Church struggles

For this exercise I was asked to photograph an atmospheric location and create a slide show with six shots, the idea being that we were to say more about the place than just the content of the pictures.

Before I set out on this project I had a clear idea of the location I was going to use and a rough idea of the shots I wanted to take. On arrival at the location I spent some time photographing the outside of the building and then went on to take some shots of the inside, only to find the door was locked. On previous visits I had always found access was not a problem and did not think to check.

I decided to move on to the nearby Pilton church. A truly stunning building in its own right. As the church came into view I realized for the first time just how grand and majestic it stands and certainly atmospheric. Having taken a good look around I decided it would make a good subject for the project.

• In my first shot I have tried to illustrate how the church towers before you as you approach from the front.
• For my second shot I wanted to create a sense of how grand the entrance feels and also to lead the eye up towards the ceiling, connecting to my next shot
• The skull and cross bone, I used this image to signify trouble and warning. The fourth shot of a fallen cross suggests a sense of sadness and neglect.
• As I looked around I got the feeling that all is not well with the church and it seems to have fallen upon difficult times so I chose the fifth image to illustrate that point.
• Finally the last shot of the cross overlooking the village I hoped to sum up the situation of the church looking to its community for help and support.

I found this exercise very rewarding in many ways and learned some valuable lessons. The next time I am planning to shoot in a location, I will check around the place first to ensure that it is going to be possible to collect all the material I need before I begin taking any pictures.

In future I will take more pictures in one session. When it came to sorting through the photographs to create the slideshow I wished I had took more shots of an image from different angles and had experimented a little more with exposure and depth of field.

I found that taking pictures of images that popped out at me and were not necessarily part of my plan actually came in very useful later on, as some of the photographs I used for the slide show were pictures taken randomly without any thought of how they might be used later.

As a result of what I learnt from this exercise I will now go on to do things differently in future projects, hopefully using my resources more efficiently.

Self Portrait