As I sit her at my desk with all the windows open and a pleasant breeze/through draft, I feel sorry for anyone who has to commute to work in this.
Thankfully we didn’t have to meet up in this kind of heat!
Good to see everyone and again, my apologies for the technical difficulties that continue to blight our get togethers but hopefully we can solve those for next time.
I started the meeting by thanking Ann for contacting the library on our behalf about next year and the meeting overwhelming agreed that April is a great month and she said she would firm it up for us (now confirmed). All that was now needed was a theme that might excite/attract our sponsor (and again, a huge thanks to Nicola Grant from Putney BID for helping us). Since the meeting, Bill has suggested ‘Impressions of Putney’ and to give everyone a decent shot at producing something, may I suggest we discuss this next time and make a decision, leaving everyone at least 8 months to take their pictures. Thanks again Ann
News of our 2025 exhibition – I let the meeting know that St Mary’s in Putney had given us the go ahead to put up our panels along the railings at the back of the church, for part 2 if you like. They will be there for the next two months and a huge thanks to Bill and Juliette for helping put them up last Thursday. It looks great, so please take time out to take a look and to ‘advertise it’ wherever you broadcast.
Does anyone know PutneySW15, as that might be a great place to promote it?
Next up – I reminded everyone that next month (Juyt 21st) we have a paid for speaker coming, Rick Findler, and besides helping to pay his fee, it would be great to give Rick a good audience, so please let me know if you can come as soon as possible. As this is a special meeting, I felt we should give the meeting over to Rick and everyone agreed – so, no theme pictures next month.
We then moved on a talk by Sue on one of her favourite photographers, Tony Ray-Jones.
Born in 1941, with an interest in photography, aged 19, Tony gained a scholarship to Yale University and was soon taking pictures for newspapers and magazines. On a return to Britain in 1965, he started on a project of Britain at Leisure, which became what we now know him best for. Sadly, Tony died very young, in 1972 from leukaemia.
A huge thanks to Sue for an excellent talk on a fascinating photographer.
After the break, we then moved onto our theme of ‘Community’ and over to James for his thoughts…
After last month’s lovely theme of community – this month’s photo challenge is ‘Chaos’ and remember you have a couple of months to complete this. Think big, think wild… it’s totally open to interpretation. It could be man‑made mayhem, the natural world doing its unruly thing, or even something beautifully controlled like reflections and abstract patterns.
The community challenge was so tricky to pick a clear winner. Everyone interpreted the topic in their own way, and the range of images was wonderful and everyone excelled themselves. Ann’s community image showed community coming together and sharing. I felt this was a great interpretation of the topic and for me, it showed the essence of community. It fits the bill and Is my pic of the month,
Other shots that really deserve a mention were: Bill’s amusing grab‑shot at South Kensington, Sue’s carefully crafted images, Julian’s captures of the colour walk, Rodney’s trailer framed image capturing the sailing/rowing community. . Along with Sarah’s brilliant black and white images we were really treated to a great show and spoilt for choice.
Well done to Ann and James and good luck everyone with our next theme of ‘Chaos’, which will run throughout the summer and be judged in September.
Thanks again everyone, enjoy your ‘chaotic’ photography and do please let me know about next month as soon as you can – all the best AW
Cover Image: Julian Newton