Note: we used the Zoom platform instead of the washing-line evenings at the church hall, when each of us can hang an A4 print on a cord strung across the hall and we then all award points.
This was an enjoyable and inspiring evening open to everyone in the Society, talking about our photos taken in lockdown from January 1 to January 17. One poor member felt obliged to exclude himself, as he took his lockdown shots on 28 December. We were supposed to include a shot taken on January 1, but apart from a couple taken at midnight this did not seem to play a role.
Twenty-nine of us submitted a total of 84 images (three each). First we saw all 84, briefly. Then we were divided into groups of five, and for 30 minutes each group discussed their own set of 15 images and decided each photographer's 'best' shot (the group's favourite).
With scarcely a break for announcements about the future programme, we then all saw the 29 selected images and each had a minute to talk about our own photo.
The show finished at 8.55, perfectly timed and involving a huge amount of organization, and John Murray, our webmaster, must have borne the brunt of it and managed the evening superbly. Many thanks also to Paul, Gerard and others planning behind the scenes.
A gallery of the 29 images is now up on our website
here, and for a brief time members can, on Photo Entry, see all 84 before they disappear for ever. After all, it would be a shame to have glimpsed them briefly and never again, though we were warned by John.
This was the best way I have yet encountered to get feedback on images. The emphasis was on looking and discussing – there were no points and no winners. It's easy to comment: in one or two minutes, you can say a lot, but if you have nothing to say, you don't have to wait long to move on to the next. In theory we can have a discussion on flickr or on PhotoEntry, but there's nothing like face-to-face contact to encourage the exchange of opinions.
What kind of photos did we take in lockdown?
Some took photos out on a permitted walk. Locations varied – snow-covered fields in Durham, trees in a landscape of snow and mist, snowless fields in Suffolk, woods in the Chilterns, an estate in Hertfordshire, coots fighting, Brighton West Pier with a surfboarder, riding (rather than walking) in Windsor Great Park, a park bench, fungus on a tree, night bus to Waterloo. Colin Page's night bus shot was one of my favourites. Colin wasn't there, so we had to speculate on whether it was simply a very high ISO shot where the sky was heavily grainy and the bus sharp, or was it a mashup like his Humberote, which once deceived a judge?
Walks in London included Spitalfields, Liverpool Street Station, Blythe Hill Fields, the view from Waterloo Bridge, lichens on an overlooked bench in Kew Gardens, London City Island, the Thames Barrier, railings recalling the shape of coronavirus. Karen Neal's bench with lichens inspired me – to go out looking for lichens. Wonderful colours and textures.
Then there were objects photographed mainly indoors, when the photographer either couldn't go out or wanted to spend more time at home. Individual flowers, flower arrangements recalling Dutch old masters, flowers with a little out-of-focus figure, two vases (thanks to Photoshop) confronting each other, the splash made by two water drops colliding, a partly dismantled hard disk drive associated with the Society's history, strangely just one selfie, glass jars, a reflective glass bauble, some wall art zoomed in on, a child in a play tunnel (?). My selfie seemed to go down very well and encouraged me to do more – I have hesitated to post pictures of myself in the past.
What we didn't see were photos from the ends of the earth or holidays in Europe – we didn't even get one showing North Carolina or Paris, no Arctic or Antarctic or Australia or South America or Vietnam or Myanmar. Some photographers must be suffering more in lockdown than I am!
I know many of us have found going out and taking photographs a lifeline in these strange times, and some remarked how inspiring it was to see the variety of other work and to hear the photographers talking about it.
Upcoming meetings: we are all excited to see the conclusion of the storytelling competition with Jim Grover on February 2, and on February 16 Natalie Robinson and Mandy Williams will be talking about their recent work. Natalie and Mandy currently have a Covid-suppressed exhibition at Offshoot Gallery, which can be seen
online here.