Chairman's Chatterings - July 2011

07/07/11

Hello & Welcome

I hope you have enjoyed the summer so far and are gathering all those special shots together for use in the coming season.

As you will have seen, we have a new improved web-site thanks to a lot of hard work on the part of Tony Bentley, we hope you use it on a regular basis, although a request for images for use in the gallery has been distributed, response so far has been slow, so please find the time to send in your images for inclusion.

With the publishing of the program you will have noted some changes, firstly the league is now for open subject matter i.e. any subject matter you chose, in addition to that we have two new set subjects appearing in the program for the first time, the first of these Natural History / Nature will be run in a fairly broad based way much as the KCPA Nature Section of the annual exhibition to encourage as many entries as possible, we also have a new set subject that will be chosen by the Chairman annually, this seasons subject is 'Tranquillity this can be anything from a gentle landscape / Seascape, a child daydreaming out of a window, flower swaying gently in the breeze etc. etc. get thinking & jotting ideas down now!

Due to having to put the program together so late we unfortunately were too late to be able to arrange another battle with Perthshire in Scotland who unsurprisingly had a full program already booked how ever I have arranged to discuss details with them in Sept.re arranging a mutually agreeable date for a further battle with them the following season.

Some high lights in this seasons program you should be noting in your diary are

Expedition on 24th Nov. Ken Scott is a mountaineer who takes photos in some spectacular locations, his latest trip (which he is on as I write this) is going to be seen by us (the first outside his own club) as luck would have it I was trying to book Ken for something entirely different when he mentioned the latest expedition & I knew he would do a lecture on it even though nothing at that point had been shot so I got in quickly. Don't miss this !!!

On the 8th March we will be showing the Annual PAGB exhibition (the best club photography nationally)

29th March is your chance to participate in studio set-up portraiture & cat-walk photography under the guidance of an expert (another not to be missed)

10th May sees another first for Invicta when we have a new lecture being but together by balloonist & photographer Andrew Garnham (I asked over dinner a few weeks ago if Andrew could do this for us & he is putting the lecture together now) this should be quite different to the normal ground to air shots. you may recall last time Andrew visited us was to give us the Storm chaser lecture which proved very popular & was also something I suggested he did & again we were the first to benefit.

This year we are starting the season a little later than before, due to this & being told we could not have the hall for three weeks this year, now after some negotiation's two weeks we are running through to late May.

Last season the club experimented with the seating sideways on in the hall, this was rather unpopular with a number of members & this season I'm glad to be able to say we will be reverting back to the normal seating arrangements & in addition to this we are working hard to maximize your enjoyment by having two new large print stands made (one is already done) as I write this, each will hold 24 prints, two of these plus our existing one means we should be able to show all of the prints on most nights, we will also be stipulating that the P.A. system is used on each occasion, hearing clearly was also an issue last season, a problem we don't expect with the seating round the right way for the acoustics but just in case the P.A. will be used each week.

Finally on the maximizing your viewing enjoyment we are discussing ways of projecting an image of the prints onto a large screen (Hopefully on the stage) so everyone can see all the details in each image in addition to this you will be encouraged to come forward to view the prints during Coffee & the evenings end.
All of this means lots of work going on in the back ground & at a time that organizing a committee meeting is proving problematical as so many people are away or booked to do something else, Thanks must go to Bill Bassant who has been instrumental in getting the print stand project off the ground.

Following the first meeting of the new committee it was decided by a vote to change from having our annual dinner at the Stile Bridge & instead to try catering for ourselves at Detling on a DIY basis, this will require volunteers to help arrange & prepare etc. when the time comes please step forward !

Just a quick report on a couple of the summer outings, I can only report on the two I organized myself, perhaps someone else can cover the others, please send your reports into both Tony for the web-site & Mick for Aperture.

Bank Holiday Monday 31st saw the second running of the very popular Brands Hatch funday / workshop, numbers were even higher than last year at sixty yes that's 60 this was very pleasing to me & made all the work involved worthwhile, Invicta numbers were unfortunately low & it must be said had I not opened it up to others it would not have been worth while, thanks to those members who did make it ! pleasingly I have received many e-mails of thanks & some requests for another next year from non Invicta members

Before I move on from this subject altogether I should say that following a chat with the P&P officer at Brands I have been told that I would be allowed to take a small group track side i.e. the other side of the catch fencing on a Friday (Motor sport vision) track day for fast road cars, this would be where the professionals stand & you would be required to sign a disclaimer & wear a high visibility vest supplied by Brands just as professionals have to.
Let me know if you would be interested in this as it's purely on the feed back I get back from you as to whether or not I proceed any further with this unique opportunity.

Sunday 3rd July witnessed the Seaford head outing run under a baking sun, unfortunately Invicta numbers were small but anticipating this I had contacted some friends in Seaford club, St Marys bay club & Bexhill club & they meet up with us ay the Seaford head car park.A very enjoyable day followed with lots of jokes & banter in addition to the photography, lunch at the Golden Galleon was much appreciated & after more photography we finished off with a nice drink in the garden of one of our friends in Seaford all who participated enjoyed a really fun day, thanks go to Peter, Jean & Keith who shared my company on the journey, was there a down side, only that I had forgot to put sun-block on & came back looking like a lobster.

Glyn.