Instead, at very short notice, on Tuesday we will have a talk from Stefanie Reichelt on Scientific imaging, and the iPhone Hipsta Project, and she will be . . . → Read More: Lecture change for Tuesday 24th]]> David Steel has had to pull out from his keenly anticipated portraiture lecture, due to the death of his Mother-in-Law.  We extend our sympathies to him and his family.

Instead, at very short notice, on Tuesday we will have a talk from Stefanie Reichelt on Scientific imaging, and the iPhone Hipsta Project, and she will be bringing some prints and photo-books along as additional illustration of her materiel.

It’s really great she can step in to help us out like this and I hope you will all come along so she knows it is worthwhile.  I’m sure we’ll find it so.

Find the page here

The New Year Sunrise Photo

The challenge may simply be waking up at 7:50 to be out for 08:00.

… Later:  This was what I took — rather a blue morning

East meets West

It’s free to enter, so probably worth following the link and filling in the entry form to get a chance to win. I quite fancy the bag itself, but there are already a whole lot . . . → Read More: Free camera bag filled with goodies #TTPIAB]]> Think Tank Photo who make rather good camera bags, are doing an advent accumulator with their “In a Bag” promotion.

It’s free to enter, so probably worth following the link and filling in the entry form to get a chance to win. I quite fancy the bag itself, but there are already a whole lot of really worthwhile goodies added, and a daily chance at one of their superior shoulder bags

Good luck!

Well that was quite an evening!  In the event Jo brought her show animals round, rather than stock from the shop.  Jo’s beasties have been introduced to public events like this, so were not going to be freaked by a barrage of strobe lights and a mass of people.

This was not their . . . → Read More: Millenium Reptiles Photo Opportunity]]>

Tarantula

Well that was quite an evening!  In the event Jo brought her show animals round, rather than stock from the shop.  Jo’s beasties have been introduced to public events like this, so were not going to be freaked by a barrage of strobe lights and a mass of people.

This was not their first photographic outing either — Jo told us that the tarantula had provided vital modesty in a competition winning shot when she took them to visit another photo group, for a “girl’s only” session.

We certainly learned a lot about exotic creatures, their fragility, speed  and habits.  We also learned that curare (the Amazonian Nerve toxin) is not actually generated by the frog but rather concentrated from the insects it consumes.

Photographically it is challenging to get good shots.  The subjects were relatively small, so close-up rings, or close focus lenses were the order of the day.  To this add flash, or the problem of very high ISO with truly weird ambient light, randomly distorted by different coloured focus-assist beams from cameras…

In the first period, Jo was handling her pets, and the issues were trying to get off camera lighting, and the relative brightness of her hands relative to the camouflaged animals, which simply had to be toned down in post.  In the second period the animals were posed on a table-top, which was much easier.  Altogether a fascinating evening.

Click on any of the photos below to open a slideshow

Tarantula 2	Mantis	Snake
Lizard		Baby snake
Tree Frog	Baby snake	Tarantula 2

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The current scam is . . . → Read More: Warning: Microsoft do not Phone]]> So when someone phones you up, saying they are a Microsoft Technician, or someone employed by Microsoft you can be sure it is a fraud attempt. I suggest you say “Hold on a moment, be right back” and put aside the phone without hanging up so that their bill keeps growing.

The current scam is quite clever. The caller will ask you to run a program “eventvwr” which will show you the log events handled by your operating system in normal operation. They will then try to convince you this demonstrates a problem that you should pay them to help you fix.

Typically they will ask for £49 for a program for you to download. This is a really bad idea, you do not want this malware on your computer, or to give them your credit card number.

Microsoft have a system called “Microsoft Updates” for sending you patches and fixes , which you should be running regularly anyway,and the £50 the caller is asking you for is about the same amount that you paid for the Windows Operating System, bundled with your computer.

This is always a tough competition against clubs which . . . → Read More: Melbourn Cup Round 1]]> Our first external competition of the year was in the Melbourne Cup against Letchworth Garden City Camera Club (LGCCC) on Thursday 13th October. This is a knockout competition where each club submits 24 Digital Images which are displayed for judging by an official and independent judge.

This is always a tough competition against clubs which consistently provide extremely high quality work, and we very rarely make it through to the second round. This proved to be the case once again.

Although we lost, we did put up a very good fight. At half time the scores stood at LGCCC with 205 and BSCC with 208 points.

However we had a slightly poorer second half with LGCCC scoring 209 and BSCC scoring 204, the final result was LGCCC won overall with 414 points against BSCC’s score of 412, A bit of a nail biter though!!

I am unable to congratulate anyone by name as only titles were supplied; however full marks were awarded to “Jim and His Cuppa” and “The Art of Steam”. Well done to all authors that were selected.

Melbourn Cup result from Letchworth Round 1

Twyford Reach from Twyford Lock

I decided to reverse the direction of the walk, so that the return leg will be along the river.

We will start down South Road, turn left at the roundabout into . . . → Read More: Pre-Photowalk wander & route update #WWPW]]> On Sunday I went for a walk to check out the route for the Photowalk.  As a result 

Twyford Reach from Twyford Lock

I decided to reverse the direction of the walk, so that the return leg will be along the river.

We will start down South Road, turn left at the roundabout into London road, and turn right just before the Thai Restaurant through the Industrial estate.  Bear left up the slope to cross the railway (carefully)  About 150 yards down the path another footpath goes left into the field.  We’ll take this to come out beside the car park at Twyford lock on Pig Lane.

Turn left onto Pig Lane, and join the towpath on the East side of the Stort Navigation heading back into town.  The picture here is looking downstream from the river bridge.

On the way back we cross the river again at South Mill Lock, and again on London Road, before finishing at the new footbridge outside the Rivermill.

Spotting Carp and Perch below the weir

Don’t forget to look back to where you have come for a different perspective!