Towards the end of May, John and I had a week’s holiday in La Gomera, a small island off Tenerife. I’d found an apartment on the internet and booked the flights separately; it was quite a long journey as we had to fly to Tenerife and then get a boat across to La Gomera. We had hired a car, which was waiting for us when we got off the boat (unlocked…keys under the mat!) Then it was a half hour drive, and then ring the caretaker from the phone outside the church! Very cloak and dagger. She took ages to arrive by which time I’d read the guidebook and discovered there were two churches in Hermigua. We were just wondering whether to drive to the next one when she arrived; we then had to follow her car to other side of the valley. The walk down to our apartment was very steep, lots of steps (particularly difficult to walk up after a few glasses of wine!). But it was a lovely place; our patio looked out over the valley and up towards the mountains, below us were banana plantations and the locals were living all around us. It was very fertile; on my first walk, I found a fig tree, an Avocado tree, bananas and tomatoes growing wild everywhere. The climate on the island is very changeable, we were on the cooler, windier side and we could watch the clouds building up over the mountains in front of us. They ranged from 800 to 1500 metres high, and the tops were usually engulfed in mist, giving the Laurasilva forests an eerie feel to them. The island is wonderful for walking as there are marked footpaths over most of it, particularly the mountains where the Garonjay National Park is. It also has the hotter southern side, which caters more for the tourists, although still very quiet, and absolutely nothing like Tenerife. While we were there we did some walking, I took lots of photographs (with my digital camera…sorry Ron); mostly hand held apart from a very drunken attempt to take a photo of us on the balcony one evening with the camera set on timer. For some reason I only ever seem to use this facility when I’ve drunk far too much and can’t remember what I’m doing, with usually hilarious results (well I think it’s hilarious!). We also toured the island, which is quite small, but because none of the roads go in a straight line and are generally zigzagging up and then down again it takes some time. The car was in second gear most of the time!
Given that the island has all this plus sunbathing, swimming and relaxing, if you would like a holiday that has a bit of everything I can recommend La Gomera.

Jo Cleall

P.S. As some of you may know I am awaiting my first grandchild. At the time of writing I’m still waiting (the baby is due tomorrow 12^th June). Therefore, I haven’t yet turned into a drooling, incontinent granny that, according to certain members of the club, is what happens to you when you become a grandparent (thanks Tony).

Grapevine

It is good to see Antonio and Melissa Vong safely returned from their wedding in Hong Kong. I’m sure he’s itching to write a short article for the Viewfinder about their travels. He may even wish to tell us about how the photography of their special day went – hey, that’s two articles. Well done, Antonio.
I visited Peter – formerly known as Howard - Cooper in April. He is now living and working in southern Cyprus and wishes to be remembered to the members of HPS. If any member would like to contact him, I have his contact details.
Ron and Maggie Tear have now got their own website up and running. It’s at www.ronandmaggietear.co.uk – so take a look.

(If any member has any news of past members; perhaps they have visited them recently, just let me know, and I’ll include it in this occasional column – Ed)

I've never regarded myself as a natural history photographer, but the fact is that many good natural history shots win competitions because they are so dramatic. I decide to give it a go & duly signed up for a “Wildshots” holiday in the Scottish Highlands in the first week of March.
My first mistake was not to read the instructions properly, resulting in me turning up expecting Spring conditions, only to find instead the onset of incessant snow. For starters, I hadn't bothered with any waterproof trousers: no doubt used to this kind of thing, the tour leaders rustled up a pair for me.
Amongst other things I had to borrow were a pair of gloves with fold-back fingers - ideal for camera control - and a Tesco carrier bag plus elastic band to protect my newly acquired zoom lens from the snow. The other slight problem was that I found that my boots not only leaked, but admitted bucketfuls of snow over the top; result - when all the hardened nature.

 "My first mistake was not to read the instructions properly…"

photographers were happy sitting in hides for hours, waiting for birds to arrive, I needed to get up and run around on the spot every ten minutes to keep warm - not a good way of making new friends!

 Amongst the highlights was a visit to photograph a herd of reindeer in the mountains above Aviemore. The herdswoman had a very protective attitude towards her charges, and seemed to have given them all Russian sounding names; she was not amused when someone asked her which one was called Rudolph, nor when I asked if the young were called cubs (calves is the right word); these beasts were tame but very impersonal - they just nudged you out of the way if you tried to stroke them.Amongst other features of the week were sitting in a snow filled trench waiting for a red squirrel to appear.
Unfortunately, these animals had the annoying habit of pinching the bait provided & running up a tree before consuming it. On another day, I got bored with photographing crested tits after a while & decided to trudge across a snowfield to take some grasses instead, only to fall through the snow and end up knee deep in freezing water. The things we do to get a good photograph...

Nick Berentzen

Competition Results

In the final print competition of the year on 11 May, Gordon Clarke and Graham Chippett came joint fourth with 92, two members came joint third with 93 points, namely: Marilyn Steward and Ron Tear; Tony Perryman came second with 94 points and the winner, with 99 points, was Tony Hepworth.

In the final slide competition of the year which was judged on 25 May, Jo Cleall came fourth with 92, Nick Berentzen came third with 94 points; joint second with 97 points were Val Lynas and John Thompson; and the winner with 98 points was Gordon Clarke.