Photography 1 welcomes members who enjoy photography at any level.

We usually meet on the 2nd Friday of each month in the morning for photoshoot outings.

We also enjoy monthly Zoom meetings, usually on Thursday evenings, to review our photos and choose some to keep our web page updated.

We have set monthly photography projects to be completed by a set date allowing members to individually decide when they would go out to fulfil each project, or join up with others. Viewing members' results can either be at Zoom meetings, or, more sociably, at a member's house. The viewing Zoom meetings have been held mainly on a Thursday evening once every month. In addition we have from time to time held additional Zoom meetings in which we explore the technical side of photography.

**If you wish to contact the group for any reason, then you can do so by sending an email to the group leader by clicking on the Group email above.

You will see on these pages a mix of photographs taken on our Projects. The Photographs displayed on these two pages are those selected by a vote of all our members for display. Below are photos from our latest visits.

OUR PROJECTS

Lindfield

Photography group #1 visited the village of Lindfield in the Mid-Sussex District of West Sussex, England. Lindfield lies about 1 mile to the north-east of Haywards Heath and stands on the upper reaches of the River Ouse. The name 'Lindfield' means 'open land with lime trees.'

It is classified as an area of outstanding natural beauty.

Due to variations in the weather, (and that the group all have such busy lives!), our visits happened on a number of different days, and at different times, hence the variation in lighting and skies!

Tulley's Farm - Halloween

In the run up to Halloween, at the end of October, Tulley's Farm create a pumpkin festival with more pumpkins in one place than most of us have seen in our lifetimes. Not only the number of pumpkins, but also the dozens of different shapes and colours.

British Wildlife Centre

The group chose a lovely day at the British Wildlife Centre. The centre is just up the road at Newchapel near Lingfield village in the county of Surrey. This year, the centre celebrates 25 years and offers a varied selection of British wild animals, reptiles and birds.

Brooklands Nature Reserve

Brooklands Park lies just north of the coast road in Worthing, with the beach just over the road. The Nature Reserve has a number of open spaces, an adventure playground and a large lake, with many water birds, including Brighton's local bird, the seagull!

"Busy Bee" - Maureen. As well as the birds, there were plenty of insects taking advantage of the flowers and greenery.

Preston Manor

The group visited Preston Manor, in Preston Park. An Edwardian Manor, Home of the Stanford family.

Ditchling ("Green Wellies")

A visit to the village of Ditchling included many aspects of the village, including some of the cottages, wildlife and fauna.

Newhaven Fort

The group enjoyed two visits to Newhaven Fort, as some members were unable to make the first trip, experiencing different weather conditions.

Newhaven Fort was built in the 19th century as part of the string of South Coast coastal defences and is the last of a series of defences on the site, overlooking Seaford bay.

It fell into disuse after the second world war, but the fort has recently had a major renovation, introducing many exhibitions, displays, a nice café and adventure playground. It forms an excellent learning resource for schools and, in our case, the U3A members!

The photos below have been selected by the group to show the different aspects of the visit.

"Silent Gun" (Mike) - One of the exhibitions was a recreation of a typical first World War trench scene.

View over Newhaven Harbour (Mike) - A panoramic view of the harbour below the fort, showing the visibility offered to the observers and guns defending the local coastline.

Gun Emplacement (Mike) - One of the guns pointing out over the harbour.

"Childsplay" (Len) - Enjoying the Adventure playground!

"Mod or Rocker" (David) - One of the displays showing despatch riders, manned by one of the team.

"Recovery" (Mike) - A static display of ARP recovery work, following an air raid. Chosen for black and white as the coloured floodlighting of the scene was difficult to overcome.

Newhaven Harbour (Monica) - From the entrance to the fort, looking back over the harbour

"Fortified" (Len) - One of the outbuildings was where gunpowder was stored and used to make the shells for the guns. Due to the extreme danger, the walls were reinforced and people working in the area had to wear clothing that could not build up static electricity or boots that could not make sparks. Lighting was through glass from outside the room so there were no naked flames in the area.

"Steps Down" (Penny) - The fort had a veritable rabbit warren of tunnels underground between areas, with many steps.

Rainbow (Monica) - Another view of the adventure playground.

"No Man's Land" (Mike) - View of the WW1 trench display, taken on mobile phone.

Another view of Newhaven Harbour (Graham)

Cuckfield

The Group visited Cuckfield, a picturesque Sussex village with ample opportunity to take pictures of this lovely village.

Two slightly different views of the Church Nativity Scene by Maureen and Penny

Wings Museum

The group visited the "Wings" Aviation museum, near Handcross and Balcome.

The museum is run by enthusiastic volunteers, who gave us excellent guided tours of the different sections within the large hangar, including the work they were doing to re-build exhibits. The displays include original memorabilia representing different displays "The Home Front", "RAF Fighter Command", "The Blitz", "Battle of Britain", "Bomb Disposal", "Home Guard", "Air raid shelters", "RAF Bomber Command", "Luftwaffe", "D-Day" and much much more.

Items on display include aero engines, airframes, cockpits, aircraft gun turrets, uniforms, medals, flying equipment, and hundreds of personal stories of war, sacrifice and courage.

Not shown in our photos is a working Merlin engine, mounted on a wheeled trolley, that the museum occasionally runs at weekends, outside!

Also, they have an amphibious "Duck", parts of World War 2 German V1 and V2 rockets and even some hand weapons, much heavier than you think!

Two views of a full cockpit from an Avro Lancaster bomber from Mike and Marie

Michelham Priory

The Priory is on a medieval moated island, has an 800-year history and is owned by the Sussex Archaeological Society. Gardens and a watermill. Photography Group #1 visited this historic site with the priory, workshops and gardens. The members' photos show a variety of the different parts of the surrounding area.

Amberley Village

The group visited the village of Amberley "The Pearl of Sussex", by the river Arun. It was a thriving farming community up until the ‘60’s and many people also worked in the former chalk pits. There were lovely cottages and old farmhouses with converted barns. Many of the dwellings have thatched roofs with straw animals/birds on the ridges. 

The village comprises a 300-year old pub, the Black Horse, a village shop, 13th Century church, St Michael’s, with interesting people buried in the churchyard, including the parents of Rupert Maas (Antiques Roadshow art expert), the village Pottery run by Caroline Seaton and the Grade 1 listed mediaeval fortified dwelling dating back to 683 AD known as Amberley Castle. A former episcopal residence, it has a long and interesting history with a working portcullis between the entrance towers. During the Civil War Cromwell ordered the destruction of the defences and 20 to 30 feet were lost from the walls.