Finally, some summery weather, and so Jena, Natalia and I visited two National Trust venues this weekend, first Basildon Park, then Grey’s Court. Basildon Park was an 18th Century mansion beautifully restored in the 1950s by Lord and Lady Iliffe. Their sense of décor and design was ahead of its time, evident by so many visitors enjoying it today. The interiors were lusciously ornate and furnished, with some fantastic artwork and porcelain. Each room had a theme, my favourite of which was the shell room with a collection of thousands of seashells. We must thank the excellent guides in the mansion for imparting so much fascinating information to us. I have presented below a small selection of the interiors and exteriors of the mansion, too small to do it full justice. Hopefully, they may entice you to make your own visit to this beautiful place.
Further to my previous post about Prague, I thought I would post some of the images I took at Prague Zoo. Apparently one of the best zoos in the world, I found parts of it very impressive and other parts looking like someone's backyard. I have posted a selection for the exhibits that I found most interesting, mainly the bigs cats and reptiles. The zoo is noted for its successful breeding of the endangered Prezwalski's horses and also its primate centre. I hope you enjoy the images, and if you ever go to Prague, the zoo is definitely worth a visit.
This is a mere fleeting snapshot of Prague, which for me was a city of contrasts. On the one hand, it is truly resplendent in stunning and ornate architecture, with many fascinating quarters that make up the city as a whole. There is a wealth of history, even from recent times, as the Czech Republic became a parliamentary democracy once again in the late eighties after its ‘Velvet Revolution.’ On the other hand, however, of all the places on Earth I have visited thus far, I found Prague to be the most hostile and unfriendly. Let me just say that whenever I visit another country, I am extremely aware that I am a foreign visitor, not least because people seem very wary of brown people on mainland Europe, and am therefore very deliberately humble and deferential. I go out of my way to be friendly and courteous in order to break down preconceptions and invite a friendly reception back. On the whole, this has always worked in every place I have visited. I am willing to believe that the experience I had in Prague is not indicative of the Czech population as a whole, of course, but alas people in the city were hostile and rude to me, despite all my pleasantries. I wish I knew why. That said, while it is highly unlikely that I would return there, I would still recommend it for a visit. In the few days I spent there I did take a huge number of photographs, simply because there were so many beautiful buildings, churches and cathedrals. The Prague Castle complex in particular is a dominant landmark, and St Vitus Cathedral is worth the agonising climb of its 1000 steps to take in the views. Karlovy Vary is a spa town that I visited for a day, and while interesting, the overcast weather made the photographic opportunities rather meagre.
I am fortunate enough to live near a city in which the largest Royal Park is teeming with free roaming wild deer, both red and fallow. They were introduced to the park by King Charles I, originally for hunting, but have roamed freely since 1634. I have photographed them in all seasons, and below is a selection of my humble efforts. There are many stunning photos taken of these majestic beasts, and while I have not made the effort to capture them in the ethereal dawn light, my patience has found them illuminated by the broken sunlight through the canopy of trees and foliage. Deer are a wonderful subject to practice wildlife photography, displaying a wide range of behaviour and regal poses. The males are aggressive during the rutting season, and the females are tender and attentive to their beautiful young. In this huge park, they are so used to human presence that one can get quite close, although they are still naturally cautious and I would always advise keeping a very respectful distance. I have photographed them with a variety of lenses; most of these were taken with a since sold 120-400mm, but there are also shots from a 35mm and 50mm lens, and even a 150mm macro. I hope you enjoy the photos.
After enjoying the Jurassic coastline and Durdle Door, Natalia, Jena and myself ventured on to Lulworth Castle, an early 17th century mock castle.The inside of the castle was destroyed by fire in 1929, and in the absence of floors and ceilings above the ground level, the appearance of doors and fireplaces halfway up the walls was strange and intriguing. The interior of the main castle is mostly hollow, but some nice views can be had from one of the towers, and there were some neat exhibits in the basement, with treasures and trinkets, and mock-up of the kitchen. Nearby, the Chapel of St Mary was very ornate inside (although no photography was allowed). We finished our exploration in the adjacent Church of St Andrew, a modest church with fairly humble interiors.The Castle is now managed by English Heritage, and is an interesting place to stop by if you happen to venture towards Durdle Door.
