The second meeting for February, again well attended, was a talk by Roger Hance from Ipswich & District Photographic Society (who, incidentally, have their Annual Exhibition at the Council Chamber, Town Hall, Cornhill, Ipswich between 1st March - 12th March 2016). Roger gave us an excellent talk last year and this one, ‘Sport & Action’, was equally as good and well received. He showed us images from several diverse sports, giving details of where (and where not to stand) and, just as importantly, who to contact to get permission from – junior members of sports clubs are a definite no go area! I think the most important messages to come out of the talk were to be persistent in getting to the various events, choose your standpoint (where you’re allowed to), obey the local marshals (if the event has them) and take plenty of shots with the expectation of throwing most of them away, to finish up with a few decent ones.
Our first photo shoot of the year was to Lackford Lakes, a Suffolk Wildlife Trust reserve. Despite them saying on their website that it was ‘duck month’ all I managed to see was a long tailed one! There wasn’t a lot of flora to be seen as it was early in the year. Having said that, the weather was really good, a few clouds, plenty of blue sky and very warm in the sun out of the wind. If the weather for our other photo shoots is as good, they’ll be something to look forward to. The morning finished with a welcome cup of tea in the visitor centre.