A Different Genre from those 'usually' posted

[James G]

From childhood I have always been fascinated by stained glass. When my interest in photography started, I also started photographing stained glass. I've been lucky enough to both see and photograph some of the finest examples ranging from medieval through to modern and I almost always check out churches, cathedrals, public buildings etc when I visit someplace new.

It has been pointed out to me, by my wife Janet, that I hardly ever post my stained glass imagery, despite having compiled a collection of thousands (literally) of examples, over the years.

So here goes:-
I have many 'favorite' artists, but a particular obsession with an Irish artist, Harry Clarke, and have spent 50+ years tracking down his work.

The images below were taken a few years ago in Dingle, Ireland at the Diseart Institute. (http://www.diseart.ie/visitor/harry3.html )

The six lancets are considered by many to be his greatest work.

#1 The visit of the Magi


#2 The Baptism of Christ


#3 Let the little children come to me


#4 The Sermon on the Mount


#5 The Agony in the Garden


#6 Jesus appers to Mary Magdalene


Best viewed in the lightbox imo

[Digital]

James, very nice images.



Bruce

[Shadowman]

Nice captures.

[Dave Humphries]

Great presentation James, but then it seems you have had a lot of practice

I'm sure you have a few perspective issues to deal with, being unable to get 'square on' to shoot most I'm sure.

You're right, we don't see many of these here.

Cheers, Dave

[JBW]

please post more, they're beautiful.

[billtils]

Thanks for posting these James, and especially for the historical information on the genre. I have a fairly large portfolio of what could be described as "Ecclesiastical" images and these obviously include a number of stained glass windows, but I had no idea of any background information.

Since you have opened the window (so to speak) on the topic, here is a recent one that has a whimsical element. It is from the small church in Wester Fowlis in Perthshire where I was taking a few of one of the stained glass windows by shooting through a clear window on the opposite side. Most were shot from a little behind the wall to give a window-framed-in-window effect but this one was taken with the camera right up to the glass. The combination of light and (possibly) the fact that the clear window was somewhat in need of cleaning produced this ghost-like effect. As Dave rightly says, there are perspective issues to be dealt with, but I opted for the stained window to be straight.

[gcowan]

These are exquisite windows, well phtotgraphed. I can understand your interest in Mr Clarke. It is not very easy to make such good images of stained glass. Not the least problem is where to stand, but you seem to have solved that.

I have a few photos of stained glass windows myself, in fact one of my earliest photos was of the stained glass in our National Library not long after it was built. I think the slides have gone the way of all that is perishable, not that they were of any quality. Slide film is unforgiving and i did not really know what I was doing.

You seem to actively seek out certain artists, which means that your collection must be interesting. I would like to see more.
I only get to photograph stained glass as a tourist and that really limits the photography. You might be interested that I saw some windows by Marc Chagal in the cathedral in Metz France and in a little church on Martha's Vineyard in the USA all of the windows are by Tiffany (of Jewelry store fame I think.)

[John 2]

Nicely captured and presented. Controlling the highlights is always the challenge with stained glass particularly when you can't choose the time and sort of day (weather and light). These are spot on in that respect.

[James G]

Dave, thanks, and yes lots of practice and truth be told lots of failure. There are also a lot of windows out there which are absolute jewels, but because of the angle they are visible at, usually more or less impossible to capture.

The sequence I posted was relatively easy since they were large lancets in a small chapel and I could set up square on to them. Perspective is always an issue though. I accept that without a tilt and shift lens, which I was never able to justify, (cost!), I’d have to apply general corrections where possible in pp.

Bill, your capture is amazing, I have never seen anything like it! You are right, it has a quite ethereal look and you have retained a nice luminosity in the glass.

Graham, One day, I might get to St. Stephens Cathedral, Brisbane. There is a Harry Clarke window (the Mayne window) which is one of the last three of his work that I have not yet seen .... I live in hope

Brian, I agree Stained Glass is beautiful. I will put together some of my ‘favourites’ and post separately, but for the present, and picking up on Graham’s mention of Marc Chagall...

Psalm 150 Chichester Cathedral UK (Executed by Marc Chagall ... when he was 90!)


John, conditions are always an issue. I've been many times to Dingle and I've never been really satsfied with the visit of the Magi window. There is a tree/shub just outside which always darkens the bottom left corner... The won't let me cut it down!

[James G]

Ok, Brian and Graham asked me to post some more images so.. try this link....

https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resi...t=folder%2cjpg

I've put 30 odd images up which can be viewed on the web and downloaded if anyone so desires. (I know Brian has a poor internet connection, so hopefully this will work better for him.)

