Meliorative murals

click photo to enlarge
Most towns have a grubby corner, a place where time and weather do their work without anyone fighting back. Grubby, dilapidated buildings, litter, weeds and saplings growing wherever they choose, broken glass, rust and rubble; somewhere that slowly declines and tries to drag the surrounding area down with it.

On a recent visit to Ross-on-Wye in Herefordshire I came across just such a place. A site with rusty, corrugated metal buildings surrounded by rusty, corrugated fencing. I have no idea what it was or is - except an eye-sore. However, someone, perhaps the town council, perhaps the owner, perhaps guerrilla artists, had decided that something needed to be done to brighten up this corner of what is, largely, a pleasant town. The answer seems to have been to commission someone to paint murals on the perimeter fencing. And what a good job they have done. On the dark, end of November day that we walked by the fence was positively neon in its impact. I liked the unnatural colours, the contrast with the rust-brown beyond, the way I had to work a little to decipher the images, eventually picking out the people with their umbrellas (or are they parasols?). I've said elsewhere in this blog that I'm generally not particularly keen on murals as a means of brightening up an area. Here, however, I readily concede that they are doing a great job.

photograph and text © Tony Boughen

Photo 1
Camera: Sony RX100
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 17.2mm (46mm - 35mm equiv.)
F No: f8
Shutter Speed: 1/200
ISO: 125
Exposure Compensation:  -0.33 EV
Image Stabilisation: On

Old sheds

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On a walk taken after June rain had begun to clear we came upon these old sheds that were once an essential part of a small holding. The last time we saw them there was a "For Sale" notice on the site. Now it had the word "Sold" fixed over it. It seemed the right time to photograph these dilapidated wood and corrugated iron buildings: who knows how much longer they will be there?

© Tony Boughen

Camera: Nikon D5300
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 18mm (27mm - 35mm equiv.)
F No: f6.3 Shutter Speed: 1/500 sec
ISO:100
Exposure Compensation: -0.33 EV
Image Stabilisation: On

Tin tabernacles

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The name "tin tabernacle" is used to describe the prefabricated, corrugated iron churches that can still be found in out of the way corners of Britain. The style will be recognisable to people in some other countries, particularly Australia, New Zealand and the United States, where such buildings were also erected.

In Britain the rapid expansion of population in the nineteenth century led to the need for buildings that could be quickly erected in areas of new housing, and near expanding mining areas. Churches of many denominations, between about 1860 and 1914, seized on the offerings of manufacturers, and put together buildings from the kits of parts that they advertised. Churches could be large or small, with bell towers and spires, or with simple bell-cotes. Transepts and aisles could be added, as could pointed windows with elementary tracery, porches and prominent crosses. Those who erected these churches saw them as temporary buildings that would be superseded by brick or stone structures in the fullness of time. And in most cases they were. But, temporary buildings are sometimes suprisingly durable and frequently garner affection from their users. Furthermore, the envisaged money for something more substantial isn't always forthcoming. That seems to have happened with the surviving "tin tabernacles" in Britain. They can be found in towns, Welsh valleys, in small rural communities, or in mining areas that have long since ceased production. I have come across a couple of dozen in my travels over the years, often strikingly and brightly painted, and usually exhibiting through their cared-for appearance, the love and devotion of their congregation.

Today's photograph shows one such church that dates from 1893, a modest example, in the small village of Pointon on the edge of the Lincolnshire Fens. It is painted black and white, is severely symmetrical, and on the exterior shows its age. All the details are pretty much as you expect to see in such a building, with the exception of the bargeboards on the main roof and aisles. These have decorative cut-outs on the edge of a sort that look like the bite marks of a hungry Tyrannosaurus rex! They are surely not original. However, peering through the window, I found the inside looks wonderful. It is clean, polished, beautifully cared for, and has details picked out in blue that give it a pleasing brightness. The notices pinned to the door reveal that it is well-used by the village, and doubtless the building has many more years of life left in it. The best shot the church offers the passing photographer is, I think, this symmetrical shot from the west end.

