A Year in the Life of Faversham

This is the title of a photographic project set up by Faversham resident Nathalie Banaigs. The project is to display 366 photographs taken between 1 July 2007 -30 June 2008. The result, timed to coincide with Faversham's Hop Festival, is displayed as from 30 August in the Drill Hall, Preston Street, Faversham. I have walked a number of times around the Saxon Shore Way, beside Oare and Faversham Marshes, and I love the area for its solitude and ambience. I'd posted a number of photos of this area on Flickr -see link- and Nathalie contacted me -and others- to see if I would allow some photos to be used. Of course I agreed, and the final result was that 4 of my photos are exhibited in the exhibition. Every photo had to be taken on a particular different day, in sequence throughout the year. The one which attracted most interest was of a bicycle outside the Sun Inn, West Street, in which I used used selective colour, showing the sign in colour and the street in black and white. The others were of a flight of geese over the creek, a fishing boat at Harty Ferry, and the creek near Nagden with a line of pylons. The work of some 52 photographers is exhibited: most are local residents, a few like me are frequent visitors. It's an ambitious project, and an excellent exhibition. The photos are appended. Madeleine and I went to the formal opening on Friday, and had a good view around, and I met one of my flickr contacts, Jack Picknell, another non-resident exhibitor. A very pleasant evening, preceded by a visit to a really excellent Farm shop, Macknades', in Selling Street,where there is an enormous range of food: including some very fine Italian cold meats and some lovely bread flour for the bread machine from Wessex Mills.

Wengen

We've had two holidays now at Wengen, in the Bernese Oberland, in September 06 and June this year. We've now booked the next one in September 09. It's an idyllic little mountain village, on the way up to the Jungfrau, and can only be reached by the mountain cog railway -or on foot. We have a favourite hotel, and people go there year after year. The views are stunning, and the walking possibilities endless. The trains themselves are great fun, riding up very steep gradients and affording gorgeous views. A few miles up the line there is Kleine Scheidegg, must be one of the highest railway junctions in Europe, where you can catch the red trains going up through the long tunnel through the eiger to the Jungfraujoch. Or the green and yellow trains down the next valley to Grindelwald. There we can take a gondola up to First, another starting point for superb walking and views. In June this year, some of those walks were still covered in snow in parts. All in all, a wonderful palce to be, but you need two weeks to explore- and to spread out the inevitable wet days, when the clouds come down and the best walks are in the Lauterbrunnen valley.

We travelled there by train from Ashford: overnight in Paris, then via Mulhouse, Basle, Interlaken and Lauterbrunnen. You can fly to Zurich, but you will still have a long train journey and we're fed up with Gatwick.

Isle of Sheppey

10th July, my walking group had a walk on the Isle of Sheppey. That's quite a distance from our usual area, but curiosity and support for a new walk leader led some 25 members to turn up at Leysdown, on the eastern edge. We had a good walk in sunny and blustery conditions taking in the Isle of Harty, stopping at the Ferry Inn for lunch. We stopped off at the Church of St Thomas at Harty, one of Kent's most remote churches, dated at late 11th or early 12th century. Well worth a visit. At the Ferry Inn there is the long disused ferry across to the mainland at Harty Ferry, now a fine place for walking and bird observatory. Sheppey is very flat, and still remote despite the new Kingsferry crossing. At Leysdown you have views across to the Maunsell forts, in the Thames Estuary, as well as the Kentish Flats windfarm. Our walk was about ten miles, and thoroughly enjoyed by all who made the journey.

Dover Harbour

On Tuesday a half gale blew up, and I was on the shore at Dover Harbour. With the aid of a 300mm telephoto lens, I captured some of the action around the Eastern entrance. There was a sailboarder hovering around, dwarfed by the incoming ferries, and a rescue boat which eventually had to collect the capsized sailboard. The sea was heavy around the entrance, and the overall conditions produced some dramatic pictures.

White Cliffs Ramblers Calendar 2009

My walking group, the White Cliffs Ramblers, are publishing a calendar for next year containing details of 12 walks around South and East Kent. I've just collected a proof copy for checking, it looks good and it will be in shops locally before long. I've provided 7 of the photos, including the cover photo reproduced here.

I've always enjoyed walking, but in the last 3 years Madeleine and I started walking with the group and found it a very enjoyable and social activity. Earlier I tried golf, but Mark Twain had it absolutely right when he said golf spoils a good walk. Trouble is, I don't think like a golfer. It's not for me, and I've now given it up completely. I've got more involved with my group, who are part of the Ramblers Association, and whose website can be found at http://www.kentramblers.org.uk/ I've now become the Membership Secretary for White Cliffs.Our walks give lots of opportunities for photography, even if it is on the hoof. For this I use a Canon Ixus 750, kept in a side pocket, and have learnt to react quickly to a scene, and to walk fast to catch up again. It's one of the few digital compacts with a viewfinder, none of this nonsense about using the backscreen. This photo however was taken with my Canon 400 DSLR. The background is the cliffs at St Margaret's Bay, near Dover.

Dragon Boats

Saturday 2nd August - I spent the day at Dover Regatta. Stormy weather caused cancellation of several displays, but the Dragon Boat racing went ahead. Now these are fine for lakes and rivers, but the sea adds another element. The boats are quite shallow and a modest wave can easily slop over the gunwale. So they fill up and then become unstable. A slight lurch to on side will send the water in the boat to that side and overturn it in a flash. Or it starts to go down at the head. One boat sank three times before the crew, treating it all with great hilarity, paddled it out to race. I took many photos from the shore or the pier, and there are some hilarious sequences. The two photos here are of a boat having capsized and the drummer taking a dive.

Crop lines

On an August walk with White Cliffs Ramblers from Petham, I came across this geometrically satisfying layout of a field of cereal, and found the result pleasing.

M.V. Patricia

M.V. Patricia
Originally uploaded by Conundrum37

We saw this from a distance at Deal beach, and watched it circle a buoy, then pick it up. Curiosity and a 300mm lens took over, and a google search revealed it to be a Trinity House buoy tender out of Harwich.