Some days do not turn out as expected, but in the present situation I find myself, it seemed not unreasonable to go with the flow when I found it difficult to find the spot where the map seemed to indicate a lake. The young lady who was engaged in dropping leaflets through letter boxes, seemed the ideal person to ask for help, as I was assuming her local knowledge would provide the answer. She very kindly took a look on her phone, whose screen was far larger than mine, and gave me some directions, for which I thanked her, and headed in that direction.
Sadly, I must have slipped up along the way, for I found no indication of the proposed destination, however, I did spot something that caught my eye — I often see trees that have been the site of an abundance of balls of mistletoe, but never so many as seven different sizes on a single tree. I pulled up and parked on a widened area of verge, and attached my EOS R6 to the 24—70mm lens. I was assisted for part of the time by sunshine bringing some detail to the spherical growth of this parasite.
As a direct result of this distraction, I eventually came to the village of Maulden, where I parked near the green close by where a fellow photographer I used to know once lived. I made a quick call to mention where I happened to be, and surprisingly, he greeted me by name, so he must have recognised my number! We had quite a chat, even though it has to be at least seven years since we last spoke! After the call, I continued shooting occasionally walking to different spots to capture both human and bird activity and various plants I came across that appealed to my eye. Since I had got a shot of a girl walking her horse, and was within hailing distance, I asked whether she minded my photographing her, to which she had no complaint. Although I took a shot of a light aircraft with the short focal length lens, it was a testament to how good both the camera and lens performs as its number and propeller blade are visible. The pigeon on the distant roof ridge were on the 60-600mm, which would not have fared as well on the shorter zoom lens.
Altogether, an enjoyable excursion with pleasing results, and both lenses justifying my choice to have to hand. Obviously, the longer lens had it been attached at the time would have made a considerable difference to the light aircraft shot, but that it resolved the propeller blade was still a testament to both camera and lens.
For the observant among you, I apologise for not correcting the text to the blog gallery text which repeats itself at the end (dittographic error!) but sadly may I just apologise, as altering it at present will give grief to my son in law, who is kindly helping me out… Put it down to falling dominoes in 'anno domini' ! Try not reading the titles, and look at the pictures instead. Note to teacher: I must try harder, Sir!
