Coventry Cathedral

When we visited Coventry Cathedral at the end of September I just didn’t feel inspired. The Cathedral is wonderful but maybe it was the dreary, grey weather, but something just didn’t click for me. I downloaded my photos, took a brief look through them, and left them there. Something inspired me to return to them this week and I was surprised to find a handful which felt worthy of a second look.

The leaden skies over the old Cathedral ruins didn’t offer any inspiration at all, so the photos I took there aren’t great, but it gives me an excuse to go back again on a better day. I’m sure on a sunnier day the stained glass would really sing and these two are just a hint at what might have been.

Photos taken 30 September 2022

Walking through history

The Kingley Vale nature reserve is a place I’ve wanted to revisit for many years and Christmas Eve finally brought me an opportunity - about a quarter of a century since my last walk here. The yew trees here are simply astonishing - many of them over 500 years old and contorted in the most amazing shapes.

My intention was to take pinhole photos of these wonderful trees, but I snapped some digital images along the way too. I’m not very good at multitasking with two different cameras simultaneously as the process of pinhole photography is so immersive. Although I had a digital camera in my backpack I ended up taking some snaps on my iPhone as it was easier to wrangle, alongside my tripod, and I’m pleasantly surprised how well these came out in such gloomy conditions. I’ll share the pinhole images here in a day or two.

Click on any image to see it enlarged.

A behind the scenes image as I photographed a beautiful fern

An iPhone panorama - the only way I could get close to photographing the whole of this astonishing yew tree! Click to see it larger.

Photos taken 24 December 2022

It pays to be persistent

Back in June I attempted to visit St David’s Church at Llangview, not far from Usk. SAdly my satnav led me astray, trying to take me there via a field from a slip road from the A449. I’m sure this might be possible in the right type of vehicle, but my Mini isn’t cut out for off-roading! In October I had another try, and at the third attempt I finally succeeded in finding this adorable church in the middle of a field!

It was definitely worth being persistent. The autumnal sun was throwing beautiful shadows across the box pews inside, while the flowers left to decorate the church added a lovely touch.

Click on any of the images to see them enlarged.

Today St David’s is cared for by the Friends of the Friendless Churches, a small charity who help rescue endangered churches. I’ve enjoyed visiting several of their churches and have become a member to support them. Hopefully I’ll be able to visit some of their buildings nearer to home soon.

Sunlight catching the pulpit and even illuminating some of the cobwebs.

This narrow doorway caught my eye. We’ve been encouraged to have more ventilation indoors since Covid, but I think perhaps the gaps either side of the door may be taking this to extremes!

The view towards the altar between the box pews.

Photos taken 18 October 2022

The angels of Blythburgh

When we popped into the church at Walberswick the lady who was decorating the church with holly asked if we’d been to Blythburgh church, just a few miles up the road. She recommended we add it to our plans on account of the beautiful angels in the ceiling so we followed her advice.

Sure enough, the angels were wonderful and we were very pleased to have made the small detour here!

Photos taken 22 December 2022

In the bleak midwinter

We had dinner in Walberswick on Wednesday evening but missed out on seeing much beyond the pub as it was so dark. To learn what we’d missed out on we stopped there again on the way home the next day.

The fog of the previous evening hadn’t completely lifted, leaving a soft covering of moisture in the air. Combined with the heavy skies, the result was a very bleak view of the harbour - almost monochrome even when photographed in colour! I decided to go black and white for my photos to emphasise their dank quality.

Photos taken 22 December 2022

Sunset at Southwold

We enjoyed a short pre-Christmas break in Suffolk last week and the lure of the beautiful sunset colours over Southwold were too good to resist.

Playing with slower shutter speeds and the waves breaking on the shore.

Photos taken 21 December 2022

A month ago today...

If I’m out about about exploring I’ll often see if there’s a redundant church nearby. After my visit to Bury St Edmunds, a month ago, I discovered St Mary’s in the Suffolk village of Icklingham. By now the sun was beginning to drop in the sky and that gave me some beautiful light inside.

I loaded a roll of film into my pinhole camera and set myself the task of finding sufficient subjects to photograph so I could develop it when I got home. I often find 35mm film rather overwhelming as it’s rare for me to find 36 subjects to photograph in one place. The 12 frames on a roll of 120 film is perfect though - just right for an afternoon’s project.

Church music…

Glorious winter sun catching the screen in front of the sanctuary.

By the altar - yet more irresistible light

I presume this cart was used for bearing coffins.

Getting really to the pulpit to capture some of the beautifully ornate carving.

One final image, including the texture of the north door…

Photos taken 25 November 2022

Away from the chaos of the Christmas Market

When I visited the Christmas Market in Bury St Edmunds last month I was rather surprised to find most of the stalls inside the Cathedral. The resulting scrum of people didn’t inspire me to loiter for long, so instead I walked down the Street to St Mary’s - the other church which was considered when the town’s Cathedral was being chosen.

I’ve always found more photographic inspiration inside St Mary’s than in the cathedral - it has so many fascinating details. Although it’s quite a dark building, with lots of deep hued woodwork, the sun was shining today and that helped me as I sought out pinhole images which wouldn’t require massively long exposure times.

One of the fiercer characters I found in the choir.

I found this chap loyally guarding his master’s feet on a tomb.

Photos taken 25 November 2022

Exploring without wheels

Last month I took my car into Saffron Walden for its annual service and knowing I’d have an hour or two to kill, I wandered down into the town for a mooch with my pinhole camera.

I had no fixed ideas about what I might photograph, although I had a feeling I might find myself drawn to the church at some point as I’ve always had good results in St. Mary’s. My first discovery was this rather impressive cast iron bridge, crossing a rather unimpressive small stream!

Sure enough, eventually I ended up in St Mary’s, where I happily pottered around for half an hour.

Photos taken 25 November 2022