Churchyard putti

One of the characteristics of Lincolnshire churchyards is the limestone gravestones of the latter part of the eighteenth century and the early nineteenth century. These heavy slabs, once set vertically but now often leaning alarmingly, carry the usual details of the deceased. However, they also feature the decorative carving that was fashionable at the time. This includes swags, cartouches, leaves, paterae and putti in profusion. Putti (singular "putto") are cherubic heads with wings.They are said to represent the omnipresence of God. The pair above are in a Stamford, Lincolnshire, churchyard. The weathering of the stone is slowly wearing away the detail but enough remains to identify the subject.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Sony DSC-RX100

The duck speculum

The speculum is a patch of colour on the secondary flight feathers of many species of duck. Each type of duck has a specific colour and often this is iridescent. It can be a useful clue to bird identification, particularly when birds are immature or in moult. The photograph shows the speculum of Britain's most common duck, the mallard. It is iridescent purple/blue with black and white edges. This species has interbred with domestic ducks and frequently the speculum of the hybrid is a clue to the parentage of one half of the union.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon P900

Willy Lott's cottage

If there is a more famous cottage in Britain than the one shown in this photograph I can't think of it. The building is Willy Lott's cottage at Flatford Mill near Dedham, Suffolk. Willy Lott (1761-1849) was a tenant farmer who lived there and worked thirty nine acres nearby. It is well-known because it appears in a number of paintings by John Constable (1776-1837) whose father owned Flatford Mill, the building behind me when I took this photograph. Constable's most famous work, "The Haywain" features the cottage.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Olympus OMD E-M10

Timber-framed houses

I once read that the order and symmetry of the exposed woodwork of timber-framed medieval and later houses revealed something about their age. Broadly speaking asymmetrical, seemingly (though not in fact) haphazard wok was usually an indicator of early work - say, the fourteenth or fifteenth centuries. The more orderly, symmetrical timbers that were often arranged to form patterns and sometimes include ornamental quatrefoils and such were invariably later, usually dating from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. By that reckoning this photograph taken in Lavenham, Suffolk, shows some reasonably early timber-framing.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Olympus OMD E-M10

A font, ecclesiastical not typographical

The 7th Edition of the Canons of the Church of England say this with regard to fonts: "In every church and chapel where baptism is to be administered, there shall be provided a decent font with a cover for the keeping clean thereof. The font shall stand as near to the principal entrance as conveniently may be, except there be a custom to the contrary or the Ordinary otherwise direct; and shall be set in as spacious and well-ordered surroundings as possible." At St Lawrence in Evesham, Worcestershire, a font must have been in the south chapel for centuries and thus the exception prevails. It is a fine setting and a good architectural composition.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Sony DSC-RX100

Umbrellas

In the minds of those living in Britain, and also in the minds of those from elsewhere, there seems to be an association between umbrellas and our often wet islands. On the day I photographed these umbrellas that brought a splash of colour to a Hereford shopping centre I was carrying a (black) umbrella. Our day rucksack is permanently kitted out with two small, collapsible umbrellas. Rain is not an everyday occurrence in Britain - the dry east receives amounts comparable with much of central and parts of southern Europe. However, it does appear fairly regularly and prudence dictates that if you want to remain dry an umbrella is pretty much a prerequisite for many places and times of year.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Sony DSC-RX100

Dry garden plants

I've seen several dry gardens in recent years. The concept of growing plants that will flourish in dry weather isn't new, but the onset of global warming has given the idea greater currency. Often such gardens have a grey-green appearance due to the preponderance of shrubs and perennials with leaves of that colour, a characteristic of many drought-tolerant plants. Here, however, in Beth Chatto's Essex garden the blue cornflowers, brown grasses etc gave a wider range of colours that I found very attractive.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Olympus OMD E-M10

Sunny Shoreditch Park

On a recent weekend the warm weather brought people out into sunny Shoreditch Park in London. Dry weather and the popularity of the park had turned the green grass yellow but that didn't stop young and old coming out to feel the sun on their faces and backs. As we passed through the park the looming buildings under construction gave a dissonant note to the tranquil scene.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Olympus OMD E-M10

