BSoUP in focus magazine issue 118

I MISS YOU by Alex Mustard “You don’t know what you’ve got till pulling their finger out with attendance, it is regularly at its highest since we were it’s gone,” sang Joni Mitchell. moved into the student’s union building. Our contests are also flourishing This isn’t an article lamenting that I because the judges are promoting the no longer expose Fujichrome Velvia theme on social media, taking real time underwater or enjoy putting together to pore over the entries and providing pictures in the big and bright Nikonos detailed feedback and justification for 15mm viewfinder. No, what I miss right their choices. now are good, old fashioned BSoUP meetings. Which is ironic because I’m a Talks are well-prepared and the virtual big fan of our current meetings, which meetings work brilliantly for sharing could have been tailor made specifically slides and teachings. Online meetings for my life. Our online meetings have allow us to regularly stage speakers been a necessity during the pandemic, based overseas or even from Oop but for me they were a godsend long Norf, allowing us to absorb more before words like ‘coronavirus’ and diverse influences and knowledge. And ‘AstraZeneca’ had entered the lexicon. on top of that, our membership now contains many highly active overseas I have a four-year-old daughter whose members, most of whom have shared a nightly update from Winne-the-Pooh trip or three with a bunch of locals and coincides precisely with the time we therefore fit in seamlessly. meet. Online meetings allow me to join briefly before zipping out to brush teeth, However, in these days of being stuck read chapter and verse about Pooh, at home, I know I am not alone in Piglet and Eeyore – and then tune back missing the physical meetings. But from in on headphones as she drifts off. I’ve a photographic perspective, what my been at more BSoUP meetings in the shooting really misses is the socially last two years than the previous ten – a lubricated lessons I’ve picked up away clear and quantifiable endorsement of from the main presentations. Many of our successful streaming service. the best ideas and solutions I’ve got from BSoUP came about by fellow Personally, I’ve felt that the quality of the enthusiasts shooting the breeze together. contests, judge’s feedback and our main To paraphrase a regularly expressed presentations have all increased in the sentiment from back in the day: “Who online era. Perhaps because people are Spring/Summer 2021 BSoUP in focus • 101

cares who is speaking; I come for the social interaction (and lubrication) to pre and post meeting chat”. allow you to fully access this combined knowledge! Our online model has I can think of many examples where benefits in convenience for many (like techniques, equipment and destinations me) and has opened us up globally. have all been sparked by picking Our presentations and contests are in someone’s brains, listening in to rude health, in every measurable way conversations or someone overhearing we’re excelling. Yet, I feel disappointed what you are saying and chiming in with because online I miss out on those advice. That’s where the little secrets lessons that aren’t part of the program. come out and where you can tap into BSoUP membership should be more the accumulated historical knowledge of than access to content, it should be BSoUP. Curiously, if you asked someone about social access to fellow enthusiasts. to prepare a talk, they may well forget to include such gems, but with a pint in Like most, I really look forward to a hand and the catalyst of conversation, return to some physical meetings, which the choicest jewels are unearthed. And hopefully are not too far away with often, the best nuggets come from those cinemas and theatres now reopening. who’d never agree to stand up and But I also think we should make time speak, anyway. online to chat, perhaps adding a 10 minute interval after the contest, before I also miss the reverence and ceremony the main talk. Arthur Kingdon told me of our gatherings, when the lights go recently that he found online breakout down and the images are showcased in rooms very useful, randomly dividing the all their glory on the big screen. There is society up into 6-8 person ‘tables’ and something special about seeing images letting a bunch of different conversations big and with all eyes on the room develop. Making this work is something scrutinising and delighting in the details. we need to grapple with, because even Something that seems appropriate when we are allowed to meet again, for the time and effort that goes into many of us will still have Pooh Bear producing any underwater image. I duties and will favour the convenience know I can connect my laptop to a of joining online. home projector, but I am afraid I often end up watching on the phone, not Having got the headline activities even getting the laptop out. working so well, we need to help put the “social” back into our society. BSoUP’s undeniable strength is that we’re a society with databanks packed with expertise. But that society needs 102 • BSoUP in focus

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DiveQuest THE ULTIMATE IN DIVING HOLIDAYS & UNDERWATER PHOTOGRAPHY DESTINATIONS Photo: Martin Edge www.divequest-diving-holidays.co.uk Sending guests to the finest photography locations in the 104 • BSoUP in focus world for over 25 years. Email: [email protected]