Monday, October 26, 2009

Morning light at Stockerston

click photo to enlarge
The Leicestershire village of Stockerston is no more than a few houses clustered around the junction of a road and a lane, with, a little higher up the hillside, a medieval church and a large house, Stockerston Hall.

My first visit to the village was made last year to see the church of St Peter, the tower of which can be glimpsed through the trees in the top centre of today's photograph. This building is noted for its stained glass of the 1400s and for a selection of good memorials. However, the photograph that I posted from that earlier visit wasn't of anything architecturally significant or historically interesting: rather, it was the morning light slanting down through the old church windows. And, as I post my second image from Stockerston it is, once again, the morning light that is the main feature of the shot.

This view was taken from King's Hill, on the other side of the Eye Brook valley, in Rutland. The small stream that flows into the Eyebrook Reservoir marks the county boundary in this area, so here I was photographing Leicestershire from Rutland. On this October morning the air seemed thick, and the hillside, buildings and autumnal trees were suffused with a faint pink tinge. But, since it wasn't strong enough to affect the nearer grass and trees, the resulting image has a feeling of depth and distance that I find pleasing.

photograph & text (c) T. Boughen

Camera: Olympus E510
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 73mm (146mm/35mm equiv.)
F No: f6.3
Shutter Speed: 1/100
ISO: 100
Exposure Compensation: 0 EV
Image Stabilisation: On