Capturing Pluckley Woods

So another early start to travel to deepest Kent to peer at flowers through a macro lens. This is my fourth Robert Canisbay workshop, and I have another booked next month. I was determined to be completely prepared for the sunrise start and collect tripod, filters, quick release plate (tripod would be pretty useless without that) and other sundry photographic accoutrements the night before. I transferred the essentials from my handbag to my camera bag and made sure damp grass and muddy paths were accommodated with a small groundsheet and my new pink kneelers. In the morning I was rewarding myself for the preparation and was dressed and ready in no time, just needed to add my hiking boots. I'm not a fan of sensible shoes, too many years in high heels have compressed my calf muscles and they don't enjoy flat shoes. But I know a muddy wood is not the best place for spiky heels so to further my photographic experience I'd furnished myself with two pairs of hiking boots, one black pair and one pink. But neither pair were where I'd expected and this threw me, the only thing I didn't prepare. Eventually I found one black one lurking behind some bags I'd been filling for the charity shop and the other in an entirely different room. The pink ones are still hiding somewhere. I was very thankful I hadn't only found one black and one pink one, that might have raised a few eyebrows. Suitably clad (well, relatively!) I headed for the bus to get to the station.

Pluckley station is very cute, it's won awards for appearance several years running and their are neat stacks of books that you can buy for charity to amuse you on your journey. You can help yourself to a hot drink in aid of charity too. I had arrived early (a very rare occurance) and after securing a taxi for the final leg of the trip I could admire the station whilst waiting for PD to arrive on the next train from London.

Soon we were perched on log benches around a fire on the middle of a private wood. The itinary for today was plenty of flower photography but also a smidge of bushcraft. We had Phil, the resident Bear Grylls explaining about this tranquil wood and how we'd be collecting kindling and wood to build the fire over which to cook our lunch. We were planning our day of shooting and capturing but our lunch had already been foraged from Sainsbury's. No wrestling wild animals today, just wood anemones.

Wood anemones were definitely my quarry, the bluebells are beautiful but they are rather...well...blue! Robert can somehow get bluebells to be imbued with a pinky glow from the setting sun but these ones looked very blue. So initially it was all about the wood anemones and trying to grasp that fragile silvery petals in the diffused sunlight.

After a busy morning, in my case, mainly lying face down poking my lens and closeup filters into a patch of flowers, we stopped for lunch. I was pleased with my Plamp which did a fine job coralling the specimens I wanted to shoot or curtailing the ones I didn't. We gathered the required firewood and Phil taught us how to start a fire without matches. We could all have a go ourselves but with long hair and an unruly scarf I figured I was tad too flammable to play around with sparks! We tucked into a tasty al fresco lunch, appetites boosted by the morning's photographic exertions.

After wiping away the crumbs after a slice of the finest lemon tart we headed off to explore another part of this ancient woodland. Here I was rather taken by bluebells framed by the trunks of trees, I want to say willow but I could be very wrong. Nestling amongst all the blue was a yellow flower, I'm ashamed to say I don't know what but it added a welcome burst of Spring yellow.

With SD cards filled and new friends made we leave the perfect serenity of Pluckley and head back to the big smoke. I've since discovered Pluckley is haunted, but we weren't disturbed by things that go bump in the wood, fortunately. Another fabulous workshop and huge thanks to Rob and Phil for making it another memorable day.

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Magnolia dreaming

Yesterday there was an impossibly blue sky and it seemed the perfect time to check out a magnolia tree heavy with flowers. I always said if I had an outdoor space to call my own, I'd have a built-in barbecue, a herb garden, a swing and a magnolia or two. But I have a windowsill, so for now maybe I'll grow herbs in a window box and I'll admire other people's magnolias.

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Easy like a Sunday evening

It's one of those perfect Spring nights down by the river. I'm waiting to meet AL for a spot of Sunday night dinner and I'm drawn, as so many are, to sit by the river and enjoy the colours of the sun's diminishing rays in a beautiful setting.

We've had so much rain but we're lucky tonight we having a taste of warmer months. When I arrived there were plenty milling in front of the White Cross pub, I was rather taken with the golden halos as the buzzy crowd bathed in the golden glow. The sun's rays are dancing on the surface of the water occasionally rippled by passing ducks and row boats.

As the sun sinks lower, a local musician plays a set to an appreciate crowd lining the terraces of the Riverside Development. There's an animated group perched on the the edge of the slipway sharing a drink and a joke. Their laughter floats over to where I'm seated and I'm determined to try and catch their exuberance. After a few shots I'm happy to catch them, one of the last boats being rowed down the Thames here and above, a jet approaching Heathrow airport. I'm reminded again I live in a gorgeous place and I should really enjoy it more often than I do.

 

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Day 111 : re-budding

The reluctant Spring has returned again and the some of the hitherto shy plants are started to bud and blossom again. The blossom hasn't reached its full potential yet but some of the dormant buds are unfurling in the pale sunshine. I shot the same bushes much earlier in the year covered in a sugar dusting of frost. I'm guessing my inbuilt pink radar has drawn me back again.

 

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Day 71 : snow, what snow?

The snow falling as I arrived home last night, the talk on the radio of closed “snow gates”, cancelled Eurostar trains, long delays at Gatwick and lurid tales of passengers trapped in their cars overnight on a motorway convinced me it was back to the snow gear. But checking the weather out the window I was shocked to see not a tiniest scrap of white on the grass, in the tree branches on top of the car roofs, and instead a blue, blue sky. It seemed very apt to shoot soft white shapes counterpointed against this cornflower blue sky so delicate white blossom sprang to mind.

 

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Day 64 : blossoming out all over

Finally there is something worth photographing at the bus stop in the morning. Because generally there’s just the bus stop, devoid of a bus naturally, and maybe a couple of would-be passengers. There's a big wall surrounding, what you can just catch a glimpse of, a large striking house, and peeping over the wall some nondescript branches. But today blossom has sprung up on said branches and made it look pretty. A delicate harbinger of spring.

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