Camera clubs
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YorkMinster It’s one of the world’s most magnificent cathedrals and chock- full of opportunities for the creative photographer. We set five members of York Photographic Society the task of capturing the best of the Minster. Here’s how they got on… reader challenge
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of them. As they’re all local, for most of them this visit to the Minster was not their first, so they weren’t as awestruck as a newcomer would be and ultimately that meant they already had an idea of what they wanted to shoot. The other advantage was that the Minster was closed to the public and had opened up specially for the Society. That meant they had free rein to wander without having to wait ages for a coachload of sightseers to move out of shot, they just had to wait for a fellow photographer to shift. The only limitation was that the shoot was restricted to 90 minutes. Now, you may think that the duration of a football match is plenty long enough to shoot a few snaps of an old building, but this is York Minster we’re talking about. It’s a very large place jam-packed with picture opportunities in almost every nook and cranny, so an hour and a half is a surprisingly short time in which to properly exploit what’s there. So, let’s see how our intrepid five dealt with the challenge.
Words by Will Cheung
No matter how many of the world’s best cathedrals you’ve visited or whether you’re religious or not, walk into York Minster and you’re sure to be totally amazed. As jaw-dropping sights go it’s right up there with the very best and if it’s your first time, it can take a short while to get your breath back; yes, it’s that impressive. While your senses are recovering, take the chance to start checking out the veritable feast of photo opportunities. Wherever you look you will see pictures and it’s a good thing perhaps, before you start shooting, to recce the place and prioritise a shooting list. The other option is to just jump in head first and take the risk that you might run out of time and miss something. It’s a dilemma: to recce or to shoot? On the occasion of this photo challenge, our five members of York Photographic Society had a couple of major advantages, but time was not one
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WHAT’S
YOUR EVENT?
If your club has similar shoot events or group outings, we’d love to hear from you. Ask your chairman, programme secretary or marketing person to email challenge@ photography-news. co.uk if you want your club featured in the pages of PN .
Thanks go to York Minster and York Photographic Society, especially Allan Harris who got in touch about this great opportunity. You can see more on the York Photographic Society’s visit to York Minster in Issue 37 of Advanced Photographer magazine, on sale on 24 October.
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Glynis Frith This was my first time
Morris Gregory I wanted to take pictures that would hopefully be a bit different from everybody else’s so concentrated mostly on details and ignored the wider architectural shots. Picking a favourite is difficult but mine is probably the Stained Glass Impression. This photograph best captures the combination of movement and highlighted faces that I was trying hard to achieve.
Allan Harris I find there is so much
John Shepherd FRPS My favourite image, the shot down the aisle of the donation box, was the last of the evening; having taken the opportunity to clear the clutter around the desk area I moved back and composed my image. I was all set when my colleagues stepped into the scene. I moved the tripod forward and lowered the shot to see if I could obliterate the intruders, quickly focused and pressed the trigger.
Rob Swallow Apart from one lunchtime, I have never previously been inside the Minster to take images. I started with a 28mm prime and then switched to a macro lens and my favourite image is the macro shot of the lectern. I love the challenge of close-up work with this particular lens. It’s just great when the graft of searching for ‘the right shot’ culminates in a satisfying image.
shooting inside the Minster, which was very enjoyable. My favourite part was in the Chapter House – it’s beautiful, with lots of interesting things to take pictures of. My favourite image is of the Chapter House ceiling because I was able to capture a part of the Minster you would not normally be able to see in such detail because of the height.
detail to photograph in the Minster, it is inexhaustible as a source of subject matter, from the majesty of the nave to the medieval carvings in the Chapter House. Most of my shots were wide-angle, and my favourite photograph from the day is the circular panorama of the Chapter House ceiling because it was technically difficult, an interesting challenge and it shows the detail well.
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