Please take a photograph of your group "in action." Don't forget to ask for permission from everyone for the photo to be published on the web. Then email it to the address below and we will upload it to the gallery.
Walking Group One 25th April 2024
Five hardy souls collected today at Happy Valley for the first Hill Walk of the year .The temperature was cool with a North Easterly wind blowing and a hint of rain on arrival.
Off we set heading towards Russadale Quarry, spotting a Buzzard on the way.Turning into the footpath we remained sheltered from the wind all the way to the top of the hill.
The sun was out at the Quarry and a Greenshank was feeding at the edge of the Lochan. Then it was up the Peat road to the summit with spectacular views across Stenness and Harray Lochs, plus a view of the Closed Road beyond the Watch Stone. On the other side we looked over the Flow and down towards the Oil Platform and South Ronaldsay
Then it was back down after a stop for a snack and finally a walk around Happy Valley itself. The Daffodils planted by James and others were looking lovely and the Bluebells are days away from opening. Then it was on to a well deserved lunch at the Pier Cafe, having walked 4 miles and gone up 800 feet (and down again )
The next walk will be on Friday 24th May and hopefully more hills and views.
Keep moving.
PHOTOGRAPHY GROUP 1 - 7th December
by Tim Wright - 17:19 on 07 December 2016
Due to the poor forecast, 10 of us met at Westbank, St Ola this morning .After coffee and Stollen ,photos from the trip to Palace were perused .Lots of pictures of the Palace and the sun bathing seals as well as Zanzibar ( a really long lens needed for that one !) and the beach and shore ,some with people and some without .As the tide was out, photos of the Light house on the Brough and the Viking and Pictish remains were to the fore also .However, the two photos of the White Beaked Dolphins had to be the pick .Thanks to all who came ,saw and photographed .
The project was "Stone /Ice" ,one or other or both and both were included in a number of photos . We had photos from Aruba with piles of stones and not a possibility of ice ,snow scenes ,icicles ,walls of stones, single stones with icy patterns on and standing stones .The pick was an excellent study of Callanaish in the Western Isles .It is very hard to photograph as there are intrusive buildings on three sides unlike our own Ring of Brodgar .By waiting until the tourists had gone in the evening and with a lower sun light ,the result was a perfect interpretation of these impressive stones .Well done to the photographer and thanks to all the others who took part .
Following this we had a session on the computer editing and enhancing a very recent batch of the leader's photos, some of which needed dumping even before being touched ! We cropped and straightened pictures ,saturated the colours ,removed intrusive items and sharpened them up.We also tried changing them to Black and White ,increased the contrast and did some image multiplication and made both a collage of photos and a panorama from a number of single photos .Everyone can now have endless fun on rainy days perfecting their contributions and their photographic library .
The next meeting is January 25th at 2 pm in the Computer Room at Dounby School. Africa ,Russia and New York will be on display from three of our members and there may be a viewing of some photos from the trip to Inverary .
Happy Christmas and don't forget the camera then,as the next project might be "My Christmas and New Year" .In the meantime there is NO project this month for looking at at our show in Dounby .
Tim
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