Great to be back home – But!

by John Greenwood, November 2008

Well, we are back in lovely Kiwi land and enjoying our hectic wind-down after nine weeks overseas.

First of all, I want to thank Geoff Dickinson and Helen Coles for taking on the roles of President and Secretary respectively. And the committee who supported them.  It was great to know that we did not have to worry about all you lot.

Secondly I want to commend to you and encourage you in the submission of images for our overseas exchanges.  Janet and I had the privilege of visiting three of our overseas exchange clubs in Great Britain while we were in that part of the world.  Our hosts in each place treated us royally, taking us on photographic excursions to their favourite places, and in the case of Ruthin in North Wales and in Exeter (Exmouth Photo Group), we were billeted with members of the clubs.  We were spoiled rotten and all of the three clubs asked us to convey their greetings to you and wanted to say how much they have enjoyed our images.

Now to other more photographic issues. We have come home with about 6,000 images in our digital album.  We are working our way through these, dumping some and referencing the rest for future use. You will certainly see some of these in the future.  Just give us some breathing space first though, please.

But what of the places we visited.  Austria:  We spent seven days in the Oetz Valley in Austria.  To get your geography correct, the Oetz valley is in the west of Austria, sandwiched between Italy in the south and Germany in the north.  We both went to the Italian border on different days and in different ways.  We arrived in Europe at Munich, Germany and travelled by coach next day to our hotel in Solden deep in the Oetz valley.  We were with a tramping group.  They called it walking, but it was a bit more than that on many occasions.  My highlight was to stand on the top of a peak ten thousand feet in height.  We did have a start on a chair lift, but it still took most of the morning to climb there.  What a sight and this after five glorious days of tramping/climbing. You will see the photos later – suffice to say that I think I left a bit of myself in Austria as it was so beautiful.

The next most notable experience among many was in Norway where we went on a cruise of eleven nights on the coastal ferry (really a modern cruise liner doubling as a ferry).  This was up the fiords of Norway playing hide and go seek among the millions of small islands up the coast as well as going into many of the fiords.  Well, the fiords are different to ours, but very beautiful all the same.  At least we were in the position of having been able to compare the two.

We visited the Russian border, drove to the northern-most point of Europe at “Nordcap” (North cape), saw reindeer and their Sami herders, photographed the “northern lights”, went on an excursion to photograph Sea Eagles, and that was when I filled up my memory card, all four gigs and put more on to a second card.  The Sea Eagles were an amazing spectacle.

I could go on and on.  But one of my main reasons for going was the photographic opportunities we had. It was challenging going into a fresh country or place and seeing their country with, you might say, pioneers’ eyes.  It reiterated to me the importance of keeping your eyes open and your camera at the ready.  I did lose shots because I was not ready, but I also saw things that the locals seemed to be immune to.

Last month Geoff spoke of learning and keeping on doing so.  I think this trip reinforced to me the importance of the fact that we should all keep learning all our lives.  So often I have seen people as they get older shrug of opportunities to try something new or do something different.  We need to keep expanding our minds and our experiences right through our lives.  Photography is an excellent medium for ongoing stimulation as long as we don’t get lazy and forget to have the camera with us or to have it ready for use.

Janet and I are looking forward to sharing some of our images and experiences with you over the next few months before we let it become stale or be overtaken by new experiences.  Apart from anything else, we then get the opportunity to relive our adventures over and over again.

Oh, I forgot.  England, Scotland, Wales, Sweden, and China’s Great wall, and then Chengdu and the fireworks there.  They will keep to another day.  I am off to bed.

Have a great month.