WW1 floral tribute

click photo to enlarge
One of the traditions of the Church of England (and some English churches of other denominations) is the church flower festival. This usually takes place in late spring or high summer when flowers are plentiful. The church is filled with flower displays - on window sills, pulpit, font, bench ends, and many other spaces in the nave, chancel and porch. Often a theme is decided and each display is an interpretation of it. Themes I've seen include, hymn titles, saints, London, months and famous people. Much of the pleasure of the viewer comes from seeing the creativity involved in expressing the idea florally. Churches publicise the event, welcome the wider public, and use the event as a pleasurable fund raiser, often putting on refreshments, sales etc to accompany the flowers. Groups of churches frequently co-ordinate their festivals, those in a geographical location choosing the same week so that visitors can make a day of visiting several churches.

On a cycle ride we recently visited Muston church in Leicestershire and came across what I assume was their flower festival based on the theme of the First World War. I say "assume" because in these years in which the centenary of WW1 is remembered some churches are mounting special events, and perhaps it was one of those. Whatever the inspiration, the displays were very good. There were poppies in profusion, of course, but the ideas went wider than that. The example above features barbed wire, crosses and explosions in the form of coloured alliums.

photograph and text © Tony Boughen

Photo Title: WW1 Floral Tribute, Muston Church, Leicestershire
Camera: Sony RX100
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 10.4mm (28mm - 35mm equiv.)
F No: f5
Shutter Speed: 1/30 sec
ISO: 640
Exposure Compensation: -0.3 EV
Image Stabilisation: On

Cool pink rose

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Yesterday I went with a group from the local garden club to view a selection of church flower festivals. As well as seeing some fine arrangements of flowers based on themes, and having the opportunity to look around churches that are usually closed, this is also a chance to grab a few close-up shots of flowers. The LX3 is a good camera for this. The dark interiors of churches need its bright f2 lens, the image stabilisation allows hand-holding and renders the tripod redundant, and the excellent macro facility makes securing the images relatively easy.

I took quite a few shots, some of which will be used on the garden club's blog, and a couple that I'll feature here. The churches usually display their flowers for a week, and our visit was a little later than in the past two years. Consequently some of the blooms were starting to wilt. Coming upon a display of dusky pink roses I noticed that they'd been misted with water in an attempt to prolong their radiance, so I took the opportunity to feature the water droplets that were glinting in the light from a stained glass window. The cold light from the shadows gave the rose a cool tint that quite appealed to me. This isn't a fresh, bright, joyous "first rose of summer": the coolness gives it a melancholy feel, but it's a touch that I quite like.

photograph & text (c) T. Boughen

Camera: Lumix LX3
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 5.1mm (24mm/35mm equiv.)
F No: f2
Shutter Speed: 1/80
ISO: 160
Exposure Compensation: -0.66 EV
Image Stabilisation: On

DIY and flower arranging

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I've aways considered myself to be reasonably "handy", in the sense that I can turn my hand to a variety of household chores and DIY tasks. Over the years I've replaced floors, taken out walls, installed rolled-steel joists, laid paths and paving, made furniture, decorated rooms, tiled floors and walls, cut down trees, and much else. On the whole I've enjoyed doing these tasks: they made a break from my day job that involved managing an organisation and people, talking, writing, making decisions, and dealing with problems of my own and others' making. However, there are two jobs that I have never become acceptably competent at doing: plastering and brick-laying. I never set myself much of this kind of work, but that which I did undertake was not completed to a standard that pleased me. I'd like to think that my under-achievement was due to my not having done enough to learn the skills well enough. Perhaps, but perhaps not.

But then, when I think a little more on this subject, there are quite a few things that I wish I could do better. Take flower arranging. I'm never going to do a great deal of it when my wife is so much better at it than me. But, I would like to be able to put flowers in a vase so that they didn't look like they'd been yanked out of the garden and stuffed in by someone wearing welders' gloves! (Writing that line reminds me that the few times I tried welding I wasn't particularly competent either).

The other day, visiting a church, I came upon the flowers featured in today's photograph. It was placed in a recess in the nave, and the attractiveness of the pot and arrangement against the stark background, immediately caught my eye. Someone - and it was surely a woman - had selected the red tulips and narcissi, and by the judicious addition of euonymus, grass and some dark leaves, turned them into a very attractive display. There is no sense that these flowers and foliage have been casually rammed into their container: the grasses are designed to be above the blooms, their silhouettes offering a delicate note, the greens are intensifying the reds of the tulips, the narcissi "stars" contrast with the tulip "cups", and the dark leaves are placed lower to add further silhouettes and give a more globular overall shape. It would take me a long time and much practice to do this sort of thing, so I think I'll continue to deploy one of my managerial skills and carry on delegating the task to someone who does it better.

photograph & text (c) T. Boughen

Camera: Lumix LX3
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 12.8mm (60mm/35mm equiv.)
F No: f2.8
Shutter Speed: 1/125
ISO: 160
Exposure Compensation: -0.33 EV
Image Stabilisation: On

The knight and the carnations

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One of the basic themes found in all forms of art is the pairing of unlikely bedfellows. The story of Beauty and The Beast exemplifies this very well, so much so that its basic idea was plundered, and subtle changes introduced, in stories such as The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Cyrano de Bergerac.

