Evening

Cash Crop

The Group met at 18:00 on 21st June on a farm visit, arranged by Rosemary Crumplin, to Trinley Estate Farm hosted by the Estate Manager Mike Farrell.

Additional U3A members from the now defunct Birding and Natural History, the Lowings and the Kemps, also came along. The weather was idyllic and the light was excellent for photography.

Hare

Thistle

The Estate is making concerted efforts to encourage wildlife by planting hedgerows, seeding areas with wild flowers, sunflowers, etc and water features to attract amphibians and dragon/damsel flies. It was very obvious that Mike Farrell was very enthusiastic about the whole project.

Unfortunately wildlife was elusive. An early sighting of a low-flying Red Kite, the retreating rump of a Hare and the flushing of a Tawny Owl from its daytime roost in a shed were the highlights but there were plenty of opportunities to capture wildflowers, insects and the agricultural landscape on a very big farm.

Most attendees finished off the evening with a splendid meal at the Hare and Hounds on Charlton Down.

Best Picture: Water Vole on the River Test (Click to enlarge)

The Group met at 10:15 on 9th May with the theme ‘Spring’. Of the six portfolios submitted, Theresa Twitchell was voted best set of four and John Hawke’s photograph of ‘Water Vole on the Test’ was voted Best Picture.
Discussions centred on various attributes of some photographs submitted. Mike Liberson asked whether the difficulty in taking a picture should be taken into account when judging. It was agreed that pictures should be judged by impact – quality, difficulty, composition and novelty all being part of that impact.
John Hawke suggested that future meetings should include a presentation from a member on topics of their choice. Theresa Twitchell was ‘volunteered’ for the next indoor meeting!

Rosemary Crumplin had been liaising with a local farmer to arrange a Group visit. This has now been arranged for 21st June and will override the June indoor meeting

Starlings on the Somerset Levels

The Group met at 10:15 on 11th April with the theme ‘Group of Three’. Of the six portfolios submitted, John Hawke was voted best set of four and his photograph of three ‘Starlings on the Somerset Levels’ was voted Best Picture. (click on picture to enlarge it)

Theresa Twitchell was given an honourable mention for ‘Three Colour Pencils’.

Discussions centred on macrophotography. Initial comments concerned using the macro function on fixed lens cameras with the conclusion that it was better to use a sharply focused zoom setting with subsequent cropping to fill the frame.
John Hawke discussed the use of extension tubes to create macro photographs for cameras with interchangeable lenses – a cheap option to a dedicated macro lens. Theresa Twitchell showed her album of superb macro photographs submitted as part of a past photography course.
The need to be aware of unwanted/misaligned objects in the background of pictures were also emphasised!

Pam Liberson announced that HP had acknowledged that their printer was faulty and it had been replaced – both hers and Mike Liberson’s prints were well colour balanced as a result.