Friday Night Out!

The Friday before last, I was feeling a little sorry for myself. I had just injured my hand, couldn't hold a camera and in any case was beginning to feel a little frustrated with the lack of photographic equipment and the results of my efforts. I don't go out in the evenings very often and felt that a good night out would be just the thing.

I remembered that I had been invited to a social function by my walking club. These functions are held in the licenced clubhouse and are put on to help bring in some extra funds for the walking club. It is a good chance to catch up with everyone, have a drink and generally have a good laugh. Someone usually gives a talk on a particular area or walk and outside caters bring in a hot pot supper or something similar. Sometimes, the talks and slideshows are given by club members; at other times, the organizers arrange for someone from outside to come in and talk about a walk in a different area or country. We were told that this particular talk and slideshow was to be about the Lake District in general. I wondered whether the outside speaker would be in for a hard time. This walking club has been visiting and walking in the Lake District for over 30 years and the combined knowledge in the room was bound to be greater than the speaker's.

The speaker started off by saying that he was a university lecturer and professional photographer and although he would include some slides of the Lake District (towards the end), he was wasn't going to talk about walks or routes: he was going to show us how to take good photographs. This was unexpected and we were all a little surprised. Many of the people in the room don't take cameras when they go out walking and most of those who do had no idea what he was talking about when he suggested that they underexpose a scene by half a stop. Also, the idea of getting up at 5 am or staying around to take photographs around sunset, when we are normally on the way to the pub, didn't exactly go down that well. I had to pinch myself. I thought I was in the middle of one of those dreams - the dreams I often have when learning something new - it doesn't leave me alone even in my sleep. I was wondering if I was the only person in the world who could set out with the idea of having a night out on the town and accidentally end up in a lecture, but soon realised that it wasn't just me. There were at least 60 other people in the clubhouse and it had happened to them too.

It was very interesting, very useful and I enjoyed it but I can't help but wonder what happened to my Friday night out! Other friends have asked me if I enjoyed my night out on the tiles. I've told them that I did. I daren't mention that I sat through a two hour lecture on photography. They would sigh.

Poor Week

I managed to throw myself off a kerb on Thursday - injured my hand and wrist. Nothing broken but the swelling has so far prevented me from using my left hand. I am just beginning to get some feeling back in it. My legs and back also feel a bit sore and stiff but I will live.

I made a bit of an effort today and went for a short walk with my niece but we didn't stray too far at all. Would you stray too far with this women. :-)


Niece
Originally uploaded by kathonflickr

Hiding in the Grass

Why?

I'll blog about this - when I've got time.

What makes Kat happy?

Answer: A GorillaPod - a slr zoom GorillaPod with a tripod head.

Martin Mere

birdshead
Originally uploaded by kathonflickr
Went to Martin Mere Wildlife Park last week. I took an 88 year-old lady with me - she was good company - happy to sit around watching the birds whilst I pretended to be a photographer. To be honest, I didn't get many good photographs, which is an amazing achievement when you consider that I filled two 1 gigabyte cards and completely flattened the camera's battery.

Camera shake - my biggest problem. Yes, I know I should use a tripod but I don't want to - not all the time anyway. I've got this camera so that I could take pictures of the countryside when I am out walking and I don't want to be lugging a tripod up the mountains. I need to find another solution.

Someone suggested a monopod, which is nothing more than a big stick with a screw on the top. I am all for experimenting so I bought one. There I was - walking round the wildlife park with my camera on a stick. It was useless. A big stick doesn't keep me still! - I was swaying on it.

I took something else with me - my old cherry-stone pillow ( The pillow I heat up in the microwave and balance on the top of my head when I have a migraine) . Now this was something of a success. All my best shots were taken with the camera resting on the pillow - with the self-timer switched on. There you go - the camera will take half decent pictures just so long as I don't touch it!

I ordered something else the other day - a GorillaPod. It should arrive as soon as this postal strike is over.

Next installment coming up soon: "The Curse of the GorillaPod", no doubt.