Flags, Upton-upon-Severn

click photo to enlarge
We popped into Upton-upon Severn in Worcestershire recently and found the small, riverside town had been taken over by flags and flowers. The flags, I suppose, were still flying in honour of Queen Elizabeth's 90th birthday - at least the dominance of the Union flag and a flag with the royal coat of arms suggested that was the case. Anyone who has kept up with this blog will know that I'm not a royalist so it is conceivable that some other day or date of royal significance has occurred but passed me by.

The flowers were mainly - as far as I could see - in the vicinity of the streets by the River Severn, though they were in significant numbers elsewhere too as the photo above shows. Volunteers were setting out large tubs of begonias and other brightly coloured blooms. I noticed a poster proclaiming that the town was a Britain in Bloom 2016 Finalist so I imagine that they were preparing for the arrival of some of the judges.

The combination of flags and flowers certainly made the town much more colourful than the brick and plaster of the old buildings usually achieve alone and for this architecture enthusiast they made it difficult to capture the photographs that I had in mind. However, the flags and people on this street made for a shot that gives a flavour of a small English town displaying both its patriotism and its pride.

photograph and text © Tony Boughen

Photo Title: Flags, Upton-upon-Severn, Worcestershire
Camera: Olympus E-M10
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 36mm (72mm - 35mm equiv.) crop
F No: f7.1
Shutter Speed: 1/800 sec
ISO:200
Exposure Compensation: -0.3 EV
Image Stabilisation: On

Seeing stairs

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One of the pleasures of photography and looking at photographs is the way they can help you to see better; how they can focus your attention on form, colour, line etc in a way that augments your unaided eye. Very frequently I look at a photograph that I have taken and notice not only small details that had escaped my eye when it alone confronted a subject, but also fundamental qualities that had similarly passed me by.

Today's photograph shows the turn of some stairs in Croome Court, a large, eighteenth century country house in Worcestershire, now in the care of the National Trust. I took the photograph in this particular way for two reasons. Firstly a wider angle shot taking in much more of the stairs picked up clutter and extraneous objects that detracted from the elegance of the stairs themselves. And secondly that shot would not have emphasised the way the stairs turn and the devices the architect used to make this a visually satisfying sight. In fact, this is another example of the part being more expressive of the subject than the whole. I liked the combination of subtle colours with the stark white. I liked the way the dado rail traced a line on the wall that echoes the bannister of the stairs. I liked the wrought iron detail of every third baluster. I liked the horizontal "S" profile of the edge of each step. But, what I didn't notice, until I looked at my photograph, was the way that "S" shape produces a section that stretches across the underside of each step and produces subtly shaded modelling and a strong, contrasting line where it meets the wall. And I like that too.

photograph and text © Tony Boughen

Camera: Nikon D5300
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 40mm (60mm - 35mm equiv.)
F No: f5
Shutter Speed: 1/60 sec
ISO:5600
Exposure Compensation: -0.33 EV
Image Stabilisation: On

1941 Austin K2 YMCA Tea Van

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What, you might ask, is a 1941 Austin K2 YMCA Tea van doing in the grounds of Croome Court, a mid-eighteenth century Palladian mansion? The fact is, what looks out of place is actually perfectly located because during WW2 this building and its extensive grounds were an adjunct of the nearby airbase called RAF Defford.

The airmen and civilian staff who received refreshments from such vehicles were involved with the Wellingon bombers of No. 23 Operational Training Unit. Members of the Radar Research Flying Unit worked here and had notable success in the development of airborne interception systems for night fighters. Air-to-surface-vessel radar that was a significant factor in the successful targeting of U-boats in the Battle of the Atlantic was also worked on at the site. The National Trust, who now look after Croome Court have developed the house's RAF connection in its presentation of the site to visitors. My shot was taken from beneath a large, military canvas awning over a metal frame where picnic tables had been set out!

