RECENT NEWS
An Evening with Diana and her photos from 2020
COMMENTS on Misty Moment Challenge! Keep them coming!
15/01/2021
Our regular members remain enthusiastic about keeping in contact, and the majority joined us this week on Zoom for “An Evening with Diana Walker”.
Diana is a long-standing member, well-known for her passion for all things natural, together with a real in-depth knowledge of the subject. Diana will be the first to admit that her Zoom skills are not equal to her photographic mastery (!), and we were beset by a number of technical issues, as well as some interference from her new kitten, who even at such an early age, sought to challenge her keyboard skills! Nevertheless, we enjoyed the three panels that were omitted from last week’s presentation, typically featuring Birds of Prey, Red Kites and, less typically buildings, before she shared the full range of her excellent 2020 images.
Diana enjoys her garden, where squirrels, pigeons and woodpeckers feast upon the amazing range of insects and larvae that pollenate the flowers and emerge from the depths of her pond. This affords a wonderful source of inspiration for the wildlife and close-up photography that she particularly enjoys, and through which she has much success in competitions. Beyond her garden, in normal circumstances when Lockdowns are not in place, Diana ventures far and wide for photographs, and we enjoyed the images from The Somerset Levels, particularly those of the murmurations at dusk, as well as the collection of photographs of Fungi, found and captured in so many woodland locations, which she named and described for us.
Diana has come on many of our socially distanced walks in the months between Lockdowns, and images from these were included, so that we were gently reminded of the views and the details of sharing our hobby, as well as of the embarrassment of “losing” one of our members on a walk above the Chew Valley! It was again an enjoyable evening in which we all enjoyed the visual elements as well as the social chat and exchange of information.
We welcomed Lou Scholes as a potential new member to our club, and hope that she will decide over the next few weeks, to join the Society permanently, after the AGM, which we will conduct formally and virtually, in March.
Next Tuesday we are invited to join Warminster to share their evening of Street Photography , presented by Joe Houghton. I so far have a list of 7 who wish to be sent the link, so if there are more please let me know by Monday evening. Our own club evening next Thursday will feature images from the Frome Salon, kindly provided by Frome Selwood, and presented by Bill Collett. The CHALLENGE for the week is outlined on the website, and as always our RECENT NEWS sections have been updated. All are invited to have a go this week, including Lou, so hopefully we can all stay safe and occupied!!
Jenny Short
15.01.2021
COMMENTS on Misty Moment Challenge! Keep them coming!
Jenny says:
Good to be back to the weekly challenges. Time for brief critique as the weather is looking OK for an outside walk!
Pamela: You do get up early!! I like the Cold Toes picture of the Robin in the mist best but Dog in The Fog certainly shows the time of day if not the extent of the fog!
Jill: The Witches appear again – glad you did not actually lose yourself! The Chew Valley Lake is super- great definition in the birds in flight against that familiar scene which is almost high key but very moody. Great timing!
Tony: Both your riverside shots make really good use of the minimal mist in the shafts of the sunshine- lovely subtle lighting.
Jane: Experimenting as usual ! My real favourite is the one through the arch of the bridge It is really well framed and composed.
Graham: Thanks for the late, retrospective entry depicting Stourhead in the Autumn mist- very effective and nice colours.
Pamela says:
Jill. Chew Valley. I like this. It is muted but the few darkerbirds stop it from looking flat. Out of the two witches I prefer thecomposition in number 1, but I like the detail in number 2. I thinkthis tree deserves commission.
Tony. No 1. Lovely light but for me, itneeds something to draw the eye in but I don't know what. No 2 appealsto me much more. I really like the composition and the way the light falls.
Jane. Walk in the mist. I would crop the sides, and then Ithink the light pattern would work very well and keep the focus on thtwo people. Rows of corn is original, and I do like blurred foregrounds, but for some reason this is distracting. Is the bottom branch too dark/strong? Sunburst.This doesn't really work forme.
Graham. Stourhead. This is really good, tranquil, lovely colours and the light streak in the centre just adds something.Jenny. I like ICM but here I prefer Misty Moment. I love the colours and having astrong foreground works well with the composition of trees. Perhaps ICMshould have less foreground, the two parts seem to compete.
