Cafe and boiled egg

As we passed a pavement cafe in Cheltenham I did a double take and walked back to get a photograph of the artwork and outdoor furniture. The egg in its cup makes an interesting focus for the composition, and as I went on my way I wondered just how popular boiled eggs served in an egg cup are today. They are something that I associate with childhood breakfasts. But perhaps I'm not typical.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: iPhone

Jubilee Gardens cafe, Minehead

A white-painted timber cafe with union flags a-plenty next to an elaborate "crazy" golf course somehow seemed to epitomise one aspect of British seaside leisure. That it was located in gardens built to commemorate a jubilee underpinned the archetypal nature of the scene. But which jubilee? If I had to guess I'd plump for Queen Elizabeth II's 1977 Silver Jubilee.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon Z 5

Church with cafe, All Saints, Hereford

Many medieval parish churches open weekly or monthly for tea,coffee and a snack. Such openings usually accommodate local people and the occasional traveller. However, there are, increasingly, churches that include a permanent cafe that is open for the extended hours usual for such eating places. Cafes of this kind are often prompted by declining congregations and a need for extra funds to finance the building and the work of the parish. I don't know what led the church of All Saints, Hereford, to install this quite elaborate cafe in east end of the builing (and in the upper aisle) but they did a fine job in adapting the interior to the extended requirements.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon Z 5

Repaired FZ1000 2

I recently had an email from someone who said they'd noticed that in recent months I was using my Lumix FZ1000 2 pretty much to the exclusion of my other cameras. That's true and the reason is that during last year it developed an intermittent then a more regular fault: namely it sometimes refused to change focal lengths by either of the two methods available to the user. Not until that occurred at a frequency that enabled me to show it to the store I bought it from, and let them experience the problem, did I do anything about it. They sent it for repair which took a month. Since then I've been keen to confirm that the repair is long lasting by using the camera a lot. I'm now at the point where I'm confident it has been properly fixed.

Today's photograph is one in my continuing series of interesting cafe interiors. Groin vaulting, blank arcades of the Norman period, and a floor made of massive tiles of great age are just a few of the attractions in this cafe located in the former cloisters of Worcester Cathedral.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

Self-portrait in cafe window

Periodically, during the time I've fed my blogs, I've included a self-portrait in an image. These aren't explicit "warts and all" images of me. In the main they are photographs that include my reflection and are usually accidental inclusions that I notice rather than deliberate components of the composition. The example above was taken in Hay on Wye on a very hot and bright day - note the sun hat - and shows me in the mirror-like glazing of a cafe.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

A country house cafe

It's unusual to come across an independent cafe that hasn't made an effort to distinguish itself in some way. Even some chains occasionally try to inject something of the locality into their decor. Having said that, it's remarkable to find a cafe that is quite unlike any other - after all there's only so much you can do with a room or rooms, tables, chairs, pictures etc. However, recently we did find such a place. It is at Hellens Manor, Much Marcle in Herefordshire. Different or what?!

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

Hereford Cathedral cafe arabesques

After having a walk around Hereford Cathedral recently we decided to have a cup of coffe in the cafe. This is housed in part of the building overlooking the ruined cloisters. It was early in the day and we were the only customers so I took advantage of the absence of people and searched around for a photograph. This view appealed to me for the delicate intricacy and arabesques of the metal work and its shadows as they fell across the floor. The whole effect reminded me of the Moorish work we have seen in Seville.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon D5300

Peppers graffiti

Over the years I've come to mind graffiti rather less than I did. I still don't like it sprayed clandestinely on someone else's property. Or directly onto bricks or any other permanent surface. But, a nice piece on a painted wall, or a grotty corrugated steel fence, or on a surface provided for just that purpose, well, I find that inoffensive. And I certainly don't mind the owner of a property hiring someone to paint a graffiti style advertisement on their gated entrance to the back of their premises, as is the case at Peppers Cafe in Gloucester.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Sony DSC-RX100

Contre jour

When it comes to driving the low sun of the winter months makes for distinct difficulties. Glare obscures vision and the detail of the deep shadows is hard to identify, making caution necessary. But as far as photography goes the low sun opens up opportunities for contre jour shots that make a virtues of the vices that confront the driver. It was an optimistic kitchen staff at Berrington Hall, Herefordshire, that left the cafe furniture in the courtyard on a bitterly cold, crisp and clear day. But the tables and chairs served my photographic purposes quite well.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Sony DSC-RX100

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

Cafe chairs and tables

When I was young it would have been pretty much unthinkable to expect to find cafe tables and chairs outdoors during the winter months. But, as society has got richer, clothing has improved, people have more free time and are living longer, and smoking in places serving food has been forbidden, seating outside eating establishments at the cold times of the year has become common-place. Consequently photographers are now able to make the most of the shadows that this furniture makes on sunny winter days!

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