MEMBERS' SHOW AND TELL EVENING

We had ten different speakers at this meeting, which was a good chance to see what some of our fellow members are doing with their photography and to put names to some of the new faces we have met recently.

The brief for the evening was to bring ten images, ideally of low light work, to share and talk about. Lee Dalgleish had organised the participants who varied greatly in experience so it was brave of them to come forward.

First up was our President, Alan Burkwood, who we all know for his steam engines, and he didn’t disappoint. He brought a lovely image of an engine at Lincoln with the steam lit by the station lights and standing out well against the dark sky. Knowing his subject had enabled him to get to the right place at the right time and produce a really impressive shot. The majority of his other images were taken locally at night and included light.

Dave Clarke followed with shots from a trip to New York. He took us to some unusual vantage points for night time shots which ranged from Brooklyn Bridge to the scenery being dismantled after the last night of Phantom on Broadway. He had taken the opportunity of having a high-level hotel room to get some shots from the window to complement other shots he had taken from elevated positions on viewing platforms showing the ICONIC illuminated skyline.

Tom Coulson, another of our experienced members, brought a selection of low light shots including set up photography costumed events and the Northern Lights. He was also the author of the second shot of an illuminated tram at Crich.

Cheryl Finney, one of our newer members, followed. She is at the beginning of her photographic journey, particularly with processing. She showed her low light shots and opened them to the floor for comment. She was offered a number of constructive ideas. There is clearly promise in her work and she has a good eye.

Melvyn Lambert is someone we have seen less from in the past, so it was good to get an insight into what he does. He said he really does not process his images. He had been out and about in the local area looking for unusual shots and challenged members to identify the where he had captured them including trails, both from cars and the rail line.

Ant Arch, another newer member, brought shots covering a number of areas, including several taken around Scarborough. He had discovered the attraction of the fairground for its mix of action and lights and had done well to hand hold the camera for some of the shots, including the big wheel.

Simon Carr is one of our best nature photographers, but he showed his versatility this time with a number of shots of the Aurora Borealis taken in widely differing locations. He likes capturing star trails and had brought several. He had excelled himself with a shot from the Joshua Park in the USA in which he had managed to capture the Milky Way and a bright spot which was Venus.

Mike Vickers is a specialist bird photographer who has shown many examples of his skill in the past. This time he brought photos from a trip to Japan, where he had joined a group at a centre set up to attract the biggest owl in the world – Blakiston’s Eagle Owl. The birds duly arrived and his shots were very sharp and detailed, including some of it with one of the fish stocked to attract them.

Rob Greene has not shown us his work before and he brought a good selection which included some still life scenes, and a couple where he had demonstrated his digital manipulation skills to create amusing scenes.

Lee Dalgleish rounded off the night with a series of shots taken on a visit to London. This visit he had concentrated more architecture. Canary Wharf and the area around it lends itself to photography with interesting modern designs. He had also captured some of the iconic buildings on the London skyline, but perhaps one of the most arresting was of an older building. With the Gherkin behind it, the had discovered the tiny St Ethelburger’s church, which originally dates from the 1420s. The IRA destroyed it with a bomb, but it was restored around the turn of the century and now stands as a centre for peace and reconciliation.