This weekend past, Natalia, Jena and myself ventured down to the south of the UK to the Jurassic Coast, famous for the mighty Durdle Door. I must thank Jena for driving us the 124 miles there and back.The coastline is a fabulous place, and worth visiting if only for the turquoise blue water, unusual for waters around the UK. I had been here before, and the selection below includes a few photos from that trip. The three of us hiked up onto the cliffs and then down again, and then spent a couple of hours at Lulworth Castle, which I shall present in a separate post.When the weather is good, I would heartily recommend a trip down to this part of the UK's coast. I hope the photos do it some justice.
A smattering of blue sky enticed us outdoors again, this time to Chartwell, the family home of Sir Winston Churchill.Photography was not allowed inside the house or the studio, but this only allowed one to absorb just how enchanting everything was. The history of his life is really a window into the history of the world during that time, and amongst the many treasures inside were gifts from foreign leaders such as President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Joseph Stalin. One of the guides in the uniform room was a 90 year old veteran who was truly fascinating to talk to.With no photography allowed indoors, I had to get creative outdoors, but in all honesty we were just enjoying the grounds and ponds so much that I was probably a little lazy.Hope you enjoy the small selection of photos below and make your own visit to this grand house.
The last excursion in our weekend trifecta was a tour of the magnificent Westminster Palace, otherwise known as the Houses Of Parliament, the seat of government for the oldest functional democracy on Earth. It was a horridly wet and rainy day outside, but our spirits were enlivened by the truly stunning interiors of the Parliament buildings. I must thank Natalia and her English teacher for the invitation, as it was an outing for their class. I had been on the tour before, but it never loses its wonder.Government in the United Kingdom has been through a tumultuous history, with raging conflicts between politicians and monarchs. Today, however, those kind of troubles are a memory, and the UK has a truly evolved democracy where the average citizen like myself can stand at the Prime Minister's box in the Commons, from where Britain once governed an Empire that covered a third of the world. Alas, but quite understandably, no photos were allowed inside, except in the Great Hall, which has been standing for over 900 years. I only had my phone with me so all the photos below (except for one) where taken with that.After the tour of Parliament, we ventured over to the Jewel Tower to see where politicians kept their treasures hidden. Despite the weather, it was a fascinating and excellent tour, and one I would highly recommend!
The day following our visit to Waddesdon Manor, Jena, Natalia and I went along to see the jousting at Hedingham Castle. The event was a family and children oriented affair, but we went along to have a look and get some shots. I had covered a joust before, and, as it was then, jousting was quite difficult to capture from our position, and getting crisp shots was a bit of a struggle. Nevertheless, I managed to eke out what you see here. There was also some staged sword fighting as part of the whole show. The castle has some interesting interiors and lighting conditions, so we also took advantage of that too. The falconry was a little disappointing, in that no one was apparently able to have a photo taken with the birds of prey (despite the invitation to do so), and during the display in the main arena, the birds kept going AWOL and the PA system wasn't working.Other than that, an interesting photo excursion.
What a busy few days! First, another National Trust venue, then a medieval joust, and lastly a tour inside the seat of government of the oldest functional democracy on Earth, each on consecutive days.Well, first was Waddesdon Manor, another lavish mansion maintained by the National Trust. I am running out of superlatives to describe how opulent and wondrous these stately and historical homes are. The Manor was built by Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild to display his art collection and for entertaining. Inside there seemed to be no end of bedrooms, dining rooms and lounge rooms, all filled with incredible furniture. Interestingly, each room or space seem to have its own antique clock, each of which was uniquely ornate. The building and interiors were reminiscent of Versailles, outside Paris, and indeed some of the silverware (made for George III) in the dining room was apparently being shared by Versailles too. There some fantastic collections of furniture, tapestries, and a stunning collection of tin-glazed Earthenware known as maiolica that has to been seen.Many of my shots were taken to capture a feel for the place, and perhaps entice people into making their own visit. I hope you enjoy them.
