A project rebooted

Over a decade ago I started a project to photograph all the churches within the Square Mile of the City of London. Once upon a time there were over 100, but the Great Fire, a dwindling resident population, historical town planning and the Blitz have gradually whittled this number down. Yet even today over fifty remain and before Covid struck I’d visited about four fifths of these with my camera. After the pandemic many of the churches were slow to reopen so I’ve focused my photographic interests in other areas for the last five years.

Last week I decided the time had come to reboot my dormant project and I began with a revisit to St Dunstan in the West, in Fleet Street. Over the intervening years my skills and style have evolved so I fear this could become the photographic equivalent of painting the Forth Bridge, but I’m looking forward to improving upon some of my earlier efforts.

St Dunstan in the West is one of two churches with the same name, but St Dunstan in the East, near the Tower of London, remained an empty shell after being bombed during the Blitz and is now a beautiful garden space. Its western cousin is an unusual building. From Fleet Street it looks like a typical, rectangular City church, but when you head inside you find an octagon nave! Although an Anglican church, it shares its space with the Romanian Orthodox Church and London’s Romanian community. This is evident on one of the eight sides, which has an ornately carved wall, creating a private chapel, as you can see above. The three photos below show more details from this corner of the church.

Looking up at the beautiful vaulted ceiling, with the organ below.

The sword rest is a curiosity of most of the City Churches - intended as somewhere for the Lord Mayor to place his sword while at prayer.

The ornately carved pulpit, covered with angels and with a canopy above to help project the speaker’s voice to the congregation.

I found a moment when I had the church to myself to lie on the floor and take this photo!

Smaller details from around St Duntan’s.

Above and below - details and beautiful light among the pews. Each pew is equipped with a number of wooden pegs to hang one’s hat!

Photos taken 28 June 2025

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

The remains of a Liverpool landmark

One of the places which remained tantalisingly out of reach when I visited Liverpool in 2019 was St Luke’s - a church in the city centre which was no,bed during the Blitz. On my latest visit I was delighted to find the railings were unlocked and I could finally take a look inside. Of course, with pouring rain and no roof I got rather wet, but it was worth it!

Photos taken 16 April 2025

From the South Downs to Birling Gap

Way back in February we’d planned a short trip to Eastbourne to be part of a podcast recording, after which I was then heading west for work. I had a free day in between though, and there were two locations on my photographic agenda.

The first was the Church of the Good Shepherd in Sullington, up on the South Downs. I learnt about this tiny little church from the YouTube channel of a fellow pinhole photographer, Will Gudgeon, and it’s been on my list of places to visit ever since. Will was kind enough to give some tips on where to park and how to find the church was it stands in the middle of farm land, some distance from the nearest road.

The Church of the Good Shepherd is genuinely tiny, with perhaps room inside for a dozen people. It originally formed part of a larger church, but all that remains of this larger structure are a few fragments of wall.

You wouldn’t expect the weather to be wonderful in February, but with the church’s exposed location on the South Downs it felt even more blustery and cold. To top things off we then had a hailstorm, so I was very grateful the door was unlocked. While I waited for the stinging hailstones to peter out I made the most of the opportunity to take a slow photo inside!

A small slit window in the stub of one of the walls from the original church.

After I’d meandered back to the car I headed once again towards the coast and stopped of en-route at the church in Litlington to finish off my roll of film.

My second destination for the day was Birling Gap. After a warming lunch in the cafe I loaded up a fresh roll of film and braced myself for an hour on the beach below the chalk cliffs. By now it was blowing a hoolie and keeping my tripod stable was a bit of a challenge - sometimes I had to place my body strategically to create something of a windbreak!

The beach at Birling Gap is a mix of chalk and flint which made for some very striking patterns. I’d timed my visit for low tide, just as the sea was beginning to return so I kept my eyes peeled for places where the water was running back in between these stony ridges.

Capturing the ridges of chalk and flint as the waves came in took a good sense of balance and timing. As I stop atop the larger rocks I waited for the waves to come in and hoped I didn’t lose my footing or find the water had inundated my return path to dry land!

Photos taken 7 February 2025

Chester Cathedral

The last time I visited Chester was in April 2003, when I was teaching on a course in the city and it’s long been on my list of places I’d like to return to. As we prepared to drive home from Liverpool last November that moment finally came as it was a fairly easy detour to Chester via the Mersey Tunnel. We spent an hour or so in the Cathedral and I was thrilled when the sun finally appeared, creating some beautiful play of light on the stonework.

Photos taken 22 November 2024

Museum light

There are certain buildings which never fail to get my photographic juices going. Sometimes that’s down to the architectural lines; on other occasions it’s because of the way the light falls within the space. The Museum of Liverpool falls into both these categories, and when we visited last November I found some new angles on a space I thought I’d already explored pretty fully.

Photos taken 21 November 2024

Salisbury Cathedral

I never pass up the chance to visit a Cathedral, even if it’s one I’ve been to many times before. In April we passed near Salisbury on our way to a concert so naturally we popped in for a look around. I’ve photographed here in detail before, so on this occasion I ended up shooting two mini projects - the first was to explore the many different animals I found lurking among the choir stalls.

My other mini project was looking for interesting light and as the sun came out there was no shortage of that…

Photos taken 19 April 2025

A tale of two cathedrals

It was inevitable we’d visit both of Liverpool’s Cathedrals while we were there last November. It never fails to amaze me that both of these buildings were completed during my own lifetime and they’re so different. When we arrived at the Anglican Cathedral the sun was gradually dropping in the sky, creating some beautiful effects as it hit the stonework.

Downstairs in the Lady Chapel.

The seats had all been removed from the nave, creating a very uncluttered view as I looked back towards the crossing.

When in Liverpool it’s only correct to photograph a Liver Bird!

The last time I visited the Metropolitan Cathedral I took lots of photos, documenting the modern architecture, so this time I decided to take a more abstract approach, using the shapes and light I found around me.

One thing I missed out on last time was seeing the crypt as it was being used for university exams. This time it was open and it was wonderful to finally see a glimpse of what Edwin Lutyens had in mind in his design for the Cathedral. This huge crypt was built from millions of bricks, but the advent of World War II stopped construction and the Cathedral which was eventually built above it is very different (and much smaller) than Lutyens’ original design. It’s estimated that is Lutyens’ design had been built in its entirety it still wouldn’t be finished today!

Photos taken 19 & 20 November

Literary lines

Yet again I find myself horribly behind on my Photoblog posts so I’m starting another attempt to catch up with more regular posts. Some photos will be recent, while others, like these, were taken several months ago!

One of the places on my ‘must visit’ list when we went to Liverpool last November was the central library. Admittedly, not a typical holiday destination, but I’d see photos of the modern atrium and the 19th century circular reading room online and they struck me as places I’d like to photograph. I didn’t get very far with the modern part of the library as I could really have done with having a zoom lens on my camera to make more of the shapes. But that gives me a good excuse to come back sometime!

The Picton Reading Room, on the other hand, suited the two small prime lenses I had with me just perfectly and I spent a happy half hour exploring its beautiful lines.

Photos taken 21 November 2024