During the war the Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes (NAAFI), a government organisation, provided most of the clubs, bars, shops, cafes, restaurants and other social facilities for the armed forces. However, these were supplemented by a number of civilian bodies such as the Women's Institute, the Salvation Army, the Women's Voluntary Service (WVS), the YMCA and local church groups. This vehicle has been painted as it would have been when in the service of the YMCA. Interestingly, this particular example was found in the Netherlands where it appears to have been left at the end of the war. It was bought and brought to Croome for restoration and eventual display, though it does more than just sit there and look interesting. The interior has been fitted out with a tea urn and electricity so that refreshments can still be served from its hatch, though this time to visitors to the house.

photograph and text © Tony Boughen

Photo 1
Camera: Nikon D5300
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 56mm (84mm - 27mm equiv.)
F No: f5.6
Shutter Speed: 1/125 sec
ISO:100
Exposure Compensation: -0.33 EV
Image Stabilisation: On

Rotundas

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I've often thought that the designers of the temples of classical antiquity would be horrified by the uses to which their designs were put during the Renaissance. I've seen Greek and Roman style porticos attached to decidedly secular buildings - banks, libraries, railway stations, theatres, even greenhouses. The eighteenth and nineteenth century architects and builders of England's grand country houses took enormous liberties with temple styling turning it to the main and subsidiary facades of their houses, featuring it in the stable blocks and orangeries, and using small "temples" as eyecatchers in the landscape, locations that enhanced the view and provided a destination for a short walk and, perhaps, a picnic.

Today's photograph shows the Rotunda at Croome Court, a Georgian country house in Worcestershire. This round type of building was commonly used during this period, being thought to derive from the two thousand year old Pantheon in Rome, a temple with a rotunda and an affixed portico. I've seen many rotundas in England serving, mainly, as mausoleums and eyecatchers. The latter use was the purpose of this example. It was built by either the landscape architect, Capability Brown, or the architect, Robert Adam. Both have their supporters; I lean towards the Adam. Croome Court's rotunda has, like the main house and the other buildings in the landscape, undergone sensitive restoration, and today it is the paying visitor, rather than owners of the house, who enjoy a stroll to its location on the summit of a low ridge, overlooking the nearby parkland.

photograph and text © T. Boughen

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

Using photographic effects sparingly

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There's a place in photography for effects, that is to say, the post-exposure (or in-exposure) manipulation of an image away from what the camera ordinarily offers. Photography has never been about recording "reality" but rather a form of a reality as mediated by the photographic process. Consequently, any further manipulation should properly be seen as an addition to already existing manipulation rather than the adulteration of some kind of pure vision.

But, and its a big but, though effects have their place, they are much more effective (pun intended) if they are used sparingly, and we are very familiar with straightforward photographs. There's an analogy here with swearing: if it happens every other sentence the effect of the forbidden word is much less effective. If it's reserved for just the right occasion then it can have a very big impact. At least that's my view - on photographic effects and swearing. By extension, my view of Instagram and similar services is that eventually they dull the vision of its users and create a desire for ever wilder photographic effects.

My way of using effects is to wait until I have a photograph that looks like it could wear one well. Today's shot of an antique shop in Great Malvern, Worcestershire, had that appearance so it had a vignette, tonal contrast, a brown "grunge" cast and a few other things thrown at it. To my eye it pushes a photograph that advertises only through the phone number and the burglar alarm box that it resides in the twentieth or twenty-first century, back to somewhere in the grubby nineteenth century.

© Tony Boughen

Camera: Nikon D5300
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 27mm (40mm - 35mm equiv.)
F No: f8
Shutter Speed: 1/80 sec
ISO:100
Exposure Compensation: -0.33 EV
Image Stabilisation: On

The colours of stone

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One of the pleasures of visiting medieval churches is not only admiring what the medieval masons and sculptors did with the stone, but appreciating their choice of stone. "Country" stone, that is to say the local stone, is the choice of many churches for obvious reasons. However, churches in areas lacking building stone as well as larger buildings such as abbeys and cathedrals frequently sourced specialist stone from more distant locations - perhaps Caen in France, the isle of Portland, or the quarries at Barnack, or at Ancaster in Lincolnshire..

Time always shows whether builders chose well. I've seen churches with stone that has been crumbling for centuries and others where the mark of axe, saw and chisel are almost as clear as the day the block was first shaped. But, good building stone was not always available and the masons had to make do with what was supplied. Sometimes the local discolourations of a stone mean that the building takes on a patchwork hue, especially when a restorer has sourced original stone with which to make repairs. This example at Horncastle in Lincolnshire exemplifies that.