King's Cross Quarter

Those of us who live in the provinces often see London as a place that not only produces money but sucks it in from where we live, depriving our communities of funds that would help to re-balance the country. London, to we provincials, seems to do everything to excess. I reflected on that when taking this photo. A provincial building site would have a painted, printed or photographic sign up to advertise what was going on. Not London. The glossy, three dimensional, internally illuminated temporary sign on these metal faced(!) hoardings hiding the building site outshines many permanent and final signs elsewhere in the country.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Olympus OMD E-M10

Nigella seedpod

Of all the plants in our garden I find "Love in a Mist (Nigella damascena) to be one of the most fascinating. Its English name is descriptive of the appearance of these blue (usually) flowers when seen in a tight group, gently swaying in the wind. However, the spiky, other-worldly seed pod that the flowers produce are completely at odds with that soft, benign name: then one of the plant's other names - devil in the bush - seems more apt.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Olympus OMD E-M10

Pavement fountains

It has been interesting to see the spread of "pavement fountains" in recent years. I've come across several in Britain and I've seen them in other countries too. They are a magnet for young children and dogs in hot weather, and have their attractions for older folk who are young at heart. What draws children, and what leads to them getting wetter than they perhaps intended, is the apparent randomness of the way in which they turn off and on, catching out the over-confident. The fountains in the photograph are near King's Cross in London, a particularly large example that was offering welcome relief on a hot July day.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Olympus OMD E-M10

Garden pavilions

I know a few people with garden pavilions, small, wooden structures, often open at one or more sides, sometimes with a door and windows. They offer somewhere to sit and admire the garden, perhaps have a cup of tea or and alfresco snack. No one I know, however, has one quite as grand as this example at Melford Hall in Suffolk. Built of brick with a tile roof in 1559 it is contemporary with the great house and from its upper floor offers a fine view of that Tudor building as well as the garden by its perimeter wall.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Olympus OMD E-M10

A rowing boat as eye-catcher

A visit to the gardens of Beth Chatto, near Colchester in Essex, produced the photograph above. The pond is one of a series that have been created on a slope in the garden and it features this rowing boat. I imagine the boat is used with serious intent only occasionally. However, it supplies a semi-permanent focal point in this section of the garden as an eye-catcher. Most garden eye-catchers are on land; statues, pavilions,mock ruins, sun dials, etc are typically used. Where there is water it can be a boat house on the shore, a fountain or perhaps a building on an island. I've never seen a  boat used in this way before, but it works, not only for this section of garden, but also for a photograph.

 photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Olympus OMD E-M10

The dipper

I imagine that everyone who watches wild birds on a regular basis has their favourites. I've always had a liking for the wader known as the greenshank (after its green legs). It's an elegant bird with subtle colouring. I also like the wheatear, a bird that was a harbinger of spring when I lived in the Yorkshire Dales. In recent years I've developed an affection for the swifts that flash about the village in which I live, screeching or hunting for flies. The old name for them in "devil bird", but I can see nothing about swifts that warrants that derogatory name. On a recent visit to the town of my upbringing, Settle, I photographed another favourite - the dumpy dipper, a bird of fast flowing upland streams and rivers.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon P900

Weeping willows

The weeping willow is a variety of the white willow (Salix alba). It is characterised by long slender branches, coming from sturdier boughs, that hang low over the ground and particularly by water. Its individual leaves are long, green, and spear-shaped with silvery white undersides. These willows come into leaf early in the year and cast their final leaves relatively late in autumn. Its weeping form always reminds me more of a waterfall than human tears. That is true when in full leaf, as with these examples by water in Bourne, Lincolnshire, or even when leafless in winter, and covered by hoar frost.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Olympus OMD E-M10

A multitude of beach huts

Beach huts are a widely photographed phenomenon of Britain's seaside resorts. They are either privately-owned or publicly-owned for hire and constitute a place where someone can base themselves when spending a day or several by the beach - a place to eat, make a cup of tea, rest, laze, change clothing, shelter from rain etc. Privately-owned examples are often very individually painted and frequently feature somewhat humorous names. Public beach huts are usually brightly painted but with fewer colours. On a recent visit to Walton on the Naze in Essex I came across these ranks of (presumably) publicly-owned huts for hire. I've never seen so many together in stepped ranks, and rarely so few in use on a summer afternoon.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Olympus OMD E-M10

