Photographing Hereford Cathedral

 click image to enlarge

A British cathedral is, for the most part, a very big church. It can be situated in a city or a town and sometimes has an open space around it. This space - called a "close" - can vary tremendously in size and for that reason can be helpful to the photographer (a big space) or not so helpful (a small space). The big space makes it easier to compose a shot that includes the whole of the building. Hereford Cathedral has a small space around it which includes several big trees, and beyond this space the buildings of the town press close. The unavoidable consequence of all this is that photographers must search for views from afar that feature just a part of the cathedral. One such is from the beech avenue through Bishop Meadow across the River Wye. But, it is only available when the trees are not in leaf - hence this recent photograph.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon Z 5

Country house compositions

The great temptation when photographing a large, ornate, historic country house is to let the architect's symmetrical facade speak for itself. In other words, fill the frame with the facade of the front of the house, the place where all the money was spent. There's nothing wrong with this approach. However, it's an interesting challenge to find a composition that gives less emphasis to the facade. These two shots of Croome Court, Worcestershire, a house completed in 1760 to the designs of Lancelot "Capability" Brown, a man better known for his landscape gardening, do just that. The first retains a measure of symmetry - the house in the centre glimpsed between two trees with a path leading to it. It also contextualises the house in its grounds with the nearby Gothick church built in 1763 for the then owner (also by Brown). 

The second photograph puts the house on the right of the frame with balance achieved by the tree on the left.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon D5300

Meadow, trees, cloud

Sometimes it is the simplicity of what a day can offer is all that is required for a photograph. Featureless blue or grey skies are my least favourite "simple" element. But when an empty blue sky is broken by just one or two passing clouds that is enough to combine those elements with one or two others to make a photograph. As we toiled up a footpath through a hillside meadow the cloud over the nearby wood, combined with the grasses around us was enough for me to want to record the moment.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

Churchyard compositions

Unusually, the medieval church at Weston under Penyard was closed and so, after a cup of coffee on a bench in the sun, I cast about for some churchyard compositions. The first I came up with reminded me of a shot I took many years ago in which I, broadly speaking, found a composition that clearly emphasised separate areas. In the example above the areas intersect more via the bold diagonals. So, top left is the tower, top right is the Scots pine, bottom left is the shaded chancel wall, and bottom right is the aisle tracery.

The second composition has a void at the centre of the composition and gives no particular emphasis to anything -  a cardinal sin in photography!. But, what it does do is give a feeling of what the churchyard is like and points out the attractive light that is falling on the scene. The shot was taken a couple of yards from the point where I took the first photograph.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

Small White butterfly - Take 2

I was reasonably pleased with my photograph of the Small White butterfly that I posted recently. But, this shot, taken as we walked by the River Wye, is much better. Both were taken in slight wind and required several shots taken at the most opportune moment. What distinguishes the more recent photograph is the background: it is less distracting and the colours complement those of the main subject much better. We are currently trying to identify the flower that the Small White is feeding on. It seems to be a wild or escaped cultivated aster of some sort.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

Sunny Ross on Wye

Midday landscape photography in June, July and August is often unsuccessful. The height of the sun, the depth of the shadows, the reflections from grass and leaves and the general glare all conspire to make such photogrpaphs less interesting: early mornings and evenings are usually better. But sometimes you have to be out around midday, and sometimes things work out better than you expect. I wouldn't have taken his photograph without the clouds that rolled across my view. Nor would I have done so without a long focal length lens on the camera or the absence of the two walkers ahead of us.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

Silhouettes: Take 2

This photograph was taken from the same spot as that posted yesterday. But whereas the focal length of that image was 74mm (35mm equiv.) this was about 400mm (35mm equiv.). The strong silhouette of my wife on the bench against the lower, distant background forms the entirety of the composition and the interest comes from the form and details of that bold shape. Once again I can look back and see other photographs where I have used the same device. This example, featuring a bait digger's bike, was taken in 2006.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

Silhouettes and compositions

I saw the line of the wet path before the bench and once I'd seen the bench I imagined someone sitting on it and a composition that involved the path leading to the silhouetted figure. My wife obliged as the figure and the rest fell into place. The basis of this composition is one that I have used several times, as for instance, in this example.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2

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

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