The disc slipped smoothly into the Shuttle, the SX60 projected perfectly, the sound reached a crescendo – and we were catapulted into a night amongst the stars.
The stars on this occasion were the 500 photographers (anybody count them?) whose images had been selected and placed on disc by the Photographic Alliance of Great Britain, no less. Some of the images we saw wouldn’t have got past our own Selection Committee – understandable given the numbers. Having said that, there were many inspiring examples that we’d have given our right arm to have in our collection.
The syllabus had advertised this as a “recorded lecture”. As it turned out, there were no words. Instead the pictures were accompanied by an incessant plucking of guitar strings that had no relevance whatsoever to the visual extravaganza. Now I suspect that many in the audience appreciate the classical Spanish guitar in relatively small doses but 45 minutes of sameness became a touch wearing. A show of hands at the interval confirmed that a fair proportion would have preferred the sound turned off, but the majority agreed on having the sound turned right down for the second half which made it tolerable at least.
Also on the debit side was the poor titling of the images. An attempt had been made to include title and author in a sensibly subtle style on each image. This worked for the majority but it was inconsistent. On many of the “high key” images the titling was lost. Others suffered from lettering that was inexplicably too small to be readable. Some had no lettering at all. A small point perhaps, but “if a job’s worth doing, it’s worth doing properly”. I would have expected better from the PAGB.
Having said all that, the general consensus was that the evening had lived up to our modest expectations. Recorded “lectures” are always a bit of an unknown quantity and of course none of the above criticisms reflect on our excellent syllabus secretary. Anyway, in this instance the pictures had saved the day leaving most of us in awe and admiration of the many club photographers who had contributed – so our thanks to them.
Danny had chaired the meeting in the absence of President Rob and wound up proceedings with a request for a round of applause for the tea makers. We were happy for the opportunity to put our hands together – on this occasion for brewers Dorothy and Jackie, not forgetting Richard and Penny who transport the refreshment stuff from Poynton.
One final point: our audience fitted very comfortably into the accommodation afforded by our stand-by home at the tennis club. The room thanks to its modest proportions, and our attending members, soon warmed up. I know that many will lament the passing of this homely venue with its adjacent bar – as they will the long-serving council chamber at Poynton – both now apparently deemed to be “unfit for purpose” thanks to our increasing membership numbers. Ah well, that’s progress.
(Note: I was requested to blog a report of proceedings on this occasion by our regular contributor, Bill Chadband who was unable to attend the meeting. No doubt he’ll be back with a more balanced report next week!)
