Taking a break

click photo to enlarge
I'm taking a break from the blog for a while - it will be good for both of us. How long is a while? I don't know at this time; it could be a few weeks, it could be a few months, it could be longer.

photograph and text © Tony Boughen

Photo Title: The Boat House Pool, Belton House, Grantham, Lincolnshire
Camera: Olympus E-M10
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 42mm (84mm - 35mm equiv.)
F No: f7.1
Shutter Speed: 1/200 sec
ISO:200
Exposure Compensation: -0.3 EV
Image Stabilisation: On

Built to impress

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The first two houses that we bought and lived in suffered from a problem that many buildings have suffered from down the ages - more money was spent on the front than on the back and sides. One was built in the early 1900s and the other in the 1930s. In each case the quality of the bricks on the main elevation was better than those elsewhere. Ornament in the form of stone/concrete arches, oriel windows, and large bays appeared on the front, but not on the back, or where they did, in simpler, more pared down form. The fact is, those houses and many other buildings had relatively more money spent at the front for a reason that is obvious - to impress the buyer and passers-by. Interestingly, and refreshingly, this wasn't so pronounced in a house we bought that was built in the late 1970s. Our current house, part of which is oldish and part relatively recent uses the same quality materials throughout but has a much more "composed" facade.

Constraints of this sort did not affect the affluent builders of the country houses of the Georgian period - all elevations aimed to impress. At Belton House the main (south) facade and the rear (north) elevation are almost the same. The east elevation is composed with symmetry in mind, is flusher than either north or south, but then doesn't have the main entrances that those feature. Only on the west, where stables, courtyards and other ancillary buildings are found does the main house lose something of its imposing appearance. And here this is compensated for by those subsidiary buildings being large, ornate and monumental.Today's photograph shows Belton House's plainer east elevation from one side of the wide avenue of trees that frame it. Incidentally, my composition was prompted by the desire to find a composition that was a little different, that emphasised the building's setting, but also by a desire to minimise the featureless blue sky.

photograph and text © Tony Boughen


Photo Title: Belton House, Lincolnshire
Camera: Olympus E-M10
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 42mm (84mm - 35mm equiv.)
F No: f7.1
Shutter Speed: 1/500 sec
ISO:200
Exposure Compensation: -0.3 EV
Image Stabilisation: On

Late autumn trees

click photo to enlarge
We have reached the time of year when, due to the low sun, for much of the day the daylight is tinged with yellow. Sometimes this can be a little disconcerting, giving buildings for example, what appears to be a colour cast. But, if you are photographing the last colours of autumn that yellow tinge adds to the palette that nature provides.

On a recent walk through the extensive grounds of Belton House in Lincolnshire we walked through a an area of parkland dotted with trees of many varieties. This particular section of "nature improved", as the early English Landscape Garden theorists and pioneers called such places, was not so densely planted with trees that the low morning sun could not penetrate: in fact in some spots it was flooding in and offering me the opportunity for a shot with colour and contrast.

The two photographs on offer today show much of the same contre jour scene, but differ in their approach to contrast. The main photograph has more, the smaller one less. Consequently the main shot is more muscular, the subsidiary shot, more delicate. The increased contrast comes from the composition, particularly the tree hiding the sun (and its shadow), but also by the increased negative EV.

photograph and text © Tony Boughen

Photo Title (1): Parkland Trees, Belton House, Lincolnshire
Camera: Olympus E-M10
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 14mm (28mm - 35mm equiv.)
F No: f6.3
Shutter Speed: 1/250 sec
ISO:200
Exposure Compensation: -1.0 EV
Image Stabilisation: On

Fallow deer

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Pre-historic remains show that the fallow deer was an indigenous species in the British Isles but  that they died out, probably due to hunting. They were reintroduced, probably by the Normans but possibly by the Romans, and since that time have been a constant presence in our woodlands.

