Everything was going really well, until the splash….

We started the day at Woodchester Mansion which is an unfinished Gothic style mansion. A great place inside and some wonderful grounds to walk around and take pictures. The front of the mansion is mostly complete but unfortunately they seemed to think that the addition of a huge, white, 30 foot long marquee outside the entrance would be a good idea. That kind of ruined the chances of getting any good shots of the house as the back was covered in scaffolding and you could see the marquee from the side of the house as well. Cloning things out from between tree branches isn’t my idea of fun so I quickly dismissed even taking a shot.

I had a nice long walk around the Orange route with Rich as we were going to find the boathouse and see if we could get a decent shot or two of it. As we were walking down from the house we bumped into Christine and found that her day wasn’t going to well. She’d removed the SD card from her camera the night before for some reason and had forgotten to replace it. So no pictures for her and a totally wasted trip out. As we continued on the Orange route we kind of missed a turn when a couple of cows decided to object to our presence. Which led to us taking a two mile round trip around a couple of lakes instead of only having to walk about 500 yards from the house to the boathouse! Next time I’m definitely bringing a jar of mustard to threaten the cows with.

When we got back to the mansion to our dismay the tea room had already shut and we were forced to endure a dry wait for the minibus to take us back up to the car park. The less said about that journey the better if only for the fact I want to forget that at one point the van was leaning over at 45 degrees when the driver had to reverse and went up on the bank. When we got up to the car park we found Myk & Angi waiting for us. It seemed that everyone else had decided to call it a day and gone home. We were also treated to a great display from the local Glider club as the flight path in to land went directly above the car park.

We all headed, literally across the road to the car park at Coaley Peak, which is a popular hang gliding spot. After capturing a few shots of the sunset we moved up to a more secluded part of the picnic area to do a little bit of light painting. That went really well but it seems we won’t be buying our wire wool at B&Q again as it lasted all of about 10 seconds once it was lit. After a little bit of discussion we decided to head through Dursley, via a fantastic fish & chip shop, to Purton Hulks. Where the plan was to go and do some light painting down amongst the decaying hulls of the boats. We arrived and promptly set off down the towpath to find a suitable spot. Stopping at one of the Hulks we set up and had a bit of fun with lasers, sparklers and various kid’s toys! If you’ve had a go at light painting before you know what I mean. We moved on again to another hulk and created some images  there. Then we had a great idea. Lets go back to the car park and spin some orbs & wool spin off the bridge over the canal! Great, what could possibly go wrong? So we start to set up and Angi decides to go down the tow path a little and try a different angle towards the bridge. She spots some steps going down to what, in the moonlight, looks like a solid piece of concrete. Unfortunately it was just algae covered water! Splash in she went, camera, tripod and mobile phone. Right up to her neck! Now on the bridge Rich was heard to say, bloody hell Angi you’ve scared the birds and spoilt the reflections! Myk jokingly said “It’s only Angie falling in”. Then we heard a HELP! And it was “Oh shit she has!”. Rich & Myk helped her out and I got my camera (I can’t see anything wrong with my priorities). As you can see from the picture she tried to take half the canal home in her shoe.

Oh I do like to be beside the sea side

On Saturday an intrepid bunch of adventurers, well six of us, went to Weston Super Mare for a stroll along the sea front and to take pictures. It was a camera club outing but it seemed that most of the club decided it wasn’t for them. Which was a shame because the sun was out and the only bad thing was the wind. Although that created a few good photo opportunities and I’m still annoyed that when the wave broke over the sea wall none of us had our camera’s pointed at the cyclist that got soaked.
We all met at the Pier for six o’clock (at least those of us that could tell the time did, mentioning no names, Kevin.) and decided to go along it and see what we could find. After dodging a van and a train, whilst walking along the pier, we got to the far end and wondered if we were going to get blown off it was so windy. We went inside for a bit and then went for some fish & chips. Barrie ordered his food, got a coffee and walked straight past the till only for the girl to come running after him as he hadn’t paid for any of it!
After the meal we strolled along the seafront. Nearly making it to the old Knightstone pier. If you want to know why we didn’t go all the way to the old pier keep an eye on the pictures in the Flickr group pool and you’ll see that we would have had to time it just right to get past a particularly wet section of the footpath. The waves were constantly breaking over the sea wall at one of the narrowest points of the pathway and we all chickened out. Because of the wind we decided to abandon our plans for a bit of Beach light painting and head home.

