Weekly Reports by Steve Wells
(Older reports in Archive)
21st September 2020
Thornbury Camera Club was joined on this occasion by Simon Caplan (LRPS) joining by Zoom from his home in Bristol. Simon is a member of Reflex Camera Club and the Bristol Creative Group. Simon’s subject was “Extraordinary Ordinary”: how the ordinary can look unusual, even unexpected, when looked at in the right way.
Simon’s topics took him from Architecture to Holidays to Harbours, Railways and Churches. Throughout there were common themes. He has a fascination with rust and with detail: topics which might be described as found still-life. Simple shapes extracted from their original context in order to see them in afresh.
He does not usually photograph people often but did show a sequence of images of crafts-people: a leatherworker, a potter, a cooper. In all these cases he was keen to show the interaction between the worker’s eye, hand and the piece they were working on. Several times he described how he had to lie on the floor amongst the wood-shavings and general rubbish of a workshop in order to get the right angle.
Throughout he kept coming back to the idea of decay: rust and details of junk. He decried the wish for, for example, harbourmasters, to repaint things. In Simon’s eye, the repainting was always in grey or black. It seems that those undertaking maintenance do not like bright colours.
Simon’s vision was to see the extraordinary in the ordinary and, thereby, to see the world as a more interesting, more colourful, place.
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14th September 2020
One of the great things about a club is that everyone has something to offer: to teach or to entertain the other members. So, at this evening’s Zoom meeting, two members of Thornbury Camera Club took the (virtual) floor. Steve Bennett described an on-line photography course while Dean Packer showed pictures of Japan.
Steve took part on a 10-week course run jointly by the RPS and the Open University. Steve described an intensive but enjoyable and rewarding 10 weeks in which the tuition was provided by a website supported by contact with tutors and students through on-line forums. Every week an assignment required Steve to go out to take photographs to a brief. These images were then commented upon by other students while Steve commented on their images: the whole process developing the photographer’s eye. The final assignment: the “End of Module Assignment” was a set of ten images marked by one of the tutors.
The course will continue to be available for another couple of years.
Dean Packer has long had a love affair with Japan. He has visited several times taking many photographs on each visit. On this occasion he took us to the main cities: the present capital, Tokyo, and the old capital at Kyoto.
Tokyo is the largest city in the world. Its population of 36 million is more than half of the whole of the UK put together. There are two sides to a city this large: the noise and bustle of the large city and the tranquillity of the green spaces which allow the population to recharge. Both attracted Dean. In the parks and gardens: girls in stylish dress amongst the trees; dogs being taken for a walk; the daily exercise of Tai-Chi. The bustle of the city has a darker side with the traffic, the drinking of the salary men and the obsession which some Japanese men have with young girls.
Kyoto is quieter and forms the cultural and historical heart of Japan. Temples are round every corner and seem to blend into identikit tiled roofs.
Dean has visited several times and will, undoubtedly, visit again.
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One of the great things about a club is that everyone has something to offer: to teach or to entertain the other members. So, at this evening’s Zoom meeting, two members of Thornbury Camera Club took the (virtual) floor. Steve Bennett described an on-line photography course while Dean Packer showed pictures of Japan.
Steve took part on a 10-week course run jointly by the RPS and the Open University. Steve described an intensive but enjoyable and rewarding 10 weeks in which the tuition was provided by a website supported by contact with tutors and students through on-line forums. Every week an assignment required Steve to go out to take photographs to a brief. These images were then commented upon by other students while Steve commented on their images: the whole process developing the photographer’s eye. The final assignment: the “End of Module Assignment” was a set of ten images marked by one of the tutors.
The course will continue to be available for another couple of years.
Dean Packer has long had a love affair with Japan. He has visited several times taking many photographs on each visit. On this occasion he took us to the main cities: the present capital, Tokyo, and the old capital at Kyoto.
