Friday, July 08, 2016

Gravestones, Langcliffe church

click photo to enlarge
After a long walk from Settle taking in Watery lane, Lodge Lane, Lambert Lane, Stockdale Lane, Attermire, Clay Pits Plantation and Langcliffe Brow we stopped off at Langcliffe church, as we often do, and sat on a bench in the churchyard to eat our packed lunch. A couple of motorcyclists were doing the same on the green near the church, but apart from them our only companion was a young rabbit that showed far less fear of humans than was good for it. If it should meet anyone less benignly disposed towards rabbits than us it may not reach old age.

After we had finished eating my wife went to look at the books for sale in the church and I walked round the churchyard to look at the gravestones. Having been brought up in the area I recognised quite a few surnames carved on them. This churchyard is well kept, with areas nicely mowed and planted and other areas deliberately left wilder. The pair of brown gravestones above are near the path that leads to the south porch, and both their distinctive shapes and the leafy surroundings of ferns, ivy and hostas lit by the dappled light piercing the trees above, made for a nice contrast between the man-made and the natural.

As I processed the photograph I noticed, for the first time, the low wire round the flowers in front of the right-most gravestone and reflected that those responsible for maintaining the churchyard must be very familiar with our rabbit.

photograph and text © Tony Boughen

Photo Title: Gravestones, Langcliffe Church, North Yorkshire
Camera: Olympus E-M10
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 47mm (94mm - 35mm equiv.) crop
F No: f6.3
Shutter Speed: 1/100 sec
ISO:1000
Exposure Compensation: -0.3 EV
Image Stabilisation: On