A fullhouse of members and guests was at the Camera Club meeting on Thursday to once again be enthralled by the images, stories and travels of Roy Packer. It was in September last year that Roy gave an evening’s talk and showed members images of his tour of India.

Thursday was a return to India, ‘Amazing India’. Roy explained the equipment he carried, which included his EOS - 1 DX Canon camera, 200-400 F4 lens and 1.4 extensions and various other lenses, chargers, cards and a laptop. He gave a fact file of flight details and the 4,187 miles he covered to get there, what visas were required together with the medical requirements.

India has 17 per cent of the world’s population, an estimated 1,203,710,000, and covers an area of 1,148 million square miles.

Using both still images, video and music, Roy transported his audience firstly to understand the street life and, through his eyes, showed the rubbish and people sifting through it all, the animals and traffic to the sacred cows and finally to the luxury of hotels.

Roy’s passion for tigers was next shown with some tiger tales. He explained that all the tigers were in the wild and each one was given a name and almost every tiger had a special story or reputation, such as ‘Machali’, the Lady of the Lake, and ‘Ustad’, who had killed three forest workers.

Members were now taken to Keoladeo National Park, sometimes called ‘Bird City.’ The area is of international importance with over 375 bird species being recorded. Not only did Roy show spectacular images of kingfishers, cranes, storks, cormorants and pelicans, he also explained that getting around the area needed pedal power, using tri-cycles, two to three people were transported.

In the Agra District, Roy visited the Taj Mahal, one of the Seven Wonders of the World, built by Mughal Emperor Shahjahan in memory of his third wife, Mumtaz Mahal.

To conclude the first half of this exciting and captivating journey, Roy put together an audio visual of images taken in Calcutta.

Following the tea break and with the aid of maps, Roy introduced everyone to the Mangrove forest, the ‘Sundabarns,’ one of the largest such forests in the world, which lies on the delta of the Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna rivers, all running in to the Bay of Bengal.

Again Roy spoke of time and methods of transportation to get to his destination, the ‘Ducki’ village on Gosaba Island. He also said that the local inhabitants loved having pictures taken - this was evident from the images shown.

The audience were shown the typical living conditions and homes made from mud and cow dung. Images were shown of crocodiles, lizards, wild hogs, spotted deer and, of course, the elusive ‘Bengal Tiger’.

The Kazirawga National Park in the district of Assam is famous not only for its tea, but is also the home of the one-horned rhino, known as the National Park Giant. This remote National Park is also home to large herds of elephants, water buffalo and black neck storks, images of which members were privileged to see.

Their journey with Roy continued to Japur with the images of Amer Fort, once known as Dhundar, the Palace of the Winds, known as Hawa Mahal, and finally the Water Palace on Mausagar Lake.

The evening concluded with Roy visiting a new destination, the city of Varanasi, where cremations take place daily on the steps known as the ‘Ghats’ alongside the Ganges. The ashes are then swept into the river to continue their life.

Roy’s passion for tigers and India was summed up in his final audio visual, with numerous images of the tigers and the many characters that make up this vast country. Not allowing anyone to leave, a short presentation of his recent safari in Africa was also shown - but that’s for the future.

The members thanked Roy for yet another memorable evening, displaying not only his skills as a photographer, but also his passion.

April 21 - judging print of the year.