It’s fair to say that the first meeting of the new season was full of flashing lights and tricky exposures.

We reconvened for 2023/4 at the Masonic Hall on Thursday, and whilst providing a full-on practical evening so early in the season was a challenge, I was happy to have the summer months to plan and organise it. The information sheet that accompanied the evening will be sent to all to help them experiment at home.

Most of our existing members attended, and we greeted four prospective new members, engaging in an orchestrated, sociable exchange before getting down to the main business of the evening, which focussed upon table top techniques, using tripods and remote releases for long and multiple exposures.

Two of the group persuaded husbands to come along and help, and plied with some excellent home-made cake and posh teas and coffees, Frank and Martyn duly obliged by whirling and twirling an LED endowed hula hoop as the light faded in the car park. To say that they were greeted with enthusiasm would be an understatement and we look forward to seeing the edited photos that certainly encouraged the creativity.

Indoors members experimented with images of “dark food”, and bubble surfaces that writhed like alien planets, playing with macro lenses and tripods under single light sources, diffused and reflected by simple home-made gadgets. A further set up saw abstract images emanating from strands of coloured wire and single stalks of late summer grasses, as a result of some hand-held, deliberate camera movement, which for some raised their understanding of ICM to a new level. They are directed to David Day’s website for more ideas. For their final challenge members revisited the Peps Ventosa technique of multiple exposure, making good use of a rotating cheeseboard and a range of potted plants and artificial roses against a textured background.

In camera possibilities increased members’ creativity and challenged their knowledge of camera menus, and again it will be interesting to view the processed images in a couple of weeks.

There was much enthusiasm and we hope our visitors will return to full membership if they feel it is for them- some of our evenings are quieter affairs that feature speakers and presentations as well as competitions and outings - all detailed on the website along with our programme for September to June so take a look.

Next week’s presenters have had to postpone to a later date so we will use our Zoom meeting to view some excellent WCPF images and hope for inspiration!

Jenny Short