Sharow Outing 2021

Overcast sky is not a problem if you want to photograph stained glass windows. In fact the conditions are ideal as the light is diffused so you don’t get “hot spots” and any grill protecting the outside of the windows will be less in evidence. And so it was for the Club’s outing on 19 August to St John’s Church at Sharow near Ripon.

The stained glass windows were the primary objects of interest with rich colours, a variety of styles, and many different biblical stories being represented. Capturing a window on its own is not usually a problem for photographers but if you want to show the stonework around the window as well then there can be tricky issues about exposure and white balance as often natural daylight and tungsten interior lighting can be in conflict.

Other features that members photographed included the font, the ceiling with its golden bosses and the churchyard including a rather unusual monument to an astronomer. We also found a surprisingly large number of graves stones for former armed service personnel. This became less surprising when we learned that a Royal British Legion retirement home used to be located in the village.

Our photographers managed a broad range of styles, from the essentially “architecture and record”, to the emotional, with some intriguing creative shots thrown in.

We were very grateful to the church authorities for giving us free run of the church for the morning and letting us move a few things around to get the “perfect” shot. We hope we got everything back to its proper place by the time we left.

Here is a selection of the shots taken. Click on an image for a full size slide show.