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Strid3r Offline Upload & Sell: Off p.1 #1 · Fountains Abbey Hi Everyone - I rarely experiment with Black and White Photography, but both the subject matter and shooting conditions led me to give it another shot here. Per Steady's suggestions I have provided some more information about this picture and Fountains Abbey. This past spring I was studying abroad in Greece and met up with my family in England for a long weekend. While we were traveling north from London to York we actually kind of stumbled upon Fountains, seeing numerous signs along the A1 and wanting a break in the drive we decided it was worth a shot. Unfortunately, since it was late March/Early April the weather was rather dreadful and was by far the rainiest and coldest day we’d seen all week. The flat skies, rain, and cold made it terribly hard to photograph the outside of the building, resulting in not very good photographs. Fountains Abbey as founded in 1132 and grew to be one of the largest and most influential in all of England. Unfortunately, like the all monasteries in England in the 16th Century it was dissolved and destroyed by Henry VIII after England’s break from the Catholic Church. The abbey ruins are among the most complete in all of England. It has since been named a UNESCO World Heritage site. This photo is of the Cellarium, where the lay brothers of the monastery lived. Originally I took this picture in color, but the high ISO left some unpleasant noise in the left side of the picture that is less visible in this B&W Conversion. I was blown away by the scale of the Abbey, from the mill house, to the cloisters, to the church itself. I would love an opportunity to go back on a drier and warmer day so I could enjoy the Abbey and surrounding gardens more thoroughly. I highly recommend it to anyone traveling through the area. If anyone is interested it would be worth your time to visit their website to see more photos and information: http://www.fountainsabbey.org.uk/html/visiting/what-to-see/the-abbey/ Thanks, Mike Edited on Dec 15, 2008 at 10:53 PM · View previous versions Dec 15, 2008 at 07:01 AM

philber Offline Dedicated FM Upload & Sell: On p.1 #2 · Fountains Abbey What's not to like? It grabs me and transports me into time/space warp. Just great! Dec 15, 2008 at 07:16 AM

Steady Hand Offline Dedicated FM Upload & Sell: Off p.1 #3 · Fountains Abbey Hello, My comments or suggestions below are not a criticism of you, your model, your talent or skill. I offer them in a friendly tone of voice and with the sole intent to help you with a second POV and set of eyes. If you read sincere questions and simple suggestions as "criticism" of you, then you will miss how I am trying to help you. My Comment: It seems so "natural" when viewing a nice photo of a place (building or landscape) to want to know the location. Where is it? What city, state, country? My Simple Suggestion: provide the viewer with at least a basic caption that describes the location enough to understand where is the scene. Beyond that, tell us (the viewer) something about the place (or building or bridge etc.) that identifies its importance to a city, place, people, nation, time. You may be showing someone something they will never see in person. Share the significance of the place with your viewer/audience. My next suggestion is based on a POV or opinion that is not commonly expressed. In fact, it goes "counter" to how many people use/make/show/share/critique photography. So, I admit this suggestion is "unconventional." But, I believe if you follow this suggestion, you and many others will enjoy your photographs more richly and deeply. I don't wish to "debate" this suggestion here in your thread, but I will offer it as a suggestion because I truly believe it is something that would be beneficial to many (you and others). Steady's Suggestion: Share how the place made you feel. Give us a sense of the place that goes beyond visual. Tell us something about the sight, sound, texture, smells, and atmosphere of the place we see. I like this photo. It is very nice and looks very good in BW. I like the composition, the light, and the BW use. Dec 15, 2008 at 01:31 PM

Strid3r Offline Upload & Sell: Off p.1 #4 · Fountains Abbey Thank you both for your comments. Steady, I didn't really understand why a thread was created in tribute to you, but now I understand. I really appreciate your thoughtful and thorough comments and now realize how a little bit of background or history can go a long way in appreciating an image. Dec 15, 2008 at 10:56 PM

T-bone1 Offline Dedicated FM Upload & Sell: Off p.1 #5 · Fountains Abbey Fantastic. All the details are there. I appreciate the writeup to help me understand what I'm looking at, too. Often times for me anyway, it can make or break whether I like a shot. I like this anyway, but now I understand and appreciate it much more! Dec 16, 2008 at 04:52 AM

santos Offline Dedicated FM Upload & Sell: On p.1 #6 · Fountains Abbey Well done here, Mike. I am a sucker for these old buidings. Quite often (at least in countries such as Italy, France and Switzerland), you are not allowed to take photographs using a tripod. From your intro about the high iso, I assume you didn't have one either. My suggestion would be that you acquire a lens wide enough at the short end (for indoor photography), with image stabilization. The gain in freedom and new possibilities in such dark places is quite tremendous. santiago Dec 16, 2008 at 01:24 PM

Steady Hand Offline Dedicated FM Upload & Sell: Off p.1 #7 · Fountains Abbey Strid3r wrote: Thank you both for your comments. Steady, I didn't really understand why a thread was created in tribute to you, but now I understand. I really appreciate your thoughtful and thorough comments and now realize how a little bit of background or history can go a long way in appreciating an image. Howdy Mike, Thanks for the kind words. Made my day. I am always glad to help when I can. This particular image has a lot of "history" behind it and so a "story" just seems so natural to accompany it. Your story (the rain, the family outing, the size) with its impressions was nice to read. So too was the historical "fact based" "backstory" too. Here's a Simple Suggestion: This particular type of image could look extremely nice as a print using Piezography (a specialized type of careful digital BW printing method/inks). Note that this is NOT the same as a typical Epson 9600 type print. Here is a link: http://www.piezography.com/ I highly recommend sending this image file to a Piezography studio (IF in the USA, look up "Jon Cone" ) and having them make this a large print on some nice paper for you. Let them advise you on the type of paper they think would make the best final print given the image file. Different papers make a different impression. IF I had my Piezo system running, I would start with a Hannemuhle Torchon (for texture) and also use a PhotoRag type paper as well. I think the "textures" of the ground/floor and the stone structure would look especially nice on a "softer" finish paper that will yield a "soft texture" "rag" surface. This image is lovely to see. I see "sales" potential in it. Dec 16, 2008 at 09:20 PM

Strid3r Offline Upload & Sell: Off p.1 #8 · Fountains Abbey Thank you T-Bone1 and Santiago. Santiago, sadly a tripod was likely allowed in this place as it was entirely deserted, but when I was packing for the weekend I wound up leaving a tripod behind (bad decision, I know) due to a lack of space and wanting to avoid checking bags through the disastrous Heathrow baggage handling system. As soon as they make a fast ultra wide angle zoom with good image quality (for APS-C) and include IS (right now it's either the distortion heavy 17-85 or new 18-55, both are slow), I'll be all over it, but until then I'll stick with the fast glass (and a tripod when I bring it ). Steady, I will look into Piezography. Honestly, I've never heard of it, but it sounds like it might be worth a try. Thanks again to everyone. Dec 17, 2008 at 06:19 PM

rowan57 Offline Upload & Sell: Off p.1 #9 · Fountains Abbey NIce shot of a great place, a bit lighter to bring back some shadow detail probably wouldn't harm. Fountains Abbey is in North Yorkshire and is a popular spot with school visits & tourists, the website is here: http://www.fountainsabbey.org.uk/ It has a tendency to rain every time i have been (from memory) but is still very dramatic. Most of the abbey itself is derelict (roof is completely gone in most places), the ground within the abbey tends to be grassy and overgrown, and lends well to photography. Cheers Rowan Dec 18, 2008 at 12:39 AM

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