At Great Malvern Priory in Worcestershire multiple hues are evident in the stonework of the fine tower. The reds, browns, greys and creams reflect the geology of the area. The number of colours is multiplied by fresh-looking replacements sitting next to worn and weathered pieces and is complemented on the north side by the green of lichen. The colours greatly add to the charm of the building. I noted them the first time I visited the building fifteen or so years ago, and I determined to photograph them on a visit we made the other day.

© Tony Boughen

Camera: Nikon D5300
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 122mm (183mm - 35mm equiv.)
F No: f8
Shutter Speed: 1/200 sec
ISO:250 Exposure Compensation: -0.33 EV
Image Stabilisation: On

Ringing chambers, platforms and floors

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English church bell ringing of the most common variety, usually known as change ringing, began in the 1600s with one of the earliest ringing societies, the Lincoln Cathedral Guild, dating from 1612. English church bells usually number 6 or 8, though there may be be fewer or more, and are located in the bell chamber at the top of the tower. They are not struck by hammers, but have an internal clapper that strikes the bell when it is rotated by a rope attached to a wheel. Below the bell chamber there is sometimes a room known as the sound chamber. The bell ropes pass through this room, which often holds the church clock mechanism, to a ringing chamber below. Bell ringers stand in the ringing chamber to pull the ropes that sound the bells. A very long distance between the bell and the person ringing is usually avoided because the ropes stretch making control more difficult. Where the church has a west tower there are often floors dividing the chambers described above. Crossing towers, however, are frequently vaulted, though some west towers are too. Where this is the case then bells are often rung from ground level with long bell ropes, but another solution is to install a ringing platform.

Today's main photograph shows one of the most hair-raising locations for bell ringing anywhere in the country. In Pershore Abbey, Worcestershire, a platform has been constructed 72 feet above the floor of the tower. To get to their places the ringers have to climb two stone spiral staircases, pass along a walkway through the roof, then negotiate a narrow passage and finally descend an iron "cage staircase" above the void below. The latter can be seen to the right of the bottom arm of the cross in the photograph. The central square is the suspended timber ringing platform where the campanologists do their work.


The photograph of the bottom of the tower of All Saints church at Holbeach, Lincolnshire, shows a different approach to the construction of a ringing platform. Here a more substantial structure  has been constructed, supported from the floor, and doubling as the roof of a small café at the base of the tower. The fact that the tower is not too tall has made this solution possible. The etched glass doors and windows add interest to the conception. The loss of the view of the west window is regrettable but inevitable.

Today's third photograph shows what happens in a tall church tower when no ringing chamber or platform is available. The bell ropes (also called the "pull") of Croyland Abbey, Lincolnshire, are thought to be the longest in England. Apparently four sets of rope guides are necessary to keep them in the required places. Interestingly, Croyland Abbey had one of England's early tuned peals. In the early tenth century Abbot Turketyl had a great bell cast. It was named "Guthlac", after St Guthlac, the abbey's founder. Abbot Egelric (975-984) had six more made to complete the tuned peal. These were named Bartholomew, Beccelm, Turketyl, Tatwin, Pega and Bega. This YouTube video clip shows the bells of Croyland Abbey being rung.

photograph and text © Tony Boughen

Photo 1
Camera: Lumix LX3
Mode: Intelligent Auto
Focal Length: 5.1mm (24mm/35mm equiv.)
F No: f2
Shutter Speed: 1/30
ISO: 320
Exposure Compensation: -0.66 EV
Image Stabilisation: On

Morris dancing and historical fiction

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One of the most pleasant ways to learn a little history is through good fictional writing. I'm not a particular fan of the historical novel. However, Patrick O'Brian's naval series about Captain Jack Aubrey and the surgeon/spy, Stephen Maturin, enthralled me and taught me a lot about the British navy of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Enough, in fact to prompt me to buy and read an authoritative history of the period, N. A. M. Rodger's "The Command of the Ocean: A Naval History of Britain 1649-1815".

