In the footsteps of Peter Marlow

Some weeks ago I read about the work of the late photographer Peter Marlow, whose exhibition ‘The English Cathedral’ is now touring the UK. He visited 42 Cathedrals at dawn, making a photo facing east towards the altar, using a large format film camera. This was a sight I couldn’t miss, so my friend Peter and I visited St Paul’s Cathedral last week to see his photos and perhaps make our own photographic record of this dramatic building. The exhibition was wonderful, although it made us realise how few of our ancient Cathedrals have architecture which is truly symmetrical and properly aligned! Given the challenges of building a Cathedral today, never mind several centuries ago, that perhaps shouldn’t be a surprise but seeing these structures together, all photographed in the same way makes it more evident.

After we’d explore Peter Marlow’s photos we spent the afternoon exploring St Paul’s with our cameras, searching for interesting photographic compositions. Ironically, we didn’t actually take any photos looking east like Marlow did!

Sir Christopher Wren’s wonderful geometric staircase, as seen in the Harry Potter and Paddington films.

Photos taken 23 January 2023

Two for the price of one

A recent day off gave me the opportunity to do a little church hunting with my camera. I’d earmarked a little church in Caldecote which is maintained by the Friends of the Friendless Churches so I took the drove over towards the Hertfordshire town of Baldock. A little way short of where my satnav reckoned my destination was I found a church beside the narrow country lane so I parked up and headed indoors. It was only when I looked at the notices on the board inside the porch that I realised I was in the wrong church! This was St. Vincent’s when I was expecting St. Mary Magdalene.

The winter sun illuminating the building was so beautiful it seemed to waste it so I stayed a few minutes and took some photos here anyway. A bit of an unexpected bonus - two churches for the price of one!

Click on any image to see it enlarged.

Once I’d finished I jumped in the car and continued the last half a mile to my intended destination. This turned out to be in the middle of a farm so I parked among the cars and tractors and picked my through the mud to the church’s north door.

The interior of St Mary Magdalene’s was rather more spartan than St. Vincent’s, but charming nonetheless. Rather impressively it had two organs - a surprise for a redundant church tucked away, so far from an obvious congregation!

The last rays of afternoon sun kissing the altar.

Photos taken 20 January 2023.

Coventry Cathedral

When we visited Coventry Cathedral at the end of September I just didn’t feel inspired. The Cathedral is wonderful but maybe it was the dreary, grey weather, but something just didn’t click for me. I downloaded my photos, took a brief look through them, and left them there. Something inspired me to return to them this week and I was surprised to find a handful which felt worthy of a second look.

The leaden skies over the old Cathedral ruins didn’t offer any inspiration at all, so the photos I took there aren’t great, but it gives me an excuse to go back again on a better day. I’m sure on a sunnier day the stained glass would really sing and these two are just a hint at what might have been.

Photos taken 30 September 2022

It pays to be persistent

Back in June I attempted to visit St David’s Church at Llangview, not far from Usk. SAdly my satnav led me astray, trying to take me there via a field from a slip road from the A449. I’m sure this might be possible in the right type of vehicle, but my Mini isn’t cut out for off-roading! In October I had another try, and at the third attempt I finally succeeded in finding this adorable church in the middle of a field!

It was definitely worth being persistent. The autumnal sun was throwing beautiful shadows across the box pews inside, while the flowers left to decorate the church added a lovely touch.

Click on any of the images to see them enlarged.

Today St David’s is cared for by the Friends of the Friendless Churches, a small charity who help rescue endangered churches. I’ve enjoyed visiting several of their churches and have become a member to support them. Hopefully I’ll be able to visit some of their buildings nearer to home soon.

Sunlight catching the pulpit and even illuminating some of the cobwebs.

This narrow doorway caught my eye. We’ve been encouraged to have more ventilation indoors since Covid, but I think perhaps the gaps either side of the door may be taking this to extremes!

The view towards the altar between the box pews.

Photos taken 18 October 2022

The angels of Blythburgh

When we popped into the church at Walberswick the lady who was decorating the church with holly asked if we’d been to Blythburgh church, just a few miles up the road. She recommended we add it to our plans on account of the beautiful angels in the ceiling so we followed her advice.

Sure enough, the angels were wonderful and we were very pleased to have made the small detour here!

Photos taken 22 December 2022

A month ago today...

If I’m out about about exploring I’ll often see if there’s a redundant church nearby. After my visit to Bury St Edmunds, a month ago, I discovered St Mary’s in the Suffolk village of Icklingham. By now the sun was beginning to drop in the sky and that gave me some beautiful light inside.

I loaded a roll of film into my pinhole camera and set myself the task of finding sufficient subjects to photograph so I could develop it when I got home. I often find 35mm film rather overwhelming as it’s rare for me to find 36 subjects to photograph in one place. The 12 frames on a roll of 120 film is perfect though - just right for an afternoon’s project.

Church music…

Glorious winter sun catching the screen in front of the sanctuary.

By the altar - yet more irresistible light

I presume this cart was used for bearing coffins.

Getting really to the pulpit to capture some of the beautifully ornate carving.

One final image, including the texture of the north door…

Photos taken 25 November 2022

Away from the chaos of the Christmas Market

When I visited the Christmas Market in Bury St Edmunds last month I was rather surprised to find most of the stalls inside the Cathedral. The resulting scrum of people didn’t inspire me to loiter for long, so instead I walked down the Street to St Mary’s - the other church which was considered when the town’s Cathedral was being chosen.

I’ve always found more photographic inspiration inside St Mary’s than in the cathedral - it has so many fascinating details. Although it’s quite a dark building, with lots of deep hued woodwork, the sun was shining today and that helped me as I sought out pinhole images which wouldn’t require massively long exposure times.

One of the fiercer characters I found in the choir.

I found this chap loyally guarding his master’s feet on a tomb.

Photos taken 25 November 2022

Forgotten photos

I’m usually pretty swift at downloading and editing my photos, but occasionally I find images I’d forgotten about, still lurking on a memory card. This week I rediscovered some digital photos I took when I visited Copford Church with my pinhole camera. Each pinhole photo took about ten minutes to expose, so while they were ‘cooking’ I made a few digital snaps too. There weren’t many, but these three struck me as worthy of sharing.

Copford Church has some amazing wall paintings - definitely worthy of a second visit on a brighter day as I was working as light which was fading fast!

A close up of the domed painting above the alter.

Photos taken 17 November 2022

Sunkissed architecture

Alongside the pinhole photos I shared from St John’s yesterday, I spent some time using my digital camera for a different view.

Click on any image to see them enlarged.

The play of light in St John’s is always beautiful

A small detail I’ve never noticed before - coat pegs!

Photos taken 25 September 2022

Time and motion on the Elizabeth Line

I’ve wanted to take some photos of the new Elizabeth Line stations since they opened and an opportunity presented itself recently. I’d spent some time in London doing some pinhole photography (I’ll share those photos in due course) and on my way back to Liverpool Street Station I had some time to spare for a spot of digital photography.

We were heading into the rush hour, although the station wasn’t too busy yet, so I decided to use the commuters to create some movement in my photos. Thanks to the miracle of an image stabilised camera I was able to hand hold it for just long enough to capture a sense of motion through their blurred movements.

I like the results, but I’m sure there’s scope to do something even better - I just need some more time to hang around and play without the pressure of rushing off to catch a train myself!

Photos taken 1 December 2022