Evening classics

Yet again I find myself with a backlog of photos to share here on my photoblog and I can’t quite believe that this particular set comes from way back at the beginning of October - better late than never! The regular classic car gathering in the village of Barrington happens on the first Friday evening of the month, so this one was the last of 2024 as after this the evenings become too short.

On this occasion I took just one lens with me - my 75mm prime - with the aim of finding scenes to photograph where I could shoot through objects in the foreground to create a sense of depth. Some of these worked better than others, but using just this longer lens made me look at the world in a slightly different way, which is always a good thing.

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Photos taken 4 October 2024

A hidden gem

It’s been a while since I took a diversion from one of my work trips to explore a new church, but when I realised my route down to Sussex took me within easy reach of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Warminghurst on a sunny day I built an extra hour or so into my travelling time for a spot of church hunting.

With most churches that I visit capturing a good shot of the exterior is usually scuppered by a lack of space or dreary weather. On this occasion, I didn’t have me either of those problems as the sun was out and a short stroll down to the end of the Churchyard gave me this lovely view of the building.

Inside, I found some equally beautiful light, pouring through the windows, and throwing shafts of sunshine across the box pews. This gem of a church may be tucked away in the depths of the Sussex countryside, but the welcome was as warm as the sunshine that day. As well as the beautiful harvest festival displays, there was a large flask of hot water for visitors to make themselves a cup of tea or coffee and even some home-made flapjacks for those who were peckish, presumably provided by the volunteer who opens and closes the church each day.

Above my head, I spotted some beautiful wall paintings – I’m not sure how old they are, but I suspect they’ve been there for several centuries.

The leaded light windows cast such beautiful patterns across the floor in combination with the autumn sunshine.

Naturally, my eye was drawn to some of the small details around the church, such as these mouldings on the box pews, a solitary chair and light flooding onto one of the wooden pillars.

Photos taken 11 October 2024

The long and the short of it

A few weeks ago I treated myself to lunch out at my favourite café in Duxford and while I was there I figured I may as well pop into one of my favourite churches which happens to be in the village – St John’s. For a change I’d left the house with my camera and just two lenses at either ends of the focal length spectrum. My chosen lenses were a super wide angle prime, and my longest telephoto prime, giving me a choice of an effective focal length of 18mm or 150mm - quite a contrast!

The wide angle lens gave me the opportunity to capture wider than usual views of the church, as well as featuring interesting details around the church in the foreground, like these beautiful ancient wall paintings.

One of the old pieces of graffiti which are dotted around the building.

• In contrast, the longer lens allowed me to pick out interesting details and smaller scenes around St. John’s.

St John’s has some lovely grotesques dotted around the building, which I was able to pick out with my longer lens.

Ancient stonework textures…

The church had been decorated with some lovely autumnal touches.

A couple more wide angle views before I headed for home.

Photos taken 3 October 2024

A day in the life

I haven’t had much time for pinhole photography in the last few months and was feeling the need for some slow image making. When I had a meeting in London last month I decided to take a camera with me, along with my little table to tripod to document my day. It began at our village station, with a pigeon’s eye view from the platform as my train arrived. Fortunately the train was quiet so I followed that with a slow selfie, with my camera balanced on the seat opposite me.

Having arrived in London I began the 20 minute walk to my meeting, south of the River Thames. Along the way I got sidetracked, popping into the church of St Botolph without Bishopsgate for a four minute photo - if you look carefully you can just see me sitting in one of the pews on the right hand side of the nave.

I needed lunch before my meeting, so I stopped off at the Crosse Keys in Gracechurch Street - and naturally I look a photo as I read my book while eating.

A little further down the street I happened upon a large puddle which captured a reflection of the distant Monument to the Fire of London. My low level tripod was perfect for this, allowing me to catch the wide view of the street, along with the Monument and its reflection, even if I did get some quizzical looks from passersby as I crouched down at the kerbside!

My route took me along the north bank of the Thames, to Southwark Bridge, which looks so elegant spanning the water.

I couldn’t resist taking another photo from on the bridge, looking south, catching a few passing pedestrians too, even if some of them appear only as ghostly collections of legs!

Finally, time for my meeting and naturally I put my camera on the table to capture our discussions, planning the 2025 Recorder Summer School.

Five hours later it was time to retrace my steps, back over Southwark Bridge, looking west towards Tower Bridge in the distance.

My final successful shot of the day came from my walk back up Gracechurch Street, looking towards Tower 42 as the rush hour traffic crawled past me in the falling gloom.

Photos taken 30 September 2024

A moment of Welsh solitude

During my recent travels to Wales I spent a night staying in the village of Cilycwm. I arrived mid afternoon and decided to make the most of the day’s remaining light to take a short stroll around the village. To my surprise the village church was open so I wandered in and spent some quiet time there exploring its photographic possibilities.

