Melinda Stone's Experiences In The Fellowship

Melinda has written an article that explains how she became a member of The Fellowship through her husband, Gerald's interests and has found it a great way of spending a weekend and also found great pleasure in winning one of our competitions. Do please read Melinda's story and if your appetite to join us is growing then please come along to see us.
Melinda's photographs were taken on a Leica compact as she explains. They are small images but show her growing skills.


'When my husband Gerald, a real enthusiast for Leica equipment, first joined the Leica Fellowship, he was soon sent a copy of the Fellowship Newsletter. It contained something about a Fellowship weekend in Scotland, and we wondered to each other why anyone would want to use a precious weekend to go away with a whole lot of people who had nothing in common except that they used camera equipment from the same manufacturer. The idea certainly didn’t appeal to us.

A few years later, Gerald heard that the Fellowship were organising a trip to the Leica factory in Germany – given his passion for the products, this was irresistible for him, but he went by himself as I really wasn’t interested. On his return, to my surprise, he not only bubbled over with delight at all the wonderful things he’d seen and heard, but also spoke very warmly of the Fellowship people he’d met, stressing the welcome he’d received and everyone’s friendliness.

When Gerald heard, perhaps two or three years later, that the Fellowship was having a weekend at Woodbridge – an area he’d known well from holidays there many years earlier – he decided he’d go along. He felt that if the people he’d met on the German trip were representative of the sort of people going to these weekends, he’d probably enjoy it, and indeed he did. I didn’t go with him, then or for several years after – I wasn’t particularly interested as I’m not a very keen or competent photographer and anyway I had a demanding job so annual leave was precious.

Some years later, the Fellowship was returning to Woodbridge, and an extra expedition on a Thames Sailing Barge had been arranged on a Bank Holiday Monday. That caught my attention, and I arranged to join them just for that one day in May 2010. We had a wonderful time, sailing down the river towards Harwich and back. The Fellowship members were delightful – really friendly and made me very welcome.

It wasn’t until 2014 that I went to Tiverton for a whole weekend with the Fellowship. In prospect, I felt spending a weekend with a group of people who knew each other so well would be a bit of an ordeal, but in practice I thoroughly enjoyed myself and was impressed by the variety of amicable people and the way the weekend was organised.

After that, I was hooked! Other members became friends. After a few years, I became a member in my own right, rather than the spouse of a member. I even submitted one or two photographs into competitions, and found the comments of most of the judges were interesting and helpful. The quality of some of the other members’ photographs has been superb, but not intimidating, and if you want advice, members are always happy to help if asked. Last year, to my amazement, I actually won a “My Day Out” competition! (Amazing what a Leica can do, even for someone like me who just points and clicks with everything set on automatic…)

So I’d recommend joining the Fellowship and coming along for a well-organised, entertaining weekend. Or, like me, start slowly by joining and just coming for a day or so when a Leica Fellowship weekend is happening in your Region. You won’t regret it.' Melinda Stone




Melinda Stone - MY DAY OUT COMPETITION WINNER.




Melinda Stone - Sailing Ship




Melinda Stone - Sailing Ship




Melinda Stone - Lifebelt