Thursday 2nd November

We had a superb double act last night with Mike Hancock and Ann McDonald with ‘An Indian Extravaganza’. Two very different approaches, both fascinating.  Mike, our Vice Chair, took a documentary style to his trip around India, which he had made alone.  The story he told of his trip was full of Mike’s enthusiasm, humour  and self deprecation and full of interesting – and useful – detail on how he arranged his trip, his attempts to stay clear of ‘guides’ and the tourist hotspots.  Mike’s enjoyment of India and respect for the people shone through, especially his tale about the young student he was eventually persuaded to take on as a guide who had proved so informative and hospitable and with whom Mike remains in touch.  He assured us he hadn’t asked for the palace hotels, although we might have been less than convinced!  His images wonderfully brought his tale to life, illustrating particularly his ability to attract lovely smiling people who he told us seemed to find him a constant source of amusement!   

It was timely that just before Ann started her talk, to Ann’s great surprise, Peter Rocchiccioli presented her with a Silver Medal gained at the PAGB Inter Club Print Championships at Blackburn last weekend.  (You can see more about how the Club did on a separate post.)  Ann has of course held most of what John Bradshaw in his vote of thanks called the ‘offices of state’ for the Club and most recently was made a Vice President, and it was a joy to see such a first rate collection of her work.  Her presentation showed us an absolute wealth of stunning images, mostly the wonderful people pictures we know as Ann’s style, but just so many that were new to us.  As well as the simple pleasure in seeing such a variety of images Ann supplemented her talk with photograph tips, both at the camera stage and in post processing, and concluded with a lovely AV.  It is a real strength of the Club that we have such talent among our members and always a particular pleasure when we spend an evening entertained by ‘our own’.

We have Chris Palmer with us next week us our judge for the first of the Advanced Print Competitions of the season.   You might like to catch Chris earlier in the week too as he will also be at  Havant Camera Club on Tuesday 7th to give a talk, ‘Beyond the Summit’, which is his image making post his Fellowship. All are very welcome.

Next week, Thursday 9th November, is also the deadline for submitting prints for the first Club and Intermediate Print Competitions – don’t forget!

Images from Mike Hancock’s Indian Extravaganza