Dear All

Good to see everyone the other night and thanks for turning out on such a balmy night.

I started by offering my apologies about a possible visit to a local allotment; as I had not had any luck making contact and too much on to chase them up more than I had. Hopefully next year….

Of more import, our exhibition remains up and intact and I think it would be a good idea to organise a meet-up there sometime in September, before the weather breaks and include a drink or 3 at The Dukes Head.

We then moved onto Sue and Julian’s visit to a Hat Festival earlier in the year and what a fabulous idea for an event – the hats of course but the whole costumes on show were brilliant, with the participants really making an effort. So, taken with it, I suggest that Julian leads us back there next year? Watch this space – thanks to the two of them for sharing.

After the break, we then moved onto our theme of the month, architecture and a very strong selection of pictures from everyone.

Now over to James for his thoughts on our theme’s runners and riders…

Well done to you all on submitting some wonderful images. Deciding on a single outstanding image this month has not been easy. I have tried not to be distracted by the amazing architecture in far off lands, but instead have concentrated on how well the photographer has created their image based on composition, the angle they chose and of course what they chose to include and possibly omit.

Nigel’s set of images were the first shown and they were all very good. I particularly liked the repeating arches with the old gas lamps and felt that this was one of the best images of the evening; however, it would be unfair to hand the baton back to Nigel. I particularly liked Andrew’s mirrored Nine Elms, a great image of the towers punching into a wonderful mackerel sky. Charles too created some great images. Paul and Tim’s images showed careful framing and were well executed making me yearn to be back in New York. Both Alastair and Juliette had carefully chosen where to take their images from and they were well crafted

Helen’s images also deserve a special mention as they were all well executed and showed the care and precision she is taking in making her images

Rodney’s graphic image of the footbridge in Krakow rightly created a stir and is a worthy third

Fred showed his wonderful skill at seeking out the best vantage point to photograph the curves and angles of some amazing shapes and is in second place

Bill’s range of images fascinated me but I particularly liked the composition he had chosen for his untitled colour shot of the stairs and dome. With the strong curves and shadows this would have also worked in mono. For me this was the stand out image of the evening. So well done Bill you are the winner

Well done Bill and well done everyone who entered, as a sparkling array of pictures and thanks to Nigel for having suggested such a good topic to cover.

James’s idea for a theme for our next meeting in September is – ‘quintessentially British’ offering an extraordinary number of possibilities from sport, wildlife and culture – great, adopted!

Finishing up in good time (having learnt my lesson from last time), James shared that he and Fred are having an exhibition at the end of the month in Mayfair and we all invited to their private view on the 29 July – details at What’s On

Cover image © Sue