Photographing Queen Elizabeth

I'm not a fan of our system of constitutional monarchy so you'd be unlikely to see me going out of my way to photograph Queen Elizabeth II. But Queen Elizabeth I is another matter. Any photograph I took of her would, of necessity, be of a representation, and there are some very interesting examples to be seen. The portrait in stained glass shown above is in Melford Hall, Suffolk. It dates from the nineteenth century and is based on a well-known Elizabethan-era painting. As I waited for the photographer in front of me to complete her shot it occurred to me that the inclusion of her silhouette might make for a more interesting image.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Olympus OMD E-M10

Brachyglottis or Senecio

Science doesn't stand still, nor should it. I remember reading several years ago that some academics had calculated the "half-life of scientific knowledge" at 45 years i.e. in that many years time half of current scientific understanding will be superseded by new knowledge. You can see this at the layman's level in the name changes that animals and plants periodically undergo as DNA and genetic research re-classify species. One example from the garden is a New Zealand shrub with yellow flowers and grey/green leaves. For decades I have called it Senecio greyi: now it is Brachyglottis greyi. Today's offering is a contrasty black and white photograph of this plant's leaves.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Olympus OMD E-M10

Art personified

The fashion for personification seems to have died out. From the sixteenth to the twentieth centuries it was not uncommon to see statues that represented, for example, Music (often with a lyre), Justice (blindfolded with sword and scales), Industry, Time, and much else. Today's photograph shows a statue of Art personified (with hammer and nails (!) hidden by the flowers). She is at one side of a Cecil monument in St Martin's church, Stamford: Victory (with a gilt Pallas Athene) is at the other. I've never seen this tomb with flowers nearby and a shot contrasting their soft colour with the almost monochrome marble suggested itself. Here is the whole of the tomb.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Olympus OMD E-M10

Dark skies and sunlight

Even the most prosaic photographic subject can assume a certain level of grandeur when it is sunlit against a sky of dark clouds. It's one of the reasons I like to go out with my camera when the forecast is for sunshine and showers. That wasn't what the meteorologists had in mind during a recent visit to Stamford: sun all day they said. Fortunately they were wrong and I managed to grab a shot of this old street as the sun broke through the overcast sky. Here's a couple of other shots that benefit from this kind of weather and illustrate my point.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Olympus OMD E-M10

Oxburgh Hall, Norfolk

Sometimes there is a coming together of time of day, season, weather and position such that you can't help taking what I call a "tourist shot". On a recent visit to Oxburgh Hall in Norfolk, a mainly brick fortified house of 1482 and later, such a confluence occurred and I took the above photograph. What you might not initially notice, however, is the aspect that detracts from the image, namely the green/yellow, scum-like blanket weed on the surface of part of the moat caused by eutrophication. The covering isn't entirely of this source; the darker areas are water lily leaves, also present in large numbers. I imagine work is done to control the weed, but the recent very hot, dry weather can't have made that job easier.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Olympus OMD E-M10

Dahlia bloom

There are gardeners who spend their lives growing dahlias, showing them in competition and breeding new varieties, searching for the elusive example that will take its place among the favourites of the type. Then there are those like me who see little to attract them in beds of the showy flower, preferring more subtle species that suggest themselves to the eye rather than impose themselves. But, those words not withstanding, I can be tempted by the spherical, almost architectural, structure of some of the dahlias and a single bloom appeals to me much more than the flowers en masse.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Sony DSC-RX100

A view from Tower Bridge

I've taken a few photographs from Tower Bridge, the iconic structure that crosses the River Thames in London near the Tower of London. None of them have been anything special. Today's isn't either though it does have two qualities that I like. Firstly, it's one of those contre jour shots that features very little in the way of colour. In fact, it is almost monochrome.That is only partly due to the materials that feature in the Shard, the London Assembly building and the ridiculously named "More London" office blocks. Secondly it wouldn't be much of a composition without that handily placed large, dark cloud filling the empty sky to the left of the Shard.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Sony DSC-RX100

St Pancras train shed

I find it difficult to walk through the Victorian train shed of St Pancras railway station in London without taking a photograph. Even in these days of massive skyscrapers and large unsupported spaces the span and height of the train shed still have the power to impress. Then there's the light that differs with the time of day, time of year and type of weather. On my most recent visit the evening sun was illuminating one side of the structure, emphasising the colours of the bricks and steelwork. Some recently disembarked cyclists added foreground interest for my composition.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Sony DSC-RX100

