provided great images and certainly not a hobby for the faint hearted.
Mandy Sherrington’s trip to Spain provided superb images of amazing rock formations, which allegedly represented 60 million years of history. Varying colours, textures and shapes and the sheer height of the cliffs in the area were a sight not to be missed.
Malcolm Coulton’s aversion to “people in pictures” often resulted in a lot of hard work, patience and fortitude when composing gorgeous land and seascape images.
His patience was often well rewarded and, if people didn’t remove themselves, he had become quite adept in employing the services of Photoshop to achieve the required end result.
Jason Jeyes presented magnificent landscape images captured on camera when out and about walking his dogs at the crack of dawn.
Lovely sunrises, and picturesque landscapes of fields and trees in the early morning mist resulted in quite atmospheric and great images.
Gianpiero Ferrari’s projected natural history and wildlife images were up to scratch, as usual. Gorgeous colourful flowers and equally colourful birds going about their routines and, with beautiful coastal scenic views in the background, Gianpiero’s photography never fails to enthral.
Daniel Wood obviously likes to travel and takes his camera with him when he does so. Images of Yellowstone Lake, “Hole in the Rock” in Norway, together with an isolated boat, seemingly going nowhere and locked within a beautiful Norwegian fjord with snow-capped mountains in the background, had great appeal.
He preceded these images with others captured on camera whilst attending a musical extravaganza.
Colin Machin travels widely with his wife, Mandy, and members have viewed much of their beautiful photography captured on camera whilst at home and abroad.
The absence of pictures of them both had, however, become quite apparent and Colin had come up with a few ideas to rectify this whilst, at the same time, avoiding “the selfie” or someone else taking their picture.
Colin projected examples of his efforts which included reflections of the pair in, say, a shop window, pictures of their own shadows, and sometimes a distorted view obtained whilst posing in front of a shiny object. All relatively successful and an interesting exercise.
Alun Williams travels widely too, and his mini-presentation included humourous signs, the text of which he captured on camera en-route. “Don’t Feed the Animals”, for example, featured a few ancient carcasses lying on the ground below.
“Loo With a View” stuck out in the middle of a deserted field, “Bed and Board for the Discerning Traveller” situated next door to a council dump, and others equally quirky which all brought a smile to the face.
Malcolm Coulton, president, thanked everyone for their participation in what had been a very enjoyable evening, and wished everyone a very Merry Christmas.
The first meeting of the New Year will be held on Monday, January 6, when visiting judge, David Gibbins, ARPS, APAGB, will cast his eagle eye over prints and images entered for the Annual Competition.
Visitors and prospective new members are always welcome to attend the meetings which commence at 7.45pm for 8.00pm, and are held at the Sileby Community Centre.
Further information can be obtained from the Society’s website, www.silebyps.org.uk