Interesting Tringford Friday

Once again I cleared all I could by early afternoon, and decided that I had not been in contact with Bob the Bailiff at Tringford Fisheries for a while, and a restful afternoon at the reservoir is quite appealing on a day that had the possibility of autumn sunshine. I put in a call to check Bob would be there, and set off, with every intention of taking some paperwork to my accountant in Ampthill at the end of the day, having also called her to see that was acceptable.

I arrived at the car park and walked along to the jetty, and no sign of Bob. I returned to the car to collect my camera and relaxed on the end of pier with my 300mm, occasionally taking shots of a gull that was circling at the top end, and heading into wind towards me keeping an alert watch for fish below the surface. Having watched this unfold for a while I called Bob and learned he was in a meeting. As I got up I was amazed at what I saw in the shallows only a few feet in front of me the brilliant colours of a large freshwater crawfish! Even though I had no polariser, and was faced with the wind creating constant ripples to the water surface, I was determined to record this because I reckoned this specimen was a good ten inches end to end!

I heard the clang of the gate and went back to the car park expecting Bob, but it was two other anglers who explained a friend had joined Bob at the Anglers’ Rest Public House and so he had stayed on! When I used to work at Pelling & Cross (now Calumet) their local hostelry was the ‘Doctor’s Surgery’ and their custom was such that the landlord moved with them! So much for Office Meetings!

I should show more respect for  my friend, as when he returned he made good his offer to row me down to the bottom end of the lake which gave me more opportunities to gather shots of herons. When we came back from this trip, I offered to take Bob home, and in Cheddington we stopped off at the Three Horseshoes, where I imbibed a half of bitter shandy, and we chatted to his local friends at the bar. A while later another local entered and hailed Bob, I looked up and it was a face that was extremely familiar to me, fellow photographer, Kevin Sansbury – neither of us knew we both knew Bob! What a small world! I stayed longer than intended, which meant my trip to the accountant was not made till Saturday! My life seems governed by serendipity, I plan very little to an exact timetable, and I had no idea how this trip would end – colourful crawfish and learning Kevin and Bob knew each other!

Autumn Afternoon at Stockwood

Decks cleared by noon and the sun was still around after clearing the morning’s mist, and though clouds were beginning to gather again, I decided it was worth filling up with petrol then dropping by Stockwood Discovery Centre in case there was any colour to be found in the gardens.

At first sight, it did not look too promising; the beds outside had been cleared, presumably for Winter bedding plants, and once through the entrance and past the Café, it certainly looked very end of season. I came across Jan one of the gardeners, and stopped to chat to get an idea as to where there might be some flowers eager to be captured by my lens. I drew her attention to one I had spotted, and learned it was a hollyhock, so that added just under 90% to my knowledge of flower names! Later I met someone who asked whether I knew all the names of the flowers, I replied that Tulips, Daffodils and Dandelions was about my lot, and I had already forgotten the new addition!

I may not know many of their names, but I do take a fair amount of time looking for details, lighting and texture, and as often as not I go for leaves rather than flowers. One leaf was in bright sunlight and from the front is drab, but backlit is quite another matter – it is a rich red, so I took shots front and back to illustrate the dramatic difference. I look for contrasts and shapes, which means I may often look at a group or section for some time before selecting one particular viewpoint. When I look back on today’s images I am surprised by just how much I found. This is very much a testament to the diligent work of Stockwood Discovery Centre’s gardeners, their choice of plants for every season, their weeding, their tending, their siting and their display.

It was also good to know that the stolen Wenlock Jug was now back where it belonged.

Woburn Deer Park

What does a photographer do when his main working computer develops a thin vertical green line from top to bottom of his screen? Although not debilitating in its own right, it could be a precursor to further problems, so it has to be taken to repairers and that means I suffer its loss for several days. It was marginally out of warranty, but Apple agreed to carry out the work under warranty, and it had been arranged that I take it to the Milton Keynes Apple Store.

When I took it in I was advised it could take anywhere between five to seven working days.

Upon this basis, I swapped out the faulty machine with a much older less powerful, though larger screened model, and connected up to those discs whose contents were the most vital for my continued working. I also made a complete clone of the Mac that was going for repair, but unfortunately it was unable to boot this older machine, so I sincerely hoped I would not be delayed too long.

Once I had worked as far as I could go, I chose to take advantage of the sunshine, and do what photographers do, I went to take pictures, and the location I chose was the Deer Park at Woburn. I arrived in the continuing sunshine and blue skies, but ominous black clouds were amassing, and soon the wind rose, and it began to drizzle, but I moved into the lee by some trees and continued shooting, and for a while it stopped raining, but the sun was shy and hid behind clouds, just occasionally casting its light on parts of the landscape, before new dark clouds arrived and the showers started again.

As I walked up the grassy path towards the House, my phone rang. Surprisingly, it was the Apple Store Milton Keynes who had only received the Mac from me the day before, to say it was now ready for collection. I thanked the chap for expediting the repair and asked when they closed, was told six o’clock, which meant I had a chance to get there just before they closed – I turned around and began the long walk back to reach my car and journey onto Milton Keynes. I arrived with half an hour to spare, and bought the Camera Connection kit for the iPad by way of saying thank you, and now have the task of putting all my kit back as it was! I would not be able to post process all the pictures till it was all up and running again, but it gave me an opportunity to tidy all the cabling, vacuum all the accumulated dust and check it all out. That made for a very long evening! I did start on looking at the photos, but after all the exertions, I had to give in and get to bed. This morning I caught up on all the email, and finished culling and the gallery is just going up.

Then I have to get off to London to the AoP Awards where I am collecting one for Martin Evening who is indisposed, where I will also be meeting up with Geoff Dann.