Virginia Water Revisited

Time to take the cameras out again. Ed no doubt had some new fancy dan piece of kit to try out, he buys so much new gear I can't keep track of it. All I know is that his camera bag weighs more and more each time we go out. We thought we would go back to Virginia Water as there was so much of it we didn't do last time we were there.

We arrived around 7-20am on the 4th November 2007, and at this time of morning there was plenty of space in the layby on the A30, so we didn't have to pay to park. That put us in a good mood to start with. The weather wasn't great, bit grey and overcast, but that didn't worry us a lot, as we just try and make the most of whatever we see in front of us. Never be put off by rubbish weather, just keep clicking away, you may be pleasantly surprised.

Anyway, we approached the lake and turned right, and almost immediately were confronted with a bird filled tree reflected in the still lake. It could have been a great shot, it should have been a great shot, but my attempts at it were pretty rubbish to be honest. I didn't do the scene justice at all. This does seem to happen to me a fair bit, I see what I think would make a great photo, only to find it impossible to capture in all its glory. Must practise more I guess.

A funny thing did happen while we were here though as Ed and myself were peering through our tripod mounted cameras. We heard a lady shouting at one of her dogs she was out walking, and we turned round to see the said dog with his muddy wet paws in Ed's camera bag. All Ed's spare kit now had lovely muddy paw prints all over it! Ed did resist the urge to practise his drop goal technique with the dog, and was very pleasant to the apologetic owner. We shall definitely keep our bags zipped up in the future though.

As, I think I have mentioned before, the biggest disappointment at Virginia Water is just how timid the wildlife is. All the birds keep a fair distance away, with only a grebe venturing anywhere near us really. Still if I was minding my own business paddling around on a lake and saw two shady looking characters pointing cameras at me, I guess I would make my excuses and depart pretty sharpish.

We were a little too late in the year to make the most of the Autumnal colours (must make a note in our diaries for next year) as I am sure they must be pretty spectacular judging by the bright and rich colours of some of the leaves laying around still. Talking of fallen leaves, there just happened to be one floating on the lake begging to be photographed (How it got there I shall never know your honour, purely natural shot as nature intended. Believe that, you'll believe anything). I just can't resist these type of shots, and I always pick up a few fallen leaves and put them in my pocket for later.

We had intended to find some new territory to photograph, but alas time ran out and we started heading back, only to stumble on some lovely fungi growing out of a fallen tree. This was the moment I had been waiting for, I delved in my bag and grabbed my new macro lens (God bless you PM magazine) and after much juggling of lens and camera got the two together. Never used one of these macros things before, strange beasts aren't they? All a bit fiddly I thought, with a depth of field of not much more than a coat of paint. Still gave it a go, but an awful lot to learn me thinks.

As Ed and myself were working away trying to get some light into the fungi a chap asks us about our reflectors, and if they would help him get rid of heavy shadows in some of his close up photography. We set to work on him giving him the benefit of our non existent knowledge and suggested he comes and joins the club etc. Turns out he only wants to get better photographs of the stuff he regularly puts on Ebay!

Although we walked virtually the same route as we have done before, we were amazed at the amount of different things we saw to photograph. One of these days we will make it all the way around the lake, instead of retracing our steps. However, it was only by retracing our steps that we spotted the funghi, so it pays to keep yours eyes peeled all the time. As I said at the start, the weather was pretty mediocre, but I still managed to get a few shots I was pleased with, so I was glad we went. There really is just so much to photograph at Virginia Water though, I think another visit in the not too distant future may be called for.

Dave