COBBLER'S PAGE By Brian Asquith (Librarian) At this
time of the year my time is taken up photographically with nights in the
darkroom making enlargements in colour and monochrome for the local club
exhibition as this co-incides with the AV club's annual show I am kept
very busy. As the AV club is only nine members strong we each have to
produce ten minutes of slides and music to put on a show of one and a
half hours. It is quite a challenge. Some
sequences can be put together quickly, others require along period of
photography,all need good quality slides taken with AV in mind. Pictures
taken from stock and set to music rarely work. Good AV is like any other
type of photography - for success it requires hard work on a good idea
and some imagination. Equipment is expensive so it makes sense to forma
group or join a club. We were fortunate that one of our founder members
had all the necessary basic equipment and enough expertise to advise us.
We became financially sound by giving annual shows and then making our
show available for hire to other groups through the year for fund
raising and entertainment. Now ,after ten years we have a good range of
equipment built round two Carousal projectors (second-hand). Participating
in a group and aiming to provide sequences each year stimulates us into
using the camera in a more imaginative and productive manner. Photography
as an hobby can be enjoyed in many different ways; amassing lots of
pictures can be one but how much more rewarding if you have a project in
mind. For instance, the CRC Library has a couple of copies of a video
tape of HMS WARRIOR produced by our own Tony Chuter. This is a splendid
example of what can be achieved by the hobby photographer. You may be
less ambitious and have a modest two Reflecta or Kindermann projectors
with a fader coupled in with a tape recorder or a basic hand control. In
this case two suitable projectors and a hand fader/control is all you
need. If your intention is only to assemble your slides into watchable
sets how much better they look if you can fade from one slide to the
next. It is a short step to adding background music to enhance the
slides and you then have an AV sequence. There are many clubs around the
country specialising in AV and I feel sure there will be small groups
who would welcome new members. The larger clubs take AV very seriously
and enter competitions, both national and international therefore the
sequences are of a high standard. Smaller clubs like ours do not compete
although the sequences produced are of a standard equally high the aims
are different. Subject matter and treatment frowned on by the competitor
come into their own when aimed at general audiences. Travelogues are
always popular with people who have been or are contemplating going to
that particular place; older people appreciate the chance to see places
they can no longer visit or revisit. That
most maligned subject of all, the illustrated song can give a touch of
lightness and balance to a show setting an audience foot tapping and
humming along. Another example is a collection of slides depicting stone in all its forms, that is as buildings, sculptures, natural shapes, etc. set to operatic aria which has been very well received by our audiences but this sort of production is avoided in the competitive arena of AV. The thing is to start modestly and find out gradually which way you want to go. But be warned it is addictive and leads to sleepless nights. |