February 2015 - A Photographers Story
Members of the Horndean & District U3A met for their regular monthly meeting on Friday 6th February at Merchistoun Hall. As it was an extremely cold afternoon, it was a pleasant surprise that so many members turned out, the hall was full to overflowing – perhaps it was the sun! More likely it was the interesting talk lined up by photographer and writer David Rose-Massom based on his passion for photography and his stories attached.
David has fairly recently retired and in fact this was his very first talk since his retirement. His passion and enthusiasm for photography quickly shone through and he had the audience enthralled. He explained that whether having expensive equipment or just a little point and shoot, the very best piece of equipment is one’s eyes! David 40 years’ experience very quickly showed itself with an abundance of passion, dedication and as he put it sheer luck in obtaining such super photographs. He never leaves his house without his camera, it goes everywhere with him and if he doesn’t get a shot or two every day, he gets withdrawal symptoms!
His favourite time of the year is Autumn and his favourite bird is the egret. His beautiful image of a deer and one of an egret both had the lovely hues of Autumn. He explained that the golden hour for photographers was at just before sunrise and sunset. He also explained that he used monochrome extensively because it shows more character and detail with no distraction from colour.
He showed photographs of Harry his beloved inspirational grandson and also a much photographed Beryl, a smiling pig. A rather amusing photo of a group of “bikers” was a tribute to his ability as was the woman smoking a cigar at Goodwood, a Laurel & Hardy re-enactment scene and especially his images of two gentlemen of the road sitting on a bench seat in Havant with their back packs and dog! One of these gentlemen is known as “Bowler” who has lived on the streets for 38 years because he found it too claustrophobic to live in a house. He has two street daughters and travels the world; he doesn’t drink and is not at all the usual type for a tramp. David has met him on different occasions and has been fascinated by his many tales. He is very proud of this particular image, which has been short listed for an award.
David was reluctant to relinquish his “film” camera however now uses digital which is easier and enables him to take many more shots but he still harbours a wish to go back to film one day in the future. His passion for photography is abundant and he prefers to get it right in the camera rather than post-processing his images. He loves recording our history and heritage and feels he is a jobbing photographer not a professional but many of us in the audience were in awe of his non-professional work! An extremely entertaining, amusing and interesting talk by David.
Diane Stoner, Speaker Co-ordinator