Belton Boathouse Pond

click photo to enlarge
Sometimes what you see isn't what you get. What could be called "inverse WYSIWYG" is a feature of most English country houses and comes about through the art and artifice involved in their planning and construction. Belton House in Lincolnshire is no exception. Here the main house illustrates it most obviously in the eighteenth century veneer of stone (and extensions) that overlay a seventeenth century structure. The landscaping of the park that surrounds the house is also subject to changes made in the interests of "improving on nature", that can be misleading to the casual observer.

Take Boathouse Pond, the subject of today's photographs. It looks like a perfectly natural feature among the trees, one that has been retrospectively adapted to leisure purposes. However, a walk up the slope to it, past the large earth dam that holds the water in place, shows it to have been constructed to beautify the area and provide somewhere for the wealthy owners and their guests to sail, row and perhaps fish or shoot. The boathouse itself also has its share of deceptive features, most notable the faux wood grain applied to the door and window frames using wood-coloured paint and a graining comb.

I took my photographs on a walk through the grounds of the house, a property now in the care of the National Trust and open to the public. The yellow light of a January morning gave a visual warmth that wasn't matched by the temperature, and the angle of the sun created dark shadows that, I think, made for a more interesting landscape view.

photograph and text © Tony Boughen

Photo Title: Boathouse Pond, Belton House, Lincolnshire
Camera: Olympus E-M10
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 16mm (32mm - 35mm equiv.)
F No: f4.5
Shutter Speed: 1/800 sec
ISO:200
Exposure Compensation: -0.3 EV
Image Stabilisation: On

Wet weather photography

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I'm not really an all-weather photographer. Some of my equipment is weather-sealed but by no means everything. Moreover, many of the subjects I choose don't particularly lend themselves to rainy days. However, I do like to take photographs in wet weather as this blog shows. I appreciate the reflections that these days bring, especially when the light levels fall in heavy showers and during the evening. My umbrella comes in handy at these times and so does my photographic assistant a.k.a. my wife.

But, I also like to take photographs from the car in wet weather. My fondness for blur and semi-abstract images is frequently rewarded by shots through the car windscreen. Today's photograph was taken after we'd dashed back to the car as a heavy shower enveloped us. The raindrops on the windscreen, the condensation from our wet hair and clothes, and the almost monochromatic world on view all appealed. Even more visually enticing was the fact that some drivers turned their lights on in the temporary gloom and added points and bands of strong colour that acted as highlights to the scene.

photograph and text © Tony Boughen

Photo Title: In The Rain Through The Windscreen
Camera: Sony RX100
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 37.1mm (100mm - 35mm equiv.)
F No: f4.9
Shutter Speed: 1/125 sec
ISO:320
Exposure Compensation: -0.3 EV
Image Stabilisation: On

Winter churchyard, Long Sutton

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Lincolnshire has many notable medieval churches, and those of the Fens are particularly remarkable. They were built with the money from wool, and as you travel from one to the other you have the feeling that the parishes of the time each sought to outdo the other in terms of size, ornament, or inventiveness. Many of the churches have a feature that distinguishes it from its neighbours, be it the tower, the window tracery, the woodwork of nave and chancel, the carving of capitals, etc

In the case of St Mary in the large village of Long Sutton the size of the church impresses, as does the thirteenth century tower that was originally completely detached from the nave, and the Norman columns and arcades are unexpected after seeing the later exterior. However, the stand out feature of this church today is the tall lead-covered timber spire (in herringbone pattern) with its four lead-covered pinnacles, all of which are said to be the oldest in the country, dating from the early 1200s.

I took my photograph on a damp January afternoon with the remains of autumn's leaves decaying by the gravesides and the skeletal trees allowing a better view from the west than is possible when they are in leaf.

photograph and text © Tony Boughen

Photo Title: St Mary, Long Sutton, Lincolnshire
Camera: Olympus E-M10
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 17mm (34mm - 35mm equiv.)
F No: f4
Shutter Speed: 1/125 sec
ISO:200
Exposure Compensation: -0.3 EV
Image Stabilisation: On

Another Fenland sunrise

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I grew up among the hills, mountains and valleys of the Yorkshire Dales. In recent years, since we moved to the flat Lincolnshire Fens, when I reveal the place of my childhood I frequently get asked whether I miss the uplands. And the answer I give is "Yes and no". Yes, because unlike many of my contemporaries, I enjoyed the landscape, settlements, communities, wildlife etc. No, because I got fed up with the rain that falls steadily across many, many days rather than in large amounts with long spells of drier weather between. No too, because I like to experience living in different localities for reasonable lengths of time, something I've done during my life, and the Fens is different from anywhere else I've lived.

