APUG UK 2005 Autumn Gathering

FrankB · Oct 10, 2005

I'm travelling down on the Friday afternoon and checking in to The Inn With The Well when I arrive.

If Keswick is anything to go by, Fri evening will be catching up with what everyone's been up to, checking out each other's prints and planning the rest of the weekend.

The bar may also feature at some point...

Saturday will probably start with a dawn shoot at the stone circle at Avebury (am I right, chaps?), unless it's piddling down in which case there's not a lot of point.

Full English Breakfast (or a bacon sarnie at least) may also feature at some point...

A photographer marches on his stomach (which is how we get all those ground-level shots!)

Bob F. · Oct 10, 2005

Well, the BBC and the Met Office have sunshine forecast for Friday and Saturday (FWIW!)... Saturday sunrise is at 07:20, Sunset at 18:10. It is almost a full moon (94%) in case anyone is interested: moonrise at 17:30 set at 04:22.

A few ideas about locations:

*West Kennet Long Barrow: only problem here is a 1/2 mile trek uphill...
*The Avenue, Avebury/West Kennet: double row of about 50 standing stones (half missing). Parking for 5-6 cars. Popular with dog walkers (never sit resting against a stone...).
*Silbury Hill: only one place from which to photograph it (car park). The area around it is off-limits. Very weird looking - must have been weirder before they decided to run the A4 right next to it <sigh>.
*Avebury: must have been weirder before they decided to build a village in the middle of it <sigh-with-knobs-on>...
*Lacock Abbey/Museum/Cloisters: costs about £4.50 for the museum and cloisters unless you are an NT member. You can photograph in the cloisters and the grounds.
*I hesitate to suggest going south to Stonehenge on the grounds that it is a weekend... (and the fact it is run by English Heritage, who use it as a cash-cow and who will be the first up against the wall, come the revolution)...
*The flight of 16 canal locks at Caen Hill near Devizes was mentioned - never been there but looks interesting.
*Several places north, into Oxfordshire, such as Great Coxwell Title Barn (NT) and Uffington White Horse/castle/the manger & The Ridgeway (1 mile walk to Waylands Smithy along The Ridgeway is entirely optional!).

Looking forward to a finding out what Dave has been up to with Les...

Cheers, Bob.

FrankB · Oct 11, 2005

Haven't been to the Long Barrow or the Avenue, but would be interested in checking them out (dog poo permitting!). I had a go at Silbury Hill a couple of years ago but found it very difficult to get the light and angle working for me (YMMV!).

Despite the village, Avebury is still a location I'd favour, although I find that there do tend to be a good many pedestrians wandering through your shots... Lacock is worth a visit and the village would be very picturesque, if the streets weren't all lined with cars. Nice old churchyard there too ISTR. If the locks are the ones I'm thinking of then they're quite promising. If they're not then they still sound interesting.

I second the vote not to include Stonehenge in our locations. Expensive and crammed with people/coaches, methinks! Open to suggestions on other locations.

Are you bringing some prints too, Bob?

Leon · Oct 11, 2005

I am so gutted you cant believe ...

Bob - you can photograph silbury from loads of locations other than the car park - you get a great view of it from the path up to West Kennet Barrow and from the foot path from avebury circle too. the walk up to west kennett from the layby on the a4 isnt too bad really. West Kennet LB is excellent to visit but quite difficult to photograph (a great place to spend the night though, have done many times).

Full Moon? superb for some night-time photography - doubly gutted!

Another nice (but challenging) location would be to make your way just past swindon to Uffington whitehorse & castle (hill-fort)/ wayland smithy long barrow. Difficult to photograph, but lots of potential ... Charlie Waite and Barry Thornton made some quite nice pics of the white horse there.

Have fun everyone, looking forward to hearing all about it

Schlapp · Oct 11, 2005

I hesitate to say this but i print on inkjet due to lack of space/experience. Will I be black balled?

Dave Miller · Oct 11, 2005

Schlapp said:
I hesitate to say this but i print on inkjet due to lack of space/experience. Will I be black balled?

Not by me. There is still time for you to repent and take the one true path to salvation.

FrankB · Oct 11, 2005

Schlapp said:
I hesitate to say this but i print on inkjet due to lack of space/experience. Will I be black balled?

Not by me either.

Leon - We'll drink your health mate (and to the downfall of your evil overlords!) and hope to see you in the spring. Are they at least refunding you for your Crown Mono tickets?

Schlapp · Oct 11, 2005

Thanks Guys. I would love to learn wet printing sometime. Having said that B&W mag have been doing some stuff on injet printing - so it must be OK!!

FrankB · Oct 11, 2005

Nope. Sorry, Schlapp. Not going to go down the a. vs d. route on this thread!

Does anyone (conditions permitting) fancy a night shoot around anywhere? Avebury circle springs to mind, but there's that road through the middle of it which (from experience) can be frustrating in low-light situations.

Bob F. · Oct 11, 2005

Yes, I will bring a few prints along... I'm not afraid... not at all... nope, not me... Uh, Uh, no way... definitely not...

