Last Thursday we had a camera club outing to Colwick Country Park in Nottingham. We haven’t met in our clubroom venue since February 2019, but this was our 5th get together of the summer. Colwick Park is owned by the City Council and is sandwiched between the River Trent and Nottingham Racecourse / Dog Track and inner city housing. It has several big lakes, woodlands and wildlife.
We met a 7 p.m. and I took Ruby my little whippet with me. At 7 p.m. on a late July evening there isn’t much daylight left. The path we took into the park ran behind Colwick Hall Hotel, a popular venue for weddings, conferences and formal parties. As Ruby and I walked behind the Hotel grounds I could see there was a wedding taking place, guests were in the grounds, drinking and socialising on a warm summer evening. One of the guests had drifted to the end of the garden so I shouted to him…
“Hi, is it a good wedding, it looks very posh?”
“Yes it’s been a good day”
“That’s good , do you know the couple getting married” (daft question really as he was a guest at their wedding !!!)
“Yes I do, I am the brother of the groom”
“So has it been a long day?”
“Yes we had the wedding, the meal, speeches, we are having a DJ and music later”
“That’s good”
I then introduce the idea of 100 strangers, to which I get a positive yes
At that point Ruby and I scramble up some steps from the country park path and walk into the Hotel grounds.
Meet Michael, the brother of the groom.
Michael was wearing sunglasses, so I asked him if he could take them off for the photos. Michael said he would put his normal glasses on for the shoot. I asked him to look towards the hall and I would use the backdrop of the country park trees for his portrait.
Michael asked if I worked for a local newspaper or magazine, I told him I was just an amateur photographer. I shot a few shots, thanked Michael for his time and wished him a nice evening.
I glanced over to the other guests, who were probably 50 / 75 metres away and then thought “No you cannot gatecrash a wedding for stranger photos, especially with a whippet dog in hand”
Anyway I hope you like Michael’s photo, most camera club members came back from the shoot with birds, flowers, lakes and trees, I came back with a cool stranger ! Perhaps that sums up my photography !
Sony A7, Tamron 28-75mm, Edited In Art / GIMP, if you look above Michael’s head (Michael’s right hand side) you can see a couple of midges flying around. The lens picks up such fine detail
