Tag: England

Chalk grasslands

I am very fortunate to live on the North Downs in Surrey, England where we have within our neighbourhood woodlands and a small pocket of chalk grassland.  I only recently discovered the significance of chalk grassland through a community group formed in the Dome Hill neighbourhood of Caterham.  All the property owners clubbed together to buy a stretch of grassland to avoid it being bought by developers and it turns out that this is a fairly unique parcel of chalk grassland which we are now preserving.

Why are Chalk Grasslands so special?

Chalk grasslands develop on shallow lime-rich soils, overlaying chalk rocks. Most of England was once covered by woodlands, but the Downs (in the south-east of England) were cleared by ancient people to graze animals, mainly sheep.  This created an open landscape with few trees and shrubs, and species-rich grassland.  It is one of the richest plant communities where up to 50 species of plant can be found in a square metre.  The UK has about half of the world’s chalk grasslands.  A wide variety of insects and wildlife can also be found here – some of the  plants and animals are totally dependent on chalk grassland and cannot survive anywhere else. For further information visit the Old Surrey Downs web site.

I spent a couple of hours in a small section of our little parcel of grassland on Saturday 9 June 2012 with my camera and here are some of the results:-

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Series of Four #13 – Winchester Cathedral – with muted HDR

Series of Four

This is the thirteenth Blog in the “Series of Four” series. Each blog focuses on a different aspect of photography, either technical or creative.  To see the full set of “Series of Four” blogs, click here.

Winchester Cathedral – with muted HDR

Here is a set of four images taken recently of Winchester Cathedral in England.   This is my second visit to Winchester Cathedral – my first visit was at the beginning of my project to photograph the Cathedrals of the Church of England and I have learned a lot since then.

For these images I have used a technique called HDR (High Dynamic Range) which uses a series of bracketed images taken at different exposures (+1, 0, -1 in these images) to achieve a greater range than is possible with the sensitivity of a normal digital sensor.  Using software it is possible to integrate the images (usually 3 or 5) to achieve a very sharp image with details across the full range of the available light.  I have been intrigued recently how HDR can enhance images.  Taking bracketed exposures in low lighting situations like cathedrals adds considerably to the time a shoot takes as each exposure is usually between 20 to 30 seconds.

 

 

Event photography – The Annual Pet Service

The Pet Service

          The annual Pet Service at St Mary’s parish church in Caterham, Surrey, England is a little bit of chaos at the edge of heaven. 

          Each year families bring their pets for a blessing and a reminder of what important companions pets are with their unjudgemental and unconditional love and affection.  Pets which Rev. Duncan Swan has blessed over the years have included fish and a stick insect.  This year they included hamsters, a horse, cats, a rabbit and lots of dogs – (and a few soft toy pets for good measure).

          An event like a pet service is relatively easy to photograph because there is so much chaos that you just blend right in.  I only use available light (which can be a bit of a challenge) so as not to be too intrusive with flash and not to alarm the animals.  It is all about catching the moment and on an occasion such as this there are lots of moments with animals and children.  However it is all totally unrehearsed and things happen quickly so you need full concentration.