On the 2nd May I spent the day on a workshop with fellow photographer and friend, Pat. The workshop was headed by Tony Blake Anthony Blake Photoography I knew it would be a good day as I had been on workshops with Tony before, it has always been fun and a good photography day and I wasn’t disappointed.
Our first stop was near Salisbury at Harnham where we were meeting with other photographers and where we stayed for a little while to take pictures of Salisbury Cathedral across the meadow. The weather was a little overcast but we had plenty of time to find a good composition and get the image right. It was good start to the day.
While I was taking photos a woman came in front of me with her dog and sat down on the bench looking at the cathedral, it made a nice composition and I thought it would be good as a monochrome image.
After we finished taking images we walked along the bank to the Old Mill Hotel, I couldn’t resist taking a couple of pictures of the lovely old building, which dates back to the 15th Century before we went and had a drink.
Another image of the cathedral, hand held as we crossed back to the car. I just spotted a clear view of the cathedral and took a quick snap!
We then moved on to our main location for the day, West Woods near Malborough in Wiltshire. I believe the woods are managed by the Forestry Commission. Before we ventured into the Bluebells we had our lunch and then we were ready to face the afternoon!
Heading into the woods there weren’t many Bluebells but you could smell them, wonderful scent of spring and then we came to the Bluebells and what a sight, they seemed to go on forever. The Beech leaves were well out but still the lovely Lime green in colour and the floor of the woodland wasn’t too over-cluttered with other plant material dead or otherwise. We were to have several hours wandering in the Bluebells and taking various images. I was pleased that there wasn’t much trampling of the flowers and only a minimal bit of litter. I spent some time with using various lenses but found my 24-105mm lens suited most of the compositions.
Wide angle image of the Bluebells.
There were just a few snatches of sunlight but just as we were packing our bags to leave the sun burst out and I quickly grabbed my camera and took a handheld shot before it disappeared once again, nice to have a little light breaking through the canopy.
I did try a couple of Macro images with my 100mm Macro lens, still not happy with my macro photography I must practice more!
Another great trip out, I find it so relaxing as you can enjoy the day without worrying about everyday things and having the company of other photographers is always a pleasure.