When people ask me about the Fenland landscape, at some point I start eulogising the skies. Lincolnshire is famed for its "big skies", and I take great pleasure in the changing displays that are always taking place above my head. In the depths of winter I particularly relish the sunrises that I see when I open our bedroom curtains. I posted a shot of one a while ago, and here is another from a couple of days ago. The intense colours filled the sky for only four or five minutes and then they slowly quietened down as the sun climbed fully above the horizon. And, though I've seen such sunrises many times, each time is as thrilling as the first time, and I can't resist photographing it.

photograph and text © Tony Boughen

Photograph Title: A Fenland Village Sunrise
Camera: Olympus E-M10
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 20mm (40mm - 35mm equiv.)
F No: f4.3
Shutter Speed: 1/60 sec
ISO:200
Exposure Compensation: -0.3EV
Image Stabilisation: On

Rimless spectacles

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I'm sure that there are many photographers who have wonderful digital archives that can be searched by every conceivable parameter including subject, geographical location and photographic data, allowing them to easily locate an image. I am not one of those people. Like, I suspect, the majority of photographers, I have an archival system that is better than nothing, but not good enough to allow images to be retrieved without the expenditure of time and effort. However, the occasions on which I need to retrieve an image quickly are relatively few, so I'm never motivated to expend the energy to improve matters.

Today I searched for a photograph of a wooden screen in a Norfolk church on which were painted, in the 1400s, various saints, one of whom wore spectacles (glasses). These aids to vision were invented much earlier than many people realise. The earliest pictorial representation of spectacles with converging lenses for the long-sighted dates from c.1286, as I was reminded in a book about the medieval industrial revolution that I'm currently reading. Consequently it should come as no surprise to see them represented in a painting of the fifteenth century. However, it did jolt me. In the light of what I wrote above you won't be surprised to hear that I was unable to find my photograph after ten minutes search.

Perhaps it was reading my book that caused me to notice my rimless spectacles that I'd put down on a cupboard in my darkened study. I liked the glowing colour, the way the light of the lamp illuminated them, emphasising the delicate metalwork, and I liked the contrast of the light and dark areas. The simple subject called for a shallow depth of field and so I used a long lens in my relatively small room.

photograph and text © Tony Boughen

Photo Title: Rimless Spectacles
Camera: Olympus E-M10
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 150mm (300mm - 35mm equiv.)
F No: f5.6
Shutter Speed: 1/200 sec
ISO:6400
Exposure Compensation: -0.3 EV
Image Stabilisation: On

Colour in winter

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Colour in photographs is harder to find in a northern hemisphere winter than at any other time of the year. Invariably, as the darker, colder months progress, I find myself searching for colourful subjects to brighten up my photographic output. Sunny days and blue skies, perhaps with snow, often do the trick. However, this year has been notably overcast, mild and wet, so such conditions have been scarce or non-existent. Night time photographs are another source of winter colour, as are fiery sunrises and sunsets.

A different approach to satisfying this craving for colour is to search out those that do exist, no matter how small, and make the most of them. That was my approach with this photograph. Drake mallards, like most ducks, display the brightest colours in autumn, winter and spring. This tame example in a park was caught in a low shaft of sunlight coming through the trees, making the colours appear even brighter against the dark water. I chose this composition to make the most of the colours rather than to illustrate the bird. I was particularly pleased that the water added blue to the bright yellow, green and reddish brown.

photograph and text © Tony Boughen

Photo Title: Mallard Colours
Camera: Olympus E-M10
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 96mm (192mm - 35mm equiv.)
F No: f5.6
Shutter Speed: 1/200 sec
ISO:640
Exposure Compensation: -0.3 EV
Image Stabilisation: On

Old slides, newly processed

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It's remarkable how well most old film transfers to digital format. I've recently been using a dedicated negative and transparency (slide) scanner to digitise photographs taken in the 1970s, and I'm very pleased with most of my output. The colour positive slides (Agfacolour in the case of the example shown above) produce a pretty good scanned image that requires a little work on the colour balance, some cleaning of blemishes (usually persistent dust) and a little sharpening. The facility to do multiple passes of the scanner head to neutralise any noise generated in the scanning process doesn't have to be used too often, but when it's needed it works well.

I've chosen this photograph to put on the blog not only because I've been working on family shots, but also because it exemplifies compositional characteristics that have persisted in my photography since my early days - particularly repetition, simplification and spots of colour. It shows the loggia of the Stoa of Attalos, part of the Agora in Athens, Greece. The original building was destroyed in 267AD and what is shown is the reconstruction built in the 1950s that houses a museum. The shot is one of two composed in this way with a figure breaking the repetition: in the second shot that figure is me, and the photograph was taken by my wife.

photograph and text © Tony Boughen

Photo Title: Repetition - Stoa of Attalos, Athens, Greece
Camera details etc: My memory of which camera I used at this time is a little hazy. Was it the Olympus OM-1n or the more humble Zenit E? It will take a little more scanning and remembering to work that one out.

