Northscape Weekend Workshop - November 2005pty

Back in November over the weekend of the 5th and 6th Northscape (Andy Dippie and Keith Hensen) held their first, of many I hope, Derbyshire workshop. Northscape headquarters for the weekend was the very popular Hartington Hall – a posh youth hostel in Hartington. It made a fantastic base for the weekend with a wonderful relaxed atmosphere, large roaring fire to warm us, excellent home cooked food, a bar and friendly staff, we very quickly made the place our own.

There were 12 of us on the course me and 11 other lovely chaps plus Keith, Andy and Jas, Andy's wife who looked after us all.

Most of us pitched up early afternoon on the Friday all eager to start the weekend. Friday evening was for general chit-chat, asking questions and getting to know each other over a few drinks.

Saturday Morning we were up bright and early - 6.30 to be precise. Time for a quick cuppa then into the mini bus, which was laid on for the weekend, and off to our first location. The weather was looking promising despite the grim weather forecast so fingers were crossed for a good sunrise. We split into two groups, one headed by Keith who climbed Parkhouse Hill for the sunrise (see picture below) while the rest of us less energetic souls and Andy headed for Dowel Dale to catch the sun rising across the hills and a wonderful old barn. Andy was on hand to give us all the help and advice we needed and I reckon we all came away with some pretty good images - I did anyway. I did get carried away with photographing stone walls something I don't see much of in Norfolk. Several hours latter we all met up for a surprise breakfast in the local farmhouse, bacon and egg butties and a thaw out, very welcome.

Master Class in Progress	Lunch break with a view

Sadly we had seen the best of the day, the weather started to deteriorate as we headed off for the Roaches but undeterred we climbed to the top and spent a challenging few hours getting what I thought were some jolly good shots, having seen everyone else's images. Keith and Andy were giving us help and tips on how to make the most of the situation and lending equipment to anyone who wanted to try out different lens etc. I even managed to get Keith to carry my bag all the way to the top, having stupidly left it at the bottom. I'm always in another world when I have a camera in my hand.

Eventually the weather totally closed in on us and we headed back to the minibus and a wonderful warm drink, which Jas had ready and waiting for us.

Then back to base and a large roaring fire to dry out in front of. We spent the evening looking at images and having lessons in capture one. Sunday morning was grim, it was pouring with rain but Keith and Andy were prepared for this and they set up a studio for us to have a go at portrait photography. This I thoroughly enjoyed as it was something I had never done before, also more help was given with RAW conversion and Capture one for anyone who wanted it. The rain eventually stopped and we headed off to Milldale for a few hours of Duck photography and, thanks to Keith and Jas feeding the birds, a bit of bird photography was had also. Early afternoon was soon upon us and sadly it was time to say our good-byes and head off to our respective homes.

Andy and those illuminous red trousers

To sum up, the weekend for me was excellent; Keith and Andy were on hand the whole time to help, advise and answer any questions that one had. I am a relative newcomer to photography and most of what I know is from reading endless books and EPZ so it was great for me to get answers to all my questions first hand from two photographers I respect enormously. Keith and Andy worked jolly hard to make the weekend a success it was well organised and planned and all we had to think about was taking the photos. Roll on the next one.

Written by Kate Barclay