Seen Better Days - October 2024

Our fears that members would simply submit a load of selfies for this month's theme of 'Seen Better Days' was unrealised, thankfully. Instead we were treated to photos showing a large range of atmospheric and forlorn subjects.

Wherever we live or work there are things around us that, once new, bright and shiny, are suffering from the passing of time; their importance and utility has declined and they remain unloved and overlooked. Yet there's something romantic about ruins - old abbeys and castles covered with ivy have long attracted people. Even the more prosaic and utilitarian structures and objects gather an interesting patina of age.

Members submitted photos containing a wide range of subjects in various states of decay and decrepitude. Boats, cars and buildings caught our members' eyes as well as objects that have been abandoned or forgotten. When the votes were counted for the favourite image it was clear that it had been a difficult choice, with many photos receiving at least one vote. Colin Waite's picture of a well-worn statue's face and Alastair Bell's suitably Gothic-looking Whitby Abbey received a few more votes, but the favourite image was Frozen in Time by Tony Teague. His photo showed a clock, its face pitted with rust, hanging in an abandoned cold-war command centre - very atmospheric.

The Image of the Month section of our Show and Tell meetings are photos taken by members since the last meeting. From the images submitted it was clear people had been out and about in both this country and others - from statues in Spain to a man in Market Harborough. Photos of a sparrowhawk and a comet showed you don't even need to go further than your own garden to find an interesting subject. However it was in the north-east of England that David Kallmeier took Scarborough, the members' favourite Image of the Month. In it Scarborough lighthouse stands lit by the sun in front of a bank of dark grey storm clouds; brightly-coloured fishing nets on the harbourside drawn you in the photo.

Which photo would you have voted for? Let us know by emailing info@whphoto.club.

Click on any of the pictures to enlarge them.