Boat Trip on The Boston Belle - Monday 23rd April

30 of us boarded The Boston Belle at Boston Marina ready to leave with the high tide at 10.00am.  Once safely onboard we travelled down the River Witham through Boston docks and out into The Wash.  Pete, our Skipper, provided a commentary pointing out places of local historic interest and help with bird identification if required.

Although conditions were fortunately calmer than forecast, the lounge provided a very relaxed, warm and comfortable area for those that didn’t fancy exposing themselves to the elements.

There was a bit of a stampede once everyone realised that hot bacon butties were available with tea, coffee or hot chocolate and some people settled into the lounge and there they stayed for the duration of the cruise enjoying the sights without getting too blown away.

Although wildlife was a little sparse or too distant for decent photography everyone reported having had a lovely, relaxed day with plenty of opportunities to catch up with their fellow club members.

You can see some of our images below : 

A Flock of Seagulls by Roy Scrivener

Shrimper by Andy Caws

Oystercatcher by Diana Graham

Harbour Seals by Jim McConnell

Avocet in Flight by Robin Orrow

Cleat Hitch Knot by Liz Blake

Oystercatcher with Worm by Di Jackson

Swan Preening by Robin Orrow

The Douwent by Liz Blake

Taking a Break by Diana Graham

Cormorant in Flight by Di Jackson

Take Off by Andy Caws

By Nicolas Ashford

Approaching the Stump by Roy Scrivener

Tuesday 3rd April – "Unseen", talk by Roy Essery, MPAGB

It was a great pleasure to welcome Roy Essery back to WDPC.
This time his talk was entitled "Unseen" in which he showed us a number of high quality prints and discussed various aspects of them.  All images had previously not been entered into any competitions or even shown to an audience.
The first half was monochrome, including some infrared and the second was colour.
All through his talk Roy gave us hints and tips about how to take an image or to edit it and shared some insights on how he had gone about taking some of the images.
All in all a great evening with many members going home very inspired.
Thank you Roy for a great evening.

Tuesday 27th March – Digital Competition- Nature

We welcomed Derek Leake from Lowestoft to judge our Nature Competition.
There were 31 images in the members class and 46 in the Members Advanced group so Derek had his work cut out to get through all images in time.
Derek focussed many of his comments on the tendency for the images to be overexposed and also for the need to concentrate on depth of field.
Despite there being some confusion as to what was allowed within the club definition of nature there were many high scoring images, of which the 20's are shown below. 

A Frog in a Can by Suzi Senior

Bearded Tit at home in the Reedbed by Graham Frost

Bluetit Sheltering in the Hedge by Andy Caws

Cacti by Daphne Lingwood

Charging Bull Elephant by Di Jackson

Damselfly by Geoff Lingwood

Eye Spy a Fox by Andy Lowe

Lynx by Diana Graham

Lynx by Rachael Trivett

Orb Garden Spider by Fred Thompson

Otter Close Up by Charles Youens

Pied Kingfisher by Di Jackson

Sleepy Snow Leopard by Liz Blake

Stand Out from the Crowd by Dave Angood

Teasel by Daphne Lingwood

Tuesday 20th March – Workshops

Another meeting at Broom Hall, our temporary home whilst Wells Cole is undergoing maintencance, but it did not deter folks from coming along to a workshop evening. We had tables where different editing techniques were demonstrated, another table had lego trees and lizards to consider depth of field and related issues and lastly several tables giving an opportunity to take some images, with help on hand if required. 
On this occasion each workstation was longer and more in depth and members tended to only switch round at the break. 
Lots of positive comments so we can assume a good time was had by all, with much learnt.
Some of the images taken are shown below.

Tulip Head by Tim Leonard

An Old Friend by Fred Thompson

Lighting the Dark by Fred Thompson

Hydrangea by Graham Jackson

Belinda Buxton Studio Workshops -Thursday 8th and Saturday 17th March

Two groups of us attended Belinda’s studio workshops - for most of us this was our first experience of studio work so we were feeling slightly apprehensive and not quite sure what to expect.  We needn’t have worried as Belinda, and our model for both sessions Hayley, quickly reassured us that we had nothing to worry about. Both Belinda and Hayley provided all the help and support we needed in a friendly informal way which enabled us to relax and enjoy the experience of working in a studio environment with a professional model.

Hope you enjoy some of the images we managed to capture:

By Andy Caws

By David Wilkin

By Diana Graham

By Graham Frost

By Rachael Trivett

By Roy Scrivener

By Christine Frost

By Francesca Shearcroft

By Di Jackson

By David Wilkin

By Roy Scrivener

By Graham Frost

By Rachael Trivett

By Christine Frost

By Francesca Shearcroft

By Di Jackson

By Diana Graham

Team Thursday

Team Saturday

Tuesday 6th March – "A learning curve" by Justin Minns

Despite having a change of venue we had a packed house for this evening's meeting when we welcomed Justin Minns, an award winning landscape photographer, to talk to us about his images.
His presentation outlined 10 key areas to focus on to be able to take winning landscape images. The first and foremost being to get up early and arrive at your destination an hour before sunrise. The other points discussed included the necessary homework to be done before leaving home, to be prepared to revisit the same location to get the shot you are after, to get in close, as well as the more obvious aspects of light and composition.
Justin used lots of images throughout his talk and also included the exif data which in many instances was very helpful.
In additions to talks Justin also runs workshops either as a 1-2-1 or in small groups.
His images can be seen on his web site, click here.