Skylarks and bombers

This photograph of a skylark with a beak full of insect for its brood was taken on the former RAF Woodhall Spa airfield in Lincolnshire. In WW2 this flat area of, essentially, lowland heath, was once a place where the ground and skies were crowded with Avro Lancaster four-engine bombers engaged in the bombing of occupied Europe. It then became a place where gravel was dug resulting in large stretches of open water and smaller pools. Today it is a nature reserve in the making and the skies are now filled with greylag geese, skylarks, black-headed gulls, little egrets, buzzards and much more. The obliging bird pictured above posed perfectly, allowing me to get off six hand-held shots, all of which were pretty sharp.


photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon P900

Morning, Leadenhall Market, London

Leadenhall Market in London's financial district has the most decorative architecture of all the purpose-built London markets. It was built on the site of Roman London's basilica in 1881. However, the site had been in use as a market since at least the fourteenth century. It is essentially a collection of glazed arcades of the type that Victorian Britain erected in major cities for covered shopping. I came upon it during the morning, before the cafes and pubs had sprung into life, and enjoyed the shadows and pools of light that illuminated this section of the market.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Sony DSC-RX100

Two giraffes and crazy paving

There was a fashion, around the time of my childhood, for "crazy paving". This seemed to involve taking perfectly serviceable rectangular concrete or stone paving slabs, breaking them into large pieces and laying them with narrow cement lines between the pieces. This had the advantage of, among other things, disguising the poor workmanship of an amateur because there were no unforgiving straight lines like those produced with unbroken slabs to reveal the novice's work. We recently went to a wildlife park with young children, and in observing giraffes more closely than I'd ever done before I was struck by the way their colouration resembled crazy paving.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon P900

Fishing boats, South End Quay, Boston

Finding a new photograph of a familiar subject that you have recorded before is part of the pleasure of photography. I've photographed the fishing boats by the quay at South End, Boston, on a couple of occasions before. I've also considered a shot from the location used in the photograph above (the bridge that carries John Adams Way over the River Witham). However, on those occasions the light was working against me: the other day it was better. Moreover, the new housing that has been under construction for a while is now almost complete and added considerably to the shot.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Sony DSC-RX100

Church Street & St Botolph, Boston, Lincolnshire

I've photographed this scene a few times since I moved to Lincolnshire, always looking to improve on what went before. Church Street is a narrow thoroughfare that leads to the mighty medieval church of St Botolph, its tower being Boston's famous "Stump". From the Assembly Rooms end of the street the buildings provide framing for the tall tower, a subject that usually involves a lot of the composition being sky. Is this better than my earlier endeavours? I'm not so sure. If you want to see some of the previous shots look here, here and here.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Sony DSC-RX100

Interloper barley

Nature is tenacious. The drive to grow, thrive and multiply is central to all living things. In an area of intensive agriculture such as the Fens it is harder than elsewhere for plants and animals to achieve this biological imperative.Where farmers grow wheat a regime of pesticides and herbicides aims to ensure that only the wanted crop grows. Consequently the much-liked poppies that traditionally accompany wheat are few and far between. However, the other day I came across three ears of barley in a green field of wheat. How did they get there? Were they a survival from a previous crop? Is it wild barley? Would they continue to grow and be harvested with the surrounding crop? I'll probably never know, but it was good to see these three stems marring the perfection of the pampered wheat.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Olympus OMD E-M10

Algarkirk, a photogenic church

Structure and setting are, I think, the two main factors that determine the extent to which a church is photogenic, though light, of course, is capable of overriding all other considerations and can transform the mundane into the magical. St Peter and St Paul at Algarkirk has a fine structure courtesy of the original medieval builders and a sensitive restoration by the Victorians.The cruciform shape is complemented by mellow stonework, repeated and individualistic window tracery, battlements a-plenty and a short, culminating spirelet. Perhaps the tower could do with being wider, but apart from that it is a fine example of English church architecture. Its setting is typical of Fenland churches - a small village location, a surrounding churchyard, and plenty (but not too many) mature trees. Add a lovely May sky with soft, dishevelled clouds and you have all a photographer could ask for.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Olympus OMD E-M10

Faded elelgance, Wisbech

There's an attraction in faded elegance. Perhaps it's glimpsing and still enjoying something of what was in what is.This late Georgian (early 1800s) building in Hill Street, Wisbech, must have been a town house for a well-to-do family. It is tastefully composed, well-proportioned, and uses brick and stone dressing in a minimalist sort of way. In fact, theses features contribute most to the success of the facade. More money and more decoration was, quite appropriately, given to the entrance with its Doric columns and Greek key pattern. Gentle subsidence and desultory maintenance have left it looking somewhat neglected, but its style still manages to shine through.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Olympus OMD E-M10

