My trip to Slimbridge

by Ben Wheeler – age 10 from Eastington Primary School.

On Thursday the 6th of October, me, Mr Dougan, Mrs Yorke, Isabella and Caitlin all went to Slimbridge - it was for the three winners of the Eastington school photo competition. The winners were me Caitlin and Isabella! What you had to do to enter was to take some pictures of wild life over the summer holidays, then you needed to bring them in within the first two weeks of the new school year. Mr Dougan had taken all of the photos home ready for him to judge.

When we arrived at Slimbridge, we went into the café. When we were in there, Mr Dougan showed us how to use all of the equipment. Next we all decided who would use what first. We all decided to do it in alphabetical order, that meant I was first to use the big camera. It was HUGE! And very heavy, but thankfully Mr Dougan had a sort of tripod with only one leg. We had it so that it could one stop your arm aching as much and two, it helped stabilize your shots. I got some amazing pictures!

After a while, we stopped and changed over who had the main camera. Also, if you didn’t have the main camera, you got to use one of the smaller cameras. Halfway through the day, we stopped off back at the café and ate our lunch - we all had pack lunches apart from Mr Dougan who bought a sausage roll. After lunch, it was the last person’s go with camera. At about half past three, we left and Mrs Yorke drove us back to school.

A few days later Mr Dougan came in and announced in assembly the final winner of the three that went to Slimbridge, and it was me!

I was over the moon and it helped me realise I’d like to be a photographer when I grow up!