Photography | alan frost photography

Posts from the ‘Photography’ category

The River Arun at South Stoke – one of my favourite locations

River Arun at South Stoke

The River Arun has its source in St Leonard’s Forest to the east of Horsham and flows down through the towns of Pulborough and Arundel, finally reaching the sea at Littlehampton. Its course cuts through the South Downs, creating the Arun Valley. This shot was taken at South Stoke which has to be one of my favourite locations in West Sussex. It has featured before on my blog and I am sure will do so again in the future.

Here are some links to other entries with images taken in and around this lovely location –

Using ‘blur’ down by the River Arun

Churches in the landscape – South Stoke

A week on and it’s back to South Stoke

Cow portraits taken near South Stoke

In loving memory of a Churchyard – St Thomas a’ Becket, Warblington

From an early age I have always been fascinated by churches and churchyards with their gravestones and crosses. I guess this interest was instilled in me by my parents when I was a small child. My father would want to stop and visit every church we came across, particularly when we were on holiday visiting a new area. If there was time he would want to do a quick pencil drawing of the church in a sketchbook, something which he always carried with him. He would note down the colours and when he returned home he would get out his brushes and water colours to paint the scene he had sketched, but also the one he remembered in his mind’s eye.

I am no different except I paint with light, using black and white photographs instead of some paper, pencil and paints. I will capture the scene and then in post processing apply the appropriate treatment to the image. It’s a creative but arguably selfish process, as first and foremost I want the result to please me but I always hope it may give some pleasure to the viewer as well, but primarily it’s my interpretation of a visit to a particular location.

The subject of this entry is the churchyard of St Thomas a’Beckett Church in Warblington, which dates back to Saxon times. It is situated in the Parish of Emsworth on the borders of West Sussex and Hamsphire, within just a few minutes walk of the sea,. As you might imagine the area is popular with walkers and those visiting this lovely church. The churchyard is about an acre in size and there is a much larger adjoining cemetery, so there is plenty to explore. Inevitably many of the inscriptions on the headstones have been worn away, now covered by lichen or ivy. Apparently the oldest memorial dates back to 1707. One of the most striking is the gravestone of William Palmer (above) which depicts the sinking of his ship, mast first, in Dublin Harbour in 1759.

I fully accept the subject of this entry will not be to everyones liking, but as I have already said these are fascinating places. They are a reminder of lives lost and the lives those people used to live many generations ago. Walk along the pathways and between the headstones and your mind starts to wander as you try and imagine what life must have been like for the people of Warblington in days gone by.

There are eight more images in this post ……… so do continue scrolling down.

All the photographs in this entry where taken with a Leica M Monochrom and 50mm Summilux lens, often shot wide open at f1.4 to give a very narrow depth of field. They were all processed in Lightroom and then imported into Silver Efex for some final treatment.

Please click on any of the images to view a larger version.

In times of darkness – let there be light

In times of darkness

So many churches are closed these days for security purposes. but venture out into the countryside away from the big towns and cities and the chances are you will find a small village church with its doors open, ready to accept those who seek a liitle peace for quiet contemplation and prayer.

One such church is in the tiny hamlet of South Stoke to the north of Arundel in West Sussex. One road in and one road out, this beautifully situated church lies close to the River Arun, as it weaves its way south through Arundel and on towards Littlehampton, where its waters meet the English Channel.

Inside the church it has the appearance that very little has changed for hundreds of years. The pulpit is lit during daylight hours by a stained glass window, but in times of darkness the flame of a candle would shine its light on the The Bible which already open for the next reading.

This shot was taken with a Leica M Monochrom and 50mm Summilux lens, then processed in Lightroom and Silver Efex Pro. Being a rangefinder and given the main subject of the picture was quiet close to the camera, I encountered the parallax issue, which means that what you see through the viewfinder is not what you get, because the viewfinder is not centred on the same plane as the lens. It was important for me to make sure that the candle was in front of the dark background and not the light coming through the window on the left. I had to adjust my position on a few occasions to get the composition I was looking for.

Pastimes on the coast – people in photographs

Wave watchers

People don’t normally feature in my photographs. I normally wait for them to move out of shot before pressing the shutter. Just occasionally they will enhance a photograph by adding an extra element or storyline to an image which I like.

This short series of just six pictures all taken on the North Norfolk coast last year, illustrate what I am trying to say. Imagine taking the people out of each shot and what would you be left with? In each case a pleasing but hardly noteworthy image of the foreshore, the sea and in some cases a good sky. However the inclusion of a person or people to the shot, tells the viewer something else about the location. It documents how we interact with a particular location, in this case the enjoyment of our coastline, the sea and the large open skies.

Irrespective of the weather we might walk along the foreshore collecting our thoughts, listening to the sounds made by the shingles beneath our feet; or look out through a telescope to the far horizon, waiting to sight an elusive migratory bird flying in from others shores; or casting a line and just sitting patiently for a fish to take a bite; or throwing stones into the waves as the winds and high tide combine, all captured on a friend’s smartphone; or just sitting and watching from a sand dune with no one else around other than our trusted four legged companion……and at the end of the day, as the sun starts to set, walking back home only to return another day.

Is it any wonder we find pleasure and a certain peace with the coast, as we combine our hobbies with a dramatic and beautiful location.

There is of course someone else enjoying their hobby in these photographs……and that’s me!

Bird watchers

One man and his dog

The catch

Alone on the shore

End of the day

To see a larger version, please click on an image. You may need to do this on a couple of the pictures to appreciate some of the detail.

My LRPS Panel – a new gallery page

LRPS Panel

In December 2012 I was awarded a Licentiate Distinction (LRPS) by a panel of three judges representing the Royal Photographic Society.

The ten images now appear as a new gallery on this site. Please click on the above image which will take you to the relevant page.

I am now working towards becoming an Associate.