Light on the river

click photo to enlarge
I find September light very alluring. It retains (almost) the brightness of July and August, but combines it with the deeper shadows of an autmn month. In the evening it has a yellower tint than in the summer months. All this is, of course, a result of the sun being lower in the sky, and explains my preference for spring and autumn as the best months (in the UK at least) for photography.

Today's photograph illustrates the above. I took the shot from a bridge over the River Bain in the Lincolnshire town of Horncastle. It's not much of a river, neither particularly deep nor wide. However, the town is built at the confluence of two rivers and the combined flow after periods of particularly heavy rain has, in the past, resulted in quite serious flooding in the lower lying built-up areas.On the day of my photograph the flow was unremarkable. But, lit by a the golden light of September, and combined with the silhouettes of overhanging leaves, the reflection of the sky and foliage, and the ripples on its surface, it caught my eye and I took this semi-abstract photograph. I call it that because the image is as much about the colours, tones and textures as it is the nominal subject.

photograph and text © Tony Boughen

Camera: Olympus E-M10
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 150mm (300mm - 35mm equiv.)
F No: f8
Shutter Speed: 1/1250 sec
ISO:200
Exposure Compensation: -0.7
Image Stabilisation: On

Scaffolding

click photo to enlarge
The first photograph I ever took of scaffolding is probably the best I've taken of this subject. It appears on PhotoQuoto, a minimalist blog that I started when paid work got a bit too hectic for the fuller posts of PhotoReflect. It shows workmen maintaining a roller-coaster ride in the Lancashire resort of Blackpool.

Ever since that time I've looked out for more examples of this subject and you might wonder why. The fact is, I like the way that the apparently haphazard (though actually carefully and rationally constructed) tracery of steelwork transforms a building. I particularly like it when the complication of lines is doubled by shadows produced by the sun - it sometimes looks like angular scribble laid across the building's surface.

The example in today's photograph shows scaffolding on the main elevation of the old Court House in Horncastle, Lincolnshire. This building has, for many years, been used as offices for various local authority organisations. I read recently that it was scheduled to be turned into flats and perhaps that is the reason for the scaffolding in my photograph. It's good that this prominent building built in 1865 by C. Reeves in the Italianate style, will continue to serve the town.

I converted the colour photograph to black and white and increased the contrast to emphasise the lines of the both the scaffolding and the building.

photograph and text © Tony Boughen

Camera: Olympus E-M10
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 18mm (36mm - 35mm equiv.)
F No: f5.6
Shutter Speed: 1/1250 sec
ISO:200
Exposure Compensation: 0
Image Stabilisation: On

Antiques down the ages

click photo to enlarge
There was a time when we regularly visited auctions and took an interest in the windows of antique shops. We were younger then, starting out in life, and the prospect of a bargain buy of an old piece of furniture to add to our home was something that appealed to us. In fact, we still have several of those purchases today including a lacquered and painted bamboo table, a chest of drawers, and some jade elephants. We retain them because they have served us well down the decades

I was reflecting on antiques the other day when we were in the Lincolnshire town of Horncastle. This is a place that has specialised in antique shops - it has many. Did antiques, I wondered, appeal to us more because we were younger? Did the age and character of the pieces offer us something that contemporary pieces didn't (apart from, usually, a better price)? In recent decades I believe that antiques have generally become less desirable than they were. They are not something I would go out of my way to buy today. But then, I have all the furniture I need, and am likely to need, so from our perspective that is certainly a difference from our younger years.

But, even though I'm not in the market for antiques, old habits die hard and I still have an occasional look at them through shop windows, on pavements, in yards, or wherever else they are displayed. Today's photograph shows a collection of pieces in a narrow yard at the side of a Horncastle antique shop. This section of the jumble of pots, statues, tiles, plants etc made a pleasing composition, and sepia with a vignette seemed a good way to present the shot.

photograph and text © Tony Boughen

Camera: Nikon D5300
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 52mm (78mm - 35mm equiv.)
F No: f8
Shutter Speed: 1/250 sec
ISO:100
Exposure Compensation: -0.33 EV
Image Stabilisation: On

Deserted streets and old photographs

click photo to enlarge
One of the characteristics of old photographs of country towns and villages is the relative absence of people and vehicles. In particular, the motor cars that are everywhere today are noticeable by their absence. Old photographs of that sort give us a feel for what we have surrendered to the motor vehicle's relentless growth and spread. Of course not all old photographs have this characteristic. City shots taken in the second half of the Victorian period frequently teem with life - people, horses, carriages and carts, sometimes livestock on its way to market or slaughter. But in the smaller settlements a typical shot has no one, or perhaps just a few people, often standing still, gazing with interest at the camera as the photographer records that moment in time.

