London Outdoor Photography! (walks and workshops)

Dear Lords, Ladies, and photographic squires!

Loxwood Joust, the U.K.'s most spectacular medieval festival, is back again this year and we will practice some dramatic action photography!

This amazing extravaganza is held in the picturesque woodlands of West Sussex and features full-contact jousting, along with other daring displays of weaponry such as archery, as armoured knights meet in great numbers for the melee on the battlefield, AKA "The Meatgrinder", granting us many photographic opportunities.

You can also "wander the Living History Village, situated in the Mediaeval Meadow, where inhabitants live and work exactly as they would have in the Middle Ages". Peruse their traditional wares in the Mediaeval Marketplace, where traders and hawkers vie for your attention and wandering minstrels, dance troupes, and a court jester entertain the crowds throughout the day." So several interesting and unusual portrait possibilities are available.

Many re-enactment groups take part in Loxwood Joust each year so it is on a scale, unlike many other medieval events.

Our previous photographic scouts scoured Loxwood for the best photographic spots and opportunities, devising battle tactics to enable you to capture some amazing shots!

Please note: This is a MAILING LIST ONLY, NOT AN EVENT.

This is for people who wish to be contacted when we run Astro events (as per feedback, as Meetup's email communication has been sketchy at best for years).

We'll announce our multi-day Astro tours and occasional single-night events here first, then via the usual Meetup announcement.

The Milky Way season runs from late February to early September each year.

We're going to be holding several astrophotography events during the year, so we're putting together an email list of those people interested so we can contact you directly (as many people miss the Meetup messages & emails) and offer you early access to book places at the events.

We'll photograph the Milky Way at various locations throughout the year, teach you how to take star trails and capture special events such as meteor showers and supermoons.

How it will work:
We'll likely let you know the prospective date(s) a couple of weeks in advance. Two days before the event, we'll update and confirm once we have the short-term weather forecasts. Due to weather conditions, some events may be scheduled or cancelled at short notice. Weather forecasting just isn't that good yet, I'm afraid!

We'll provide the transport to the chosen location(s) up to 2 hours away. To reduce time stuck in London traffic, the meeting point will be at our studio in West Acton, a 3-5 minute walk from West Acton tube station (Central Line) and North Ealing tube station (Piccadilly Line). Street parking is available.

Equipment:

• With a tripod and cable release, anyone can take star trails and meteor shower photos with a standard camera and lens.
• For single-shot Milky Way photos, we recommend lenses with an aperture f/2.8 or lower, with a focal length of 24mm or lower. (Edit: a 35mm f/1.8 is also a great lens if you're able to use post-processing software to stitch photos together)
• Using either the high ISO technique or a star tracker allows "slower" lenses to be used, ie a minimum aperture of f/4 or f/5.6
• As usual, we'll have a few dedicated setups and lenses to borrow between the group – just bring an extra SD card.

We look forward to exploring the night skies with you!

Note: This listing is not an event in itself (ignore time & date). The £2 payment will put you on our astrophotography list and allow us to email you announcing upcoming astrophotography events prior to them being published on the Meetup group listing. We've done this as people often miss/ignore Meetup announcement emails.

Kind regards,
Dion