November was a very busy month for us. The first meeting was a club night, where we selected prints & PDIs to be considered for the competition against Lakenheath. These would then be whittled down by the selection committee to comply with our rules. The remainder of the evening was taken up with general discussion plus there was also some Photoshop tuition (always welcome).
This year’s Christmas meal was held again at the White Hart, Stoke Ash. As has become quite usual with club events, it was very well attended and, I think, enjoyed by all. My thanks to Sandra for her hard work in organising it, collecting the money and sorting out the menus; a pleasant surprise was the little gift for everyone.
Our second meeting of the month was an open competition, judged by Daphne Hanson. Unfortunately, due to illness, I was unable to attend, which was a shame as I got one of my rare good marks (for a PDI)! Her judgement & comments which were concise and constructive were well received. The attendance was excellent. We might need to look at a larger room in the future! In addition, it was the first time that our new projector, laptop and display software were used together so thanks are due to Roy and Keith for enabling it to all go so smoothly.
A photo shoot at Alton Water (just south of Ipswich) wasn’t particularly well attended, which was a shame. It was quite windy but bright (and the rain held off!). Although there wasn’t much wildlife in evidence there was quite a bit of activity on the water with windsurfers and dinghy sailors. It might be a better venue in the spring or early summer.
Our last activity for the month was the reinstated battle with Lakenheath Camera Club. This used to be an annual fixture but, for one reason or another, was dropped.
This year’s meeting was very successful and I hope it will continue in the future. The competition, which was closely contested, was judged by Daphne Hanson, who, once again, provided timely and succinct judgements. The final result was:
Prints PDI Total
Lakenheath 177 168 345
Stowmarket 168 179 347
Usually Stowmarket does better with prints than PDIs so perhaps we have turned a corner.
We are now looking forward to Jane Goodall’s talk ‘The Beautiful Light’ in December.