Saxon church gravestone

[pschlute]

IMGP4950 by Peter Schluter, on Flickr

[lovelife65]

Nicely done. Kind of creeepy!
Don’t have any critiques or suggestions tho.

[mugge]

I like it. Maybe burn the highlight just beneath the face.

Please don't straighten the picture. Just right in my view.
Cheers Ole

[DanK]

I like it, but for my taste, the image is too dark and the contrast is too extreme, particularly for the tombstone. Much of the interesting detail on the stone is obscured. With everything else so dark, what draws the eye is the bright arch on the church (L values up to 87) and the bright area to the right. I'd bring up the shadows selectively and then dodge and burn to direct the viewer's eye.

I'm interested in the history of this. I am guessing that the church is much older than the headstone. My knowledge of ancient British history is spotty, to say the least. When was the church built?

[pschlute]

Thanks for the comments. I wanted the image to be moody and "spooky", but will try some of the suggestions.

It is known as the Old Saxon Church, Albury, Surrey. The oldest part of the church is Saxon and is mentioned in the Doomsday book, so at least 950 years old. Later additions are more modern, like the 13th century door !, and the Pugin designed chapel inside. It has not been used as a church for about 150 years, so there is no car park, and sitting as it does on a private estate it is really like stepping back in time. Luckily it is well looked after.

[DanK]

I find this very interesting. This fits with what little I have read, which suggests that Anglo-Saxon culture persisted in some areas for a while after the Norman invasion.

More on topic, the area I live in was one of the first colonized (the first shots in the Revolution were fired about half a mile down the street from my house), so we have quite a number of graveyards that date back to the 17th century. I've tried numerous times to figure out how to get interesting photos from them, but most of mine have been duds. The only ones that have been interesting so far have focused close up on details of headstones, not a larger area. However, these graveyards generally don't have an interesting old structure like the one in your photo. I don't know whether that's because construction here was then al wood or villages didn't put their graveyards in churchyards.

[Chataignier]

Interesting and atmospheric photo Peter.
If you like saxon churches, do you know St Mary's in Sompting, near Worthing ? It, like most ancient churches, is a bit of a mix of periods, but the tower is saxon and has a rare rhenish helm roof.

[Cantab]

This thread has brought back memories of the Saxon church at Enscomb in County Durham, which I saw with friends while a student many years ago at Durham. I regret I did not take any photos of it.