News
100% Pure Nature
Sue Buckland and Tim Downton, 4th November 2024
Review by Norman Marsh
Two of our well respected members treated everyone to a wonderful presentation, entitled “100% Pure Nature” – actually it was 100% pure joy!
First up was Sue, who recounted their tales of journeying down Hungary’s mighty Danube river and how they were treated to sailing in the ‘Stealth’ craft – complete with glass windows, and comfy bean bags for almost water level watching of the abundant birdlife. When questioned, she recounted how they managed to get comfort breaks – to the amusement of the rest of us, and how accommodating and knowledgable their guides were, even recalling a time when she had had a knee problem and got all her camera gear carried for her – what a result! The images of the many varied and colourful birds she took were absolutely super. But the pleasure for us all didn’t stop there as we were taken on a further journey to Transylvania – not for Dracula tales, but for the delightful antics of the brown bears. Sue majestically set her images to the music and sound track of ‘Jungle book’s Baloo’. What a great first half of the evening.
Tim stepped forward after the interval and rather self deprecatingly said his images were not as colourful as Sue’s and referred to his as ‘Little Brown jobs’. Hah ! We know better than that. From an image of the humble Dunnock we were again treated to the most wonderful array of nature images. From the almost microscopic red fungi just millimetres tall to the deadly ‘Deceiver’, Tim showed us images obtained through dedication and his undoubted ability producing ‘multiple stacked’ images of this microscopic world. Truly inspiring, but that was not all. Superb images flowed of Bitterns and Herons (two of Tim’s favoured species) Coot’s, Grebes and many more, along with examples of how apparent ‘throw away’ shots can be recovered with post processing. Clearly a talented master of his craft.
A terrific evening and very well presented by our very own members Sue and Tim – thank you.
First up was Sue, who recounted their tales of journeying down Hungary’s mighty Danube river and how they were treated to sailing in the ‘Stealth’ craft – complete with glass windows, and comfy bean bags for almost water level watching of the abundant birdlife. When questioned, she recounted how they managed to get comfort breaks – to the amusement of the rest of us, and how accommodating and knowledgable their guides were, even recalling a time when she had had a knee problem and got all her camera gear carried for her – what a result! The images of the many varied and colourful birds she took were absolutely super. But the pleasure for us all didn’t stop there as we were taken on a further journey to Transylvania – not for Dracula tales, but for the delightful antics of the brown bears. Sue majestically set her images to the music and sound track of ‘Jungle book’s Baloo’. What a great first half of the evening.
Tim stepped forward after the interval and rather self deprecatingly said his images were not as colourful as Sue’s and referred to his as ‘Little Brown jobs’. Hah ! We know better than that. From an image of the humble Dunnock we were again treated to the most wonderful array of nature images. From the almost microscopic red fungi just millimetres tall to the deadly ‘Deceiver’, Tim showed us images obtained through dedication and his undoubted ability producing ‘multiple stacked’ images of this microscopic world. Truly inspiring, but that was not all. Superb images flowed of Bitterns and Herons (two of Tim’s favoured species) Coot’s, Grebes and many more, along with examples of how apparent ‘throw away’ shots can be recovered with post processing. Clearly a talented master of his craft.
A terrific evening and very well presented by our very own members Sue and Tim – thank you.