The herd of fallow deer at Belton House, Lincolnshire, was probably established in the seventeenth century. Today it numbers around 300 animals. Due to the many visitors that this National Trust property attracts the deer have become used to the presence of people and some allow quite close approach. I'm not a wildlife photographer but as someone who points his camera at a wide variety of subjects I take the opportunity with animals if they present themselves within range of my lenses. This group of deer were eschewing the longer, wilder grass of the fields around the stately home and instead were cropping the already short greensward of the lawn in front of the main facade. The silhouettes that the animals made in the morning sun appealed to me, as did their position in front of the line of trees.

photograph and text © Tony Boughen

Photo Title: Fallow Deer, Belton House, Lincolnshire
Camera: Olympus E-M10
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 150mm (300mm - 35mm equiv.)
F No: f7.1
Shutter Speed: 1/800 sec
ISO:200
Exposure Compensation: -0.3 EV
Image Stabilisation: On

Orangery, Belton House

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We tend to think of the conservatory as an adjunct to Victorian and Edwardian houses, and they were certainly popular in during those periods. However, the glasshouse and orangery pre-date the nineteenth century and rose to popularity in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

English country houses built orangeries in their kitchen gardens or elsewhere near the residence for the cultivation of not just oranges, but peaches, grapes and other fruits. They were primarily hot-houses, heated by fuel in winter, for the production of fruits that could not be grown easily or at all outdoors in our country, and were secondarily ornamental additions to the grounds.

The orangery at Belton House in Lincolnshire is less ornate than many - a large rectangular building, glass fronted with stone piers and Coade stone balustrade. Inside are statuary niches and water features. It is currently home to a variety of climbing plants, palms and shrubs. It was designed in 1811 by Geoffrey Wyattville but not built until 1820, and then with a slightly revised plan. As with many orangeries the light, plants and warmth give quite sub-tropical feel to the interior and the favourable growing conditions encourage luxuriant foliage of the type seen in my photograph.

photograph and text © Tony Boughen

Photo Title: Statues, Orangery, Belton House, Lincolnshire
Camera: Olympus E-M10
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 20mm (40mm - 35mm equiv.) crop
F No: f4.3
Shutter Speed: 1/60 sec
ISO:400
Exposure Compensation: -0.3 EV
Image Stabilisation: On

The tarnished mirror pond

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The purpose of a mirror pond is to re-create, usually in a man-made stretch of water, some of the qualities that a natural lake or pond displays on a calm clear day when the surface is completely still. In those circumstances a near perfect reflection of the surroundings, after the manner of a mirror, is possible.

The creators of the English landscape garden sometimes made a mirror pond near to the country house as one of the features to which the owners and their guests could walk and admire. Frequently they also constructed something - a building, statues, a bridge etc - whose purpose was to be the object that was reflected. On a visit to Belton House, near Grantham, we went to look at the example there and were disappointed to find it "broken". Water plants with delicate white flowers that had colonised the mirror pond had broken through the surface, spoiling the reflection of the rusticated stone pavilion that had been placed at the end of the rectangle of water, tarnishing, as it were, the surface. This effect probably worked in winter when the plants were dormant, but the onset of spring had spurred their growth. The diligence of the National Trust staff who care for the grounds at Belton is everywhere apparent, so I will not be surprised to find on a future visit that the "polish" has been restored to the water's surface and a flawless reflection of the pavilion will be mirrored for all to see.

photograph and text © Tony Boughen

Photo Title: Mirror Pond, Belton House, Lincolnshire
Camera: Olympus E-M10
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 45mm (90mm - 35mm equiv.) crop
F No: f5.4
Shutter Speed: 1/100 sec
ISO:200
Exposure Compensation: -0.3 EV
Image Stabilisation: On

Pelargoniums and arches

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Even though the weather was heavily overcast and dull, and despite the fact that the pelargoniums were only starting rather than in full flower, it was inevitable that I would take this photograph. Why? Well, we favour this flower, in red, in our garden for the great effect that it has for such a small outlay, and the fact that it flowers for a long period and can withstand dry conditions. It brightens up our garages, the garden shed, outside our greenhouse and some of the borders. My favourite colour is a red/orange that isn't easy to find, and failing that I like a deep, strong red.

