Is a collective noun for waiters, an absence of waiters? Could a collection of florists be a bunch? Is a collection of authors a chapter of authors? These are idle thoughts whilst seeking inspiration as to what we can do as the Fordingbridge Camera Club is on holiday.

The holiday season is now in full swing and this gives photographers time and opportunity to widen their range and to record the unfamiliar with a fresh eye. Local shows are ideal venues for interesting images. Fordingbridge Festival, with its famous Duck Race, is on Saturday 20 July. The Camera Club will have a stand at the Ellingham Show on Saturday August 10th so call in and see us when you are there. We meet at Avonway Community Centre at 7.30pm most Wednesdays of the season for a mixture of talks by visiting top photographers coupled with opportunities to show your work and have it commented on by experienced photographic judges. Visitors are welcome to all meetings for a small fee. But don’t get depressed, our new programme for the coming season will soon be on our website - www.fordingbridgecameraclub.org.uk A trip to the seaside is always popular in the summer. Along the margins of the sea there is a wealth of life and detail: glistening shells or seaweed left high but not yet dry by a falling tide: secluded rock pools and the creatures that inhabit them, fishing nets left to dry on a harbour wall. All can make interesting images.

Or you can just while away a summer’s day trying to find unexpected definitions for common words. Alarms: what an octopus is. Bigamy: a large pygmy. Cellulite: what a power company does. Or you can go to the gym. They have a great new machine there. I only used it for about an hour because it started to make me feel sick, but it’s great. It’s got Kit Kats, Mars Bars, crisps ... everything you want.