A wondrous respite from the rain

For my birthday a couple of weeks ago I treated myself to a day in Cambridge, although sadly the weather didn’t take any notice of my request for good weather. Instead it poured with rain - hardly conducive to spending time looking for interesting characters on the streets.

Rather than getting drenched I bought a ticket to visit Kings College Chapel where I at least knew would keep warm and dry. During a previous visit I discovered the Chapel has underfloor heating - a real boon if getting the magic photo requires you to lie on the ground!

The vaulting at Kings is exquisite so my eyes were perpetually being drawn upwards.

A stolen view through to the choir.

Two small scenes from the choir

Arches within arches in one of the side chapels

A final glance back at the trumpeters on the organ and that wonderful ceiling.

Photos taken 9 March 2023

Surprises in every negative

Pinhole photography is an unpredictable art at the best of times and sometimes things don’t go to plan. On this occasion a glitch with my camera during a stroll around the grounds at Nymans let me with much stronger vignettes than usual on my photos.

Several of my photos were unusable as a result, but in some cases I really like the dramatic fall off of light - every cloud has a silver lining!

Photos taken 25 February 2023

Low tech photography

As you know, I’m a fan of simple cameras - after all my pinhole cameras are about as simple as it gets! A couple of weeks ago I decided to use a different sort of machine, but almost as basic, when I made a couple of journeys west. My Holga camera is made of plastic (including the lens) and cost me the princely sum of £21 from eBay - undoubtedly one of my best photographic bargains! It has a single shutter speed and a fixed lens so the only setting you have to remember to adjust is the focus distance, although occasionally I forget to do that!

Holga photos have a recognisable look. If you get the focusing right the simple lens is remarkably sharp in the centre, but this clarity drops off at the edges, creating a dreamy effect. This simplicity makes you think about your compositions but it also brings the ability to make multiple exposures. During my wait at Paddington Station I had a play with this, creating multiple layers with the station’s architectural lines.

A few days later I found myself travelling through London again, with some time to kill before my train home from Liverpool Street. As I walked out of the tube station the sun emerged so I took a stroll with my Holga, seeking out interesting combinations of lines and light.

A shaft of sunlight on the pavement

Photos taken February 2023

Random acts of iPhoneography

As I learn how to make better photos with the camera on my iPhone I’ve been using it more on my travels, figuring out what works best. During February I’ve experimented with all sorts of subjects and I thought I’d share a selection of them on my blog.

My first few images come from a stroll along the River Thames when I was staying overnight in Cookham.

Click on any image to see it enlarged.

Next came my visit to Bristol and this photo comes from St Mary Redcliffe. I have a mini-tripod which magnetically attaches to the back of my phone, allowing me to capture this low angle and to control the settings better in such a dark building.

Another photo from my Bristol trip - this time one of the plants on the windowsill in the house where I stayed overnight.

A stroll around our village and some beautiful snowdrops by the church.

Naturally I went inside the church - another moment for my little phone tripod to come into its own!

My final photo comes from a long wait on the platform at Twyford Station. As I patiently waited for my train to Paddington to arrive a freight train came thundering through. I quickly opened the Lightroom Mobile app to grab this 1 second exposure of ghostly blur as the yellow engine whizzed past me.

Photos taken February 2023

A two church day - part two

Having explored St Mary Redcliffe fully I then wandered along the dockside to Bristol Cathedral, arriving as the light was just beginning to fade.

Rather than swapping lenses, here I chose to shoot with one lens which made me search for images which would work well at around 50mm. I may not have a comprehensive gallery of the Cathedral as a result, but I find this technique makes me look in a different way.

One of the interesting characters I found in the Elder Lady Chapel.

I’m fascinated by the animals I find at the feet of effigies on tombs. I’d love to know if there’s a reason why some have dogs, as here, while others have lions or other creatures.

Looking back into the choir.

The cloisters were particularly atmospheric, especially as the light began to fade.

A dramatically lit corner of the Norman Chapter House.

