South West England XII - Salisbury Cathedral

Digital original, 10 image exposure blend, 2 frame stitch

There was little I saw in South-West England that was as engaging as this font, designed by William Pye in 2008 to celebrate 750 years of architecture. Combining a still surface and running water, the font fills the cathedral with the sound of living water, and served as a perfect reflecting pool to work with photographically. I had to wait for fifteen minutes or more until I could make a composition had no people in it, but the investment was more than worth it.

Digital original

The woodwork in Salisbury was a real pleasure to behold, and really enjoyable to photograph. Though the window light was mixed with man-made illumination, it was surprisingly easy to make good photographs of the carvings.

Digital original, 6 image exposure blend

The last set of images I made inside the cathedral were of the cloister; like many, it has yew trees planed in the centre, but there was no way to feature those in balance with the beautiful architecture, so I opted to focus on the building, though the trees are visible on the left side of the image.

Digital original

After a full day of photography, I took a break for dinner, but couldn't resit returning to the cathedral at sunset. In stark contrast to the daytime crowds, the church yard was empty of people, and the evening light, mixing with the artificial illumination, provided a lovely counterpoint to the cool blue of the sky above.