Similarly, the novels of Thomas Hardy are a good source of the life of rural England in the nineteenth century - both of the poor and the middle classes. I will always remember being introduced, in "The Return of the Native", to the figure of Diggory Venn, the "reddle man", a lone, itinerant worker who mixed and supplied the dye that farmers used to mark the sheep of their flocks. In the same book Hardy remarks that the genuine survival of a tradition can be distinguished from a revival by the level of enthusiasm of the performers: those who carry on a tradition through obligation will not show the same enthusiasm and enjoyment as those who participate voluntarily in a revival of an ancient tradition. Whether Hardy was right or not it is interesting to apply his thinking to the two photographs above. They show the dancers and musicians of a Morris group from Kent performing at a gathering in Pershore, Worcestershire.

photograph and text (c) T. Boughen

Photo 1 (Photo 2)
Camera: Olympus E510
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 13mmmm (26mm/35mm equiv.)(70mm (140mm/35mm equiv.))
F No: f6.3
Shutter Speed: 1/640 (1/250)
ISO: 100
Exposure Compensation: -0.7 EV
Image Stabilisation: On

Pershore Abbey vaulting

click photo to enlarge
I think that Gothic vaulting is one of mankind's most inspired creations. Down the ages people have sought to produce objects that combine the twin virtues of beauty and function; in fact designers and architects strive daily to achieve it. Yet despite our greater knowledge, our computers, universities and professional organisations, the work of medieval masons, people who learned from their peers, is the equal of, and often surpasses, anything that we produce today.

The vaulting in today's photograph was erected about 1290-1300. It is in what is known as the Early English style, and is an interesting and unique example. The architectural historian, Nikolaus Pevsner describes it thus: "It consists of transverse arches, diagonal ribs, ridge-ribs, one pair of tiercerons to N(orth) and S(outh), but in addition lierne-ribs forming a kind of scissors movement: open-closed, open-closed, all along." Look at vaulting anywhere else, and you won't see anything quite like it. Pershore has, to quote Pevsner again, "pleasant confusion." The purposes of the vaulting arches is, of course, to transfer the weight of the roof outwards to the columns, piers and walls. Pointed Gothic arches of the thirteenth and subsequent centuries do this better than the earlier, rounded arches of the Romanesque period, and consequently allow wider spaces to be roofed.

The carved stone bosses at the intersections of the vaulting ribs are ornamental (each is a different design), but also functional in that they cover the joins. What prompted me to take this shot (apart from the beauty of the vaulting) was the fact that the roof was lit whilst the lower part of the building wasn't. The orange warmth of the electric light contrasted with, but also complemented, the colder blue daylight shining through the windows, and added to the scene's attraction.

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: 250
Exposure Compensation: -0.66 EV
Image Stabilisation: On

The "Leafing Through History" sculpture

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I'm a fan of public sculpture. In fact, I am so in favour of it that I'd rather see mediocre public sculpture than none at all. At its best a good piece interests, challenges, excites and intrigues. It adds something positive to its location. At its worst it is an eyesore, a feature that degrades the place where it stands. This much I've said elsewhere in the blog. I've also added that street furniture - seating, railings, etc - that try to combine utility and the aesthetic qualities of sculpture rarely work. What I haven't articulated previously, however, is my general dislike of modern, public wood sculpture. This is often "environmentally" themed, featuring wild animals, birds, and plants, and frequently has a "rustic" finish. I've seen an example that combines the above with the function of a path-side seat; one that was uncomfortable at the best of times, and unusable when damp (i.e. for much of the year).

Consequently, when I come across a good example of the genre I often take a photograph of it. That happened during my recent visit to Pershore in Worcestershire. Today's photographs show the two sides of a sculpture of part of the trunk of a beech tree next to Pershore Abbey (enlarge the smaller of these two recent images to see the context). It is called, "Leafing Through History", and was carved in 2007 by Tom Harvey. This much I know from the accompanying plaque. It appears to represent the act of reading about the past, or is about the past itself, and has wildlife - a fox, butterflies, flowers - a tree, and the sun and moon as a backdrop to the figures. The piece is unusual, in my experience, by being carved from the upper part of a tree trunk that is still anchored in the ground. More than that though, the under-cutting is much deeper than is usually the case these days, and that gives much deeper shadows and better formed subjects. And the composition is more inventive: too often the sculpture retains the "lumpiness" of the original piece of wood and is more in the nature of a relief than a sculpture. That is certainly not the case here. Of the two faces I admire the complex composition, but prefer the single hooded figure. Is it meant to represent one of the monks of the adjacent abbey? Is it Robin Hood having a literary break from robbing the rich and giving to the poor? I don't know. But, I do like the way the figure seems to grow, organically, out of the tree, and that was what I aimed to capture in my photograph.

