September 24th 2016 in Limoges was dry and warm, quite sunny, just about ideal for the national finals of the "Courses des Garçons de Café".  Around 100 entrants, who must be employed as waiters, race over a town centre course of about 5km carrying a tray of drinks.  Liquid levels are measured and there are time penalties for spillage.  

There are a number of different categories such as local entrants, ladies, team etc with cash prizes for the winners and runners up.  The local entrants were particularly well supported and of course sponsored by the café or restaurant where they work.  Major suppliers in the area put on a display with free samples, including drinks.

A great fun day !

The 11th september 2016 the members of our photo club visited the airshow "Legendair" at St Junien.  The day was sunny and very hot and after a rapid tour to view the options we ate lunch together at a café on the airfield.  After, we spent the afternoon taking photos of the magnificent historic aircraft and cars.   During the visit I was able to borrow a demo sample of the latest Sigma 150-600mm telephoto lens from friends at the Photolim stand.  Powerful, but oh so heavy !!!  On an APSC camera, the 600mm is too long for this type of event but I can imagine how it would be invaluable for wildlife photographers for example, where you could use a tripod.

Here is a selection of images from the day's visit...

In september, we visited château La Coucharde in the "entre-deux-mers" region with the photo club OPPV to take part (photographically) in the 2016 harvest.  The light was not wonderful when we first arrived in the mid morning but by lunchtime we had reasonable autumn light which enabled us to take some good shots.

We were very well received by the proprietors, Monsieur Bielle Navarre, his son and their wives, who laid on a splendid harvest lunch for us.  Their vintage '95 is exceptional !!  Once again our grateful thanks. 

The day ended with a group photo of the whole crew among the vines and by loading our cars with quite a few cases of château La Coucharde...

Last year, 2015, I didn't go to Angoumême for the Circuit des Remparts because the weather forecast was terrible.  This year my friend Volker and I did go : meeting at 11h in front of the Mairie then a rapid visit to the paddock where we could get close up to the cars.  Next lunch in a town-centre café.  The day was fine and warm, lots of interesting photos waiting to be taken !

During the afternoon we tried to photograph the racing, but it was very difficult to get good shots because it was almost impossible to time the arrival of the cars around the tight bends in the circuit.  Therefore we returned to the paddock where we could get close the cars and chat with the drivers and mechanics all afternoon - fantastic !

An outing together with the St Saud photo club to the Plateau d'Argentine at the end of may 2016 to photograph rare orchids and insects etc.  A lovely day with quite good light, but we were a bit late in the season for the best orchids, most of which were past their best.  However, with some effort we found a number of good examples to photograph and some unusual instects too.