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It was almost certain I would have the most exotic 'tramlines' ingrained in my slides. From that time onwards we decided, no matter how tempting it was, not to change any more film on the beach. Each time we opened the camera we would give it a good clean to avoid any sand remaining in the body.
Anyway, so there we were, him with his skimmers and me sitting on the rocks ! I had watched several egrets and herons quite close by, in the hope the kids fishing near me would throw them their rejected fish and I would get some decent pictures. I was almost out of film when I noticed Chris walking towards me, obviously having completed his project.
As I only had a couple of frames left, I quickly shot them off so that on returning to the car, we could change film and clean the cameras. In the seconds we were comparing our success and failures, this wonderful blue heron plucked a dirty great fish out of the sea and strutted virtually in front of us
….…..and there was I with no film ! I turned to Chris who, to my utter disbelief, was simply
STARING at this wonderful sight, totally (gormless) motionless ! I was almost beside myself, gently telling him (yeah !) to hurry up and start shooting.
To my amazement he told me that the LIGHT WAS WRONG and it would be a waste of time !! Almost having apoplexy, I told him not to be so crazy
(or words to that effect !) and if he wasn't going to take the flipping picture, to pass his camera to me and let me take them. Needless to say, the thought of me capturing this scene was simply too much for him to resist, wrong light or not, and so he started shooting. After, we shared several hours of silence, him saying he'd wasted his film and me wanting to kill him for not passing me his camera. It took me several days to get over this, & to say it spoilt my holiday would be an exaggeration, of course, but
I did spend quite a number of days considering the most subtle way to sabotage his films, unless of course, THE LIGHT WAS WRONG, they weren't sharp, he'd cut off the heron's head or his film was scratched !! I lived in hope - but however - his films were unscathed and I had two films with every slide scratched (and of course they were my best ones) - obviously my punishment for my uncharitable thoughts !
And him ? - well thanks to some pretty rotten voting on the Margaret Woods evening, his "Heron with Fish" won him the trophy ! Bless Him.
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My first club was South Reading. I turned up in plenty of time, no good arriving late and flustered.
I knew I had to appear confident so "actress mode" was required. I reminded myself of all the presentation skills I had learned through work. They say smiling helps you to feel more confident, so I tried that and yes it did sort of work. I didn't dare mention it was my first time ! I was still worried
I wouldn't react fast enough, but it's amazing how a real performance sharpens the mind and happily it all went well. Of course the chairman praised my efforts - well they always do don't they. Have you ever heard any of our Chairmen say in public at the end of the evening that a judge was poor ? I was
delighted when, a few months later, South Reading asked me back for a second year & now they have invited me back for a third successive season in a row.
OK, so now I hear you asking what personal satisfaction I get from judging ? Has it changed my outlook to my own photography ?
Well firstly, I get to visit many different clubs, it's good to swap notes about programmes, club recruitment, things they do differently, how they are
attracting and retaining younger members etc.
Generally very few clubs are thinking about the changing needs of the average club member and
actively doing something about it; that saddens me. It brings it all home to me that I am glad to be a member of Bracknell Camera Club. I have yet to find a club that matches what we do or has the sheer volume of high quality work that we produce time and time again. We should all feel immensely proud to belong to Bracknell Camera Club.
One of the things we often do during competitions is disagree with the judge ! Well judging gives you the chance to get your own back. People have to listen to you for a change ! Oh come on, don't we all like the sound of our own voice at times. But no, that's not my main reason for judging !
The best part is seeing other peoples work, talking my way through the photograph in a helpful and constructive manner and most of all trying to work out the meaning of why the photographer pressed the shutter at that precise moment. It's all too easy to look at our own members work and recognise the photographer. Familiarity breeds contempt and there is a tendency to stop learning from members whose work you have seen many times before. Visiting exhibitions offers a solution to this but alas my weekends are reserved for other things, so for me judging is the next best way of seeing lots of pictures.
To be continued in the next issue
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