Lacock Positive

Lacock Positive Meeting, 16th October. Part 2

We reviewed pictures from 2 challenges and the pictures reflected the full range of techniques that members used in response to the challenge.

Movement

The first challenge was simply(!) Movement, and here is a small selectin of the pictures shared.

In this first picture Amanda has frozen the movement using a fast shutter speed.

©Amanda Gregory

The wind generates movement, and to capture this Craig has used a long shutter speed, enabled by the use of filters, to show movement in the tree and the clouds.

©Craig Purvis

This pictures uses a fast shutter speed so that we can see the trails of droplets coming from the fish as the kingfisher beats it on the stick.

©Julia Lloyd-Parks

This fascinating picture shows the behaviour of the huge number of knots as they move from left to right, and right to left, carefully avoiding the sleeping oystercatcher! this type of shot uses a slow shutter speed.

©Philip Male

The wash from the boat, the spray from the water-skier all contribute to a visual representation of movement.

©Rob Macklin

Slow shutter speed, and a high key exposure have resulted in an ethereal picture of free-flowing flight.

©Sue Power

The Letter "R"

Yet again our members showed ingenuity in their choices of shot to show the letter "R".

Red Arrows over Morgan's Hill

©Craig Purvis

Red Door

©Danny Wootton

Ring-tailed lemur

©Jeremy Fox

Ripon College Chapel

©Pam Bamford

Red necked phalarope

©Philip Male

Red Balloons

©David Sage

R is for riders

©Sue Power

Rock at the Racetrack

©Tony Bamford

Our next meeting will be held on Thursday 30th October, and we have an external speaker joining us: Keith Thomson will be talking about Western Scotland.

Potential new members can come along for 3 trial sessions before joining, so please do come along if you are interested.

Lacock Positive Meeting, 16th October. Part 1

Our meeting on 16th October was very busy, so the blog will be split into 2 parts.

In this first part, I have included pictures from 2 of our club group activities. The first was a workshop focussing on portraits, and the second was the group shoot to Castle Combe on a Race Day.

So, firstly here is a selection of pictures from the portrait workshop. for many of the participants this was a first, and it involved getting to grips with lighting and how to handle the lighting for different set-ups.

We were lucky to have 2 models, both grandchildren of members. For the purposes of the blog, I will share just pictures of the older model.

©Amanda Gregory

©Ann Horne

©Danny Wootton

©Lesley Cadger

©Rose Porfirio

©Sue Power

And finally a picture of our member Paul Hounsell who supplied a set of lights and donated them to the club.

©Sue Power

The Need for Speed

Four members went to Castle Combe for a Classic Car Race day. Following on from the introduction given by Danny Wootton at the meeting previously, they were all willing to try different approaches to shots of cars racing on the track.

IN this first picture, Caroline has used panning to reinforce the impression of speed.

©Caroline Howe

Here, Caroline has captured the variety of cars taking part, and the skid marks on the track add atmosphere.

©Caroline Howe

Danny has captured a mini in typical corning position - cocking a wheel!

©Danny Wootton

The slanting horizon and the blurred background from panning add to the impression of speed, while the use of black of white give a feel for this older Alfa Romeo.

©Danny Wootton

Panning again, this time by Lesley with a beautiful vintage car.

©Lesley Cadger

And it is not just the cars that give the classic car atmosphere.

©Lesley Cadger

A picture reminiscent of yesteryear - Sue captured these cars in a demonstration race. Those tyres look so thin!

©Sue Power

These are just 2 examples of the types of activity we do in groups. If you are interested in finding out more about what we do, please contact use.

Potential members can come to 3 meetings before committing to join, so why not give it a try.

Lacock Positive Meeting, 2nd October 2025

At our most recent meeting we were pleased to welcome Paul Alistair Collins, who shared his experiences of Panama's rainforest.

©Alistair Paul Collins

During his time working on television reality shows set in Panama, he started exploring the rain forest, discovering an old, derelict communication tower, built in the 1960s. This has been renovated and now is at the heart of the Soberania National Park, and is used as an eco-lodge.

(All the following pictures are Copyright: Paul Alistair Collins)

This is the canopy tower, as it is now. It is an ideal location to see the hundreds of birds that live in the different levels of the rainforest. From the ground such birds are difficult to photograph, and to capture the variety of colours and forms, whereas from the higher levels of the tower their full glory can be revealed.

Toucan

Woodnymph

Hummingbird

Trogon

At different heights within the forest sloths can be seen sleeping in the trees and there are butterflies and frogs. The butterflies are territorial and can be seen fighting one another. The Glass Frog has transparent skin and it is possible to see the stomach through the skin.

Sloth

Butterflies

Glass Frog

Down at ground level there are relatives of many familiar bird groups, such as the gallinule, related to the moorhen.

Gallinule

You can visit Paul's website to see more pictures, and explore other locations where he runs workshops for photographers:

https://www.paulalistaircollins.co.uk/

Lacock Positive Meeting 18 September 2025

We welcomed members, new and old, to our second meeting of the Club's year with a preparation talk for an upcoming shoot at Castle Combe racing circuit on 21st September and a catch up on all the Club's shoots that had taken place during the Summer break.

Danny started by showing images he had taken at Le Mans alongside guidance notes on the typical speed and depth of field that might be used for different sorts of images to suggest car movement. Panning is a skill that needs to be practised and settings will depend on the distance to the car and the speed of travel. A head on shot and alternate ways of showing speed were also discussed and illustrated.

Danny also suggested looking for interesting car details, paddock portraits and perhaps even abstract interpretations.

He finished by sharing his 'how to' notes and suggestions on camera settings. Let's hope it doesn't rain too much... but take an umbrella just in case!

The first Summer shoot shown was from Lydiard Park (lydiardpark@swindon.gov.uk) at the beginning of July, which proved to be a lovely evening of golden sun providing plenty of light and shade opportunities. A selection of images are shown below:

Next up was a July shoot at a Dauntsey Park Horse Trials event where a mix of members with and without experience of this type of photography attended and enjoyed. (https://www.horse-events.co.uk/venues/dauntsey-park/).

Next, a good turnout went to Hungerford, some for the first time, and had fun exploring the canal area in lovely early evening light.

The final Summer shoot, at the end of August, was at Brown's Folly (https://www.avonwildlifetrust.org.uk/nature-reserves/brownes-folly) but the weather was changeable and challenging and the hoped for sunset did not arrive.

A review of images taken on World Photography Day 19 August was also made and a selection of these can be seen on an earlier posting (4th September) on this blog.

Finally, Congratulations to Philip Male for his Highly Commended image of A Pair of Little Owls! See: https://www.wiltshirewildlife.org/photo-prize-winners

ABOUT US

Lacock Positive, formed in 2009, is for anyone with a keen interest in photography irrespective of skill level and camera type.

The Club meets 7pm - 9pm fortnightly on Thursdays from September to June in the Manor Room, Lacock (adjacent to the Village Hall) for a varied programme of activities. We also arrange outside shoots throughout the year. In addition the Club holds an annual exhibition and manages its own Flickr, Facebook and YouTube sites.

Lacock Positive is a friendly, non-competitive club and we are happy to help each other to fulfil personal photographic aspirations.

If you would like to join us at a Club meeting, please contact Mrs Lesley Cadger at lcadger66@gmail.com