North Brink, Wisbech

In "The Buildings of England: Cambridgeshire", the architectural historian, Nikolaus Pevsner, describes the row of buildings on the street known as North Brink (above) as "one of the most perfect Georgian streets of England". He might have added, "and one of the least well known". The buildings are not entirely Georgian - a few from the Victorian period are there too - and they don't have the variety within uniformity that can be seen in, say, Bath or Stamford. And that may be where the pleasure of this street lies, in the marked difference between each building and its neighbour. For the photographer there are only two ways to photograph the whole street - from one end or the other, and I prefer the classic view from the bridge with the River Nene on the left of the composition.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Olympus OMD E-M10

Coleus plants

This photograph was taken in the cold frames of the gardens of Peckover House in Wisbech, Cambridgeshire. This large, Georgian town house is in the care of the National Trust. As I took my photograph I wondered why the gardeners were cultivating so many different varieties of the plant. Were they breeding new types? Were they for a colour themed display of this single type of plant? Whatever the reason, when viewed through my wide angle lens, as I leaned over the open cold frame, they made a splendid composition of circles and colours.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Olympus OMD E-M10

Colourful carriages

My eye was drawn to these colourful railway carriages across the tracks at Grantham Station when we were waiting for the London train. The combination of a recent clean and the sharp, early morning light made them stand out from the more muted colours around them. I'm not a great fan of the myriad colour schemes of the "competing" railway companies that now ply their trade on Britain's railway racks, but these carriages satisfied my photographer's craving for deep vibrant colour.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Sony DSC-RX100

St Pancras-King's Cross pedestrian tunnel

The pedestrian tunnel in today's photograph was opened in 2014. It links St Pancras International with King's Cross St Pancras Underground Stations. The tunnel design is by the architects Allies and Morrison with the integrated "light wall"that features changing art installations the work of Speirs + Major. Whilst the tunnel is visually interesting to adults to children it appears to be absolutely compelling, the compulsion being to run through the zebra stripes completely ignoring the light show!

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Sony DSC-RX100

River Nidd rowing boats

Ten years ago I photographed part of a row of green and red rowing boats tied up at the side of the River Nidd in Knaresborough, North Yorkshire. I recently took another photograph of them - the row in the same location, the boats the same red and green. On the earlier occasion I made something of the numbers painted on them. But,there's only so much you can do with a subject like this so compositionally, this time, I went for repetition as the main theme, emphasising the elegant lines of the craft.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Sony DSC-RX100

Knaresborough and the River Nidd

Many people know of the Yorkshire spa and conference town of Harrogate. Fewer know of its smaller, adjoining neighbour, Knaresborough. We visited this old, riverside town recently, and I re-acquainted myself with why I prefer it to the well-heeled Harrogate. The photograph gives a clue - Knaresborough is different, picturesque and has more interesting architecture. This view, of the River Nidd taken from near the ruined castle, is spectacular and, surprisingly, improved by the nineteenth century's addition of a railway viaduct (castellated and still in daily use).

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Sony DSC-RX100

Wardrobe shadows

Shadows can transform scenes and objects, adding contrast and drama to the most mundane of subjects. Venetian blinds throw, I think, particularly interesting shadows, and over the years I've posted a few shots that include their sharp parallel lines laid across a domestic scene. The photograph above shows a very rectilinear wardrobe door with grain and shiny, minimalist handles. I tilted the camera to make the shadows a counterpoint to the lines of the piece of furniture in my semi-abstract composition.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Sony DSC-RX100

Talbot Arms at night

As with the previous photograph, the main subjects of this shot are the filament, LED and moon light that illuminate a building. In this instance it is the Talbot Arms pub in Settle, North Yorkshire. The pub's sign is also well lit and its clarity anong the surrounding pools of light suggested a focal point for a composition. The talbot was a type of large hunting hound, white or very pale in colour, with hanging ears and great powers of scent. It features reasonably commonly on coats of arms.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Sony DSC-RX100

