My G9ii Journey

After meeting up with some of the Old Geezers for a coffee, two of us took our cameras to Anglesey Abbey. It wasn't a new location for either of us but I for one hadn't been there for a while. And it was too nice a day to not get out in the fresh air.  After an uneventful journey we arrived and parked in the very busy car park. We resisted having  another coffee and headed out into grounds, walking through the Winter Garden and up to the Lode Mill, chatting and taking a few photos on the way.   The house was open to the public so we checked that out too, trying not to worry too much about our cameras' climbing ISOs. For non-photographers, ISO is a setting which boosts the image electronically to cope with low light levels. It has the disadvantage of increasing noise (speckly grain) in the image. Here are some of my interior shots. After leaving the house we made our way slowly back...

The u3a Photo Group outing for November was to Beechwoods, near Cambridge. I missed it because it clashed with my guitar lesson (only my second so best not missed) and a friend missed it because of Covid. So we made up for missing the trip by going a few days later. We set off fairly early hoping to get some early morning light for our photos and the weather was very good to us - cold but lovely sunshine. We spent a couple of very enjoyable hours taking our photos and then retired to the "Cafe at The Gog" for "Two bacon rolls and two Americanos please". They were very tasty and we returned home feeling satisfied and at peace with the world  Thanks to my friend who provided transport today. Den

The Old Geezers went to RSPB Sandy again, initially for coffee/breakfast, with the option of a walk afterwards. The cafe there is quite good with friendly staff - ready for a laugh which is good with a group like us turning up  🙂 RSPB Sandy is a good location for fungi at this time of the year but this time  I concentrated on autumn colours in the trees And finally, if you've got this far, here's something different to take your kind off of trees - a silhouette of the Lodge roof with an interesting sky. As always, thanks for looking and please free to comment if you wish. Den

As you may know, I'm a member of the St Neots & District Camera Club. Each year we hold an exhibition which is open to the public. This year's was held in the United Reformed Church on November 9th and I'd volunteered to help.  So, after dragging myself out of bed at about 5.30am, I was at the church for 7am to start setting everything up. By about 9.15am, everything was done and we were able to relax with a hot drink and a very welcome bacon roll. I hadn't intended staying all day but soon after the doors opened at 10am, I started seeing friends and acquaintances and chatted with them as they viewed the exhibition. The day passed quickly and soon it was time to take everything down and restore the church's normal seating arrangement.  This wasn't our normal location but the change, enforced by the temporary closure of the Priory Centre, seems to have been for the better with a significant increase in foot-fall during the day. I found it a tiring day but ver...

A good friend and I visited Holme recently. I'd been a few years ago with Mave but it was my friend's first time.  The trees at Holme Fen are mainly Silver Birch which I find quite photogenic but there are also other species, including some decious ones which add to the colour at this time of the year. There was a little mist about but it wasn't thick enough to help us when photographing the trees. When photographing trees, mist can help hide those in the background, giving more emphasis to trees closer to the camera. After walking around one of the lakes, we decided refreshments were in order and, purely by chance, stumbled across a very nice pub - the Admiral Wells. We had a very tasty lunch there. Suitably refreshed, we had another shorter walk in another part of the Fen. We both said we'd like to return at other times of the year, maybe on a misty morning. Thanks again for reading this and looking at my photos.  Den

Some of the Old Geezers went to Thetford Forest in search of some autumn colours. Only three of us went as the fourth Geezer was having a rough time with Covid at the time. Hopefully he'll be back to normal soon. We stopped at tha roadside cafe at Barton Mill for coffee and bacon baps. I went against tradition and had a very tasty sausage bap instead. After replenishing our energy reserves, we headed for High Lodge . Unfortunately the Sat Nav didn't know about some roadworks that we got held up in so the last leg of the journey took longer than expected. But we weren't in a rush and it was only really a hassle for our driver.  Much of the forest is planted with evergreen trees (for timber?) but there were enough deciduous trees to give some autumn colour. I found it difficult to find images that I was pleased with but despite that, it was a very enjoyable day. We found quite a few fungi but to the untrained eye, they were mostly quite similar but they still gave us an alter...