Report from Newark & DPS for June 2011
Peter Yeo FRPS,DPAGB,APAGB
Since my last “epistle” we have had changeable weather, with some heavy rain, but nothing like enough of it and, being a farming county, local people are concerned that harvests will be well down on previous years. We have also had unseasonably warm, dry and sunny weather that is very nice to laze-about in, but wall-to-wall blue skies are not the most photogenic. Which makes me wonder if photographers the world over are always wanting conditions other than those they currently have?
Although we are in the “summer break” period we still have a fairly full programme of things to do and places to go. Thanks are due to John Flint for arranging a visit to Wollaton Hall, in Nottingham, on Sunday 29th May. The Hall was built about 400 years ago and commands an impressive high spot in large park land, with deer roaming the grounds, and a golf course. From the roof one can see the nearby city. As the Hall is now owned by Nottingham City Council it is not maintained as one might expect for a “stately home” but there was still plenty to photograph. John has also arranged a visit to Wickenby “Wings and Wheels” airshow on Sunday 19th June. The Wickenby airshow is not a major event being intended for small, light aircraft such as the Cessna’s so common around the world, microlights of various types, and some “big beasts” doing fly-pasts, like the Spitfire and Hurricane WWII fighters, and the Lancaster WWII heavy-bomber, all belonging to the RAF Battle of Britain Memorial Flight based at RAF Coningsby in the south of the county. Last year there was a US Navy “Harvard” and a Ryan PT-22A, so to that extent one can call it an international event! Due to a prior engagement on the Sunday I will go to Wickenby on the Saturday.
On Monday 20th June our Annual Exhibition will be taken down after a lengthy and successful run at the Gilstrap Centre in the grounds of Newark Castle. The prints will be retained by Bob Galley, the Competition Secretary, as we shall have to select our entry from them for our second consecutive visit to the PAGB Inter-Club Print Championships at Connahs Quay, in October.
For those members keen on natural history photography our “Nature Group” will be meeting several times during the warmer summer months, taking advantage of the greater number of daylight hours for forays on weekday evenings, as well as weekend trips farther afield. Either way we can look forward to plenty of high class nature shots for monthly competitions and for the Federation Annual Exhibition; entries are required later in the year. We are indebted to Peter Sharman and Wendy Greenwood for arranging matters for the Nature Group.
In the USA you are familiar with the sight of police officers wearing a pistol in a holster on the hip; this is not the case here in the UK as our police are customarily unarmed. On Monday 30th May I went to Bradford to visit the National Media Museum to see two major photographic exhibitions: “The Lives of Great Photo- graphers” and one entitled “Churches” by Brian Spero, a man I had not previously heard of. As I got to some traffic lights, about 300 yards from my destination, I suddenly realised that my car, and the one in front, had been “boxed-in” by SEVEN police cars! I wondered what traffic offence I had committed to warrant such attention. From each car two men of the Yorkshire Police “Armed Response Team” emerged, each with a pistol, holstered but still menacing, and surrounded the car in front. I was relieved that I was not the centre of their attention. The car in front was driven by a young Asian woman; she was questioned for about five minutes, still sitting in her car, and then, quite unexpectedly, she was allowed to drive away. The “situation” ended with a police officer calmly walking past me saying “All sorted” …….. and that was it, drama over for another day. I have to say that it was a good job that I had had that bit of excitement as both exhibitions were very disappointing, and I was quite happy to drive the 75 miles back home.
On that downbeat note, I wish you all good photo-opportunities in the forthcoming summer, and freedom from the tornados that have done so much damage further south.
Peter Yeo FRPS