In deepest darkest Wales

It’s guest post time again and we have an account of the Club’s day trip to the Élan Valley and Gigrin from our Chairman Kev Spiers.


Well with the Royal Wedding happening of Friday 29th of April and the leaders of the land giving us an extra day off, plans were hatched for a trip to deepest darkest mid Wales. I should mention we are not against Kate and Williams big day quite the contrary. We wish them the very best in their new life, every happiness for the future and peace from the paparazzi, heaven knows they will need it! Oh and many thanks for the free day off :)
So the plans took shape in the form of an early start for the Élan Dams then off the Red Kite feeding station at Gigrin Farm and back to the Dams for a sunset shot (very brave for April in Wales as its not the driest place in the UK) With the weather not looking that good we all meet at Sandy Park Burger King at 7 o'clock. This is where the wolf made its first appearance and scared the life out of Simon, Rich and Geoff who had not meet the beast before! What else did Ian have up his sleeve or in that bag of his? You never know till he wants you too. So, the group was there and briefed with how to run in convoy we set off passports and £5.70 bridge toll in hand. We dispatched the M32, M4 and Tolls almost incident free, Rich's car had a small mechanical gremlin getting on to the M4 but with a quick twist of the key and threatening it with a large hammer and screw driver it behaved it’s self for the rest of the day. We made it to the Élan Visitor Centre for 09.15 gagging for a coffee, no such luck! Doors open at 10. We had a little wander around the car park then grabbed our gear and headed for the dam, I don't think anybody counted the steps to the top but it was to many! We all made it legs burning and hearts thumping, who said taking pictures was easy? This is where Ian decided to let us meet his second pet for the day, a rat (an Ikea soft toy). The water was 6 feet from the top of the dam, very graphic evidence of the dry winter and spring we have had. We took a few pictures with the hope that a bit of post production may make the grey sky look better and headed back down those steps for refreshment. This came in the shape of coffee's, tea's, pasties, crisps and sausage sandwiches. As we ate we looked at the Red Kit images hanging on the wall, the general consensus was they weren't sharp. Ian decided to pull out his Lumix and snap one as a banker just incase!
Dam two looked much more photogenic (I think it was Pen-y-Gareg Dam) This one I estimate the water was 10 to 15 feet below the high tide line, even the fly fishermen could wade from side to side. This lead to thoughts of returning with better light as the graded shore lines would look fantastic. We climbed over the fence and slithered down the bank to the rock shore for a few more pictures. Ian disappeared only to return once we were all back at the cars. He was very happy with pictures of some ducklings, patterns in the water and a dead buzzard!
Off to Dam number 3, Craig Goch. This one you can drive across, we made the crossing to the far side and split up to take photos. The sky was still grey with the occasional shaft of sunlight peeping through. Rich Price waited with the patience of a saint for a shaft of light on some trees on the far bank. Barrie busied himself with some candid shots of a couple who arrived on a Harley to admire the view and some shots of the local feathered wildlife. Kev scurried off up a steep bank to get a lofty shot of the dam, Rich headed off looking for a different angle on the dam only to return to take shots of Chaffinch's with the lens cap on!!? (did we not teach him anything?) Simon wandered to the far side snapping as he walked.
Time was getting on as we needed to be at Gigrin for 2 o'clock so we decided to make a rushed visit Dam number 4 Claerwen. This one is pretty spectacular, its huge! Well not Hoover Dam huge but for Wales trust me its impressive. After a very quick look at the base we drove to the top scared Ian with a look over the edge and headed off to Gigrin.
Once paid and parked we all made off to our hides. Barrie and Rich P in the £15 seats with Rich, Simon, Geoff and Kev in the £4 seats. We sat and waited the 45 minutes to feeding time spotting the odd Red Kite and hoping we would see the fabled White Kite. Ian got a little bored at this point as his bum went to sleep and started snoring!! Then we heard the tractor and so did the Kites it was the equivalent of banging the food gong! they appeared from everywhere, circling above us. The tractor entered the field stopped right in front of us and dumped some its 40 kilos of fresh meat. I was like the rest camera glued to my eye trying to make a shot. Honestly it was like a scene from Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds I have no idea how many Kites were there but am quite confident it was 100+ Suddenly there was a quiet shout through the hide its the White Kite! Every camera in the hides snapped in the general direction and pressed their shutter, it was tagged number 51 not the best for a photo opportunity but a record of a White Kite nonetheless. Then drama struck massive problems, memory full card!! Rich, Kev, Barrie :- Kev and Rich set about deleting images Barrie called it a day, well it was 5 o'clock! 5 O'clock where did those 2 hours go? Just ask the bursting memory cards 700+ for Kev 500+ for Rich P
Next a little confusion home, food, sunset? home was called then changed to pub to discuss further. A small detour via a luck encounter with a very large bracket fungus and the pub was entered beers ordered and a comfy sofa for us. It was decided to go our separate way’s. Barrie and Co. had another beer, Rich's crew headed off for a possible sunset at Dam number 3. It turned out OK, Kev and Rich P messed with off camera flash to highlight foreground while Rich finally got to grips with that flipping Chaffinch and Simon used the centre of the Dam as foreground for the sunset. That done we headed off home dodging frogs and Welsh drivers, feel free to ask!
Still enough rambling, just to say thank you to Barrie and Rich for driving and to all who made this another great Reflex Camera Clubs day out.