These examples are in some framing arches that are each side of a fountain at Belton House, near Grantham, in Lincolnshire. The plants go well with the old, lichen-encrusted stone, and even though the terracotta pots sit slightly awkwardly in the scalloped brackets, they brightened up a drab, unseasonally cold afternoon during our visit with some of our family.

photograph and text © Tony Boughen

Photo Title: Pelargoniums and Arxches, Belton House, Lincolnshire
Camera: Olympus E-M10
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 49mm (98mm - 35mm equiv.) crop
F No: f6.3
Shutter Speed: 1/125 sec
ISO:250
Exposure Compensation: -0.3 EV
Image Stabilisation: On

Belton Boathouse Pond

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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

Belton boat house

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I've long felt that the UK's country houses are largely stuffed with expensive tat, objects that serve no purpose other than to provide something on which the wealthy owners can spend their excess of money. Truly, shopping as a leisure activity didn't begin in in the malls of the second half of the twentieth century, but much earlier, on the Grand Tour and in the workshops of painters, wallpaper manufacturers, and craftsmen who decided that there was a living to be made parting the wealthy from their cash by selling them elaborate and ornate versions  of everyday articles, or specially created objects whose sole purpose was to be collected.

The last of the photographs I am showing from our visit to Belton House near Grantham, Lincolnshire, is a view of the boat house. This small building sits at the edge of a man-made lake that is surrounded by trees. Like much else at Belton it is more than it needs to be. However, it makes a nice eyecatcher in its location and doesn't quite scream "money" in the same way that the house does, even though it was designed by the notable architect, Anthony Salvin, in 1838-9 and is in the style of a Swiss chalet with fish-scale tiled roof and walls of basket-weave pargetting.

photo and text © Tony Boughen

Camera: Olympus E-M10
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 42mm (84mm - 35mm equiv.)
F No: f8
Shutter Speed: 1/125 sec
ISO:200
Exposure Compensation: -0.3 EV
Image Stabilisation: On

Enough is as good as a feast

click photo to enlarge
The purpose of our recent visit to Belton House, a National Trust property near Grantham in Lincolnshire, was to see the interior. On our first visit in January only the grounds were open to visitors.

As we wandered from room to room, taking in painting after painting, tapestries, elaborate furniture, ornate plasterwork, collections of objets d'art, hand-painted wallpaper, row upon row of books and the rest, I quickly felt sated and the title of today's blog post came to mind. The fact is, there was simply a superfluity of everything, and everything dripped opulence. I found myself wondering how many thousands of people had spent their lives in penury, scraping a living, hungry, dying before their time, so that the cosseted residents of this stately pile could agonise over whether to buy a Meissen figurine or one from Limoges, whether it was to be a Gobelins tapestry or one from a less prestigious source, or if walnut burr might look better than figured mahogany on the new console table.

I took a few interior photographs but was happier when we were outside once more. The gardens didn't induce the same state of mind and I took a couple of photographs of a statue that looked like Ceres, but without the stalks of wheat in her container. She was standing in some gravel surrounded by lavender in the Dutch Garden at the north side of the house. As it happens, today's title could also apply to the two photographs that I'm showing. I prefer the simpler shot over the wider angle view, even though it is a product of the foreshortening of my lens and not an image that occurs to the naked eye. On reflection, my feelings about this house may have been partly  influenced by the fact that in recent weeks we had visited two other National Trust properties that were on a smaller, more human scale. We are shortly going to see, for the second time, Southwell Workhouse. That should be a contrast!

photograph and text © Tony Boughen

Photo 1
Camera: Olympus E-M10
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 150mm (300mm - 35mm equiv.)
F No: f7.1
Shutter Speed: 1/500 sec
ISO:200
Exposure Compensation: -1.0 EV
Image Stabilisation: On

Belton House revisited

click photo to enlarge

I first visited Belton House, near Grantham, Lincolnshire, in January on a cold, bright day when the shadows were long, the grass was frosted and the man-made lakes were almost completely frozen over. I posted a couple of photographs from that visit, one that showed the distant north elevation of the house in black and white, and one of the deer park tree guards. The other day we returned for a second visit with a view to having a look inside the building.

