 doves in garth park number 3, bicester, oxfordshire, england July 03, 2007 I'd love to take the credit for this photo, but I can't. It was taken by Peter Smeglerson. You may remember that a while ago I offered you the chance of a lifetime - a chance to join me for two days of 'photographing doves with a toy camera in Garth Park, Oxfordshire, England'. See here for the original offer. I was absolutely inundated with emails from dove-loving photographers, both professional and amateur alike, from around the globe and the 'course' was fully booked within two days of the details appearing on my website. I'm pleased to report that last weekend was my first 'dove-shooting' weekend and it was a great success, with Peter Smeglerson being the first to take up the offer. Peter, a retired pest technician, flew in from the small town of Rudesheim in southern Germany. I was a little apprehensive at first, but after initial language difficulties, we got on like a house on fire. Two full days of photography passed very quickly, with Peter proving to be a very capable and conscientious student - as you can see, he achieved some wonderful results. We also enjoyed two very relaxing evenings. The first was spent in my shed listening to BBC Radio 4 while arranging my screws into size order. The second evening was spent with Peter showing me the joys of German arm-wresting. If you've never tried it, it's nothing like normal arm-wrestling. Surprisingly, the arms aren't actually involved. After the first couple of attempts the pain eases a little and it soon becomes quite addictive. We played into the early hours, but because of his experience, Peter always had the upper-hand and within seconds of each new 'Spielrunde' I was begging for mercy. I haven't been able to contact Peter since he departed for Germany on Monday morning - his mobile appears to be switched off and my emails have bounced back. So if you're reading this Peter, I wondered if you'd accidentally taken my vinyl copy of Dolly Parton's Greatest Hits and my pastel blue dressing gown? Also, my wife seems to be missing two bras – could they have got into your suitcase by mistake? Holga CGFN + Fujifilm Superia 400 © Peter Smeglerson 2007 Comment (9) | Permalink |
