Five Go To Winkworth Arboretum ...

Hello there! Many "Thanks" for your comments on my previous post. I'm sorry to start another posting with a photo of a spider. This one lives next door to the one on the previous post in our front garden!

The reason for taking this photo was to see if it would turn out clear and not blurred. It came out in focus so I thought that I would be brave enough and take all my photos when we visited Winkworth Arboretum near Godalming in Surrey on the manual setting!

Getting these photos onto this blog has been really, really frustrating. I store my photos on Picasa and last week the computer started compacting things of its own volition. My photos from Winkworth although I stored them under Winkworth - October 2012 are actually to be found under Summer 2010! The same has happened to all my folders. There is nothing stored where it should be and some photos are missing. It makes me want to weep! 

Anyhow, back to Saturday and our visit to the Arboretum - when we arrived we saw that many people had the same idea as us to visit. The car park was heaving. This could have had something to do with the Arboretum being advertised as one of the best places to see the glories of Autumn in a few newspapers and magazines recently! It certainly seemed that everyone was there "Old Uncle Tom Cobbley and all!"

The reds were spectacular. Dr. Wilfred Fox purchased the steep wooded valley and its lakes in 1937 and set about transforming the landscape. Winkworth was gven to the National Trust in 1952.

The OH the other day found one of those photo frames where you can place your camera chip in it and you get to see a slide show of the photos. This was discovered in the garage! When Picasa was playing up and I couldn't find my photos I placed the chip in the photo frame. What I can't understand is that the photos are much clearer and crisper in the frame than when I see them on my computer. It must be something that happens when  the computer enlarges them and the images get distorted. 

On the photo frame the leaves are much clearer whereas here they don't look as great. I'm glad the OH found the frame otherwise I wouldn't have been too happy with some of these photos!

I loved the effect of the raindrops on the grass.

I loved the orange / rusty colour of these leaves.

But the most amazing of all was the reds.

So, lets take a closer look!

I quite like this photo and the one below.

I like the way that the background has blurred bringing the rest of the photo into a sharp contrast.

Amongst the red trees we also saw flashes of red berries.

We saw some lichen.

I love Autumnal colours.

The geese by the boathouse were chasing some people away. They do say that geese are better at guarding your property than dogs.

The boathouse.

The view from the boathouse.

When we left the boathouse - the geese were still on their patrols!

A sign displayed on the boathouse.

KP wearing her new welly boots.

We walked a circular route taking in most of the lake.

We came across these white berries on a red stem.

An arrow pointing at the reflections.

We came across some toadstools.

George was supposed to be with KP in this photo but he wouldn't co-operate! Neither would Charlie!

A closer look at those trees that you could see from the boathouse.

I loved the raindrops on this tree.

This is the photo that I like the best out of those that I took.

More lichen.

More fungi.

Golden hues.

Yet more fungi!

I can't believe that I actually took all these photos on manual. I'm quite pleased with how they turned out and I now believe that something must have sunk in from the four lessons that I've had. I have to say that the tutor is rather good. I have never been to a Photography Class before but some of the people on the course have and they have said that this is the best they've been to.

I'm looking forward to my next class on Thursday.

For those that may be interested the photos were mainly taken on ISO 400 and if a photo looked too dark on the screen I changed it to 800 or 1600. The aperture was mainly set on F5.6.

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend.

Until next time,

June.