Summer Walk No. 4 – Sutton Stop

For this, our fourth of the summer, Martyn had chosen Hawkesbury Junction, Coventry, known locally as “Sutton Stop”.

Hawkesbury Junction is an 18th Century meeting point where the Coventry and Oxford canals converge near Coventry, and features a historic cast iron bridge and the 19th  Century Greyhound Inn. The name “Sutton Stop” comes from the Sutton family who provided several lock keepers during the 19th Century. It provides many photographic opportunities and is worth visiting at different times of the year.

We started the evening outside the Greyhound pub, where there were quite a few people in the pub garden, getting themselves warmed up for the upcoming England game.

Seven JPS members had turned up, forgoing the match in favour of doing some “Shooting” of our own and hopefully “Scoring” one or two winning images.

In a change to our earlier summer shoots, there wasn’t a brief, or suggestions of what to shoot. Members were encouraged to wander and explore the area to find things to shoot that inspired them. This meant that instead of moving as a group, members walked to whichever area interested them. Some members walked along the two main canal towpaths in search of images, and some remained around the main area, with its assortment of bridges and old work buildings. As always, it was interesting to see what happens when a group of photographers are on a shoot. Everyone pointing their camera’s in different directions. It really is amazing, how different photographers, see different things in the same area.

We were very lucky to have some beautiful light, with warm tones on the buildings and barges, and some nice shadows and reflections, but unfortunately, the area is surrounded by tall buildings, and as soon as the sun started to set behind them, we lost the light and it cut the evening short.

However, there was always the consolation of sitting in the garden outside the Greyhound Inn, enjoying a pint with some good conversation and a few laughs.

Once again, a big thank you to Martyn for organising, and look out for details of the next meet up in two weeks time.