photographs and text (c) T. Boughen

Photo 1 (Photo 2)
Camera: Olympus E510
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 33mm (66mm/35mm equiv.) (25mm (50mm/35mm equiv.))
F No: f6.3
Shutter Speed: 1/00 (1/250)
ISO: 100
Exposure Compensation: -0.7 (-0.3) EV
Image Stabilisation: On

Pershore Abbey

click photos to enlarge

We've entered the time of year when photography can be somewhat restricted by the brightness of the middle of the day. From about mid-June to somewhere approaching the end of August the period between about 11.00am and 3.30pm often presents difficulties when photographing landscapes. If the sun is out it is high and bright, the shadows are short and deep, and vegetation reflects the light, resulting in de-saturated colours. As a rule good images are easier to acquire when they are taken before and after these times. But, in photography, as in life, rules are for the guidance of wise men and the obedience of fools, and you have to use your photographic judgement because it is certainly possible to find an image in this "dead" period of the day and year.

Today's main photograph was taken at 3.00pm on 20th June. I was shooting pretty much against the very bright sunlight, so that considerably more of the building than I would normally want was in shadow: consequently the modelling wasn't too good. However, the sky was great! Feathery wisps of cloud were scattered about the deep blue, and I knew that a red filter would emphasise them when converted to black and white.

The church is the former abbey at Pershore in Worcestershire. This building, originally an Anglo-Saxon foundation, rebuilt c.1100, and extended in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, was severely reduced in size at the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1539. The monastic outbuildings were destroyed and the nave and Lady Chapel were taken down completely. The north transept subsequently collapsed and in 1686 the crossing tower had to have supports constructed on that side. An east apse (shown in the photograph) was built in 1847. There was a general restoration in 1862-5 and in the early twentieth century when two massive flying buttresses (dated 1913) were placed against the tower to help to hold it in position (see smaller photograph). The remaining building is, in the words of the church's website, "very much a broken building". However, it is not without interest and definitely has an "ugly duckling" charm.

photograph and text (c) T. Boughen

Main Image
Camera: Olympus E510
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 14mm (28mm/35mm equiv.)
F No: f5.6
Shutter Speed: 1/1000
ISO: 100
Exposure Compensation: -1.0 EV
Image Stabilisation: On

South Chapel, St Lawrence, Evesham

click photo to enlarge

Today's photograph shows the south chapel of the church of St Lawrence in Evesham, Worcestershire. It was built in the early 1500s as a chantry, and today holds the building's font. It is a beautiful, well-lit space, with a fine fan-vaulted roof. The building is no longer in regular use and is in the care of The Churches Conservation Trust. It forms one of an interesting group of three medieval buildings in the centre of Evesham - the other two being the parish church of All Saints and the bell tower of the former abbey. The piece that follows tells something of the history of St Lawrence, and is a transcription of the text on a plaque in its porch.

"The first church built on this site was consecrated by the Bishop of St Asaph in 1295. No feature of this building remains except possibly the crucifixion panel on the north external wall of this porch. It was replaced by the existing Perpendicular building in 1470 and formed part of the conventual buildings of Evesham Abbey which was then the fifth richest in England. The church was erected for the use of the multitude of pilgrims who piously came to worship at the Abbey shrines throughout many years of storm and calm alike. Many diseases being prevalent in these times made it necessary to isolate them from the townsfolk, who exclusively used the adjoining parish Church of All Saints.The bodily needs of the pilgrims were catered for at the Abbey Almonry nearby which is still standing. The church had become sadly dilapidated and in 1730 an extensive and as it proved, disastrous reconstruction took place because owing to faulty construction and poor materials, the new roof collapsed before 1800. The church remained in ruins until 1837 when it was restored and reopened for divine worship in its present form. In 1957 a further minor restoration took place."

photograph and text (c) T.Boughen

Camera: Lumix LX3
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 5.4mm (26mm/35mm equiv.)
F No: f2
Shutter Speed: 1/50
ISO: 80
Exposure Compensation: -1.0 EV
Image Stabilisation: On