Magnolia Stellata

I photographed the star magnolia flowers again today - I find photographing white flowers very difficult, I always underexpose a bit or else you lose all details in the white petals. Last year this was just opening into blooms when we had a harsh frost that killed them all off, so I was pleased that we have some blooms this year. The two harsh frosts we had this winter have killed off a few plants, including two large bottle brush bushes - I was hoping they had survived but they are looking very dead still so I think they will need to be dug out and replaced.

Last night at camera club we had a last minute change of judge, as our booked judge was not able to attend. The replacement judge is a very experienced and highly regarded photographer who is involved in all sorts of photographic bodies and has won all sorts of awards, but she does not have much experience as a judge and it certainly showed, as her judging was awful. Her timing was way off and so she took too long over the club class images and then had to rush through the advanced class of images which was annoying. We were asked for feedback on her so I did give a detailed report today.

I have a quiet week this week which is most welcome - I am trying to catch up on TV, I really enjoyed Funny Woman on Sky which is based on the book Funny Girl by Nick Hornby. I finally finished the last series of Vera, I love that series and am amazed at Brenda Blethyn's fine acting and energy at the age of 77. 

Looks like typical damp and changeable weather for spring - we are going to Switzerland for one week on the weekend, and it is back to snow there, oh no! I think I have seen enough snow this winter.