Norman architecture, Melbourne, Derbyshire

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Too many writers and architectural historians damn Norman (Romanesque) architecture with faint praise. Because they look at it alongside the principal phases of Gothic architecture, styles that are later in date, more architecturally inventive and refined, and the sources that Victorian Gothicists usually used as their source of inspiration, they find Norman architecture wanting. I've never shared that view, being able to recognise in the style qualities that I find admirable and interesting.
Where detractors see crudity I see primitive vigour, where they see overpowering mass I see grounded strength, "savage" ornament and sculpture is, to my eyes, sturdy, dramatic, even dynamic. Norman architecture should not be judged by the absence of Gothic qualities but for its own elementary and evolving features that give it a grandeur of a different kind from that seen in Gothic architecture.

Today's photograph shows a view along the nave of Melbourne church in Derbyshire. It dates from the 1100s is much larger and grander than most Norman parish churches, but illustrates the sturdy nature of the style very well. The large, cylindrical columns, shallowly carved scallop capitals, rounded arches with heavy moulding and zig-zag , and the simple tub font on four squat columns, can all be seen elsewhere in parish churches, but not too frequently all in the same church. The rounded arches, of course, only allow a narrow nave and aisles, narrow windows, and a relatively short distance between the supporting columns: pointed Gothic arches enabled wider spans in churches.  Consequently Norman parish churches churches tend to be darker than their Gothic counterparts. Here the church is well-lit because the day was very bright. The barn-like roof, incidentally, dates from the 1500s.

photograph and text © Tony Boughen

Photo Title: Font and Nave, Melbourne church, Derbyshire
Camera: Olympus E-M10
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 9mm (18mm - 35mm equiv.)
F No: f4
Shutter Speed: 1/50 sec
ISO:6400
Exposure Compensation: 0 EV
Image Stabilisation: On

A humble Hampton Court

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Humble isn't a word that is usually found in the same sentence as Hampton Court. The reason being that most people immediately think of the royal palace of that name in Richmond, London. This was originally the property of the Order of St John of Jerusalem, was restored by Thomas Cromwell in the early 1500s, and was seized and enlarged by Henry VIII in 1529. Its early ornate brickwork and later extensions by Sir Christopher Wren are ostentatious to be sure, but not humble. Nor can Hampton Court in Herefordshire be so described. It started life as manor house in 1427 but today is a castellated country house, the result of work done in the mid-C19 to make it grander and more comfortable. Today it is well-known for its gardens that are open to the public.

However, when I look through the timber-framed archway of Hampton Court on Nelson Street in King's Lynn, the word humble seems quite appropriate, and not just because of the comparison with its two namesakes. Though parts of it were once owned by relatively wealthy people it has been extended and re-built over the years, and has usually been the home for multiple families. It is today subdivided into 15 flats. My earlier photograph is accompanied by a piece that tells something of its history.

When I came to take the mouse-eye view photograph above I decided not to do the obvious and focus on either the buildings or the nearest cobbles. Instead I set the aperture to f1.8 and focused a metre or so away leaving near and far out of focus.

photograph and text © Tony Boughen

Photo Title: Hampton Court, King's Lynn, Norfolk
Camera: Olympus E-M10
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 17mm (34mm - 35mm equiv.)
F No: f1.8
Shutter Speed: 1/1600 sec
ISO:200
Exposure Compensation: -0.3 EV
Image Stabilisation: On

Town Bridge, Boston, Lincolnshire

click photo to enlarge
Today's photograph was taken, like quite a few of mine, on a shopping trip. A pocketable camera is a boon to a busy photographer, and I value the diminutive size and great quality of the Sony RX100: it is with me much of the time that I'm engaged on business other than taking photographs. Like many photographers I become something of a fisherman if I see a potential shot that I'm unable to capture with a camera, and the magnitude of the missed opportunity becomes ever greater with each memory of what might have been, so the RX100 dispels the regret associated with a missed shot.

The photograph above was taken from St Botolph's Footbridge looking down the River Witham towards the Town Bridge. I've taken several from the bridge depicted looking towards where I took this shot because behind my left shoulder is the tall medieval tower of the church of St Botolph, known locally as "The Stump". The view isn't a particularly scenic townscape. What prompted me to take the shot was the low afternoon light that was illuminating a few buildings. This, along with the reflections on the water and the deep shadows lifted the view and put me in mind of Dutch and English oil paintings from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries of such subjects

photograph and text © Tony Boughen

Photo Title: January Afternoon - Town Bridge, Boston Lincolnshire
Camera: Sony RX100
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 16.6mm (45mm - 35mm equiv.)
F No: f4
Shutter Speed: 1/200
ISO: 125
Exposure Compensation:  -0.3 EV
Image Stabilisation: On

Trinity House buoys, King's Lynn

click photo to enlarge
On a shopping trip to King's Lynn we walked along the riverside, past Purfleet Quay, to where the buoy maintenance ship, "St Crispin" loads and unloads buoys on its trips to and from their positions in the river and coastal waters.

