Cloister, Salisbury Cathedral

The presence of a cloister at a cathedral usually signifies that the building was originally built by a monastic order (Franciscans, Carthusians, Cistercians etc). Salisbury Cathedral is an exception to this rule. But, the purpose of the cloister remains the same - to provide a sheltered (often south-facing) enclosed, covered quadrangle around which monks could walk and which kept them separate from wider society. The cloister at Salisbury Cathedral in Wiltshire, dates from the thirteenth century and features large, alternating cinquefoils and sexfoils.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon D5300

Wide angle iPhone photographs

The extreme wide angle lens on my iPhone is 13mm (35mm equivalent), 2mm wider than the widest lens on the other camera systems I use. I learned many years ago that when it comes to wide angle lenses even a small amount of width is noticeable. Recently I thought I'd try out the phone in Gloucester Cathedral. The results, though deficient in a couple of ways (including being oversharpened), are better than I expected and the extra width brings more drama to the compositions.

 

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: iPhone

The changing cloisters of Gloucester Cathedral

"Changing" might seem an odd word to describe the Gothic cloisters of Gloucester Cathedral, structures that were built between 1351 and 1390, and have remained much the same since those years. But, every time we visit the cathedral I look through the door that opens on to the cloisters to see how they look. What I am interested in is how they are being illuminated. Different seasons, different times of day, and the addition of artificial light to the natural light all make for different appearances. In 2013 it was the complementary colours of the two sources of light that attracted me. In 2018 it was the contrasting pools of light and deep shadows (plus the silhouetted figure of my wife). On a recent morning the lights had not gone off and daylight was flooding in making for warm colouring. I asked my wife to, once again, provide the scale and foreground interest.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon D5300

A cloistered chat

Tewkesbury Abbey, like almost all monastic buildings in England, suffered the depredations of Henry VIII. In the case of Tewkesbury, however, the main church remained largely intact because the town purchased the monks' part of the structure from the king for £453 and it became the parish church. The Lady Chapel, a detached bell tower, and the cloisters, along with a few other buildings, were pulled down. On a recent late afternoon we visited the grounds of the Abbey and during our circumnavigation of the church we came upon two ladies engaged in conversationon on a bench caught in the last sunlight of the day. They were having a literal and metaphorical cloistered chat (evidence of the site of the cloisters remain on the abbey walls around them).

photos © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

Cloisters, Gloucester Cathedral

Cinematic representations of the Middle Ages have begun to correct one of the most glaring errors that were perpetrated when representing those relatively primitive times. I mean, of course, the amount of light that was to be found inside buildings. It is hard for us to imagine how gloomy it was with only feeble flames to illuminate interiors, and the license of film-makers was understandable. Would cinema audiences be prepared to peer at the the dimly recognisable faces of actors in the darkness? Possibly not. But more light-sensitive cameras combined with realistic levels of lighting now frequently, and satisfactorily, portray those dingy days. I pondered this as I photographed my wife walking through the pools of shadow and light in the cloisters of Gloucester Cathedral.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Sony DSC-RX100