This looks like I’ve lit the statue but the photo was taken with available light. I was lucky because a shaft of sunlight shone through at the right moment in the right place.
Many of the statues in Nunhead Cemetery are amputated or broken due to age or neglect. This one looks disturbingly alive too, despite the missing arm.
A classic Where’s Wally moment… Lower right of the photo. Sometimes it is hard to leave Gizmo out, especially from photos of his favourite angel seen here from the back. I find this view of the statue vaguely sinister, particularly from the low viewpoint. Note the tendrils of ivy. Even though Gizmo is the most alive thing in the photo the angel looks like it is on a mission.
Getting off the paths is worth it here. Close to this photo was a gaping hole into a tomb about 3 metres deep. If I had stepped back I could have interred myself and probably nobody would have been any the wiser.
The sharpness of the f/2.8 Planar is scary. The full sized scan of the above photo shows the truncated ivy on the gravestone and the inscription in quite extraordinary detail and clarity. It is ironic that the cross in the background is cast as a log. It is being reclaimed by roots. Much of the cemetery is like this and I’ve only scratched the surface.
I couldn’t resist the name on this gravestone. William Moon. Despite being buried in 1922, the grave is cared for and flowers had recently been placed there. I only found it by following a little path that went to a small clearing with just this grave and some other small ramshackle ones.
Not one of the best but I’m including it for completeness, particularly as it looks like the beginning of a balancing act.
Photos taken with a Rolleiflex 2.8F, medium yellow filter, HP5+ EI200, HC-110 1+63 (Dil H) 8 minutes
by skinnyvoice
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Really good – there’s a real crispness to these, despite the fact that the graveyard’s light and shadows doesn’t lend itself to crispness.
Gizmo does know how to chase the camera!
@skinnyvoice I love this http://bit.ly/hSBGdH, and the St Alfege-corrosive just beautiful…….