Guest Lecture – Chris Hutchinson

Landscape with Clouds (For those of us who keep trying)

Tonight we had a unique guest talk from Chris Hutchinson. The talk was split into roughly two halves, and despite the title, clouds only really featured at the end. The first half of the talk was concerned with the physical landscape – ie the geology and the geography of the land. Subjects covered included the effects of glaciers on the landscape, the formation of sedimentary rock and the types of landscapes that particular layers of rock cause.

After the interval the talk was more concentrated on the atmosphere – the effect of the weather, the seasons, temperature, wind and rainfall.

What was certainly different from most other speakers is that the talk was not illustrated by recent photographs taken with the latest kit, but by personal photographs dating mainly from the 70s through to the 90s – originally slide or negative film. This led to Chris giving a number of asides describing the conditions the photographs were taken in, particularly mentioning how getting the barbeque out would always cause it to rain!

This was certainly a talk that was different from most speakers, and from a local resident, coming all the way from Yateley.

Chris can be found on Flickr at Chris Hutchinson | Flickr