They are a very small sample of the total collection, kind of picked at random, but I hope they give a feel for the range and different styles of glass that are out there. The posted examples range from glass first installed nearly 700 years ago to modern windows created after the millenium.

One however I will post directly within this thread with an explanation of its relevance to me.
It is not the 'best' capture I've achieved, and its certainly not top of the list for 'artistic merit' but it is the first window I ever noticed properly....



I was 5 yrs of age, and when my family were visiting my grandparents in Ireland, I used to stand with my Grandfather at the back of the church during services on Sunday. For some reason at that time, the 'men' congregated at the back of the church rather than sit in the pews. (I think it was actually for a quick exit to get to the pub )

So there I was, holding Grandad's hand and if I looked up and to my left, just above my head was that big red snake with a lady standing on it... I was both fascinated by the colours and the light, but just a little frightened of the snake! But Grandad was holding my hand.....so I reckon I was safe. That was 60 years ago, I still go into the church when I'm there, and I always look at that 'serpent'.

[Urbanflyer]

lovely! Thanks for posting and sharing your enthusiasm!

[JBW]

Thanks is hardly a fitting reply. I followed your link and I think i connected them to my one drive. With your permission I could see some of your shots (properly referenced) gracing my (non profit) blog?

[IzzieK]

...
One however I will post directly within this thread with an explanation of its relevance to me.
It is not the 'best' capture I've achieved, and its certainly not top of the list for 'artistic merit' but it is the first window I ever noticed properly....

I was 5 yrs of age, and when my family were visiting my grandparents in Ireland, I used to stand with my Grandfather at the back of the church during services on Sunday. For some reason at that time, the 'men' congregated at the back of the church rather than sit in the pews. (I think it was actually for a quick exit to get to the pub )

So there I was, holding Grandad's hand and if I looked up and to my left, just above my head was that big red snake with a lady standing on it... I was both fascinated by the colours and the light, but just a little frightened of the snake! But Grandad was holding my hand.....so I reckon I was safe. That was 60 years ago, I still go into the church when I'm there, and I always look at that 'serpent'.

Now we know why you lived your own life walking the straight and narrow...that snake did it! Good work, James!

[James G]

Brian, you flatter me greatly, feel free to post them as you see fit. I'm just pleased if it brings a very much underrated and misunderstood craft to a wider audience. ( Onedrive makes such transfers a lot easier, so I've added a few more for your perusal )

Izzie, my mother might have disagreed over the wobbly line I have walked... she was known to refer to me at that age as 'a street angel and a house devil' or, that "I was young in years but old in sin".

[Anne22]

What beautiful images.

[Cogito]

James, lovely images! Do you have any showing the "interior" of the church showing the windows in a wider environment? I.e. a window with adjoining architecture?

[bje07]

niceseries

[JohnRostron]

A gorgeous series. I must see if the images of stained glass I took recently at Gloucester Cathedral and Tewkesbury Abbey are worthy of posting. They include several modern windows.

John

[Mike Buckley]

I'm glad this thread was revived because I somehow missed it the first time when it was established. What a wonderful way to combine two hobbies so effectively -- stained glass and photography!

[James G]

Some time ago, I posted about my interest in Stained Glass. And now I’m adding a little to it.
Following a recent thread posted by Brian, regarding his experiments with in-camera HDR, I responded with a couple of comments regarding my ‘limited’ use of the technique, in particular recently, with using HDR blending in Adobe Camera Raw.
Brian responded

looking forward to seeing some of your stained glass work

It has been a while since I posted any glass so, here is an image I’ve been working on recently:-

“The Eve of St Agnes” (I'd recommend also looking at it in the lightbox)



This glass is currently housed in the Hugh Lane Gallery in Dublin and is arguably one of the finest stained glass panels of the early 20^th C. It is also a somewhat rarer secular window, designed as a private commission, rather than for the more usual religious/chapel setting.
The panel illustrates a poem, ‘The Eve of St Agnes’ by John Keats.
This shoot became something of a project, since I had a request from a cousin for a copy of the image and I ended up producing a photo book including Keat’s poem and linking the panels to key elements of the text. I also ended up including additional explanation of the folk beliefs that are at the root of the poem.

The complete project can be viewed at the link below (which takes you to my Google Drive)

https://drive.google.com/drive/folde...w8?usp=sharing

A full sized version of the complete panel can also be seen here:-

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Ub3...ew?usp=sharing