My Quest and Beyond, John Hudson, 23rd October 2023

John started by explaining his passion for photographing birds, particularly hummingbirds, began in his early teens when he was given an aviary and began to keep birds himself. We travelled with him through the years and to various places in South and Central America and South Africa seeing many varieties of hummingbirds, honeycreepers, toucans, vultures, macaws and even the legendary quetzal, all beautifully presented. John also explained how many of the images were captured and the difficulties in doing so.

After the break he talked about how he became interested in, and involved with, photographing ballet dancers. From picturing local ballet clubs he has progressed to photographing some of the top dance companies in the world and he showed us a series of beautiful images of many ballets. His photography is so well though of that one of his images is on permanent display as a tribute to a sadly deceased dancer which has raised many thousands of pounds for charity.

As a final flourish to his talk he took us on a trip via drone to various castles and cathedrals finishing in Bournemouth with an overhead shot of the pier. Altogether a varied and fascinating evening.


- Val Brierley