Monday, December 12^th was the half way point in the Club’s season and the final meeting before Christmas, so in traditional style there was a bun fight to round up the evening and a chance to chat and pass on seasonal greetings to everyone.  Oh yes, the first part of the evening was an opportunity for any members to share images with their fellow club members, and how varied these were.   Eight members participated and we saw pictures taken in Alaska, Crete, Poland, Scotland and North Yorkshire.

Ivan Topping showed a sequence he had taken on the White Pass and Yukon Railroad which was built at a great cost of lives between 1898 and 1900 to enable the Yukon Goldfields to be exploited.  This was a terrific feat of engineering as the line goes over the Rockies and Ivan travelled 20 miles on the railway and ascended 3,000 feet in so doing.  The trains are now hauled by three diesel locomotives where in the old days a single steam locomotive took the strain.  We then moved to warmer climes when Andrew Hague showed us images taken in the United Arab Emirates with an emphasis on people engaged upon a variety of tasks including hauling nets out of the sea and gutting the resulting catch of fish.

A snapshot of Poland followed with Carole Smith’s pictures showing the delights of the urban scene of this country with its markets, churches, squares and intriguing streets.  Dave Warner travelled to North Berwick in Scotland after showing us a variety of birds such as a golden eagle, a long eared owl and a vulture and returned home to enable us to see Rievaulx Abbey in mist and devoid of other visitors ending up in Redcar with lovely views of the sea in diffused light.

In the summer Ken Proudley and Peter Rushton organised a practical workshop for club members at Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal.  Ken had taken photographs without the use of his trusty tripod as he was having difficulty in walking at that time and so apologised for the fact that some of his images were not as good as they he would have liked because he had to hold the camera himself and so the exposure time was reduced where taking pictures of a waterfall the water was not as ‘milky’ as he would have preferred.  He had some telling pictures of a club member in most uncomfortable positions to enable her to take the photograph she wanted.  The solarium in the Abbey was represented in several shots which indicated the possibilities in that area.

Peter Rushton had taken part in ‘Worldwide Photo Walk 2011’ when photographers are invited to take photographs during a 2 hour walk.  Walks take place all over the world and in October, when this year’s event was held, he was in Crete.  The weather was good for the walk and some very good shots were taken which Peter had set to music.

Peter Dobson showed an eclectic mix of images all taken in England and several of these featured his grandchildren, one of whom is a great fan of Star Wars so he had devised pictures showing the little boy accompanied by characters from the films including Darth Vader with a cat’s face.  The patterns of rocks in a garden centre indicated to us all that we do not have to travel to exotic places to obtain interesting photographs.  Whitby in September reflected the warm and sunny weather which we enjoyed at that time this year and a visit to Jodrell Bank in Cheshire showed the structure of the telescope to great effect in a range of pattern shots.

The evening ended with Keith Schubert showing a sequence entitled ‘A Wider View’ where he had exclusively used a wide angled lens.  Again there was a range of subjects from trees at different times of the year to Byland Abbey with a stunning sunset behind the abbey reflected in the frozen water of a flood in the foreground. A picture of Castle Howard enabled Keith to point out the hazards of using a wide angled lens on a distant building when the outer walls appeared to be leaning out of the picture on each side.

Our first meeting next month will put Keith Schubert in the guise of a judge as he decides on the merits of images taken for the Summer Subject Competitions.