Keddleston Hall in the Spring

Tuesday 18 May 2010

Today I was back again at Keddleston Hall on a field trip for my photography club.  We were very fortunate to have very good weather.  The sun was disappearing and returning as the clouds came and went and so the shade changed constantly and it made it a little more difficult to prepare the lighting.  We had our reflectors with us, and I was practising using the ISO, the aperture and the shutter speeds.  It was good fun putting into practice what we had been learning in the class room.

We were not the only people at the Hall, which I thought was surprising given it was a week day.  There were lots of people walking around the grounds, elderly people, young people, families with buggies and little toddlers, and couples with new borns.  We spent the whole day there.  For lunch we took a break by the side of the car park and took advantage of the shade from the tree and the picnic tables on the grass.  It was a very pleasant setting.

The blue bells were out in splendour and this provided fantastic opportunities.  My problem of course was to get the focusing right, and that is still a challenge for me, but I am learning, slowly but surely!

The church at Keddleston Hall was beautiful too, and it was refreshing cool inside, that provided the perfect refuge from the heat outside.