Blandford Forum Camera Club

On Tuesday 09/03/10 we featured an event very unlike any of our normal activities when we were visited by Annette Plaistow-Trapeued from the Dorset & Somerset Air Ambulance organisation who gave us a Power Point presentation on the activities of that charity.  Annette’s talk was quite fascinating and, supported by excellent photographic images, gave us all a clear insight into the way in which this vital work is carried out.  The Air Ambulance service is clearly of very great importance if only because any one of us may at some time or other be dependent upon its life-saving potential.  Just like the RNLI, the Air Ambulance organisation is entirely dependent upon charity and is quite independent of public funding and clearly a very worthy cause.  

The second half of the evening was devoted to a DPI presentation of images entered in a Solihull international exhibition.  In two parts, the first showed entries in the monochrome section whilst the second entertained us with images from the natural history entry.  All of the images shown were digitally produced and any lingering doubts over the ability of digital capture to do justice to monochrome subjects for example should now be discounted.  It is hoped (by the writer anyway) that more club members may now be inspired to get involved with mono work.  Have a go!  It’s not as difficult as is sometimes suggested, in fact, in many ways, the photographer has much greater freedom of interpretation than is possible with colour.   Many of these photographs were of staggering quality and quite inspirational.  In fact some of us left with the firm intention of producing work of similar quality well before the end of the week!  This could be timely because we all have to remember to have our work ready for handing in for the Annual Exhibition on Tuesday next, the 16^th March.    

Malcolm Bowditch