Julia Massey Stewart : Through My Lens

Julia Massey Stewart started taking a very interested audience through her approaches to photography by taking us on a journey through her world of travel. At the icy Lake Baikal in Siberia, Julia showed us her fascination of close ups, with ground level details of the ice itself before moving on to Southern Africa’s wild life parks, where a close up of an elephant’s trunk caught most of us out !

We were then whisked off to Death Valley (USA), the Canary Islands, India & Tibet and the Caribbean to work with plants, people & wildlife each pose different challenges that require the photographer to be adaptable & thoughtful in their approach. From what I recall Julia listed the following as strong starting points & guidelines:-

Tips to set you on your photographic way

• always have your camera to hand – you will see pictures that are there for a moment
• handle picture composition by using “the rule of thirds” – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rule_of_thirds
• consider working from the viewpoint that photos are made rather than taken
• be aware how to use light & how to avoid it
• have faith in the decision to take a photo, however unsure you are and only review/amend or delete once you get time to reflect via a computer screen (considered from a digital view)
• consider how chopping & cropping can alter dramatically what is represented in a digital picture, remembering to give the picture space to breathe

Julia nicely rounded off by showing us the different world of lomography and how it can make you think very differently about making pictures ¦see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lomography for an introduction into this intriguing niche

Picture courtesy of The Mango Lab : Julia & one of her many cameras

Philip Koniotes : Cycling down the Danube

Starting in Germany, Philip & Lindy, headed out to tackle one of Europe’s long distance cycling challenges from the source of the Danube river down through central Europe towards Hungary. Both are long term club members & are widely travelled … we knew we were in for an adventure that afternoon as we listened to their journey

Departing from Donaueschingen, their sunshine & easy paths soon changed into rainy rides as Philip & Lindy cycled themselves into a routine … covering 820 miles, through four countries over five weeks ! German towns & cities zipped by Ulm, Weltenberg, Kelheim, Passau and across into Austria. You could hear Philip & Lindy enjoy themselves differently each day … lunching in fantastic cake shops, the Fisher & Tanner House, the Napoleonic commemorating Hall of Liberation, the ferries and the monasteries & abbeys.

Like most adventures there were some mishaps – a wrong turn got them lost in Slovenia, they had to hotel in a converted horse stud stables and then they met the rain. It seemed that the further south they headed, the more the rural tracks & journey demanded of them. Closer & closer they edged towards Budapest, but the unseasonable rains grew more incessant and eventually at Komarom, 78 miles from their target, they agreed to stop & enjoy a well deserved break.

What stuck out most for me about Philip’s talk was the how they enjoyed meeting people … along the trail & at points they stopped to recuperate. The cycling was a challenge but it was also an ice breaker where ever they went.

Well done Philip & Lindy and good luck with the next trip …

To read more about the Danube Trail read

Details of the London branch’s forthcoming meetings will soon be detailed at https://globetrotters.co.uk/meetings/lon10it.html

The London branch meetings are held at The Church of Scotland, Crown Court, behind the Fortune Theatre in Covent Garden at 2.30pm the first Saturday of each month, unless there is a UK public holiday that weekend. There is no London meeting in August, but we start afresh in September. For more information, contact the Globetrotters Info line on +44 (0) 20 7193 2586, or visit the web site: London Meeting Programme.