Moonlit market place, Settle

A few days in the North Yorkshire market town of Settle, the place of my upbringing, produced a couple of night-time photographs. A small settlement such as this isn't the obvious place to look for night-time shots - cities are much more popular - but the combination of street and property lights with a bright moon drew my eye. The Shambles, the arched building on the left is not only a combination of of the work of seventeenth century and Victorian builders, but also, it seems, a place of traditional filament and modern LED lighting. The building on the right is the town hall.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Sony DSC-RX100

Boston incongruity

It's hard to imagine a greater incongruity than the airbrushed painting and coloured lights of a ride at Boston's May Fair and the top of the medieval tower of the church of St Botolph. However, it caught my eye and appealed to me, not least because the ornate stone lantern that tops the tower appeared to be an unlikely crown on the painted girl's head.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Sony DSC-RX100

Boston May Fair carousel horses

The May Fair at Boston, Lincolnshire, is the modern successor of the medieval and later fairs that were held in the town for centuries. Today the event is solely a fun fair, something that would be only an element of a fair of much wider scope in those distant times. As I wandered through the fairground rides my eye settled on the brightly painted horses of the carousel, each with its name written on its neck. During my lifetime such carousels have been a permanent fixture at this kind of fair, but in historic terms I suppose they are relatively recent.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Sony DSC-RX100

Drake mandarin duck

On a stagnant, slime-infested pool, home to a single moorhen, a coot and a few passing mallards, we saw a remarkable sight - a drake mandarin duck slowly making its way through the scum on the surface of the water. The contrast between the opulent beauty of the bird and its surroundings could not have been greater. Its striking plumage of glossy purple, burnt orange, white and cream, black and iridescent green and blue seemed to deserve a backdrop of crystal clear water that reflected the sky and clouds above rather than this malignant mess. But it sailed on, seemingly happy in its chosen place, managing, despite the circumstances, to remain scrupulously clean. Until, that is, we got too close and it took to the air, perhaps heading for pastures (or waters) new.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon P900

High key rose

High key photographs - images that are very bright/white with low contrast or minimal dark areas - appeal to me. However, I'm not especially adept at making such photographs. They don't come naturally to me; I have to consciously plan for such a shot. Moreover, I have yet to produce a high key image that entirely pleases me. My best to date is, I think, this example from quite a few years ago produced by over-exposure. Today's photograph has qualities that I like but isn't as successful.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Olympus OMD E-M10

St Gilbert and St Hugh

St Gilbert and St Hugh are notable Lincolnshire saints, the former from Sempringham and the founder of the only English-originated religious order, the Gilbertines, the latter a bishop of Lincoln usually depicted with a pet swan. Consequently it is appropriate that the timber framed church of 1902-4 by the architects Bucknall & Comper at Gosberton Clough is dedicated to them, particularly since Sempringham, the home of St Gilbert is only a few miles distant. This is a building I have photographed once before and presented in black and white. On this occasion I preferred the muted colours.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Olympus OMD E-M10

Rolling through the tulips

On my yearly assignment to photograph miniature traction engines in Spalding I have had to find the best locations to for my shots. Quite the best place is the area of woodland that from mid-April to early May has colourful drifts of tulips. These flower successfully because the tree canopies at this time of year still let through plenty of light. Nonetheless, the sun is welcome for this photographic task because it illuminates the subject and shows of the colours to better effect. This particular traction engine was carrying not only the builders/owners but also, in a trailer, their basset hounds.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Olympus OMD E-M10

Headless grey heron

I don't keep count of such things but it seems to me that the bird I have photographed successfully more than any other is the grey heron. That's probably because it is a big bird, reasonably common, sometimes tolerant of a close approach, and one that I can fill fill the frame with even using my non-specialist lenses. Today's photograph was taken with the "super-zoom" lens of a bridge camera but the bird was close enough to have been snapped with a more modest lens on my everyday camera. For those who are wondering, this strike was successful and the heron quickly swallowed the fish it caught. The small photograph shows the heron's neck distorted by its passage.


photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon P900

Clematis montana

Clematis is one of those plants that seems to benefit from a gardening regime of benign neglect. I took this photograph in the garden of someone I know, a place where that description seemed particularly appropriate. The clematis montana was climbing up a fence and spreading vigorously into the lower branches of shrubs and trees making a marvellous spectacle. When the flowers have died down and the seed heads have developed it will look less attractive to all but the birds of the locality.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Sony DSC-RX100