I walked up to W. Kennet LB with LF gear last year so if someone as hopelessly unfit as me can make it with 4x5... Looks like Wiltshire will require a more active response to reach a good location than the Lakes did. Just grabbed an OS map - didn't realise there was a path around the north side of Silbury hill...

I've been meaning to get some moonlight shots of stones but not had much luck (I'm rubbish at moonlit shots at the best of times and the 20 minute exposures just compound my capacity to mess up. Last time I tried it my lens fogged up & wouldn't clear - waited for over an hour). One possible location is W. Kennet LB as it is well away from any roads.

Cheers, Bob.

P.S. I seem to have booked myself into The Inn with the Well for Friday & Sat... Was going to camp... chickened out...

FrankB · Oct 11, 2005

Bob F. said:
Yes, I will bring a few prints along... I'm not afraid... not at all... nope, not me... Uh, Uh, no way... definitely not...

Well, I flippin' well am! You buggers set a high standard! :rolleyes:

Bob F. said:
P.S. I seem to have booked myself into The Inn with the Well for Friday & Sat... Was going to camp... chickened out...

Good to have you on-site Bob!

No chickens involved though... It's ducks you'll have to watch out for!

Dave Miller · Oct 11, 2005

We intend booking in by 5pm so I have time to play with my duck.

FrankB · Oct 11, 2005

Dave Miller said:
We intend booking in by 5pm so I have time to play with my duck.

I do hope that isn't a euphemism!

Dave Miller · Oct 11, 2005

FrankB said:
I do hope that isn't a euphemism!

Go wash your mind out with carbolic soap. Don't forget your prints.

FrankB · Oct 12, 2005

I shall endeavour to remember. I'm hoping to arrive around 5 or 6pm on the Friday, but it depends on whether my back continues its argument with my new (well, new to me!) car seat; not got it dialled in properly yet.

Final summary to those new to the thread -

'The APUG Autumn 2005 UK Gathering is happening on the weekend of 15/16 October.

We're meeting up at "The Inn With The Well" (Dead Link Removed) in Ogbourne St George in Wiltshire on the Friday evening. For those who can't make that there's a secondary meeting point in the Avebury Ring car park at the point where the footpath to the ring leaves the car park at about 9.30am on the Saturday morning.

Saturday is looking like a day of shooting in the locale (possibly including the stone circle at Avebury, sundry white horses and anything else that takes our fancy). On Sunday there's an optional visit to the Crown Monochrome Group's shindig in Trowbridge (speakers include John Blakemore and John Swannell, details here). The evenings will be (more than likely) spent in pursuit of beer, food and desultory gossip. And beer.

Anyone who likes the sound of this is more than welcome to join in for all or part of the weekend!' If you're interested then please post to this thread or (if you're shy and bashful!) PM me so that we know to look out for you.

127 · Oct 12, 2005

I think my plan is to get up early Saturday, and make the 1.5 hour drive from Bournemouth (ok - I may be a bit late! I'm not good at mornings). We should be able to stay relativly late in the evening before I try and persuede my wife to drive me home...

Ian

FrankB · Oct 12, 2005

Hi Ian,

Glad to have you along. I've PM'd you my mobile number to make meeting up (hopefully!) a bit easier.

All the best,

Frank

Dave Miller · Oct 17, 2005

Thanks Leon for kicking off the idea of last weekends meeting at Avebury and Frankb for continuing it. Also thanks, and best wishes to all those who turned up, quite a crowd; I look forward to seeing some of your pictures here. It was nice to be able to put more faces to names.
Sundays visit to the Crown Monochrome event was the icing on the cake. John Blakemore and John Swannels presentations were of the highest order.

Leon · Oct 17, 2005

so you all had a good time then? what places did you visit? where are we going next? - another late winter/ early spring gathering?

Dave Miller · Oct 17, 2005

We gave every rock in the Avebury Ring a hug, just for you; then we retired to the pub when it got too hot.
Oh! and Les took a picture.

127 · Oct 17, 2005

A good time was had by all... Great to meet some real people. Shame you couldn't make it Leon.

Frank sugguested Yorkshire in early spring (I think he's learnt that late winter is a bad idea). He as somewhere in mind, so I'll let him start a new thread about it.

I've dev'd one film so far - the second isn't quite finished yet. A few fun shots of the apug gang on there though (Some of them turned out OK even without the polarizer ;-)).

The light was realy funny in the morning - My meter was reading way out, as the sky was so bright, but it wasn't acutually lighting anything up. Just as well I never take any notice of my meter, and most of the exposures came out OK.

Ian

Leon · Oct 17, 2005

Dave Miller said:
Oh! and Les took a picture.

you mean you didnt manage to lose him this time? We'll have to try harder in the spring

Dave Miller · Oct 17, 2005

Leon said:
you mean you didnt manage to lose him this time? We'll have to try harder in the spring

What? Just when we've just got him trained to come when he's called!

Les McLean · Oct 17, 2005

Woof woof woof!

Dave Miller · Oct 17, 2005

Les McLean said:
Woof woof woof!

See; came to heel right on cue.

APUG UK 2005 Autumn Gathering

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