Our August meeting provided the usual eclectic mix of subjects and styles.
Various summer activities accounted for the absence of several stalwarts of our group. Tessa was enjoying a birthday treat at the Commonwealth Games and the same Games also accounted for Eric and Linda being unable to join us. With holidays and fine weather, other apologies were also received. Nevertheless, we enjoyed a wide selection of topics and personal viewpoints.
With Tessa enjoying the sport, Clive was grateful to Bob Oakley for sharing the hosting spot with him.
Taking the Commonwealth games as his background theme, Nigel Reader presented scenes in Birmingham as the city dressed up and readied itself for the extravaganza of sport. Broadly maintaining a Brum and Black Country connection and quite coincidentally, Bob Train and Simon Brzeski both chose to show how people lovingly recreate ways of life and maintain intricate mechanisms from the past to provide continuity, historical context and strands of knowledge. Aboard a cruise ship, Dr. Charles Ashton whisked us around the UK (with a brief detour to the Normandy coast), whilst Gill Haynes remembered the beauty and drama of south-west Ireland.
Kaz Diller’s ever-acute and ‘seeing eye’ featured aspects the human condition through gestures and body language. Derek Skinner revealed his delight in the interplay of light upon surfaces offering reflections, shadows and silhouettes. Clive Haynes showed how, by focussing upon one subject over the course of just 90 minutes in Upton-Upon-Severn (during a recent WCC Ad Hoc Event), a series of images with a connected narrative can be produced. In complete contrast, Richard Sarginson swept us to ‘other worlds’ with his dextrously managed fractal fantasies.
Our two ‘outside sources’ provided more contrasts.
Jessica Hines’ moving and emotional journey expressed how photography helped her to come to terms with her brother’s suicide following his experiences whilst serving with the US army during the war in Vietnam.
Link: My Brother's War
A large format camera and the wet collodion process were fundamental to Lindsey Ross’s adventurous expression, ‘Mushroom people’.
Link: Mushroom People
Making the Most of Opportunities
Do remember to check out the Ad Hoc Events listed in the WCC Members’ Area. They can provide ideas and inspiration - and the opportunity to have a chat with our friends.
Share Your Photos
Also, please remember that we have a members’ only image-sharing forum on the WCC website. You can post up to two images a day for comment and response. The more the merrier!
Meeting-time Update
From September onwards all WCC meetings, whether face-to-face or online via Zoom, will begin at 7.30pm. This move will prevent uncertainty about the start-time for our two modes of meeting.
Viewpoint e-book
All members images and individual statements from the session are ready to be viewed in this month’s edition of ‘Viewpoint’. Click on the image below or use this link: Viewpoint
