AV News 184 - May 2011
It’ll be All Bright on the Night - Not!
Joan Horne ARPS DPAGB & Malcolm Imhoff FRPS
Joan - This is our special year! We celebrate 25 years as an AV group. So as a
treat we were in for a super evening called, ‘Albright on the night’. Maureen and
Robert Albright had travelled from Aldbourne (via the Focus exhibition in
Birmingham), to be with us in Leicester. Coincidentally, they too have a silver
celebration this year – 25 years of marriage. So, the first introductory sequence
mentions this, using objects and animations in PTE to open and remove an
invitation. Very clever!
This was to be a first for them as they were to give a joint presentation. Both
are very skilled at presenting an evening about AV individually. Tonight was to
be different. But how! We were treated to a sequence about Maureen’s childhood
and growing up, gaining her degree and meeting Robert who studied law at
Oxford. Other AVs followed before we had drinks and a chat.
Eventually, the lights went out, as I thought, to encourage folk back to their
seats.
Malcolm - Well, I think I can say with confidence that the East Midlands AV
Group has the best blackouts in the country. No stray light peeking through gaps
in the blinds. No luminous green glow from the emergency exit signs. Not even
a glimmer from the electric kettle. In fact, no electricity at all. Even the projector
was pretty gloomy. The spirits of the members and visitors however, who had
come to see Robert & Maureen Albright, were quite bright.
In their introduction the Albrights explained that they never do joint bookings,
it's always either Robert or Maureen. Both of them have enough material to fill
an evening on their own. On this occasion however, as it is not only their wedding
anniversary but also the East Midlands AV Group's 25th Anniversary year, they
had agreed to celebrate with us by coming together.
The evening began well, with Maureen kicking off the first half with a varied
selection of AVs accompanied by entertaining anecdotes. Towards the end of
the tea break the lights flashed off and everybody made their way to their seats.
Gradually realisation dawned that the projector had gone off too. So had the
emergency exit signs. And the street lights outside. In actual fact so had the
whole of Leicester!
Joan - Yes – you’ve guessed – we had a power cut. Did this deter Robert from
having his half of the evening? Of course not! He decided to talk to us about
various developments in AV both within the RPS, PAGB and the wider
community. The audience were very interested and gave their views too.
Malcolm - As Helen Keller said: "Everything has its wonders, even darkness and
silence", so when, after a short hiatus, it became clear that nothing was going to
happen, Robert volunteered to talk about his work, enlightening the discourse
with references to some of the AVs he had planned to show. He also illuminated
himself with the radiance from his (battery-powered) laptop. The members found
this extremely interesting and it led onto a spirited discussion of many issues
currently facing the AV community, such as copyright and the use of archive
material and third party images.
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