Sunday 27 February 2011
Saturday 26 February 2011
Thursday 24 February 2011
past in the present
Wednesday 23 February 2011
Sunday 20 February 2011
rosslyn
Wednesday 16 February 2011
Tuesday 15 February 2011
a discovery of witches
Monday 14 February 2011
Sunday 13 February 2011
fishing boats at greetsiel, august 1967
It was this particular exposure which warned me of the degradation of the 35mm wide angle lens on my Leica. When I saw the slide it was clear the colours were not an accurate representation of those I had seen on the day. The lens was growing old. Inside the barrel internal reflections competed with the light and colours coming in from outside. It was time to take stock. Time to consider trading in the 'pre-used' equipment accumulating in the gadget bag and to look towards the brand new M1 model that was about to take over from the very compact Leicas so prominent in photography for more than three decades.
Saturday 12 February 2011
Friday 11 February 2011
trumpets for wimborne
These are organ pipes. Technically they are known as trompettes en chamade - which means they are displayed horizontally – and the en chamade bit also brings in the French for ‘to sound a parley’. The pipes are part of the organ in Wimborne Minster, Dorset, an instrument originating from the firm of J W W Walker in 1866 and substantially recast by them in 1965.
Thursday 10 February 2011
hereford cathedral lady chapel
I identify this photograph as taken in 1957 probably soon after I had been persuaded to take up the position of organist and choirmaster at St Mark’s Church in the Marylebone Road, just around the corner from where we lived in Harcourt Street. I was also part-time Deputy Director of Music for the Parks Department of the London County Council, a post I had occupied since 1954. My ‘daytime job’, dating from 1956, was as the inaugural Music Master at the Central Foundation Boys’ Grammar School in Cowper Street, City of London. I guess we were able to get away for a few days because there was a gap between the end of the season for the LCC and the beginning of the autumn term at Cowper Street.
We were in Hereford because the records showed that the Mr Dr John Bull I was interested in had been a choirboy in the cathedral there. The reference books also showed that this particular John Bull was a son of Wellow in Somerset. They were wrong! Dear old chatterbox Anthony à Wood had confused ‘my’ Dr Bull was a similarly named young man who’d been at Brasenose. I’d looked up the wills from Wellow and they didn’t fit the picture of an eminent London-based musician. And the day before we set out I’d tracked down the descendants of the Brasenose John Bull to Parkers bookshop on the corner opposite Blackwells in Broad Street. Off we went. Just the same.
The elderly cathedral librarian had been very courteous, very helpful. He showed me the old record books and would send me a quarter-plate photograph of the entry about John Bull’s appointment as organist there. Then I went on a tour of the building to absorb the atmosphere.
To this photographer in 1957, the Lady Chapel at Hereford posed two problems. The stained glass in the windows needed to be rendered by using an exposure meter to decide on the right aperture. The detail of the altar called for the use of a flashbulb. I consulted my charts and here is the result. Not perfect but enough to carry memories with it when it comes up now and again in the slide show in the corner of my screen.
The horizon is a bit lop-sided. I propose to put that right when I’m more competent with Gimp!
francis cameron, oxford, 10 february 2011
hereford cathedral lady chapel
hereford cathedral lady chapel
I identify this photograph as taken in 1957 probably soon after I had been persuaded to take up the position of organist and choirmaster at St Mark’s Church in the Marylebone Road, just around the corner from where we lived in Harcourt Street. I was also part-time Deputy Director of Music for the Parks Department of the London County Council, a post I had occupied since 1954. My ‘daytime job’, dating from 1956, was as the inaugural Music Master at the Central Foundation Boys’ Grammar School in Cowper Street, City of London. I guess we were able to get away for a few days because there was a gap between the end of the season for the LCC and the beginning of the autumn term at Cowper Street.
We were in Hereford because the records showed that the Mr Dr John Bull I was interested in had been a choirboy in the cathedral there. The reference books also showed that this particular John Bull was a son of Wellow in Somerset. They were wrong! Dear old chatterbox Anthony à Wood had confused ‘my’ Dr Bull was a similarly named young man who’d been at Brasenose. I’d looked up the wills from Wellow and they didn’t fit the picture of an eminent London-based musician. And the day before we set out I’d tracked down the descendants of the Brasenose John Bull to Parkers bookshop on the corner opposite Blackwells in Broad Street. Off we went. Just the same.
The elderly cathedral librarian had been very courteous, very helpful. He showed me the old record books and would send me a quarter-plate photograph of the entry about John Bull’s appointment as organist there. Then I went on a tour of the building to absorb the atmosphere.
To this photographer in 1957, the Lady Chapel at Hereford posed two problems. The stained glass in the windows needed to be rendered by using an exposure meter to decide on the right aperture. The detail of the altar called for the use of a flashbulb. I consulted my charts and here is the result. Not perfect but enough to carry memories with it when it comes up now and again in the slide show in the corner of my screen.
The horizon is a bit lop-sided. I propose to put that right when I’m more competent with Gimp!
francis cameron, oxford, 10 february 2011
Wednesday 9 February 2011
life
espiegle (fr)
After a recent very pleasant lunch, a French visitor to Oxford apparently described me as espiègle.
According to my 1993 Collins Robert, this translates as mischievous or roguish.
Is this an example of what they now call transparency ? – or is it simply acute immediate perceptiveness?
Tuesday 8 February 2011
live journal
Monday 7 February 2011
the magical year of the golden rabbit
A brief guide to Chinese Astrology tells me this is the Golden Year of the Rabbit and that, for me, means that each celebration of the Full Moon is optimum for the making of Magic.
