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Jane Kearney: A trip to the Carmargue

02/10/2019
The first half was a presentation on a bucket-list trip she made to the Camargue during Easter 2018. Despite some adversity – losing three days due to an air traffic controller strike in France; waders two sizes too small; a freak wave soaking her and one of her cameras; plagues of mosquitoes; and very little free time for the wine drinking that usually accompanies holidays in France – she showed us some truly amazing and very beautiful photographs of some of the wildlife from the area and, of course, the iconic white horses.

The horses were captured in various locations – on the ranch, at the beach, in the sand dunes, and running through the lagoons. We were treated to silhouetted horses against the sunset, rearing horses with manes and tails swishing (for want of a better word!) and head-on close-quarter shots of the horses running. Jane’s willingness to lie down in the path of galloping horses to get low-angle shots produced some very powerful and striking images. Stunning!

After tea, Jane showed some Photoshop techniques. She showed us how to cut out intricate shapes, such as trees, apparently using a washing machine, a suitcase and lots and lots of layers. I am sorry if this is not very helpful, but I only know a few words of Mongolian and I am afraid you will have to take her advice and watch YouTube videos for the finer detail. She also showed us how to use the Render tool to add a fiery last breath to a dying dragon, which led to perhaps the most startling revelation of the evening – apparently there are no dragons!