For some reason I’m always drawn to solitary chairs…

A lovingly crafted cushion on one of the pews.

There had evidently been a wedding in the church within the last few days and it was lovely to see the small posies of flowers adorn the pews.

Photos taken 19 September 2024

Exploring Chichester…. Slowly

With a free day to use as I wished last month while I was down in Chichester for work I decided it was time I finally explored my home city with a pinhole camera. I went with no particular agenda, but had a few ideas of locations I might explore and I mulled these over with a cuppa in my favourite coffee shop. The cafe owner is a keen photographer himself and was very curious about my wooden camera so we had a great chat about my plans for the day.

I began my photographic explorations at the city’s market cross, which is a popular meeting spot and always busy with lots of passersby. From there I headed to a Priory Park, where the sun was bursting through the trees. Elsewhere in the park, a couple was soaking up the sunshine on one of the benches, and a group of people were enjoying a game of bowls.

Priory Park is circled by the city’s Roman walls, so I climbed the steps to the top and took a stroll, enjoying the sunshine and being up among the branches of the trees.

After lunch I headed back into the centre of the city, catching a slow photo of the crowds in East Street, looking back towards the market cross. From there I headed to the Cathedral and spent some time loitering in the cloisters. There were lots of people wandering by, but by the magic of long exposures they’ve all disappeared!

With one photo left on my roll of film I finished my day in what was once a church - now turned into a charming little garden - including myself in the photo to complete the idyllic scene.

Photos taken 13 September 2024

The grandeur of Greenwich

Every so often my Dad and I enjoy a day out together in London, and we always find an interesting exhibition or a place to visit. Last month we decided to head east to Greenwich, to explore the historic buildings around the Old Royal Naval College.

We started off in the chapel, which is an absolute riot of colour and decoration. I could really have done with a wider angle lens to fully capture its grandeur, but that didn’t stop me finding some interesting scenes around the building.

From there we moved on to the Painted Hall, whose name perfectly describes what awaits visitors - every inch of the building is decorated with ornate friezes and even the panelling around the windows is painted to give the impression of ornately carved frames.

In the neighbouring Nelson Room, this beautiful pool of light caught my eye, catching the bench in a golden sunspot.

Photos taken 17 September 2024

Woodland stroll

Early last month I went for my daily brisk walk in the countryside around our village, and decided to include a jaunt through Alsa Woods before the paths get too wet and boggy for an enjoyable experience. I took my camera along, armed with just one small prime lens and used it to capture anything that caught my eye as I walked. While none of the resulting photos are ground breaking, I do enjoy the process of limiting my options with a single focal length lens and it was a joy to spend some time looking for interesting light, patterns and textures.

Photos taken 2 September 2024

Taking to the skies

The summer air show season seems a long while ago now, but I was lucky enough to attend one of the flying displays at Duxford at the end of August. The grey skies didn’t exactly offer perfect conditions for aviation photography, but I caught a few of the aircraft in flight - in particular the Blenheim and one of the Spitfires.

Photos taken 31 August 2024

Slow wanderings in London

After a long break I finally found time for some more slow photography last month. I wanted to catch an exhibition of pinhole photography at the Barbican Library so I used that as an excuse to take a leisurely stroll around the City of London, as I was already in the area. I started off in Whitecross Street, where I found a miniature street scene painted on the side of a telephone exchange box - a city within a city.

Continuing down the street I found a collection of street food stalls which smelt delicious (shame I’d already had lunch!) and some interesting street art too.

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From there I just followed my nose, heading wherever took my fancy, through the tunnel at the Barbican, around Smithfield Market and down to Holborn Viaduct where I admired the regal looking lions.

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After a stop for coffee near Hatton Garden I eventually emerged onto Holborn, where I discovered an impressive red brick Victorian complex of buildings at Waterhouse Square. Walking through the square I wanted to photography the huge arch and wondered how long it would be before a security guard came and told me I couldn’t use my tripod. Fortunately I was able to set up and shoot swiftly and got away before anyone spotted me!

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It was getting pretty breezy among the tall office buildings, so I took the opportunity to include some of the nearby trees in my photos, adding a sense of movement among the static architecture here and also around St Paul’s Cathedral.

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Opposite St Paul’s stands One New Change, a striking glazed building, with a view of the Cathedral framed by two walls. I’ve shot this scene before, but couldn’t resist having one more try!

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Finally, with one frame of film left, I ended up at the junction by the Bank of England and the Royal Exchange. Here I chose my spot carefully and waited patiently for a passing bus to add some movement to my final image.

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Photos taken 21 August 2024