Meandering around the Fitzwilliam

I felt the need to escape the house for my day off as I’ve been working at home all week. The freezing weather wasn’t conducive to outdoor activities, so I headed for the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge for a wander with my camera.

I chose it use a single lens, picking out smaller sections of the building - a strategy which also proved useful for avoiding the crowds of school children!

This corner of one of the staircases took my fancy with its elegant lines and beautiful, soft light.

Photos taken 9 December 2022.

The Queen's church

During our brief holiday in Norfolk in October we enjoyed a day at the Sandringham Estate. Photography wasn’t permitted inside the house but there was an opportunity to use my camera inside the church. This is the church the Queen would attend on Christmas Day every year and you could certainly sense its royal connections from its sheer luxury.

Photos taken October 2022

Wonderful Wells

One of my favourite cathedrals is Wells and I never pass up an opportunity to visit if I’m nearby. In July I had some work in Bath so I sneaked in an extra day to visit this wonderful building.

I divided my time here between digital photography and some pinhole work too, but I’ll stick to my precise digital images in this post.

Looking up at the cathedral’s organ through those magnificent scissor arches.

Photos taken 1 July 2022

Church crawling

While others may enjoy partaking of several pubs in an evening, from time to time I employ the same principle to explore churches. On this particular occasion I was on the hunt for a trio of redundant churches in Monmouthshire, although one of them remained rather elusive!

My first port of call was St Michael and All Angels in Gwenesney, tucked away down a single track road. Maintained by the Friends of the Friendless Churches this was a gem of a church, with some beautiful contrasts of light and shadow inside, created by sun percolating through the leaded light windows.

Click on any of the photos to see them enlarged

From Gwernesney I continued my explorations at a larger church just a few miles down the road in Llangwym Uchaf. I arrived just before a torrential downpour and as the skies darkened I wondered how I was going to take photos inside, with no artificial light to help me.

Gradually the clouds lifted and my eyes adjusted to the gloom and I found that perhaps photography was going to be possible.

My plans for a third Welsh church were scuppered by my unimaginative satnav, which insisted I should try crossing a field from a dual carriageway sliproad to reach it. I decided against the necessary off-roading so it would have to wait for another day!

Instead I continued my journey to Wiltshire and found an alternative church to visit…

My final church of the day was St Margaret of Antioch in the village of Leigh Delamere in Wiltshire. Inside I found another dark interior, but one illuminated by some vividly coloured stained glass.

Photos taken 25 June 2022

Early morning stroll

It’s rare for me to pass up the opportunity for some quality photography time in London so when a meeting back in May popped up in my diary I made time for a stroll through the City beforehand.

I meandered south towards the River, keeping my eye open for anything that inspired me to lift my camera.

Click on any of the images to see them enlarged.

When I reached the Thames I still had some time to spare, so I wandered along the south bank, making the most of the views and the deep blue sky which was peppered with puffy white clouds.

Eventually my time was up and I had to go into my meeting, but even there I was presented with a cute photo opportunity in the form of Bea, who obligingly posed for me!

Photos taken 31 May 2022

Shape and form at the LSE

My Dad and I have been trying to find the opportunity for a day in London today for months and in September we finally succeeded.

Our first destination was the London School of Economics. Not your average tourist location, but we’d both read about the new Marshall Building there and we were keen to explore it. Its brutalist concrete lines offered some fantastic photo opportunities and I can’t help thinking I’ll be returning to seek out some more in time.

Photos taken 8 September 2022

Reaching for the heavens

A recent concert took me to Lancing College and a bonus photo opportunity. I arrived early for our rehearsal so I stole a few minutes inside the college chapel, where the low sun was casting some beautiful pools of light.

Click on any of the images to see them enlarged.

I can never resist this sort of light in churches - selectively illuminating the architecture.

Photos taken 3 November 2022

A tale of two halves

When I visited York in May I had plans to spend the day inside the Minster, exploring with my camera. Sadly that wasn’t to be as it was closed to visitors on the one day I had in the city. Instead I strolled the streets with my eyes open to whatever came my way.

I may not have been able to go inside the Minster but that didn’t stop me photographing the exterior!

Buskers near the Shambles - this young boy was having great fun dancing to the music!

Speeding tourists along The Shambles

Down by the River Ouse

My bed for the night was at the Bar Convent, just outside the city walls. An unlikely place to stay, but the accommodation and breakfast were both excellent. Even better, I stole a few minutes to look around the Convent’s chapel after I’d finished exploring the rest of York.

The chapel is hidden in the centre of the convent, with its dome not visible from the road. It’s a perfectly formed Georgian chapel and in the few minutes I was there I found no end of interesting photographic inspiration.

Photos taken 20 May 2022

Colourful Coggeshall

I don’t often choose colour film for my pinhole photography but for my visit to the church in Coggeshall in April it seemed a good fit. On a previous visit I discovered some lovely carving on the choir stalls which I knew would work well in colour and I had some Lomography 400 colour film I was keen to try out too.

I was en-route to an event in Ipswich so this was a good point to stop off and I had a most enjoyable hour exploring the church, looking for compositions which would suit the pinhole approach.

Photos taken 22 April 2022

Cats and cathedrals

It’s not that unusual for a Cathedral to have a resident cat - I’ve met several over the years. However, Southwark Cathedral’s cat, Hodge, has his own Twitter account and has quite the cult following. Each August the Cathedral hosts a feline themed day of talks and this year I was able to go along.

The day started with a stroll down from Liverpool Street Station, taking in some of the city architecture in the early morning sun.

I arrived at Southwark Cathedral early so I went inside to look for Hodge. Fortunately, he was in a chilled out mood, lounging near the door to the vestry, one of his favourite snoozing spots.

A couple more snaps from around the Cathedral as I headed to Borough Market to grab some lunch.

Photos taken 6 August 2022