Jill Toman led the Zoom evening last week and we were treated to the usual mix of history, insight, and anecdote accompanying the high-quality images we have come to expect from her. However, denied the usual access to the foreign lands that usually feed her photography, Jill focused her camera closer to home this time and often on subject matter that was unusual for her.

As well as the cyclists that abound within the Chew Valley and the motor cross at Leighton, action that always catches her eye, Jill drew our attention to the personal learning journey on which she embarked when creating an area of raised beds for growing vegetables, in a corner of her otherwise immaculate garden. This was recorded faithfully with camera, and we were left in no doubt that her practical skills extended well beyond the lens!

The evening, of course, was full of travel and adventure as she roamed her beloved Dartmoor in search of lone trees, and revisited the haunts of a childhood spent in Dartmouth. Her photos, as ever, featured sweeping vistas under dramatic skies, and were often presented in monochrome, a medium she loves to use. They also gave us a taste of places linked visually with the voyages of The Mayflower, and the stories woven around The Onedin Line. One daughter living in Yorkshire took Jill with her camera to Harrogate and to Fountains Abbey, whilst the other, closer to home in Bristol, yielded opportunities for her to record some amazing street art and social circumstances with which most of us are least familiar.

It was a very varied evening with such a wide range of subjects! We travelled the old docks at Paignton now turned Marina, walked the tranquil canals, skirted the railways, and took the bus to Brixham, as Jill did what many of us fail to do – visualised the shot she wanted and then pursued it vigorously, searching for the best angle and the better light.

A low-key Bristol Balloon fest this year also provided some colour and viewpoints unusually uncluttered by human debris, and we were also able to revisit and observe, through Jill’s seasoned, photographic eye, the places we have visited and walks we have taken over the past year together as a group.

Jill was warmly thanked as we made plans for our annual awards dinner, the AGM and visits to the Radstock Museum for the exhibition that features the cameras and work of, amongst others, Mike Witcombe. We are a very busy club!

Jenny Short