Wayland Men's Shed

Lynford Water & Arboretum :

Feeling full of “the joys of spring” and having bags of enthusiasm for the day ahead the group set forth from Watton for onward travel to Lynford. En route some members took advantage of Brown’s Café at Mundford for an excellent quick coffee before joining up with the other members at the Forestry Commission car park at Lynford. It was at this point that members split into two groups, one taking the “Arboretum Walk” whilst the remainder decided to discover the area around “Lynford Water”.
I chose to walk along the water shoreline to seek out photographic opportunities and put my camera through its paces. I was not disappointed in this regard and found numerous challenging compositions to take at this location.
During the early part of the morning the weather, although overcast, was not too cold. Within an hour or so the sun appeared, the sky cleared of clouds, and we were blessed with a beautiful early spring morning – perfect conditions for a walk through the forest with the camera.
After a couple of hours, we again rendezvoused in the car park, following which, we made our way to The Swan Public House, Hillborough where lunch had been previously arranged. An excellent meal was served, during which we all enjoyed the associated banter etc. After a good two hours and feeling fully sated we safely returned home to review the photographs taken during these two beautiful walks. All in all, an excellent day out.
Our judge of the images taken by members was Mr Stewart Haile who having reviewed them quickly responded giving his judgement along with the following comments: -
“I have to say all the images offer a fabulous view of nature - captured in very different forms. Overall, the shots show great composition and good use of camera settings - most look to be taken in manual mode with intuitive use of the exposure triangle and depth of field too.” However, one image stood out to me, capturing my attention and leading me to feel what the day out was all about.
Just like our 'Shutterists Image' it is the 'Cafe Lynford' that stole the show for me, and I award it 
with GOLD. I award SILVER to 'The Sun Came Out'.. a truly captivating image full of life illuminated by the sun’s rays through the trees. God’s rays in crepuscular form. Skilfully exposed - not blown out and not too dark. A great image. For BRONZE, I love the 'Goldcrest in Spring' the contrasting colours make this a beautiful photograph. For me the depth of field chosen for the shot works so well - foreground and background complimenting each other I could so easily of given joint awards, so yes it was a difficult to choose just three. All images are worthy of a judge’s award but today I decided on these three alone. A different day / a different judge may choose otherwise but I doubt anyone cannot just love 'Cafe Lynford.' Thanks again for inviting me to judge - well done to all.