I first moved here aged 18 in the year 2000, I attended a local college where I met a nice barmaid, who did such a good job of giving me beer that I married her :-) Lincoln is a stunning city, that is full of history and it's skyline is totally dominated by the Cathedral and the castle. This city has been the hub of the massive county of Lincolnshire ( Lin-con-sher for my American friends, not Lin-coln-shire as you'd no doubt mispronounce it) which has been the birthplace of many important people through history, from Sir Isaac Newton to Henry IV.
One of these people was Alfred, Lord Tennyson. One of the most famous British poets and Poet Laureate of Great Britain for most of Queen Victoria's reign he is still a very well known name here and his work is still a major piece of educational literature here and all over Europe. One of his most famous pieces was "The Charge Of The Light Brigade" and there are some very well known extracts...
"Forward, the Light Brigade!"
Was there a man dismayed?
Not though the soldier knew
Some one had blundered:
Their's not to make reply,
Their's not to reason why,
Their's but to do and die:
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
So in the grounds of Lincoln Cathedral stands a huge statue of Lord Tennyson and that's what I decided to take my image of, to try and show off some of the culture of my adopted home city and not just the buildings. I went up there in the evening and composed the shot, I wanted the cathedral as a backdrop, and because I haven't got a lens wide enough (yet) to squeeze it all in from inside the Cathedral grounds I had to stand over the wall. This has mean that I got some of the shrubbery in the foreground of the shot that I'd rather wasn't there, but ripping it out wasn't an option, mainly because of the HUGE number of CCTV cameras covering the area! Big Brother really is watching in this part of the city. So here I waited until the sun was about down and they switched on the massive lights that illuminate the huge building until the early hours (They switch them off then to save some cash) This threw just enough light on the tower to give it some separation and make the image a little deeper. So here it is.
I'd have liked a little more interest in the sky, and it's sods law that after all the crappy rain and cloud over the last few days that it was clear tonight !
Please feel free to leave a comment, it would be nice to get one or two opinions on this from people who aren't involved in the project. And please take a gander at what they are up to with the project. Links below.
I love this Pete. Great depth to it! Excellent time in the day to take this shot, as there is just enough ambient light, with the artificial light added to make it very visually appealing. I don't even mind the shrubbery. The sky, sure, could have had some clouds in it, but it's really not that bad, as there really isn't that much sky involved here. There are enough objects (spire, tree, etc) to give a nice skyline.
ReplyDeleteAnd I did mentally say Lincolnshire correctly, but that's probably because I was corrected when I moved to Scotland those many years ago. Just like Ed-in-bo-ro instead of Ee-din-berg.
Nice job here, especially the inclusion of the culture 8)