Camera Club Outing

Dawn broke gently into a pale blue sky, scattered with soft pink-edged colour, yesterday's heat smouldering in the pavement & the brick walls of the house retaining the seething warmth that embedded itself with what seemed a never ending summer of hot dry weather.
After gathering together a little photographic equipment, I drove toward the city of Melbourne, with a certain amount of anticipation & going against the heavy traffic, it was still an ordeal negotiating past trams, trundling along the middle of the road, with passengers stepping out in front of you. It was necessary to stop & let them board, before making a quick dash to catch the next set of green traffic lights before the tram caught you up. Remembering how to get to the city at this time of the evening, had been a little daunting, & being about an hour's drive away, thought I should have taken the freeway. (Later found there had been a considerable hold up & it resembled a car park!) I easily followed my written instructions & couldn't go wrong on this somewhat auspicious occasion. After nearly an hour in the air-conditioned car, listening to some music, I found the outer city street where it may have been possible to park. Wrong! So I hastily made a decision to put the car neatly away in a paying underground carpark. Wrong again! It was going to cost me an arm & a leg at least. Being underground in a narrow approach, with a barrier closed in front of me & another car close behind, I started to have a little difficulty with lack of instructions on the quickest way to encourage that barrier to lift. I turned off the engine & went to parley with the driver close behind, who said he would gladly back up & let me out of there. (Probably wanted to be rid of me as soon as possible!) In a tight spot, this was no easy matter, & feeling just a little flustered, put the car in reverse, & back I went, slowly. Nevertheless, a post managed to hit my rear with considerable force, a rather low hidden & very solid post! Oh, you've done it now lady I thought, & not being in a position to stop & have a look at the enormous hole in the back of my car, I negotiated round a tight circle & exited from a difficult situation.
This was going to be an expensive night out, & all I wanted to do was park the car & take some photographs with other Camera Club members. After extracting myself from that tight, claustrophobic underground, a little distance down the road, I stopped to face the inevitable. To my delight, there was no gaping hole, no marks & only the side bumper-come-panel, being a bit out of alignment. I gave it a sideways flick with my backside & it re-aligned itself back to normality.
So I drove nearer to where I was to meet the others & quickly spotted a much needed carpark in the street next to the Fitzroy Gardens. Soon after, I met up with a few straggling members of the Camera Club. Of all the streets, in all the city, I had to bump into them!
We joined up & made our way toward the first area to shoot, a lovely park with gushing fountains that sprang out of large water jets. These were in full flow & a breeze had sprung up that caused the water cascade to spread, which proved a good opportunity to capture the many patterns of water & droplets in the evening sunlight. There were many members gathered with tripods & cameras, forming into small groups & swapping technical information & any other information of interest.
A few other people had wandered into the area & a small boy had decided to run into the fountain in the late heat of the evening, enjoying the spray as he played in & out of the water jets. I took my chances & captured him with the light in just the right position with the spray.
Later, we moved a little down from the park, to the steps of Parliament House & as I was about the last to arrive, set myself up in the middle of the pavement. By this time the night was upon us & the lights of Melbourne were glowing in the warmth of the night. I was completely absorbed in the camera perched on top of the tripod & the settings to adapt, as this was my first proper experience of slow shutter speed night photography, completely unaware that the law in the form of two policemen had slipped up behind me & one was bending over, hands on hips, scrutinizing what I was up to. Taken completely by surprise & sensing his presence, I turned round & looked with surprised guilt at him & tried to smile sweetly as he said, "and what might you be doing in the middle of the pavement?" "Who me officer" says I. "Yes, you dear lady" he replied. "Oh, I just want to take a few nice photos, then I'll be moving on" says I. "Well, see that you do then" said the officer, with a twinkle in his eye, & a grin on his face. Yes sir, three bags full sir, muttered I, as he sauntered off, still grinning, to join his colleague. Laughing I thought, I'm not moving until I have taken all the shots I require of these juggernaut trams, swinging slowly around the top of Bourke Street & the passing traffic with all these twinkling lights. There was a constant sound of shutters firing from all the cameras mounted on the steps of Parliament House as we turned our lenses to the street action & each other, enjoying the night's fun & cameraderie.