Photos taken 17 February 2023

A two church day - part one

After the destruction of Storm Eunice stopped me getting to Bristol last February, I had another try last week and succeeded. My visit was for work, but it seemed a waste not to spend some time on photography too, so I caught an early train which gave me a whole afternoon to explore. Once my host, Margaret, had kindly relieved me of my heavy suitcase I began my photographic explorations at the church of St Mary Redcliffe.

The ceiling is a striking feature in this church, which grabs you the moment you walk through the door. It features more than 1000 guided bosses and the temptation to lie on the floor to admire them was quite strong! I resisted, but I did at least sit down to take this photo.

In the choir I found these two handsome creatures. Click on any image to see it enlarged.

The largest organ pipes are on full display - some of them more than a foot wide. I can only imagine the vibrations you’d feel if you stood beside them as they were played!

Looking across the top of the box pews in the nave.

Photos taken 17 February 2023

St Audrie's Bay

Have you ever had one of those days when you can’t quite decide where to go? I had just that experience in Somerset earlier this month and my solution was to open up Google maps and see what jumped out at me. AS luck would have it, this led me to rediscover a pin I’d dropped in the app last year marking St Audrie’s Bay as somewhere I should visit - problem solved!

My reason for saving the location was the waterfall which tumbles off the cliffs there. I’d seen photos which had piqued my interest so I parked up at the caravan part on top of the cliffs and began picking my way down the steep path to the beach. It’s a private beach, but the owners of the caravan park don’t mind welcoming visitors and on this winter morning I pretty much had the place to myself.

The only access from above is a rocky pathway down the side of the cliffs so I was amazed to find a lot of man made structures (albeit in an extreme state of weathering) dotted along the beach. I can only assume the raw materials must have been brought in by boat many decades ago in a futile attempt to tame the sea.

The waterfall comes from a stream which runs down the hillside and simply falls over the edge to the beach below. During the summer months it often disappears entirely, but the recent rain ensured a steady flow of water, which I made the most of in my pinhole photos.

The beach was riven with streams of water, heading for the sea, so I was very pleased I’d put my wellies in the car. To get this photo I was sitting on a small man-made stone wall with my feet in a stream, while shooting in the opposite direction across a rock pool - I couldn’t have done that if I’d be wearing shoes!

I was fascinated by the rock strata breaking through the beach - a very visible glimpse into the way the earth’s crust is pushed and pulled by the forces beneath.

This may look like a deep chasm, but it’s only about 4 inches deep - the magic of getting down really low and really close with a pinhole camera!

I’d brought my large format pinhole camera along too, which gave me a different perspective on the beach’s features, both natural and manmade.

Photos taken 3 February 2023

When things don't go to plan

During my recent visit to Somerset I made a diversion to Weston-super-Mare to walk along the Grand Pier and take some pinhole photos. Well, that was the plan!

I arrived around 2pm and wandered along the beach from my car, making photos whenever the fancy took me.

Who knew mud could sink?!

I inadvertently walked into my own photo with this one (I’m the shadowy figure on the right) - one of the dangers of wide angle photography!

Beneath the pier, enjoying its structure.

The days are now getting longer so I figured I’d have at least an hour on the pier when I arrived there at three o’clock. Sadly that wasn’t to be. They’d already half pulled the shutters across and were actively encouraging people to leave so my stroll along the pier with a fish and chip supper to follow was not to be!

To make up for the disappointment I continued my explorations, heading out of town along the seafront, where I found some dramatic views across the harbour.

Further on I found Weston’s other pier - the Birnbeck Pier. This one has seen better days and is slowly crumbling into the sea, but somehow that made it even more photogenic!

Photos taken 2 February 2023

Six days later...

While I was away in Somerset recently I left my little Puck pinhole camera on the windowsill of my study, capturing life on our street over the course of six days. It uses photographic paper to capture the scene, so lots of light is needed. Fortunately, the sun came out from behind the clouds during my absence so, while people walking down the street are invisible, you can clearly see the path of the sun across the sky.

Photo taken 1- 6 February 2023.

Windowlight

Every so often I encounter a sight which just calls to be photographed. As I sat in the bar at Halsway Manor, doing some work between workshop sessions, the play of light through the leaded light windows was just beautiful.

Photo taken 5 February 2023.