Hambleden

Tuesday 16 June 2009

As an associate member of Damp & Dismal I thought it only right and proper that I organise a walk this summer. Having scouted the area on Sunday, whilst enjoying a lazy picnic at the side of the river, it was clear that this would be a good location for an evening outing so Dave, Ed, June and I decided that Tuesday it would be.

Once we had parked up and waited for Ed to get himself kitted up in his expedition gear (Livingstone, I presume!) we set off towards the river. Across the fields were a couple of red kites, including one in a battle with a rook. Unfortunately, they were a little too far away for even the longest lenses. Then Chairman Dave decided he liked the look of the patterns in the field on the hill and that we should all go investigate rather than go straight off to the river. After a 15 minute hike up into the hills to get to the field he decided that it wasn't so interesting after all and that, perhaps, the river was a better option! Brothers are bad enough, chairmen are worse. . .but combine them, well!!

The weir is very attractive with sweeping curves of fairly shallow falls in the water. The light was still very strong and very contre jour, but more of a problem was the narrow footbridge, 4 tripods and lots of cyclists & walkers! It was too much aggravation for me so I left the others to it and carried on towards the lock to get some shots of the boathouses from across the river.

Whilst Dave was taking shot number 237 of the weir with his 8 filters stacked up on his lens from position number 2 on the footbridge, I found a family of mum and her ducklings by the lock. Unfortunately, despite my enticement, I could not get them to come close enough for a decent shot and only managed to secure this one half decent one as the light was getting low.

Soon after this, Ed & June joined me whilst Dave had managed to move his tripod to position number 3 for the evening. June found this great ladybird and the three of us took turns to try to capture it. I had left my macro lens at home so I took this with my compact which, I must say, is pretty good at close up shots. The short focal length of the lens is great for these shots as it gives relatively a much greater depth of field.

Dave finally joined us as Livingstone was deep in amongst the flowers trying to catch a bee on camera. This was not interesting enough for Dave who had spotted a couple of ducks by the bank so he soon spread-eagled himself to get down low. . .for yet another shot of a duck.. Yawn!!

Mesmerised by Livingstone's exploits in the bush we all eventually joined him in the quest for a bee photograph amongst the flowers. I just hope one of the other three had more luck with it than I did.

As the light began to fade we set off back over the footbridge when halfway across a heron flew right past us but I don't think any of us actually managed to get a decent shot of it.

On the way home we decided to have a slight detour and visit the exhibition at Norden Farm. There were some great images on show but I have to say that, to my mind at least, overall I was a little disappointed given the reputations of the photographers there. I think our exhibition last year was more impressive.

All in all a very enjoyable evening, and well worth the trip. I think I may have even done enough to extend my honourable membership to Damp & Dismal for another few months at least.

Steve Mundy

Well, once again we head off on a walk and Mr DISMAL seemed to have booked glorious weather. Before we headed off to Hambleden it had been grey and miserable but the sun came out to play when it mattered. As I keep being moaned at by the others for always being drawn down to the river to play, I thought we should have a look up the hill at the field, but, alas, I didn't feel comfortable at that altitude.

I enjoyed myself taking shots from the bridge, and at least I had my filters on my camera, rather than using fake photoshop sharpening ones, like someone else that I could mention! The sun really was bright so I did need an ND filter and at times, a poloriser as well, to be able to slow the shutter speed enough for my liking. The passers by were a little distracting, particularly my brother's size 11 feet, pounding along the bridge, vibrating our tripods and IS systems into submission.

DISMAL was wearing one of his more fetching hats from his considerable collection, which he informed us had some remarkable sun protection properties built in, suitable for the desert, whether it was really necessary for a walk in Hambleden at 7-30pm in June, I will leave you to decide. Better to be safe than sorry I suppose. We all spread ourselves out, and it never ceases to amaze me that the four of us were all walking in the same area, and we didn't walk very far at all, yet we still produced some very different pictures. Not in the tripod marks of others, do we set up, or so we like to believe.

It must be said, however that big bruv and myself do have a bit of a thing about boathouses. Don't ask me why, but we both seem to home into them, and from Hambleden bridge you can see a cracking pair of them. Two, I hear the camera judge cry, I don't know whether to clone another one in, or erase one out? But, anyway I think they are well worth photographing, even though they are not an odd number. Strange how a judge never asks for 3 eyes in a portrait though, isn't it?

I did manage to tear myself away from the bridge though to grab a shot or two of my favourite subject, ducks, and there happened to be a nice group of them by the lock. The water here was pretty high, so by laying down on the ground I was virtually eye level with them. Surprisingly enough, the sight of me stretched out on the river bank didn't frighten them off. Got some strange looks from the passers by though, but hey I'm used to that, I get that all the time, even when I am not laying down on the towpath!

When I first started out at this club, looking to improve my photography, I got a bit obsessed with reflections in water (before I discovered ducks) and remember taking lots of reflection shots of the metal bank reinforcements around various locks. When I spotted some nice light on a length of it, on this walk, I just couldn't resist rattling a few frames off, for old times sake, as you do. Perhaps it is about time I found something new to have as an obsession, getting a bit tired of ducks, but one thing it won't be is bees. We spent a good 15 minutes chasing them round the lavender to no avail, must take the superglue next time, to hold them steady.

It was at this point that June seemed to be ignoring us, in her own little world, which was bit strange. It was only when a squad of hunky soldier types in uniform came jogging past, that we realised what had been occupying her mind. I didn't like to tell them that their camouflage uniform wasn't working, as I could still see them, especially when I saw their bulging biceps, and decided that discretion was the best route to take.

All in all a good evening out, well organised by big bruv, Now, he thinks he is an honourable member of D&D does he? He's been called a few things in his time, and honourable was never one that I heard mentioned. Anyway, no membership without a nickname, answers on a postcard please.

DAMP

28 Jun 2009 14:25:44 EvelynBarnard: