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