AV News 175 - February 2009
The results of this purchase
made a great contribution to
the evenings entertainment.
We saw Polar Bears at long
range and in great close up
detail, also walruses and
Arctic foxes and many of the
various bird specious found
in that part of the world
including one memorable
shot of an Arctic Skua
relieving itself in flight, giving
a whole new meaning to the
phrase ‘an in flight movie’. The resolving power of the lens was superb - you
could almost, but not quite, see what it had eaten for breakfast. The only
element missing was a follow on shot showing Colin looking skywards with
one eye closed!
Between them Colin and Rhona
took over 7500 shots - yes, seven
thousand five hundred. Obviously
not all were shown but this vast
bank of images did make it
possible to create small separate
cameo sequences as part of the
whole presentation.
This worked very well in giving
life to foxes hunting for food;,
walruses relaxing on the rocks;,
Svalbard reindeer feeding and in
one case a sequence purely of
shots of the Arctic ice; ice floes,
glaciers, reflections in the sea and very interesting mirage effects created by
sun, sea and cliffs set to relaxing music.
After the break Lee and Bernadette who also had been on the journey
showed their video interpretation of the adventure, they included both standard
upscaled and also high definition video and the movement of video certainly
gave life to the events and animals including polar bears literally leaping into
the sea. One particularly dramatic sequence taken on an earlier trip showed a
massive ice sheer from a glacier - when huge amounts of ice just sheer off and
fall into the sea - causing a mini tsunami racing towards the camera.
The evenings entertainment was rounded off in true Denis Norden style with
some very amusing ‘out-takes’ including one where an Irish tourist tries to
explain an Irish joke to a Dutch colleague!
The evening was a thoroughly enjoyable experience as evidenced by the
120 or so people who attended and one which can be recommended if it
comes anywhere near you in the future.
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