Day Release

This Sunday several of Reflex Camera Club managed to get a day release pass and took a trip to Stonehenge.
Braving freezing fog, blizzards and worst of all Ian’s jokes we all arrived safely only to find hardly any snow on
the ground but a fairly thick fog making visibility pretty poor. Luckily though the sun soon broke through and we
ended up with glorious blue skies. Loads of pictures were taken and a good time was had by all. Check our Flickr
group over the next few days for more photo's.
Afterwards several of us decided to carry on and take a trip to Avebury. Of course the first stop was the pub for
a spot of lunch. We even managed to order some food which was pretty good although Alison couldn’t resist
trying to make everyone wish they had chosen the fish despite the T.V. in the background mentioning shark
attacks.

On day release were (left to right) Kev, Geoff, Roger, Eddie, Rich, Barrie, Ian, Mark and trying to hide behind her camera was Alison.

Come explore the Legendary Porridge Mines!

Were going to explore the Legendary Porridge Mines of Goblin Combe on the 19th of September. Come along and join us in our search for the Sacred Spoon of Everlasting Porridge!

Ahh well OK were actually planning on going for a walk through Goblin Combe. Read on to find out the real details.

The plan is to meet at 2pm in Goblin Combe car park. Which is free, at Cleeve Hill Road (turn off A370 at Lord Nelson pub). The route is 5.25 Miles (8.4km). Which, apparently, should take around 2 hours and 20 minutes to complete. It consists of Path's, Track's and one steep-stepped ascent. Also there are two stiles to climb over. It's supposed to be an easy walk and if I'm willing to give it a go then I'm sure everyone else in the club are more than capable of completing it.
Here's a link to the car park on Google Maps. If your using Sat Nav then the postcode is BS49 4NR. Which will take you to the pub and the car park is just down the road. You should be able to get some superb Landscape shots and of course the compulsory candid's of club members either falling flat on their backsides (yes that will be me) or doing something strange.I've attached a PDF of the walk with notes that Hanneke provided. So you can have a look at the route. If you need a PDF reader then you can download Adobe's free one HERE. I recommend, if your downloading it, to remove the tick from the "Free McAffe Security Scan Plus"

If your still wondering what all that porridge talk was about then you should visit our Flickr Group.

It's nice out lets go take pictures

After virtually swimming home from school with my daughter today instead of cycling it's time to see if your up for a little trip out, weather permitting. The plan is to go visit the Purton Hulks on Thursday, 17 June. There are a few spaces in some of the cars that will be travelling up so drop me a mail or leave a post in this discussion thread on our Flickr pages to say that you would like a lift. More details in that thread nearer the date.
If you want to see what pictures other people have taken of area then go visit the Purton and its Barges Flickr Group