Tokyo is the largest city in the world. Its population of 36 million is more than half of the whole of the UK put together. There are two sides to a city this large: the noise and bustle of the large city and the tranquillity of the green spaces which allow the population to recharge. Both attracted Dean. In the parks and gardens: girls in stylish dress amongst the trees; dogs being taken for a walk; the daily exercise of Tai-Chi. The bustle of the city has a darker side with the traffic, the drinking of the salary men and the obsession which some Japanese men have with young girls.
Kyoto is quieter and forms the cultural and historical heart of Japan. Temples are round every corner and seem to blend into identikit tiled roofs.
Dean has visited several times and will, undoubtedly, visit again.
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7th September 2020
While COVID affects many things, the annual round of formal club meetings must continue – if delayed. This evening was the AGM of Thornbury Camera Club. Delayed from April, the AGM was held, as most recent meetings have been held, on Zoom. It is becoming normal for the group to meet in as many different ways as possible: Zoom, Social Media, even Face-to Face (outdoors while preserving social distancing.)
The main theme of the AGM was, as might be expected, the problem of meeting. While there are many options for on-line meeting, there is a social side to the club which is not satisfied without being able to identify a meeting room and share a cup of coffee. A survey of members shows that the majority do not feel ready to meet indoors until, perhaps, next year. So, how does the group preserve access to a room where we can’t meet for several months? This problem has been exacerbated by the Armstrong Hall closing for the foreseeable future: there are simply not enough places in Thornbury for a group of our size to meet.
There was much discussion of Turnberries and the costs of reserving space given that the group cannot return there in the short term. In the interim, the group will continue to meet on Zoom. Most of the speakers booked for the next few months have agreed to present over Zoom.
Meanwhile, the option remains to continue the outdoor meetings which Simon Meeds has successfully organised over the Summer.
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While COVID affects many things, the annual round of formal club meetings must continue – if delayed. This evening was the AGM of Thornbury Camera Club. Delayed from April, the AGM was held, as most recent meetings have been held, on Zoom. It is becoming normal for the group to meet in as many different ways as possible: Zoom, Social Media, even Face-to Face (outdoors while preserving social distancing.)
The main theme of the AGM was, as might be expected, the problem of meeting. While there are many options for on-line meeting, there is a social side to the club which is not satisfied without being able to identify a meeting room and share a cup of coffee. A survey of members shows that the majority do not feel ready to meet indoors until, perhaps, next year. So, how does the group preserve access to a room where we can’t meet for several months? This problem has been exacerbated by the Armstrong Hall closing for the foreseeable future: there are simply not enough places in Thornbury for a group of our size to meet.
There was much discussion of Turnberries and the costs of reserving space given that the group cannot return there in the short term. In the interim, the group will continue to meet on Zoom. Most of the speakers booked for the next few months have agreed to present over Zoom.
Meanwhile, the option remains to continue the outdoor meetings which Simon Meeds has successfully organised over the Summer.
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31st August 2020
Lockdown forces changes. In previous years there has been a competition known as the “Three Way Battle”. In this competition, a location was specified and competitors had to visit the location in a particular 24-hour period to take photographs. To replace this competition, the “Thornbury Camera Club Challenge” was invented: otherwise the principle of the competition was the same. Members of the club visited Chipping Sodbury on a specified day in May. The members who took part were then randomly placed into two teams: “A” and “B”!
The competition was then judged by Bob Eschele who had been an active member of Thornbury Camera Club until he moved down to Cornwall a few years ago. His Zoom background of a monkey playing with a Nikon camera was much appreciated.
The images showed that there had been much variation in weather during the day. Photographers had been up and about at different times of day: some images were taken at midday; others at close to midnight. There were comparatively few pictures of people, but red letter boxes took pride of place in many images and reflections in a diamond-paned window came up twice. If there were few people, wildlife was even less represented: a sole long tailed tit having to stand in for the whole of the world’s fauna.
Photographs of clock towers and roofs reminded us look up to a calm place above the hurlyburly of the streets of Chipping Sodbury.
At the end, team “B” won by 6 points but, by then, I’m not sure anyone could remember who was in which team.
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