Brogborough Stop-off and New Sun Roof

I have just had a sunroof fitted to the Insignia, and the delay I endured was because this new version of Webasto’s sun roof was the first into the UK for cars with very curved roofs such as the Jaguar XF and the Insignia, was somewhat late and the template had been delayed.

The Journey back from Hemel Hempstead took me back via the old A 421 as I had purposely made my journey back avoiding the M1 motorway as engineers were removing a bridge and had closed an entire Bedfordshire section, this took me finally past Brogborough lake the home of the eponymous Windsurfing lake, that I often frequent. As there was a reasonable breeze I decided to detour despite it being still morning. Only one sailor was on the water, but there were a few rigging their boards, and a few familiar faces greeted me.

Although the shots I took of the new sun roof are at the beginning of the gallery, they were taken just before leaving, the windsurfers all appear in correct chronology.

I took the heavy tripod with me and headed up the road beyond the car park in through the Angler’s field gate and as far as the second more impenetrable bushes above the beach so the windsurfers would head towards me before gybing and I would have the sun on them, if it stayed out! after seeing that the sailors were going beyond me, I back tracked a bit to give me a better span, and awaited the arrival of a few more on the water. Fortunately I did not have to wait too long as rigging a board seemed to take less long than my trek across the field.

Today I was informed was not likely to encourage any jumping, so sequences of gybing were going to be the order of the day. This gives me a lot of extra work in post-processing deciding to reduce the number of shots in the sequences and also ensuring level horizons, cropping and resizing to make the sequences have more constant sizing, so the number of shots per gallery is not a measure of how long I was taking the shots, but a measure of how long I spend later editing whilst sat in front of a computer screen.

On my return to the club car park I managed to get some shots of a a reddish orange dragonfly, sadly not in flight or against a smooth backdrop, but I did mange to get in fairly close which pleased my eye for detail.

 I did not stay very long, but stopped shooting when the wind dropped dramatically and the number of sails on the water fell to low single figures.

A Spur of the Moment Visit to Gadebridge Park

A Product Designer friend was very kindly coming to collect me after I had taken my car to have a Webasto sunroof fitted, and whereas I had set off for an early arrival in Hemel Hempstead, I had expressed to Peter Carr that it was entirely sensible for him to leave after the end of the morning rush to minimise his loss of time, and I would find something to do once I had handed over the car.

Dave Sweetingham who runs Executive Autocare who had fitted a sunroof to my last car, and done an excellent job, when asked what places there might be offering photographic opportunities suggested I made my way to Gadebridge Park. I was very grateful to take his advice and found the gardens were being tended by no less than three gardeners upon my arrival, and the display was very well managed, and each of them greeted me warmly.

There were only a handful of visitors, but all acknowledged my presence, bar one gentlemen who was entirely engrossed, in the smaller Charter Garden, obviously happy with his own company in the warm early morning sunshine with its long shadows, I found the lighting very pleasing even before reaching the gardens themselves with the line of trees casting there striped shadows diagonally across the circular beds that lined the road to the entrance gate, which was the remains of the Charter Tower.

I strolled quietly around capturing the essence of the place, until the call came on my mobile to say Peter was arriving with my return trip, thus ending a brief interlude which provided me with a couple of gallery pages of the formal gardens, very satisfactorily filling the time. I can warmly recommend them as a place in which to relax and enjoy the colour and serenity.

I now look forward to collecting my car with its new sunroof, and taking some shots of the completed job, so Dave can show the quality of his handiwork to other potential clients, especially as this particular Mark 3 version is the first in the country, especially designed for the very curved roofs of cars such as the Jaguar XF or my more humble Insignia!

DeskLodge – DigiCluster Network Event

Peter Carr and I headed south from Harpenden to a gathering of DigiCluster, this time at a new venue on Tuesday evening in Hemel Hempstead – DeskLodge a new venture offering Hot Desking in a vibrant setting and with a somewhat nostalgic feel as it had various early examples of a photographic genre.