I've found this a fertile location for photographs, not just because of its waterside setting, but also due to the strong colours of the buoys. Red, green and yellow dominate, almost to the exclusion of anything else, though black is sometimes seen. However, on this occasion a more subtly coloured buoy was standing among its louder neighbours. I can only assume it was painted with a primer or undercoat, yet the rust on it suggested that might not be the case.

I read on the Trinity House website that the organisation "maintains nearly 500 buoys and inspects those maintained by port and harbour authorities, utility companies and by oil/gas rig and wind farm operators (totalling more than 10,000 Aids to Navigation)." A quick search of the buoys on the Trinity House website showed none that display this particular colour.

photograph and text © Tony Boughen

Photo Title: Trinity House buoys, King's Lynn, Norfolk
Camera: Olympus E-M10
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 36mm (72mm - 35mm equiv.)
F No: f5.2
Shutter Speed: 1/1250 sec
ISO:200
Exposure Compensation: -0.3 EV
Image Stabilisation: On

Flats by the Regent's Canal, London

click photo to enlarge
Britain once styled itself a "nation of house owners". This was by way of contrast with other European countries where flat (apartment) dwelling was much more common. It was always something of an overstatement, because major UK cities, in particular, always had a lot of flats, and so too did some large towns. However, there was some truth to it. But, no longer. The increasing cost of housing, the rapidly growing population, the tendency for people to live in smaller family units (or singly), and the pressure on spare land on our relatively small island have produced a real change in the past thirty or forty years. Flats have sprung up everywhere.

Even small towns have flats now, and large cities have ever increasing numbers, either newly built or converted from commercial, business or industrial premises. Nowhere is this more noticeable than in London. Today's photograph shows some of the balconies on a block of flats built on land by the Regent's Canal in Islington, London. They are unexceptional as flats go. What prompted my photograph was the way that each balcony, in some small way, appeared to tell something of the owner. I was interested in what the owners had chosen to put there out of either desire or necessity - table and chairs, bicycle, pot plants, barbecue, washing, nothing.

photograph and text © Tony Boughen

Photo Title: Flats by the Regent's Canal, Islington, London
Camera: Olympus E-M10
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 52mm (104mm - 35mm equiv.)
F No: f5.5
Shutter Speed: 1/125 sec
ISO:400
Exposure Compensation: -0.3 EV
Image Stabilisation: On

New Year Honours and the Limehouse Link

click photo to enlarge
There's nothing wrong with a society recognising those who make an exceptional, selfless contribution to their community. Unfortunately few societies manage to do this well, and the UK does it exceptionally badly, shrouding the whole process in secrecy and frequently using it as a reward or bribe for politicians and their supporters. This year's New Year Honours List has recently been published and is no different from those of previous years - a mixture of the deserving, the unexceptional who are rewarded with status for doing what they get paid for, and a sickening list of gongs for the establishment's boys (and girls). It's the latter group that the list exists for, and the former are there simply to make the cronyism and paybacks by the government to those who work for it, bankroll it and publicly support it, appear less obnoxious and more legitimate.

The whole system, as I've said before, stinks, and it is only the fact that some principled people turn down the chance to become a Dame, a Lord, a Sir or to have anachronistic letters after their name, that makes the whole thing bearable. So today, rather than despair about the thirty or so members of the Conservative Party who received honours, or Lynton Crosby who "masterminded" the election of the current government and is rewarded with a knighthood (as well as the fat salary he received), or actors, actresses, sports people and the rest who leaven the unsavoury pile with a sprinkling of populism, I await a Freedom of Information Request that lets us know who turned down the baubles of the Queen and the Government in this round of honours giving.

Today's photograph was taken in the Limehouse Link, a 1.1 mile long tunnel that runs from the Tower Bridge approaches to the northern edge of Canary Wharf. It has the distinction of being the most expensive stretch of road in Britain (£50,500 per foot at 2011 prices). Interestingly, this is simply a relief road tunnel constructed, as its rectangular section suggests, by cut-and-cover methods, and not one that passes under the River Thames.

Happy New Year to All.

photograph and text © Tony Boughen

Photo Title: Limehouse Link Tunnel, London - Out of Focus
Camera: Olympus E-M10
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 17mm (34mm - 35mm equiv.)
F No: f1.8
Shutter Speed: 1/80 sec
ISO:800
Exposure Compensation: -0.3 EV
Image Stabilisation: On