Basilica of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Krzeszów

Easily one of the hardest buildings I have ever tried to photograph, the Basilica of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary is a very special place to me, as it was here that I was recently married. Yes it beats the local village church! Or I should say an English village church, because Krzeszow is only a small village, and this is how they do their churches! Ok that's not really true, it is indeed a rarity to have a Basilica this massive in a small Polish village, but sometimes that's where these grand holy places turn up. The area itself has switched hands a few times between Poland and Germany over the last 1000 years and I believe this Basilica was part of a Germanic state when it was built between 1728 and 1735. There is an old painting inside of the virgin Mary that dates back to the 13th century and is a holy relic.

As I said at the beginning though, photographing this building is a real challenge. I had a DSLR with my last year when I visited and didn't get any satisfactory close up shots. As you maybe able to tell, getting the whole building in the picture is very far from easy. I was lying down on the ground, nearly as far back in the grounds as possible to get this evening shot and you can still tell the distortion and warping issues you have (after correction I should add). Although I shoot with a full frame camera now, the only way you could make it easier is to shoot with a 14-24mm lens but I still think the distortion and warping issues with that must be immense. There are many single shots like this I have been working on with this church, and I'm sure more will appear but the thing I actually most like about this picture is the person you can see at the bottom and to the left of the Basilica. It gives you an idea of the sheer size of this building, and it was a joy to see my English guests for the wedding completely overwhelmed at the first sight of it.

One thing I did not picture and do not intend to, is the inside of this Basilica. Ok so you aren't supposed to take pictures inside, but nevertheless many people do. It's amazing outside but inside it is simply one of the most stunning buildings I have entered and though I am a photographer, I do not believe a picture could even nearly do it justice. I was delighted to see the photographer Jeremy Cowart express a similar sentiment on Twitter recently, that he couldn't bring himself to picture a sunset he was witnessing, because it was too beautiful and he couldn't hope to do it justice with a photo. That is how I have always felt about the inside of this building and it's great to know I'm not the only one thinks like that!

News Update!

Ok so it is not my intention to brag about any accomplishment I achieve within the photographic world, but like the Grass Snake I spoke about on Sunday, something happened yesterday that completely made my day. My Justice for the 96 picture was selected as the lead photo in an article by Liverpool Football Club entitled 'Eleven Stunning Pictures of Anfield'. This means that my photo is currently appearing on the front page of the website (see picture below)! It never bothered me, but I always thought it would be great recognition to get a photo of mine on the Flickr Front Page but to be honest, appearing on the front page of my beloved football club's website I will take over Flickr any day of the week, month, year and so on forever!

Here is the link to that article http://www.liverpoolfc.com/news/latest-news/eleven-superb-anfield-photos

Postcard from Liverpool

One of those pictures from my blog last year that has yet to make an appearance on this website. It is from a trip I made to Liverpool in September last year where the Liver Building was something I took many pictures of. I deliberately try not to post too many pictures of the same thing but with not being a well travelled photographer and promising 3 pictures a week, similarities do occur here and there. I processed this shortly after another picture of the Liver Building, so I wanted to attempt something different with this one and give it more of a postcard feel. This meant processing it in a vintage fashion, largely achieved in Nik Color Efex Pro. I never did decide which version of the Liver Building I prefer but this was well received on Flickr, so have always kept amongst my portfolio.

Blogging is not going to be easy over the next couple of weeks as I am for the first time this year travelling abroad, in preparation (legal stuff) for my wedding in Poland in September. Unfortunately, I won't be taking my D700 along with me this time, mainly because with nearly 6 weeks to my wedding, I have to get my priorities sorted for once and put the wedding first. Ironically, when I do travel over for my wedding in September, there will be plenty more time for pictures, as we are over there for much longer and taking a car. So I will set blog posts up but am struggling for pictures I want to post, so I'll be the first to admit, it could get interesting!

