'Lively, brimming with ideas, good seeing and good company' is just a partial description of our meeting in July.

With a full house of contributors there was so much to enjoy and fit into this session.  Here’s a flavour of the variety of content…..

Bob Green presented his vision of the fascinating city of Gerona through a series of well-chosen Tintype images.  Moving from warm monochrome into vibrant colour and a few thousand miles to the east, David Sowerbutts found plenty of attraction in the flower and vegetable market of Jaipur.

Remaining ‘over the water’, well, the Isle of Wight to be precise, Bob Oakley’s interpretation of so-called amusements and the numerous enticements to gamble upon the pier at Sandown provided plenty of dazzle and shimmering colours.  In absolute contrast, Derek Skinner’s portrayal of the National Memorial Arboretum reminded everyone about the concept of ‘selfless service’.

Henry Leeson’s acute eleven year-old eyes found much to consider amongst the remains of aircraft within a private museum at an RAF base.  Meanwhile, Darren, Henry’s father, entertained everyone with his witty ‘visual poetry’ and plans for an ‘alpine adventure’. 

Clive Haynes reminded us about the extreme unlikeliness of ‘being’ through a range of diffuse, warm-toned, infrared images of people enjoying summer days.  Meanwhile, the sense of entitlement of some visitors to National Trust properties caused Nigel Reader to compare today’s tourists with the original landowners ambitions for exclusivity and grand design.

Architectural forms as abstract patterns were the focus of Lucy Allum’s imagination whilst the distinctive art of automobiles of the past captured David Hall’s attention. 

Tessa Mills became briefly enraptured but not ‘wrapped-up’ with a visual peon about plastic and to round off a most enjoyable event, Dr. Charles Ashton presented a fine set of ICM images showing people on the move in Oxford.

Our two ‘outside sources’ provided much interest.  With so much dreadful conflict in the Middle East, we appreciated the photography of Orna Naor, a street photographer who also enjoys sea-photography.  Every summer, the Machsom Watch women organise visits of Palestinian women and children to the beach; for most of them, for the first time in their lives.  Here’s the link to Orna’s Facebook series (which means you’ll require a Facebook account to view):  ‘Women of the Sea’

The other ‘outside source’ was ‘Seven Days of Garbage’, by Gregg Segal.  An insightful idea where people were asked to lie down amidst the garbage they had accumulated over just seven days.

Here’s the link:  Seven Days of Garbage.

All members’ work from our session can be seen in our Viewpoint e-book for this month.  Click on the image below or this link: Viewpoint and choose the July 2025 edition.  The same link provides access to many previous issues of ‘Viewpoint’ - a fascinating treasure-trove waiting for you to explore!

The next CPG meeting will be on Thursday, 7^th August 2025.

We look forward to your input and company

Best wishes,

Tessa and Clive.