It was good to see both familiar faces from past events, and many new ones, with the theme of the evening provided by Jonas B Stockfleth who, once proceedings began, was introduced to the gathering by Syd Nadeem, CEO of Clock. But before that began cool liquid refreshments were being consumed amidst the throng of small groups in animated conversation, and certainly this was self-evident proof that networking was indeed at work; certainly I saw no wallflowers.

Although by my being behind a camera it might appear that I am not partaking, this is very far from the truth, my eyes and ears are wide open, and I am not totally passive in the conversations; I do get involved, but because I use no flash in these situations, I am not interrupting and do participate, and on this occasion I got involved in several chats with some very interesting people with whom I would very much like to work. One of my measures of whether I am succeeding in making meaningful contacts is in the handing out of business cards, and as in the past the fact that my cards actually feature my face becomes a topic discussing the merits of ensuring that my card is an aide-memoire as to what was being discussed when the card was handed over.

The presentation from Jonas was both informative and enlightening, and his enthusiastic flourish when clicking the next item in his show was a sheer delight; the movements were so expressive, he might have been using a squash racquet to perform a winning smash in the game, it was as if his clicker were only activated after achieving three or four G – it certainly ensured that his points were made with gusto!

The talk was in part the telling of his personal story as he followed his dream and where he felt the immersive medium he was now evangelising was heading and why it should be taken seriously, as he felt it was the future, certainly it was obvious at the conclusion that Syd Nadeem felt it was a direction he believed in taking.

Afterwards a few of the attendees tried out some of Jonas’ ‘toys’ and watching those who took advantage of the opportunity it was something I decided was worth recording in its own right.

As in the past pizzas were brought in after the presentation, and I took the opportunity to lessen the picture taking and involve myself in what I felt was very worthwhile conversations regarding the type of work that I enjoyed, and most people I find expect me to offer a speciality, whereas the subjects I tackle a fairly far-reaching, but when asked do I do Weddings, my lightning fast response brought immediate laughter and much sarcasm as to how much hesitation was involved in my negative reply! It is because I enjoy recording reality, telling a story, and finding beauty in say the curves of a piece of architecture, or a series of images that explain how a process flows, and unless I was watching a play, I do not want to be putting people into poses or specific groups – natural interaction is what I enjoy seeking and recording.

I thoroughly enjoyed the evening and meeting new people, and I hope the gallery will capture the other participants gaining equal enjoyment from the meeting.

Serendipity and my Trip to Windsor

I had made a loose decision to drive to Windsor for opportunities to take more photographs, and so passing along Pepsal End lane and finding the source of heavy black smoke I had seen rising beyond Slip End, it was somewhat surprising that I pulled up simply to dial 999 and report the torching of a car. I then drove on, before thinking: hey, I am a photographer, maybe by taking shots before the firefighters arrive may just be useful. So, I parked up. grabbed one of my cameras and ran the half-mile back!

I managed to take a few shots before the fire appliance arrived, and started back to the car, but seeing the firefighters arrive, I captured them putting out the fire and continued my journey.

The route I wanted to take was on country roads, not motorways, so I was soon on my way towards Hemel Hempstead; I had passed the Aubreys Hotel when I spotted a couple hitch-hiking, so I pulled up and offered to take them to Hemel. Ironically, they were American and travelling in exactly the wrong direction for their chosen destination – St. Albans. But when they told me it was not their highest priority I asked would Windsor be of interest, both were delighted to say yes! So we introduced ourselves all round and I continued to Windsor. When I reached Burnham and it was not clear how to reach Eton from their I got Jane, my SatNav from the boot entered ‘Eton’ and we all laughed when she asked to me to turn around when I switched her on! I did so, but it looked all wrong so I turned around again. We managed to find a parking bay that would be free for two hours, and decamped.

We walked into Eton and on to Windsor after a detour to the Brocas, and then after a short time together we parted agreeing to meet back at the car before the two hours was up. We all had a great time, met back up and returned to their hotel where they kindly bought me a drink and we sat and chatted, and played with my cameras as I showed them how to get shots with a narrow depth of field. Altogether, we had all had a day that none of us could have foreseen, and really enjoyed each other’s company.