Flowers for Billy

I've been working on a couple of pictures recently with a view to posting them today but none of them have really done it for me. I suppose that's one of the drawbacks of photography, or any artistic venture, that you can spend a long time working on a particular image and in the end you have to resign yourself to saying "it's just not working". I know this is my own fault because I need to get out and shoot more but with the weather looking like it's starting to change in England (and I sure wish I had my camera with me in Hungerford yesterday), I can feel inspiration coming back. I know photography shouldn't be dependent on the weather and I see lots of great indoor HDR shots but as I have said before, I don't try to force inspiration on myself either. I have looked around for things to photograph but unless I get that great 'ah ha' feeling, I don't anticipate a good image just miraculously appearing while searching for it. It's the outside world that really inspires me. Perhaps I shouldn't over think it too much because an image that doesn't work for you might be amazing to someone else but surely art has to be something you yourself are happy with. There are of course pictures that I tend to go off very quickly or that are much less preferred to others but I would never put anything I wasn't completely happy with on this blog or any other platform. Which is why sometimes I post one of my self-professed 'classics' because I would still rather post a picture that I am happy with (but has not appeared on this blog yet) than something just to fill a gap.

So onto today's picture then and I decided to stick in the Liverpudlian rock 'n' roll era. Billy Fury was hitting the big time just before the Beatles were and was perhaps partly successful due to his similarities to Elvis. He went on to have many hits throughout the 60's (though if you asked me to name one, I would be struggling) but sadly died of Rheumatic Fever, which he had first contracted as a child, in 1983. He was 42 years old (as Elvis Presley was when he died). Although perhaps forgotten by the international scene, Billy is still fondly remembered in his native Liverpool and this statue of him can be scene in the Albert Dock area of Liverpool. It is a single exposure, processed entirely in Lightroom 4. The clarity slider in Lightroom 4 is one of the greatest tools in photo processing software. It can make single images have a fantastic (and artistic) detailed look without straying into HDR processing.

The Beatles Story

Back up north now and amongst all the things Liverpool is famous for; the maritime history, the football etc, the story of the most successful band ever to live is of course way up there. Despite my family's origins being Liverpool, I didn't really start to listen to The Beatles as a fan until about 5 years ago. Of course, I have always loved their songs but as an avid collector of their music, particularly their albums, that took a bit longer to develop. Have you all seen Across The Universe by the way? That has to be one of the most underrated films ever and an absolute must for Beatles fans.

This picture is taken quite obviously outside The Beatles museum in Liverpool, by the Albert Dock. This was the 2nd time I have visited the place but it was the first time for my fiancé, who I was taking there. This is an HDR from 3 different exposures and is 1 of 2 pictures I processed of this scene, but this version was by far the better one.

There is an extra treat today (because I like to go that extra mile sometimes), please take the chance to see more Beatles photos below. These are pictures I took the same day from within the museum.

The Cavern Club

Yellow Submarine

Sgt. Peppers

Yellow Submarine Artwork

John Lennon Tribute

Port of Liverpool

Today is a big day, not for me personally but my beloved football team Liverpool FC are playing in the League Cup Final at Wembley. I will be there this afternoon, in fact am spending nearly all weekend in London in anticipation and aftermath of the big game. So while today's blog maybe be brief, I decided to post a picture from Liverpool, this being the Port of Liverpool building, right on the sea front (where else would a 'port' building be I guess!). I took this image while visiting Liverpool last September and the tourist season still seemed to be in full swing - many people enjoying the day by the front soaking up the atmosphere and eating ice creams (including me!).

Hopefully by the time I blog again on Tuesday, I will be in a great mood as Liverpool would have won the cup final, but you just never know with football. As well as going to the game, this picture is me doing my bit for Liverpool today!

Modern Liverpool

Continuing last weeks theme of not being able to name buildings I choose to display on this website, the internet has now failed me in finding the name of this stunning modern building in Liverpool. I'm much more confident finding the name of this one, so if anyone does know it, then please let me know! It's a bit embarrassing for me to not be able to name buildings in Liverpool, with all my family history based there, but Liverpool has been rapidly developing and modernising in recent years. Of course the building in the background is the legendary Liver Building and this area is right down by the waterfront, next to the Albert Docks.

As a lot of my pictures are, this was largely post processed in Lightroom with a bit of layer masking and 'fixing' in Photoshop. It is an HDR from just 2 shots, as this was all I needed to capture the light range of this scene. Processing this image in total was about 1 and half hours work.