The Light of Day – Tuesday 21 October 08

Christine Widdall DPAGB BPE3* AFIAP made a welcome return to the club with a presentation of Panoramas and AV shows to a full house. Panoramas are always difficult to show, being, of their nature, mostly long and thin; but Chris was pleased that our 1400x1050 pixel Digital projector gave true colours and a reasonable size on the screen. The initial Panoramas were of places around Uppermill and Saddleworth, with Greenfields, Reservoirs and Woods providing plenty of photogenic material. Chris noted that snow scenes were good at emphasizing the contours of the hills and valleys. Some of the pictures related to Calendar Pictures produced for the Oldham Chronicle. We saw images of Salford Quays, Crail Harbour, Anstruther, the Derwent Lake and the Castlerigg Stone circle where the stitching technique was used to good effect. And not all the panoramas were linear. A notable image from a Scottish shore involved an area stitching in two dimensions.

The first AV was a Walk Around Saddleworth. Although it has been part of Oldham, and thus Lancashire for some time now, apparently, there are those resident there who still think of themselves as Yorkshire. The AV started in the mists and ended with rain – apparently they get a lot of rain up there.

A Memory of Trees followed. Chris noted the chagrin most of us feel when hearing our own voice in a commentary for the first time. The AV about the Seashore was centred on Dorset, where giant Ammonite fossils are still to be seen, revealed by continued coastal erosion.

Venice refused to co-operate before the tea interval so Chris finished the 1st half with an AV about La Defense. This was of great interest to many of us who had been on the Club visit to Paris a few years ago and well remembered many of the images portrayed.

After tea, Venice worked, to great musical accompaniment. And Chris showed how a good AV show should be made. General views (one has to approach Venice by Gondola) contrasted with intimate detail; and occasionally insets came and went within the general view. Diffuse images gradually changed into sharp images, and an informative script kept the show alive.

A fascinating AV presentation detailed the attempts of Chris and Mike Lawrence to obtain their DPAGB awards. The sequence showed the original image, and what each author had done to it to improve it before presenting it to the panel. Each of the 15 images presented needs to average above 20 marks for the Award to be made, and the AV well illustrated the nail-biting progress as the image sequences were judged. Eventually both Mike with 323 marks and Christine with 326 marks comfortably exceeded the 300 mark hurdle. The AV was received with rapturous applause by the audience.

The final AV about the Morris Dancers at the Saddleworth Rush Cart procession was an attempt by Christine to use background sounds recorded at the same time as the photographic images. The Music included Drums, Melodians, Bells, Whistles and the sound of Clogs on the paved surface. The Rushes were originally gathered to be put down on the Church floors to deaden the sound of footsteps, and insulate the building. When the old rushes were thrown out much of the accumulated dirt would be automatically removed at the same time. Bill was saddened to see that he was not in the AV. Clearly this recent AV was taken long after Manchester Morris Men had visited Saddleworth.

Chris discussed the methods of stitching several images together, and the problems which might arise with copyright Music or Images. In general one should always assume that permission was needed.

In his vote of thanks Frank Hutchinson applauded Christine’s choice of Music in the AVs and noted that she was clearly an excellent photographer and a good judge of the appropriate image to use. The audience gave a resounding affirmation of Frank’s sentiments. If not before, the Club hopes to welcome Christine back, in two years time, as L&CPU President invited to open our Annual Exhibition.

Bill Chadband