More information about these fascinating relics can be found here, here and here. The largest example of a tin tabernacle church in Britain is at Deepcut.

photograph & text (c) T. Boughen

Camera: Lumix LX3
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 7.9mm (37mm/35mm equiv.)
F No: f2.4
Shutter Speed: 1/125
ISO: 125
Exposure Compensation: -0.66 EV
Image Stabilisation: On

Photography and terrorism

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On February 16th the freedom of photographers in the UK will be further curtailed when the Counter Terrorism Act 2008 becomes law. This legislation allows for the arrest, imprisonment (for up to 10 years) or fine of anyone who elicits or attempts to elicit information about a member of the armed forces, an intelligence officer or a constable, which is likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism, or publishes or communicates such information. Now you might think that protection of this sort is desirable for those in the front line of the so-called "war on terror". And so would I if I felt that would be how the legislation would be used. The problem is that the drafting is sufficiently loose for it to be used by the police to prevent photography of any officer in any circumstances.

In recent years a number of amateur photographers have been illegally harrassed by the police, PCSOs, security guards and others when photographing within the bounds of the existing law - photographing buildings, scenes in the street, at railway stations etc - and have been questioned, compelled to stop, made to erase images, and forced to move on. Journalists have been arrested, had cameras snatched, and their view deliberately blocked when photographing demonstrations as they are legally entitled to do so, and as society would wish them to do in the interests of free speech. The legislation that will soon come into force will give the police and others the power to prevent people taking photographs in which they feature, even incidentally. Given the well-documented disregard for the present law exhibited by some who are charged with upholding it, can we have any faith that this extension to police powers will be used as those who framed the legislation intended? Even though the Act allows that anyone charged can use the defence of "reasonable excuse", it seems highly unlikely that this will prevent it being used to strengthen the position of those in authority with an unreasonable fear of photography. And anyway, should photographers be put in the position of having to prove their innocence for simply pursuing a hobby or, in the case of journalists, exercising what should be a basic freedom of the press in any mature democracy?

I can see that some will want to give the benefit of the doubt to the legislators and law enforcement officers, and will trust that the new law will be used as intended. Others will think that my views are unneccesarily alarmist. However, I see this as a further erosion of essential freedoms that many private individuals, politicians, civil servants, academics, and others are beginning to question more strongly. Today I've written to the Home Secretary deploring the scope and likely use of this legislation. I've also asked her to give me two things: firstly, a written assurance that this legislation will not be used to limit my freedom as an amateur photographer to photograph anything within a public place, and a paragraph that I can carry to present to anyone who tries to stop me pursuing my hobby, saying that this Act cannot be used for that purpose. Even before I wrote I had little faith that I'll receive those assurances, and, if past experience in contacting the Home Office is any guide, I'll have to ask more than once to get a specific response rather than mollifying waffle. However, I do it in the knowledge that doing nothing doesn't change anything, and doing something might. I urge you to to do something too.

Here are some links about this issue:

Counter Terrorism Act 2008 (Para 76 is the relevant section)
Jail for photographing police? British Journal of Photography article, 28 January 2009
Photographers react to British PM's message Amateur Photographer 13 January 2009
Home Secretary green lights restrictions on photography British Journal of Photography article, 1 July 2008

So, given that this blog is about my "photographs and reflections" is there any link between today's image and what's written above? Not really, except that the growing curtailment of freedom in the UK may well lead to photographers taking more images of this sort that don't "infringe someone's liberty", don't offend someone's delicate sensibilities, can't be misconstrued in any way, and have no potential to be used for terrorist purposes!

photograph & text (c) T. Boughen

Camera: Olympus E510
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 150mm (300mm/35mm equiv.)
F No: f7.1
Shutter Speed: 1/160
ISO: 100
Exposure Compensation: -0.3 EV
Image Stabilisation: On