A few days ago I was in the small Lincolnshire town of Horncastle. As I walked along West Street, a main thoroughfare at the edge of the centre of the settlement, I gazed at the Victorian, Georgian and older buildings that line the way. As is the case in quite a few towns in this eastern county, they have not been "messed about with" too much, and still display much of the character that they adopted when first built. Looking at the scene I mentally took out the roof aerials, street lights and the tarmac road with its markings. As I was doing so an amazing thing happened. The vehicles that had been passing singly and in groups stopped appearing. For a minute or so West Street became deserted and I seemed to step back in time to about one hundred and fifty years ago. I took my shot of the empty road. When I came to process it on the computer I only needed to convert it to black and white to complete the illusion.

photograph and text © Tony Boughen

Camera: Sony RX100
Mode: iAuto
Focal Length: 28.8mm (78mm - 35mm equiv.)
F No: f5.6
Shutter Speed: 1/250
ISO: 160
Exposure Compensation:  0 EV
Image Stabilisation: On

Weddings then and now

click photo to enlarge

On Wednesday 29th July 1981 we put our two year old son into the seat on the back of our tandem bicycle, and, with panniers full of food, drink, baby sundries, camera and a copy of Pevsner's, "The Buildings of England: Lincolnshire", we set off from our house in the city of Kingston upon Hull to cycle across the Humber Bridge and explore the countryside and medieval churches of North Lincolnshire. That day was not quite like any other day for two reasons: firstly it was an extra Bank Holiday and most people had a day off work, and secondly, in London a wedding was taking place - that of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer. It was with the avoidance of the publicity, euphoria, TV and radio coverage, street parties and the rest of the hoopla associated with that event that two committed republicans (and their son) chose to spend their day in this way.

Today is the day of another royal wedding, but this time I have no all-day excursion by bicycle or any other form of transport planned. That's not because my advancing years have turned me into a monarchist eager to gawp at the TV coverage as I wave my Made in China Union flag. No, this time I'll be tending the garden, doing a few domestic chores and tidying up after having spent a few days away from home.

During my recent trip I stopped briefly in Horncastle. This small Lincolnshire town is generally known for two things: firstly, it was a Roman town, and secondly, today it has more than the average number of antique shops. The latter are a variety of establishments that cater for a wide range of pockets. My photograph shows one in a nineteenth century bulding that looks like it has seen better days. However, the owner had brightened up the faded paintwork and crumbling masonry with a royal wedding display featuring flags, flowers and champagne. The other window showed a few wares for sale and evidence of political allegiance in the form of a poster urging people to vote for an Independent candidate. I took my photograph of the facade and moved on, and as I did so reflected that I hope anyone whose wedding is on 29th April 2011 has a long and happy marriage. And, from my republican standpoint, if the newlyweds happen to be a future king and queen perhaps they'd like to consider the probably beneficial effects of abdication on their marital bliss!

photograph and text (c) T. Boughen

Camera: Canon
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 40mm
F No: f8
Shutter Speed: 1/30
ISO: 125
Exposure Compensation:  -0.33 EV
Image Stabilisation: On

Building restoration

click photo to enlarge

It would be quite easy to fill several shelves of a library with books about the repair and restoration of historic buildings. Within the architectural profession this kind of work has become something of a specialism with some individuals and firms doing it to the exclusion, pretty much, of anything else. One of the aims of architectural restoration is to conserve the original structure as far as is possible. This is sometimes not possible because the ravages of time can make stone, timber, tiles, in fact whole sections of buildings, unsafe and beyond repair. In such cases sensitive replacement becomes the aim, either following the design of what was originally there, or with modern work that sits harmoniously alongside the original. In the U.K. work on historic buildings is subject to a number of pieces of legislation that have the effect of protecting our built heritage, and allowing us to see old buildings very much as our forefathers saw them.

Last year I was talking to a Yorkshire Dales farmer about a stone-built barn that I have known all my life. It originally dates from the seventeenth century though it received some modification in the nineteenth century. Fifty years and more ago I saw this barn standing alone in its field by the river. Today it has a small cluster of corrugated metal and timber barns next to it. Yet, because the building is "listed" and subject to laws about what can and cannot be done with the structure, it still looks pretty much as it always has done. In fact, when the stonework was recently pointed it had to be done with a traditional lime mortar to maintain its original form and appearance.

Given all that, what are we to make of this section of the west wall of the tower of the church of St Mary at Horncastle in Lincolnshire? This structure, like most of the church, is made mainly of green Spilsby sandstone. As a building material this "greenstone" leaves a lot to be desired because it weathers, rots and flakes relatively rapidly. However, when this section of wall was built in the 1200s it was the best locally available stone, certainly striking to look at, and its longevity (or lack of it) was probably not known. The light green and dark green stone in the photograph are new and older pieces. However, as this photograph shows, the original builders also included pieces of brown sandstone and occasional lumps that verge on the ruddy and tan. Consequently the restoration of the crumbling tower wall has followed the same pattern. The reason it looks so multicoloured is because the weather has yet to subdue the brightness of the newer stone. I liked the patchwork effect and the decidedly odd appearance, one that I have never seen on any other church, and so took this shot of it.

photograph and text (c) T. Boughen

Camera: Canon
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 60mm
F No: 7.1
Shutter Speed: 1/50
ISO: 500
Exposure Compensation: 0 EV
Image Stabilisation: On