Ashridge Forest – Autumn Sunshine

My trip in sunshine to Ashridge to visit the Author of the ‘Photoshop for Photographers’ books meant that after delivering the last item, the images for a personal Ad at the end of the book, I took along my camera in the hope of capturing some of the surrounding scenery in the fickle sunshine and billowing clouds. I was rewarded by the mixture of colours that herald the onset of autumn, and the occasional light showers meant the obvious possibility of rainbows.

At every clearing that sported an area for the parking of cars, already had its measure of takers, and many of those could be seen unloading their cargo of dogs to give them some exercise in the woods and moorland. I soon found a spot which offered at least some photo opportunities, so grabbed the camera and locked the car to take a few shots.  The opportunity turned out to be limited, so I drove on a little further and was rewarded with better views within the woods, and figures in the landscape, and to round off, I managed to capture a rainbow. This trip was therapeutic as the last fortnight was devoted entirely to reading the entire output of the next tome, covering the several additional features of this powerful piece of software, that has been a mainstay of my career for both the taking of pictures and their manipulation in retouching and montage. I purposely spent the minimum of time with Martin as he still had some more work to do as the deadline was Friday; I was luckier, in that my task was now almost over, hence why I relished the chance to get out from a darkened room in front of a computer and be driving in the country, and with the bonus of possibly taking pictures.

Ashridge Landscapes by Martin Evening

Reminder — The Exhibition is on this weekend, for those who missed it last week!

          Photographer Martin Evening Mounts an Exhibition of his photographs over several seasons, called “Ashridge Landscapes” – This exhibition takes place over two Weekends; this Bank Holiday Weekend and the following weekend only.

          Martin captures this fascinating Estate, its atmosphere and varying colours over several seasons covering his time since he left London to live in this rural idyll. The range is hopefully covered by my series of the gallery as he puts the final touches to mounting his panels, and in walk a couple who are one of the first visitors meet up with him just as we are leaving having completed the removal of his tools; it turns out this is not the first exhibition of his that they have attended, and the warmth shown by them as they enter is obvious, hence my capturing their meeting before packing away my camera, having lent a small hand to help Martin finish before the onset of the early visitors.

          I took images from several angles so that the gallery though small, shows how Martin has displayed his work to greatest effect. We later, whilst grabbing a tea and sausage roll before leaving, are greeted by members of his cycling friends who had broken off to take a view before continuing their ride; all were hugely impressed, and before we both went on our separate ways took one last look and it was obvious that the exhibition was attracting considerable interest from members of the public, despite the pull of all that warmth and sunshine outside!

An Early Morning with Martin Evening

I had not met up with Martin for quite a time and with his living close to some world-renowned Bluebell Woods, we decided that despite it being slightly too early for the best of them, it was a day we were both free, so I drove to his place and we set off to Dockey Wood.

Out taking pictures in the low morning sun gave us an opportunity to catch up and indulge in an activity which gave us both pleasure. These woods have now been fenced off to help preserve them from the public entering all along the roadside, so now there is a designated entry gate and within the woods, branches have been laid to form ‘hedges’ to try to keep the public to the paths and so lessen the flowers from being trampled thoughtlessly.

Initially we stayed close to the right hand edge of the woods, so we had the the low slanting morning sun streaming in and forming stripes from the shadows of the trees. Martin took several different viewpoints whereas I at this stage kept close to the same spot as I was experimenting with using the long telephoto lens to try to compress the distance and in transferring my gear from my car to his had left the ideal head behind and was suffering somewhat to get the best stability. The reality was that I should have opted for a shorter focal length lens!

We returned to the car after a while and headed to a different location, and I used my 24-70mm to capture some gnarled tree trunks which gave me far more fun with searching for shapes that my imagination found as animals, and that occupied me for quite a time, before we moved to yet another location – this time with some very wispy almost floating young green leaves set against a stand of tall tree trunks. sadly by this time the sun was hidden making it difficult to capture in the very flat lighting.

We then stopped for a lunch break at the Visitor Centre before heading back. It was an excellent way to spend some time together since we last met up at the Photography Show at the NEC. It’ll be interesting to see whether viewers of the gallery can spot the ‘animals’ I saw in the gnarled shapes of the tree trunks! I found a horse, an elephant with Snoopy on his shoulders, a lizard, a camel, a ram and an old lady in a green scarf, holding hands with a young girl with blonde hair! Sorry – no prizes!

Goodwood Revival Meeting 2016, with Martin Evening

Friday involved a very early start for me; in darkness and drizzle, as I had first to pick up my generous host for the day, whose guest ticket I was using to visit the Revival Meeting. This leg of the journey was scheduled to be an hour, to arrive at six o'clock at Ashridge Forest, but fortunately I made good time. With Martin Evening aboard, we set off for the M25. It did however remind me that although many might also be heading for the Goodwood Revival Meeting, for most it was just the end of another week's work, and if they were hoping to leave work early at the end of the day, then an early start was 'de rigeur'. Once we met the M25, this was very much in evidence, I did not help the situation, for I took a wrong roundabout exit which involved a trip down the wrong road and back to take the correct one which meant we hit the trail of cars further back than was necessary, delaying our arrival even more!

Since Martin wanted a comfort break, he set off, while I gathered my kit together, and looked around for markers for when we returned to the car later. We agreed to meet up at the Old Control Tower as this was to be our base for the day. I was already very warm despite my attire being a summer-weight suit, and so far there was very little refreshing wind.

Some of those staffing the entrance to the Control Tower were vaguely familiar from a previous visit, and brightly welcoming, and soon Martin and I were relaxing upstairs discussing our plans for the day.  One idea I had was to go to a part of the track I had not visited since a chance visit a year before Stirling Moss had had his near fatal accident. I had been taken by a neighbour from that time, rally driver, Peter Morley in his modified Triumph Herald, PM3. 

We headed anti-clockwise around the outside of the circuit in the general direction of St. Mary's. We stopped at several good vantage points on the way for a chance to take shots of the cars as they headed towards what would be our turnaround point, where we could return a short distance back to one of the bus stops. We chatted whilst the first two stopped without offloading any occupants and alighted the third for our trip back to the marshalling assembly area.

The subjects of our photographs were very different; Martin's were characters in extravagant outfits mainly groups of entertainers, in informal posed groups, where mine were snatched moments, both of us were capturing some of the practices going on on-track, but in Martin's case, this was a lower priority, he was far more interested in the people, and these were more evident close by the centre of activities in and around the Start/Finish line and the Pits complex, so after our walk to St.Mary’s and the Tractor return trip we split up for a while, but that did not mean that I failed to capture some of the entertainment provided by groups of Acapella singers such as the Doo Wop Mommas.

I also met some interesting engineers at the Richmond Enclosure by the Chicane, and at lunch a husband and wife publicity team from the Horse-Racing fraternity at the Lunch in the Old Control Tower, where I also briefly encountered Rowan Atkinson in Revival attire and white racing overalls. Later Charlie Settrington, Lord March’s son came to to the Tower similarly attired having had a spell in the A35.

We had an enjoyable day and set off for a journey back involving the unavoidable Friday M25 Crawl, but at least for us it was not the weekly fixture. The end of yet another enjoyable day at Goodwood and later spell in front of the computer sifting through the day’s images, but that was not to be for at least another twenty-four hours!

Goodwood Revival 2015 – The Friday

I do need to have faith in SatNav – I had set my destination correctly, but I felt I had no need of the M25 to reach colleague Martin Evening’s home, so when it instructed me to come off the M1 and take to the M25, I spoke out loud that you must be wrong, so continued for a further junction feeling that I knew better – wrong! I ended up by simply doubling back and wasting several minutes taking its correct advice and joining it further round! I was late by precisely the number of minutes the extra unnecessary mileage took to right the wrong.

I made my apologies for the late arrival and we loaded Martin’s gear and set off. Both of us marvelled at scenes that we witnessed as the sun glowed through mist that lay in many of the valleys as we headed south towards Chichester and the Goodwood Revival Meeting and discussed how we must try to get out early at this special time of year as we both regretted how the pace of life and responsibilities had made this difficult to fulfil.

We made good time and headed into the track, in our haste failing to take accurate notice of where I had parked the car! Since we had rather special tickets that invited us to the Old Control Tower, I suggested this was a location we find early whilst there was time and fewer crowds. And it was really fortuitous as after checking in there, we headed for the first floor now decorated with Liberty prints and furniture and fittings depicting the Sixties, and almost the first person we met was Lord March whose guests we were lucky to be for the day. It was good to be given a chance to have a brief chat with so busy a man, but it did give us a chance to thank him and have a brief catch-up.

There were so few guests at this time that we were able to accept the hospitality of tea and coffee and explore the opportunities of shooting from the higher viewpoint and it was not long before both of us had enjoyed the offered drinks and had begun taking pictures.

I think Martin was fascinated by the costumes and the characters represented, because I was already fully aware that the cars themselves held little interest. He was certainly new to Goodwood’s atmosphere, and the level of noise was an issue. So during our day this would be reflected in the images we took. I am definitely more of a recorder, Martin’s experience with taking control of models for fashion and hairdressing would be more apparent. My background from years of being an Assistant Chief Pit Marshal for the BRSCC would also have a bearing. Viewing Martin’s FaceBook pages will therefore be like visiting two different shows! I hope mine still provide interest.

Later on the lawn by the track beneath the Old Control Tower, we chanced upon Neil Barstow and his wife, Janet, where conversation was far harder trying to compete against the thunderous raw of American muscle cars.

The picture that heads this piece is of Simon Diffey in the Bugatti Type 51 coming out of the Chicane, the car is owned by Richard Collier.

An Afternoon with Evening

It is sometime since Martin Evening, whose books I tech edit, and I have met up; the last being when he kindly offered me a ticket to join him at this year’s Festival of Speed at Goodwood – sadly on that occasion he had been unwell and so I ended up going down alone and feeling guilty as if my being there was under false pretences. He came to visit for two reasons: I was lending him a US Army Sargent’s uniform for the Goodwood Revival Meeting and giving him the first glimpse of my new home in Marston Moretaine.

After a brief tour we both then gathered some camera gear and I took him on a tour of the local environs by first heading for the Brogborough Lake, but any intention that I might show him where the windsurfers hang out was dashed by the gates being closed as we passed by and by a severe lack of wind and any potential windsurfers!

I parked up just beyond the entrance and we took a stroll along the water’s edge beyond, chatting and taking the occasional photo of dragonflies, and in Martin’s case the receding pylons walking across the landscape and disappearing in the distance. The wind then did pick up a bit and this blew away at least some of the cloud cover. Our time there was brief and we soon turned back and I then drove towards Lidlington then left in the direction of Marston so that we would be approaching the Nature Reserve before reaching Marston Moretaine, we drove in and parked up so Martin could take some shots of the rusting brick-making machinery that stands by the entrance to the Visitor Centre and Restaurant; I had left my camera in the boot, but decided on reflection that I would take it out so returned to collect it.

We then headed for the walkway through the reed beds and on up to one of the hillocks where Martin watched a small sailing dingy in the distance and I took a single shot of the view across to the chimneys of Stewartby from the peak. Martin had a menagerie of his neighbour’s animals to feed before supper, so we then headed back to the car and my place where we had a brief closing chat before he journeyed back to Berkhamsted. It was good to know that the uniform fitted perfectly and that we had managed to catch up, and I do so hope he does not have a too exhausting and stressful time before the next Goodwood trip, so that we can do that together.