Fashion photographers are particularly drawn to this theme, placing their model and the the clothes they are showing off in the most unlikely of contexts. The English photographer, Cecil Beaton (1904-1980), renowned for his photographs of Audrey Hepburn and other film stars, as well as for photoshoots for the big fashion houses, is generally remembered for the images of elegance that he produced. However, one photograph that sticks in my mind is of a refined woman, coat casually draped around her shoulders, reading a newspaper that she holds in her white-gloved hands, whilst sitting on a concrete splattered saw-horse among grimy buckets, spades and the like. The contrast between the subject and setting was what drew the viewer into the shot.

Today's photograph is also an unlikely pairing, but one which I think works really well. It shows a tomb of a Knight of the Order of St John, dating from the 1400s, in the church of St Botolph's, Boston, Lincolnshire. I posted an image of this knight on the blog a while ago, and it depicts the tomb as one is used to seeing such things. However, when I visited the flower festival at St Botolph's (see yesterday's post), I found that someone had surrounded this fine piece of sculpture with pink carnations (and a few orange daisies). That simple act transformed the cold, dead stone, injecting life where there was none, lightening the mood surrounding the effigy, and introducing a colour that complemented the bluish tones. It was a photographic opportunity not to be missed, so I composed this shot using the out-of-focus blooms on the left to balance the head on the right.

photograph & text (c) T. Boughen

Camera: Olympus E510
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 17mm (34mm/35mm equiv.)
F No: f3.2
Shutter Speed: 1/50 seconds
ISO: 400
Exposure Compensation: -0.3 EV
Image Stabilisation: On

Flowers, festivals and photographs

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Today's photograph shows a small part of a flower display in the church of St Botolph, Boston. This great church, begun in 1309, is celebrating its 700th anniversary, and one of the many activities it has arranged for this significant year is a large flower festival that is currently open to the public. The idea of flower festivals is that members of the church erect a series of themed displays around the interior of the building, using mainly fresh flowers and foliage, but also dried flowers and objects that support the theme. St Botolph's seventy six displays have been conceived by members of the church, but also by groups in the town and from across Lincolnshire. This has resulted in the standard of displays being better than I've ever seen before.

The themes are very varied: "John Cotton", "The Pilgrim Fathers", and "John Taverner" are representative of famous people associated with the church, whilst "The Slodgers", " The Fishing Industry", "Boston Landscape", "700 Years of Church Music" and "Local Commerce - Vegetable Growers" are typical of those that illustrate local life. I found the most eyecatching display to be "Agriculture - The Lincolnshire Way of Life", built around an old tractor that was positioned in the nave. However, the most artistically satisfying - and this kind of work can be considered decorative art of a kind - were "Fogarty's Feathers", a display in black, white and silver illustrating the industry devoted to pillows and duvets that is still found locally, and the very original "History of the Fire Service". The latter display was about a subject I've seen covered before by flower festivals, but never so well. It included artefacts - old firemen's helmets etc., and large displays that suggested the flames of fires. However, the part that caught my eye was this small composition on the aisle floor, using a picture frame, burnt photographs, fiery, smoke-blackened tulips and pieces of net.

It was, to my eye, the best detail of the much larger piece, in terms of both colour and conception, so I decided to isolate it, and try to make something of the composition against the lighter floorboards with their interesting grain. The final image has had the digital equivalent of selective "dodging" and "burning" (quite appropriate you might say!) to increase the contrast between the lighter and darker parts of the image. I've taken photographs at a few flower festivals, but as far as I can recall, have never used any in this blog. However, my visit to St Botolph produced two, so another will follow tomorrow.

photograph & text (c) T. Boughen

Camera: Olympus E510
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 22mm (44mm/35mm equiv.)
F No: f3.5
Shutter Speed: 1/4 seconds
ISO: 200
Exposure Compensation: -0.3 EV
Image Stabilisation: On

Flowers and churches

click photo to enlarge
Visit any English church, at any time of year, and you are likely to see displays of flowers. In the building the sills of ancient windows will have a vase of garden or bought blooms. The font at the west end of the south aisle may have a larger display at its foot, and at other strategic points, particularly the chancel and sanctuary, flowers will feature, especially lilies. The popularity of this variety in churches stems from its long use in Christian iconography as a symbol of beauty and purity. As the seasons change so do the church flowers, and when flowers are in short supply during the winter months, leaves and berries often take their place.

Weddings, harvest festival and Christmas are times when a church receives greater quantities of floral decoration. However, for the sheer number of flowers no period of the year compares with the time of the Flower Festival. I've just spent a couple of days visiting flower festivals at my local churches, and have been impressed and delighted by the displays that parishioners have put on. Many were themed displays around religious and secular subjects: "Jesus is...", "London Streets" and "Famous Lincolnshire People" were three of the topics chosen this year. I took a number of photographs, and I may post any that look good enough for reproduction. Whilst I made my tour I also looked at the churchyard displays of flowers and secured a number of images that please me. Churchyards flowers fall into two camps - those that are placed by a particular grave as a tribute, and those planted with the purpose of beautifying the area around the church. Of all the displays I saw recently none could compare with the tulips around the ancient church of St Mary at Long Sutton. The Fenland area of Lincolnshire is where most of the UK-raised bulbs are grown, and Long Sutton seemed to have examples of many of the wide variety that are produced.

This image shows a wonderful, colourful confusion of varieties under the dappled light of the trees.

photograph & text(c) T. Boughen

Camera: Olympus E510
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 19mm (150mm/300mm equiv.)
F No: f7.1
Shutter Speed: 1/250 seconds
ISO: 100
Exposure Compensation: -0.7 EV
Image Stabilisation: On