John Keelan was the society’s guest last Wednesday evening and his subject was listed in the programme as ’Taylorian Musicals’.

John, a stalwart of the Southern Photographic Club, was making a welcome return to Thie Ellyn and gave four short audio-visual presentations of images he had captured inside the island’s Victorian Gaiety Theatre in Douglas.

These covered the dress rehearsals for four shows staged by Taylorian Productions.

This theatre company was formed in 2007 by the late Patrick Taylor, an English solicitor and benefactor, with co-founder John Cumberlidge, artistic director.

Any photography in a darkened theatre presents many challenging technical and practical difficulties and is only ever possible with specific prior permission. John had been commissioned by the theatre company to undertake these assignments but, in doing so, he quickly realized that the Directors can be very demanding and quite formidable.

Consequently, dark clothing and soft shoes had to be worn to avoid any distraction for the cast and crew.

Multiple lenses, a back-up camera and a selection of varying camera angles were required. He explained that camera settings need to be as silent as possible, especially using digital media, and fast shutter speeds combined with a high ISO were essential, since flash cannot be deployed. Above all, the photographer had to be able to work unseen and unheard - and to get it right first time!

John’s images of all four shows - ’Cats’, ’Evita’, ’Oliver’ and Sunset Boulevard’ - were atmospheric and colourful, with the beautiful costumes, superb facial expressions and drama being captured to great effect.

The musical accompaniment added to our enjoyment and John was thanked for sharing his knowledge and expertise of this specialist art form so openly with the membership.

Attention was then turned to planning the society’s 2017 summer outings.

Two of our members, Ian Lumsden and Barry Murphy, each gave a short digital presentation based on two recent group events, namely a walk around Scarlett to view the various rock formations and disused lime kilns and a boat trip from Port St Mary to the Chicken’s Rock Lighthouse. Another member, Bob Servante, had brought two monochrome prints to display featuring wildlife around the Sound and a local polo match.

This was the first time ideas for outings had been sought by the committee in this way and it proved to be highly successful with a list of helpful suggestions being compiled for consideration over the next three months.

The next meeting will be on Wednesday, Wednesday, March 1, at 7.30pm when there will be a presentation titled ’Filming the Isle of Man’ by Charles Guard, reflecting on 30 years of making documentaries.

As always, guests are most welcome on payment of a nominal charge.

Antony Hamilton