Once again, the fine folks from POTN and I set out for a day of photography.  This time the destination was Rochester, Kent.  I don’t recall who selected the destination as it seemed a bit random, but they had a nice cathedral and the lion’s share of a castle remaining to attract some photographic attention.

I did sneak into the crypt of Rochester cathedral for a couple of light orbs as well.  Ok, so it was open to the public and there was no sneaking involved, but it was still a very cool venue.

After the excitement of the castle and cathedral and when I’d felt said excitement had peaked, we headed down to the Medway Festival of Steam.  Honestly.  There were some interesting steam powered contraptions lumbering around, but not really my cup of tea.  It was down at the rivers edge, which gave me a chance to play with some really long exposures and shoot these boats through a bit of welders glass.

You’ll find a few more images from the day here.  There are also images from the other photographers on the POTN site here.

A few of us wandered out to Sandwich, Kent for an evening of off camera flash shooting.  It’s something I’ve been trying to do a lot more of as I really like the looks that can be achieved.  I’m still a long way off from where I’m happy with the shots I’m getting, but you’ve got to start somewhere right?

There’s a few shots here and a couple more in the gallery.

Got together with Neal, Mitesh and Neal’s friend Shaz this past weekend for a few shots of the city.  I was hoping for a longer day so that I could put the strobes & light stands I was hauling around (my poor back) to use, but that will have to wait for another time I guess.

Anyways, here’s a couple of shots I rather liked plus a few more in the gallery.

Several of the folks from POTN and I were up early on Sunday to head out to the Hellingly Lunatic Asylum for a day of photography.

It was tricky to get into the spooky mood as there were about a dozen of us, it was the middle of the day and we had a security guard with us for most of it to make sure we didn’t go where we weren’t supposed too.  We tried are best, so here are a few of the shots and the rest are in the gallery.

Lots of photos from this weekend it seems but there’s a reason for that.  I’ve been eyeing up a new lens and thought I’d rent it for a couple of days to see what it was like.  It’s a Canon 300mm lens which is a stunning bit of kit but it’s heavy, expensive and I’m not sure I would use it enough to justify the purchase.  Still, it’s an amazing bit of glass and very fun to use!

So, what to do with this fancy lens for a weekend?  Well, we did go to the Roller Derby on Saturday night (and admittedly, 300mm was probably too long for that event), but Sunday was all about Birds.

To be honest, I’ve never tried to photograph birds before and it’s pretty challenging.  Birds never move the way you’d expect, they never sit still when you want them too, and they never move when you’re looking for that “in flight” shot.  Also, it’s a lot of work learning birds names and trying to identify species. In sort, I don’t think I have the patience to be a bird photographer.

Never the less, here are a couple of my shots from the day and the rest are here.