Photography Group June Meeting

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The Group met at 10:15 on 12th May with the theme ‘Wildlife in Nature’.

Teresa Twitchell sent her apologies.

Member’s responses were varied with photographs of birds, animals and insects – most were of very high quality. Overall best picture was Anjie Sargeants’s ‘Moorhen Chick’ that emphasised its huge feet.

July’s theme is ‘Ruins or Decay’.

The meeting was foreshortened to allow a presentation on Astrophotography by Trevor Lloyd. (arranged by Rosemary Crumplin) Trevor started by describing his telescope which was on display. The maintelescope was a Newton Reflector that used a concave mirror to collect the light that reflected on a focusing mirror to an eyepiece/camera. Using a motor-driven equatorial mount synchronised to the Earth’s rotation and a dedicated computer to drive the telescope to objects of interest. The telescope assembly was calibrated by focusing on the Pole star to establish the GPS position – the computer could then be programmed to move the assembly to any one of >2000 objects of interest. During a lively Q & A session, Trevor revealed that his average exposure time for the attached digital camera was between 2 and 3 minutes with several exposures being taken that were the focus-stacked and blended to produce the final photograph. He overcame the (high) Andover light pollution by observing at 1 a.m. onwards until about 4 a.m. when the street lights were switched off!

He finished with a selection of his photographs which ranged from global clusters through to planets including galaxies, nebulae, comets and the Milky Way. All were of excellent quality and evoked many comments from the members present.

Election of Committee and Officers

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Election of Committee and Officers

 

  1. Officers for the year 2023/24 have proposers and seconders as shown. Members will be asked to approve, by show of hands, Jean Saunders as Secretary. We still need a  Chair, Vice Chair and Treasurer to be proposed and seconded.
 

Officers

 Current Proposed Proposer Seconder
Chair Carole Leonard TBC    
Vice Chair Barbie Morrey-Stone TBC    
Treasurer David Weston TBC    
Secretary Jean Saunders Jean Saunders Lynda Stockings Barbie Morrey-Stone

 

  1. Members will be asked to approve the current committee members for a further year. Confirmation will be by show of hands.

 

  Current From AGM 2023
Member Tessa Cross Tessa Cross
Member Jan Bentley Jan Bentley
Member Di Burrows Di Burrows
Member Wilson Carson Wilson Carson
Member Anne Bray Anne Bray
Member Lynda Stockings Lynda Stockings

 

Visit to Mottisfont House near Romsey

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Eleven Art group members joined this engaging event, on 11 April 2023.

Our original plan was to visit the special exhibition of Norman Thelwell’s artwork in the morning, then to sketch in the Mottisfont garden after lunch. With a forecast of rain in the afternoon, we changed the plan.

On arrival, we took up positions in various parts of the garden and began sketching with pens, pencils and charcoal. We then met for lunch and progressed into the house to view the exhibition.

The Norman Thelwell exhibition was on two levels in Mottisfont House. The top floor housed Thelwell’s early work and the lower floor many of his original published cartoon works.
The early work exhibited included a self-portrait done at school when aged 11. On the top of this pencil drawing his teacher had marked in red pen a tick and ‘V/G!’ – his talent had been recognised at an early age.

During his time in the army during World War II, Thelwell developed his painting skills with wonderful watercolour studies of the people he was with and the places he visited. For all of us who were aware only of Thelwell’s cartoon skills, this part of his work was a revelation and a recognition of a very great talent.

The second part of the exhibition housed many of his original published cartoon works and reflected his long association with the magazine Punch. In addition to the political cartoons there were many jolly scenes involving country life, with very fat ponies and their Pony Club riders’ exploits!

The promised afternoon rain began: most visitors had headed for home, so we had an almost empty gallery to ourselves and were able to spend time up close to the work on display, all of which was greatly appreciated and enjoyed.

Website: National Trust – Mottisfont

    with thanks to Jane Leishman for organising this event and for the write-up!