M. and I have gone on several photo expeditions and have taken hundreds of photos. When we went home, however, and put them on our iPads or Macs, we often found that only a few were really up to scratch.

First we went to Yvoire in France to practice with our new cameras and came away disappointed when the picturesque village did not provide as many interesting photo ops as we had hoped. Next we went to Papiliorama in Fribourg and the iris gardens in Vullierens, Vaud, and did better. Butterflies and irises turned out to be easier subjects.

M. crouched under or leaned over them, experimented with wide apertures and fast shutters, and got some wonderful shots. In trying to imitate her, I leaned down and stuck out my behind – crouching was out of the question – how would I ever get up again?

We went to Lausanne to take “nature in the city” photos and spent most of the time sitting on the terrace of a grand old hotel in Ouchy sipping grenadine and lemonade and watching the natives and tourists stroll by. Our photography suffered from our distraction. Next we joined the AWIC photography group on a photo shoot in Neuchâtel and, maybe because of the stimulating presence of the group, got some gems.

Back in Geneva we spent an afternoon in the Bains de Pâquis taking photos of people sunbathing, youngsters jumping from the high diving board and children playing in the sand. When I got home I mistakenly erased all the photos from my camera and iPad in one swell swoop by giving the wrong answer to a simple question posed by my iPad. Oh well!

Our latest adventure took us out to a field of sunflowers in the Geneva countryside. M. is taking courses and will soon become an expert. I will pursue my dream of taking “interesting” photos, which hopefully my friends and family will admire. But then they would do that anyway, right?

We are a group of international women living in Geneva, Switzerland. If you would like to join the AIWC, please visit our website at: http://www.aiwcgeneva.org/

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