Seeing what I see

click photos to enlarge

Due to my power supply failure I've been publishing blog posts from my second computer for several days now. When I've been looking at earlier posts produced on my main computer I've become very aware of the slight but significant difference in the way many images appear. My main computer is calibrated with an electronic device made for the purpose. The computer I'm currently using isn't. I could calibrate it, I suppose, but then I'd have to go through the process of adjusting my screen again when I receive and install my new power supply. And, to be blunt, calibration is a real pain, something that I do reasonably regularly anyway, and the prospect of doing it again unnecessarily doesn't appeal to me.

The upshot is, some of my earlier posts have "blown" areas in them when viewed on this machine, and I suppose those prepared on this machine will appear to be a touch dark when I get back to viewing them on my main computer. Does that matter? Well, yes and no. It matters to me in that I want to prepare photographs to the best of my ability and in the way that suits me. However, I have always been aware that other people viewing them on their computers may or may not have their screen calibrated and consequently may or may not see what I see regardless of whether or not I calibrate my computer. Even those with a calibrated machine may not see them quite as I see them, such are the dark arts of of this process.

All of which is my way of saying that if you detect a deterioration in the quality of my photographs that may account for it. On the other hand they may look better for you and you could be wondering what on earth I'm talking about! And with that remark I'll be quiet and say that today's trio of shots of St Helen, Brant Broughton, Lincolnshire, show the exterior and interior of a church, the architecture of which, I hold in high regard. I've posted a couple of images of this church before (this roof and this tower vaulting), and if you'd like to know more about the building have a look at those earlier posts.

photograph and text (c) T. Boughen

Photo 1
Camera: Canon
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 27mm
F No: f7.1
Shutter Speed: 1/400 sec
ISO: 100
Exposure Compensation:  -0.67 EV
Image Stabilisation: On

Church tower vaulting

click photo to enlarge

One could be forgiven for thinking that the purpose of stone roof vaulting in Romanesque and Gothic churches is to turn the eyes of the congregation upwards to heaven. As far as the beautification of the vaulting goes, that must certainly be so. The effect of all those angels, foliate bosses, stellar rib patterns, and grimacing faces is to draw the eye and cause the brain to wonder. However, the underlying reason for vaulting is purely structural. It is a framework that distributes load from above a void (chancel, nave, transepts, tower or porch) to the surrounding walls. Initally, during the Norman period, rounded arches were used and the area that could be bridged was relatively narrow. The development, in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries of the pointed arch increased the width that stone vaults could span, reduced the amount of material needed, and led to more elaborate rib vaulting patterns.

For the past forty years, ever since I was bitten by an interest in church architecture, I've been fascinated by vaulting. I've posted quite a few photographs of it in naves, chancels and crossings, such as this example at Pershore Abbey, and this fan vaulting at Peterborough Cathedral. But the one type of vaulting that I particularly like is that found under the tower of a church. Perhaps it is the radial symmetry that appeals to me, or the concentrated nature of the patterns that are used. Whatever it is, I've posted quite a few shots featuring tower vaulting. In this post showing the vault at Morton, Lincolnshire, I elaborated on my fascination. In another I compared the tower vaulting to be found at Louth (Lincolnshire) and Ludlow (Shropshire). Other examples I've blogged about are those at Peterborough, Ely, and Boston.

If you've looked at the links quoted you are forgiven for wondering what it is that's different about today's example from Brant Broughton, Lincolnshire. Well, as ever, the particular radiating pattern is unique, especially since it doesn't have axial symmetry from all sides. Another difference is the widely spaced paterae (stylized  foliage elements) on the corner ribs. But, it isn't the subject itself that is the principle reason for my posting this photograph, rather it is the photograph itself and the way that it mimics a watercolour sketch. I haven't processed the shot much, and my noise suppression was minimal. These are both factors that can give a watercolour quality to an image. Here, however, the effect comes from the way the brighter light at the edges makes it look like thinned paint at the edge of a rough draft painting, and the close striations on the stonework that resemble underlying pencilwork.

Incidentally, through the tower arch can be glimpsed the painted angel roof of the nave that was the subject of this blog post in 2009.

photograph and text (c) T. Boughen

Camera: Lumix LX3
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 5.1mm (24mm/35mm equiv.)
F No: f2
Shutter Speed: 1/30
ISO: 80
Exposure Compensation: -0.33 EV
Image Stabilisation: On

Brant Broughton's angel roof

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When Canon Frederick Heathcote Sutton was appointed to the church of St Helen, Brant Broughton, Lincolnshire, in 1873, he became rector of one of the county's finest medieval churches. Its elegant 198 feet tall tower and spire date from the fourteenth century and is a landmark for many miles around, a perfectly proportioned testament to the aesthetic sensibilities of the medieval masons. Elsewhere the church is richly and thoughtfully constructed with vaulted porches to the north and south, fine carvings including green men and very individual gargoyles, elaborate window tracery, and ball-flower ornament decorating edges and surfaces across the building.

Many newly appointed churchmen of the last quarter of the nineteenth century would have set about making essential repairs to the building, concentrating on conserving the beauty of what was there. Others would have seen it as an opportunity to impose a Victorian aesthetic on the structure. Canon Sutton, being of the Anglo-Catholic persuasion, took it upon himself to do both! And, in general, he did a very good job too. He was helped in this by having the good sense to appoint Bodley & Garner as architects to help formulate and execute his vision. To that end they took down the Georgian chancel and rebuilt it in a Victorian Gothic that fits well with the original medieval work. The church furnishings were replaced and renovated, and stained glass designed by the Rector himself was made for the windows. Bodley was busy with one of his masterpieces, Hoar Cross, at the same time as he worked on Brant Broughton, and something of the opulence of the Staffordshire building is seen in St Helen's.

Today's photograph shows the fifteenth century angel roof at Brant Broughton. Bodley restored it and then had it repainted using the colour scheme that was still detectable through fragments of paint in the wood. To our modern eyes the rich colours go well with the stone of the window tracery and walls. However, there are those who regret that some of the older limewash and render was removed from the walls by Bodley and Sutton to give the walls the scraped, more austere, "natural" feel that was felt to be suitable at the time. I have two methods of taking photographs of church roofs from directly below. One is to lie on my back with the camera pressed tightly to my face; the other is to use a tripod. This image was secured using the second approach!

See another of my images of an angel roof, with a quite different architectural treatment, here.

photograph & text (c) T. Boughen

Camera: Olympus E510
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 11mm (22mm/44mm equiv.)
F No: f2.8
Shutter Speed: 1/50 seconds
ISO: 100
Exposure Compensation: -1.0 EV
Image Stabilisation: On