Before we did that I managed to get a second shot of the exterior, this time the south elevation that looks across the deer park. The trees with their guards helped to frame the building and the fleeting sun that periodically appeared from behind well-figured clouds cast patches of light across the scene that gave it more interest than the flood-lighting of the sun on a south facade can achieve unaided. What is depicted in the photograph is James Wyatt's 1777-8 veneer of warm, honey-coloured Ancaster stone over a seventeenth century structure. It occurred to me as I examined this facade that it looks better from a distance where its massing impresses: when you are closer to the building the detailing is insufficient to keep your interest.

photograph and text © Tony Boughen

Camera: Olympus E-M10
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 14mm (28mm - 35mm equiv.)
F No: f5.6
Shutter Speed: 1/1000 sec
ISO:200
Exposure Compensation: -0.33 EV
Image Stabilisation: On

Belton House

click photo to enlarge
I recently went to Belton House for the first time. This large country house is now in the care of the National Trust and is open to the public. However, it being a Monday in January only the gardens and grounds were open so we didn't get to see the inside. On returning home I read a little about the building and was surprised by what I found.

Nikolaus Pevsner describes Belton as "perhaps the most satisfying among the later C17 houses in England". I can only think that he is referring to the interiors because the exterior is decidedly eighteenth century in style and fact, the whole having been given, as Pevsner says, "the facelift of 1777-8 by James Wyatt". The neat stonework and layout of the south front can only be described, to my mind, as ordinary. And the fact that the north front is very similar, a couple of details notwithstanding, doesn't help. The "H" plan hints at the seventeenth century underpinnings, but to the casual observer the building wears an eighteenth century face interesting only for its lack of interest.

For much of our visit the sun lit the south front like a floodlight, good for showing off the warm stone, but bad for modelling the architecture. This view of the facade that overlooks the formal gardens appealed more with its surface patina due to the reduced light. I particularly liked the way the building sits in its carefully planned surroundings. As I took today's distant view of that elevation I had an idea that it would make a good candidate for conversion to black and white: the smooth, frosty grass, silhouetted trees, and the building's chimneyed and towered shape under a lightly figured sky all suggested it, and I'm quite pleased with the outcome.

photograph and text © Tony Boughen

Camera: Nikon D5300
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 22mm (33mm - 35mm equiv.)
F No: f8
Shutter Speed: 1/320 sec
ISO:100
Exposure Compensation: -0.33 EV
Image Stabilisation: On

The taste of deer

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Yesterday I was thinking about the taste of deer. We visited the National Trust-owned stately home of Belton House, near Grantham, Lincolnshire. Part of the extensive grounds surrounding the seventeenth and eighteenth century house is a deer park and the taste of deer was prompted by the sight of the large guards round the younger trees where the deer roamed.

By the "taste of deer" I don't mean to allude to the flavour of venison, but rather, the liking of deer for particular kinds of tree bark - the reason for those guards in today's photograph. I had remembered reading, a while ago, that some species of tree bark were favoured over others. A little research turned up the list I'd seen. Apparently, though preferences vary according to deer species, the availability of other food, season and the type of site, as far as bark stripping (as opposed to leaf browsing) goes certain trees are more sought after. Willow, ash and rowan top the list followed by aspen, lodgepole pine, beech, Norway spruce and other species. There seemed to be a variety of trees protected by guards at Belton, and the fallow deer that make up the park herd had clearly been kept at bay by the steel and wood guards. Some mature trees, however, particularly beech, showed a distinct "browse line". This was where the shoots that commonly cluster at the base of the trunk had been eaten but were untouched higher up.

I spotted this shot as we drove into the grounds and walked back to take it before the sun got any higher and the silhouettes and colours were less strong and the frost had melted.

photograph and text © Tony Boughen

Camera: Nikon D5300
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 56mm (84mm - 35mm equiv.)
F No: f7.1
Shutter Speed: 1/250 sec
ISO:100
Exposure Compensation: -0.33 EV
Image Stabilisation: On