QUESTERS VISIT TO ENGLISH WILLOW CENTRE nr TAUNTON 23 SEP 2024

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Monday,  23 September 2024       

Coates English Willow Centre, Stoke St Gregory, Taunton, TA3 6HY  (www.coatesenglishwillow.co. uk)

Questers will be taking a Minibus trip to the Somerset Levels to a family run business which has been growing and weaving willow for over 200 years. We will meet at Wickes around 8.30 am and return about 5.30 pm. The cost will be £16 for minibus; guided tour of the Willow Centre, and admission to the museum. Lunches are available in the Lemon Tree Café. If time and weather permit there are trails to see where the withies grow and a living willow sculpture.

Just 3 places left!  There was a good response when the trip was announced at the meeting on 10th July, so others interested in joining  should contact Chris Coffin at KRISKOFF@GMAIL.COM . He will let you know whether there is a place available or not. The £16 should be paid by bank transfer in the usual way, with WILLOW  and your membership number in the reference.

Chris Coffin

QUESTERS GROUP VISIT TO BOSCOMBE DOWN AIR MUSEUM WEDNESDAY 04/09/24

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VISIT TO BOSCOMBE DOWN AIR MUSEUM WEDNESDAY 04/09/24

This is a final reminder of our planned visit.

If you wish to attend, please ensure that you have paid the £10.00 pp entrance fee for this visit by Monday 29/07/24.  I have been obliged to change this date owing to my holiday commitments.  Payments, as previously requested, by credit transfer direct to the Anton u3a bank account ref Air followed by your membership number.

At present there are some vacancies for this visit, and if you wish to join us please pay as soon as possible and advise me.

As previously stated, it will be a self-drive visit meeting at Wicks for a 10am prompt departure and if lifts are required, please let me know.

Please note that this collection/museum is located at OLD SARUM AIRFIELD, nr SALIBURY, SP4 6DZ.

Norma Bryan

Photographic Group July Meeting

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The Group met at 10:15 a.m. on 8th July with the theme ‘Frame Within a Frame’.

Only 4 people attended as Rosemary Crumplin had a hospital appointment accompanied by John Clark. With such a small (and even) number, it was inevitable that two photographs received two votes each.

It was decided that both were declared overall best picture. These were Pam Liberson’s ‘St Peter’s Church, Stockbridge’ and Anjie Sargeant’s ‘Tunnel between Hotel Simplon and Hotel Grand Dino, Lake Maggiore’. Both were taken under difficult light conditions.

St. Peter’s Church, Stockbridge – Pam Liberson

Tunnel between Hotel Simplon and Hotel Grand Dino, Lake Maggiore

August’s theme is ‘New/Old Architecture’.

John Hawke stated that he had been asked to talk about aspects of taking wildlife pictures by the Andover U3A Photography Group. The Anton Group asked for a repeat performance! The précis of the talk was as follows:-

Get the right kit – tripod/monopod/ bean bag/filters – take spare batteries!

Familiarise yourself with all that the camera can do:

Use natural/standard settings – not vivid

Shoot RAW + JPEG if you are going to post edit

Use Auto ISO – establish upper limit when noise is too high

Aperture Priority/Shutter Speed Priority

Back button AF

Continuous AF for panning shots

When to use Spot focus/Small area focus (centre-weighted)/Whole area

Burst shooting and Bracketing

Face/Bird Eye recognition – use with caution

Lenses:

Best aperture settings – 2 stops up from widest

Best shutter speed settings – stop shake, freeze action, ‘slow’ for motion

Not just telephoto (25m to infinity setting) – macro lens as normal lens

Leave plenty of room for cropping/composition

Light conditions and effects on exposure and colours

Take advantage of attracting sites – puddles/food/flowers

Study wildlife behaviour – small birds/raptors/predators/interactions

Do not over edit (keep as ‘natural’ as possible) – crop for composition. Use of high contrast as emphasis.

A slide show illustrated some of the above along with some slides depicting simple and effective composition tricks.