A moment of calm

During my busy working life there are times when I just need to slow down for a moment and pinhole photography is a great way to make that happen. Back in April I headed over to St John’s Church in Duxford and spent an hour or so chasing the light. I’ve photographed here many times before but the light is never the same as the seasons change. On this occasion I started in the churchyard where the cowslips were flowering. Of course my photo doesn’t capture their vivid yellow tones, but I decided to shoot from a low perspective to catch them in the foreground anyway.

Inside the church, the light was as glorious as ever, creating pools of illumination around the building.

This was one of my slower shots (an eight minute exposure) but I couldn’t resist the textural details of this door and its latch.

Two different perspectives of the nave…

More pools of light, this time from the west window.

The light in the porch was very contrasty, creating some very graphic lines.

My final photo of the afternoon, taken from a higher perspective beside the pulpit.

Photos taken 11 April 2025

Flying in style

One blustery day in July we joined a group of friends from our local camera club for a photo day at Duxford’s Imperial War Museum, exploring some of the commercial aircraft. What a fascinating day it proved to be. Our tour guides had a tremendous knowledge of the aircraft and their history and we were allowed free reign to stick our lenses into every nook and cranny of them!

I found myself fascinated by the smaller details, especially on the flight decks where there were lots of atmospherically lit corners.

Kevin’s grandfather worked for Airspeed during World War II so we had to have a photo of Kevin beside the Airspeed Ambassador, even if it was a bit blowy!

The view from the navigator’s seat…

Enjoying the pilot’s seat

Many of the aircraft had been decorated with period features, such as crockery for the in flight refreshments.

Aboard one of the Queen’s personal aircraft

Buttons and dials everywhere on the flight deck of Concorde.

Photos taken 21 July 2023

Taking to the skies above Duxford

It’s been a long while since I had a proper chance to test my aviation photography skills but late in July one of the flying displays at Duxford coincided with some a dry day. The sky was grey but with some texture in the clouds and this set off the colours of the aircraft well.

Photographing aircraft in flight is always a balancing act. You want a slow enough shutter speed to capture some movement in the propellers, but if you go to slow it becomes difficult to keep the camera still enough for a sharp photo. I usually begin with a faster shutter speed and then gradually reduce this as I get back into practice with my panning skills.

A trio of different Spitfires…

Spooling up for take off.

Happy landings.

The Mustang ‘Miss Helen’ readying herself for the skies

Photos taken 29 July 2023

The best camera...

It’s often said that the best camera is the one you have with you. I almost always tend to have a camera in my bag, but I know for most people the one they have to hand is their smartphone. I recently agreed to teach a short workshop on smartphone photography at St. John’s Church, Duxford, so it only seemed sensible to do visit this lovely church again and do some more practical research on the subject.

I wanted to create a selection of photos I could print and share with my students to show what’s possible with a phone camera. I’ve learnt a lot while preparing for the workshop and, even with my basic iPhone, the camera is capable of much more than I realised before.

To try and tell a story about the church I looked for smaller details to photograph too.

You can always rely on St John’s for beautiful shafts of sunlight.

I made prints of all the photos I’ve shared here, but I made the finally one into an A3 sized print to show what a phone camera is capable of producing.

Photos taken 19 April 2023

St John's in colour

While visiting St John’s Church in Duxford recently I took the opportunity to finish off the roll of Kodak Portra 400 film I had left in my pinhole camera from Christmas. When I arrived the sky was cloudy but those clouds swiftly parted, allowing sunlight to flood into the church - what a wonderful sight!

These shafts of sunlight threw some beautiful pools of light onto the floor and walls of the church - such a magical effect.

Click on any image to see it enlarged.

Photos taken 27 January 2023