AV News 189 - August 2012
Letters
Following our request in the Editorial of the May issue, for information on
what our readers want to see in the Magazine, we have received these
Letters. Please keep on sending in your suggestions and let us know what
topics you would like to feature. If you can write an article for us it would be
gratefully received. We can only publish what we are sent, so please help to
make it your Magazine.
Eds
Thank you for your invitation to make suggestions re the content of AV News.
My husband, Clive, has been a member of the AV Group since its inception;
we are both members of Waves (Clive is a founder member); and we look
forward to the arrival of AV News as keen followers of the RPS AV section.
While we think that reports of meetings and results from the various club
competitions have their place, they are usually only of interest to the people
who attended the function. We do not think that the average reader enjoys
long-winded reports (especially of the route the writer of the article took to get
to a function, as well as details of what they ate when they got there!). These
reports often take up to two pages of valuable AV News article space and we
would far rather see more instructional reports and tips, please.
Unless it is a very important competition, would it not be better to limit the
meeting reports to half a page, so that you have more scope to add the articles
which will be more interesting and informative? We realise that it then creates
a problem for you, as you now have to source those sorts of articles, but we
are hoping that articles written by the expert AV workers in the RPS, and
beyond, can be found.
Joan Ryder Rathband FRPS FPSSA
Good luck!
Clive Rathband FRPS FPSSA EFIAP
Your editorial in the last AV News dated May 2012 has prompted me to write
to you as follows.
I have been a keen photographer since my early teens (I am now 82) and
due to age and infirmity have almost had to give up AV photography altogether.
I could never stand competitive photography and for this reason I find the
reports from around the clubs of no interest.
I used to belong to Aston and Erdington Photographic Society for several
years until I left because of the prescribed way photography seemed to be
moving. It was not until several years later when I discovered AV News that I
got at all interested. I was not idle during the intervening years as I put together
some 30+ shows on AV, called them Journeys of a Lifetime and for the next
20 years I toured the district showing to a wide variety of audiences, got
familiar with church halls, community centres and the like before my second
heart attack in 2005. By this time I was averaging around 10 shows a year but
the year prior to my second heart attack I did 21 shows!!.
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