Dear All

Seems strange to be stuck indoors and for the fine weather not to be drawing me away from my desk all the time, but we so dearly need the rain.

Good to see everyone and I started the meeting by taking a look at the Sony Awards. I know some of you have been but certainly worth a second look.

I then moved onto a short local item – one of nature’s spring highlights in Barnes is when our pair of Swans have their cygnets and, on the day, after they appeared, it didn’t surprise me to find Juliette had beaten me to it – it’s always a lovely sight.

Before moving onto our theme for the month, Rivers & Canals, I brought everyone up to speed re our latest exhibition and our move to the riverside – the council are taking their time to approve this and I’ll report back on this as soon as I have news.

Over to Helen for the runners and riders for this month’s theme and thank you to Rodney for handling this section –

I really enjoyed this month’s theme so thank you so much to Juliette for choosing it.

It was such a joyful set of images. My favourite image is On the River by Nigel which I think is a stunning monochrome image that manages to convey a very moody sky and beautifully lit structures from a fantastic perspective. I also love Kingston Fly Pass by James because of that serendipitous capture of the birds in all their glory.

I loved two of Juliette’s images, The Albert (is that right?) Bridge but also the swans on the river. Another serendipitous moment. Julian’s image of Putney Bridge, Misty Day in Putney looks like it was captured many years ago, particularly as there is hardly any traffic on the bridge.

Theme for next month, as discussed, is Street Photography! Thank you so much and see you next month.

So, over to you Nigel for next month and thank you Helen.

After the break, we were royally entertained by Rodney and the bell ringers of St Mary’s Barnes. I don’t know about you, but I certainly learnt something new including the origin of ringing the changes.

Finally, in my section on Barnes, I included a shot of an allotment I took several years ago in Sheen and having revisited it recently, I wondered whether it might be fun to set up a visit, as they are great fun photographically. The consensus seemed that this was a good idea and I shall see if I can get permission for us to visit. If this fails, I also know the people who run the one off Dover House Road and they might be worth trying. Anyway, more on this to come…

Well done again to Nigel – our next meeting will be on Tuesday 17 June and I look forward to seeing everyone then – good luck with your street shots and above all else, enjoy – regards AW