Well, tonight we were entertained by Paul & Shirley Raddon. Their subject for the evening was 'Our Photography'
Paul & Shirley come with loads of letters after their names, some of you may have already been judged by Paul, he being an accredited judge with the EAF. 'Do we like judges' was his first question.
Paul then led us through a rough timeline of his work from the mid seventies to the present. Nostalgia was awash as he waxed lyrical about Kodak Elite papers in the darkroom and two and a quarter square cameras. It was interesting seeing his techniques improve, not only in camera but also in the darkroom as lith prints, sepia and blue rinses were flashed before our eyes. There were still some faux pas though, more than three of a subject, bits of body missing, wrong colour mounts, but overall, I'd have been happy with most of his shots (there's hope for us yet)
I have to say I enjoyed the black & white stuff, taking me back to Friday/Saturday nights in the darkroom. Could I go back, Nah. Just a little too much hassle.
The journey was fascinating and we got to know a little about the couple along the way. The rivalry was there twixt the two of them but, a bit like our club, we all know who's best! There was shots of trains and boats and planes, studio stuff, animals and bugs (Steve will be sad he missed this, very little in the flora dep't) and a strange thing that draws a few members of this club, steam punk.
The second half of the show brought us up to date with their guided tour of the badlands of the USA. this stuff was breathtaking, rock formations like you'd never believe. Tales of getting up, driving an hour, parking and walking an hour to catch a sunrise may be the norm for some of us but these were something else. Paul took us to places rarely seen by Americans, let alone us mortals, with golden light to die for.
He rounded off the evening with a bonus section of his trials and tribulations in achieving those letters after his name. Not for me the hundreds of images sent out to be assessed by unknown peeps, trying to rack up points and awards. Seems to me to take the fun out of the hobby, looks like I'm always gonna be an also ran.
But, well done to Paul and Shirley, you do take some fabulous photos.
Thank You.