MistyThreatening is also good. My eye is drawn in, I feel I could be walkinginto a TV drama, someone is watching me!
Diana is a long-standing member, well-known for her passion for all things natural, together with a real in-depth knowledge of the subject. Diana will be the first to admit that her Zoom skills are not equal to her photographic mastery (!), and we were beset by a number of technical issues, as well as some interference from her new kitten, who even at such an early age, sought to challenge her keyboard skills! Nevertheless, we enjoyed the three panels that were omitted from last week’s presentation, typically featuring Birds of Prey, Red Kites and, less typically buildings, before she shared the full range of her excellent 2020 images.
Diana enjoys her garden, where squirrels, pigeons and woodpeckers feast upon the amazing range of insects and larvae that pollenate the flowers and emerge from the depths of her pond. This affords a wonderful source of inspiration for the wildlife and close-up photography that she particularly enjoys, and through which she has much success in competitions. Beyond her garden, in normal circumstances when Lockdowns are not in place, Diana ventures far and wide for photographs, and we enjoyed the images from The Somerset Levels, particularly those of the murmurations at dusk, as well as the collection of photographs of Fungi, found and captured in so many woodland locations, which she named and described for us.
Diana has come on many of our socially distanced walks in the months between Lockdowns, and images from these were included, so that we were gently reminded of the views and the details of sharing our hobby, as well as of the embarrassment of “losing” one of our members on a walk above the Chew Valley! It was again an enjoyable evening in which we all enjoyed the visual elements as well as the social chat and exchange of information.
We welcomed Lou Scholes as a potential new member to our club, and hope that she will decide over the next few weeks, to join the Society permanently, after the AGM, which we will conduct formally and virtually, in March.
Next Tuesday we are invited to join Warminster to share their evening of Street Photography , presented by Joe Houghton. I so far have a list of 7 who wish to be sent the link, so if there are more please let me know by Monday evening. Our own club evening next Thursday will feature images from the Frome Salon, kindly provided by Frome Selwood, and presented by Bill Collett. The CHALLENGE for the week is outlined on the website, and as always our RECENT NEWS sections have been updated. All are invited to have a go this week, including Lou, so hopefully we can all stay safe and occupied!!
Jenny Short
15.01.2021
COMMENTS on Misty Moment Challenge! Keep them coming!
Jenny says:
Good to be back to the weekly challenges. Time for brief critique as the weather is looking OK for an outside walk!
Pamela: You do get up early!! I like the Cold Toes picture of the Robin in the mist best but Dog in The Fog certainly shows the time of day if not the extent of the fog!
Jill: The Witches appear again – glad you did not actually lose yourself! The Chew Valley Lake is super- great definition in the birds in flight against that familiar scene which is almost high key but very moody. Great timing!
Tony: Both your riverside shots make really good use of the minimal mist in the shafts of the sunshine- lovely subtle lighting.
Jane: Experimenting as usual ! My real favourite is the one through the arch of the bridge It is really well framed and composed.
Graham: Thanks for the late, retrospective entry depicting Stourhead in the Autumn mist- very effective and nice colours.
Pamela says:
Jill. Chew Valley. I like this. It is muted but the few darkerbirds stop it from looking flat. Out of the two witches I prefer thecomposition in number 1, but I like the detail in number 2. I thinkthis tree deserves commission.
Tony. No 1. Lovely light but for me, itneeds something to draw the eye in but I don't know what. No 2 appealsto me much more. I really like the composition and the way the light falls.
Jane. Walk in the mist. I would crop the sides, and then Ithink the light pattern would work very well and keep the focus on thtwo people. Rows of corn is original, and I do like blurred foregrounds, but for some reason this is distracting. Is the bottom branch too dark/strong? Sunburst.This doesn't really work forme.
Graham. Stourhead. This is really good, tranquil, lovely colours and the light streak in the centre just adds something.Jenny. I like ICM but here I prefer Misty Moment. I love the colours and having astrong foreground works well with the composition of trees. Perhaps ICMshould have less foreground, the two parts seem to compete.
MistyThreatening is also good. My eye is drawn in, I feel I could be walkinginto a TV drama, someone is watching me!