You will deduce from the posts on my blog that I am more interested in taking photos and building up a body of work than waxing lyrical about gear and gadgets. There are plenty of sites that do the latter and yet have very little photographic creativity to show for it. I have taken photos using my phone, a 7-year old DSLR, and the latest full frame camera. With digital photography, many people simply use the freedom to ‘spray and pray’, or take multiple images of the same thing, checking the LCD and deleting as they go along. Obviously, this approach negates the use of actual photographic knowledge, or any sense of timing or judgement about composition and exposure. With this in mind, my good friend Bizhan and myself decided the test ourselves this weekend by putting our money where our mouth is. Essentially pretending that we were shooting film, we decided to take up to a maximum of 36 exposures without using the LCD review. We could set the maximum ISO and adjust the aperture and shutter speed manually, and use any lens or tripod we wanted. Any misfires or mistakes counted towards the maximum 36. We thus had to time our shots carefully, trying to achieve the correct exposure and interesting compositions just by using our EYES! We would then review the shots we had taken over dinner later on. I used only the 35mm F/2 AF-D and the 50mm F/1.8G on a D600, and Bizhan used an 18-55mm on his Sony NEX-7. I took 35 shots, 4 of which were misfires (hitting the shutter prematurely or accidentally), 3 were out of focus (tracking skateboarders), and 10 that I simply decided I didn’t like once I had seen them. This left me with 18 exposures that I have presented here. I knew I wanted to render them in black and white, so this influenced my judgement of composition and exposure. Bizhan was even more selective than I, taking around 16 total exposures. It was an interesting exercise, similar to one I had done before with Jena, and reinforced the simple truth that whenever you’re out and about shooting for pleasure, careful consideration of your shots and opportunity will yield fewer, but far better, images than simply hitting the shutter aimlessly and hoping. And it is far better to have a few great images to your name than a ton of mediocrity clogging up your hard drives.
My friends Jena and Natalia and I ventured down to Winkworth Arboretum to witness the spectacular carpets of bluebells in full bloom. It really was an amazing sight, and I do not believe any photo can do it enough justice. We had been to the arboretum before during the autumn, and I was most gratified to find that they had used some of my autumn photos in their current leaflet. This time, there were plenty of spring colours, and as we ambled through the beautiful grounds we were treated on every side to colourful blossom, bluebells and magnolias. We also took in the spectacular views over the Surrey countryside. I have tried to depict the variety below, helped also with some photos of Jena and Natalia.A big thank you must go out to all the amazing gardeners and volunteers who make Winkworth Arboretum such a wonderful experience. I hope you enjoy these photos and hopefully make your own way down to the Arboretum to enjoy the magnificent flora and foliage.
After Cliveden, we drove to nearby Hughenden Manor, once owned and lived in by Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli. Although not as externally grandiose as Cliveden, Hughenden had some fabulous interiors and fascinating history. Visitors to the Manor included Queen Victoria and George VI. I was especially taken with the library, which reminded me of my father’s library. The figure of Mr Disraeli provided some neat compositions against the backdrop of his books, and it was amazing to think that here was the desk where he sat and worked. Below the house in the basement was essentially a wartime bunker, with an operations room to plan bombing raids during the Second World War, as well as a cosy lounge and a wine cellar. Some of the images were captured with either the Tokina 11-16mm F/2.8 or the Nikkor 50mm F/1.8G, but the rest were captured with my phone, the Nokia N8, and then rendered in black and white. I hope you like the images below and perhaps make your own visit to Hughenden and even join the National Trust. We are grateful to all the kind and informative volunteers who made our visit so interesting.
Another sunny day, another National Trust venue to visit. Actually, Jena, Natalia and I visited two places yesterday, Cliveden and Hughenden Manor, the latter of which will have its own blog post in due course. Cliveden was a great choice, bursting with colour, people and flora. The tulips in the Long Garden were a particular treat. The House is now a hotel so we didn't venture in, but there was plenty outside to occupy our time.These images were taken with one of 3 lenses: the Nikkors 35mm F/2 AF-D, 50mm F/1.8G AF-S, and the Tokina 11-16mm F/2.8 (used as a 16mm wide-angle prime). Some of the images are rendered in black and white. Needless to say, we had a great time and I would implore you to make your own visit and become a member of the National Trust.
Spring must be here because the floral arrangements in Regent’s Park are at their most spectacular. The kaleidoscope of colour simply overwhelms the eyes and provides no end of photographic opportunities. I wanted to travel light into London with my friend Zuzana, so I just took my little Nikon D40 (now 7 years old) and a couple of lenses. To be honest, I could have just used my phone and not had to carry anything extra at all, but there we are. Some of the shots were taken with my phone, the Nokia N8. After the park we crossed the road and sat in Marylebone Church, fairly unassuming from the outside but quite photogenic on the inside. All images were shot RAW and quickly processed in Lightroom. Some of the images are in black and white, simply because I'm going through a B+W phase at the moment. Hopefully the images demonstrate again that old technology is not necessarily bad technology, and the D40 can still hold its own. Don’t waste too much time looking at these images; go down to Regent’s Park and enjoy it for yourself.
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