The main activity of the evening was “Still Life” photography and members brought in a diverse range of items to photograph ranging from coins, perfume bottles, fruit, geological specimens, holly, figurines and even a home-made three dimensional chess board. At times the room looked more like a craft fair than a camera club meeting but with a number of display tables set up, members were able to experiment with various lighting equipment and show their creative flair through improvising with backdrops and compositional arrangements.

In addition to potentially producing some entries for an upcoming still life competition later in the season, it also allowed some of us to reacquaint ourselves with our camera equipment and find new features on the camera menus to try out. Despite the wind chilling weather, a good attendance was in evidence and the combination of practical photography and social interaction added to the enjoyment of the evening.

Wiltshire wildlife photographer Alan Benson shared a collection of his stunning wildlife images with us and explained how the images were captured. His talk included a wide range of British birds and mammals from locations all around the country with some of his favourite haunts being the Lake District, Yorkshire Dales.and Salisbury Plain.

Alan’s passion for wildlife and the effort he invests in searching out and capturing images with a different approach in their natural settings was evident in every image we saw. His understanding of wildlife behaviour gained through extensive practical experience allowd him to capture the images he envisaged, although he is still waiting to capture a puffin with a sand eel filled beak.

During the interval we were able to view a selection of prints that have featured in publications, calendars etc and Alan is keen to share his images on social media despite some plagiarism that has taken place.

Alan finished his talk with an amusing story about imprint type behaviour of some bustards on Salisbury Plain and their attempt to enter the hide which he was using. In the Q & A session after his talk, Alan made a surprising revelation about his particular approach to photography.

The annual Western Counties Photographic Federation regional competition attracted over 2400 images from 57 clubs in the region, from which 556 were accepted. The travelling exhibition comprised a selection of 74 images which covered Nature, Open Mononchrome and Open Colour categories.

We set up two groups and each table examined half the entries in each category and selected their top two images before swapping their images with the other table. As might be expected, we did not always align with the judging panel decisions on the winning prints, as judging is a subjective process. A good exchange of comments took place with some novel ways to unearth the top two images in each category.

After the break we completed the self-judging of the Series Competion which featured 5 images of roses taken during the summer months. The voting process identified a clear winner with most series atrracting at least some votes.

Our first meeting of the new season reunited member after their summer break and the opportunity was taken to bring several notices to the attention of those present. These included; subscriptions; the Club Handbook; prints exhibition feedback; general updates and diary dates.

The main discussion then focused on the programme for 2023/24 which included a mixture of presentations, with a balance being struck between face to face talks and those conducted on Zoom. One presentation will be jointly hosted with Swindon Photographic Society featuring Andy Skillen which should be a night to remember as he shares his images and anecdotes in “Tales from the Bush”.

Competition themes for the year were detailed along with some ideas for member evenings to encourage participation across the wider membership. In summary we have an interesting and varied programme for the year ahead which existing members will hopefully enjoy and may also serve to attract new members to the Club.

After the tea break we looked at some of the entries into the Series Competition on Roses and this will be concluded at a later meeting.