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

Justice for the 96 - 2012

2012 version

This is the first time in a long while that I have done a 'Saturday Special' but with the Olympics coming to a close and the football season beginning again next week, I feel it is an appropriate time for another one! So I'll ask the question if you already haven't - why am I posting this picture again, when I have already posted it before (December 2011)? Well after seeing this picture on various websites over the last few months and having printed it a couple of times for Liverpool fans, there was always something bothering me about it that I did not really pick up on when I first posted it. Although it is natural, there was too much darkness in the Kop area of the crowd where this picture is focused. On blogs such as this one and Flickr, it was not very noticeable but as other people have used it for their blogs (which I do not mind at all) the dark areas seem to obscure the whole message of JFT96. This became apparent when I had it printed as well. I have long pondered tweaking this one to bring out the dark areas more so it stands out better on websites and you can see the difference with the old one below.

I only had the Hi resolution JPEG to correct as I had long thrown away the TIFF files I processed it with (I never throw away the original RAW files but as I have discussed before, processing it from scratch is a frustrating and ultimately disappointing method). So I worked on the JPEG in Lightroom and for all the bad press editing JPEGS get, it doesn't seem to have reduced the quality at all between the old and saving the new version. I know it would get worse the more you save it but I think editing it once makes almost no difference, which is the way I know Trey Ratcliff works (if you've seen any of his tutorials you will know he converts all his RAW files into JPEGs rather than TIFFs). Back as usual tomorrow!

2011 version

Justice for the 96

I was going to post another picture today of my recent forays round Combe Gibbet but after attending the Liverpool v Norwich game yesterday, I was emotionally blown away by the mosaic the Kop end presented prior to the game in marking the recent announcement that the government will release all files relating to the Hillsborough disaster to the investigation committee. For those unfamiliar with the Hillsborough disaster this was a tragic event that took place on 15th April 1989 where 96 Liverpool FC fans were crushed to death. The game being played was a semi final FA cup tie between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest at the neutral ground of Hillsborough, where Sheffield Wednesday FC play. The game was stopped after 6 minutes as it was clear that a terrible event was occurring in the stands, as too many supporters were being let into the ground and this was creating a crush of fans already in the stands. 

I was only 7 years old at the time of the tragedy but the memory is very vivid to me. I had family attending the game at Hillsborough and luckily they were ok but what also sticks in my mind was the reaction by everyone as they gradually learnt what was going on. I was at a football game myself that day, Luton Town v Coventry City and the memories of people talking about what was happening at Hillsborough at half time and when the reality really sunk in to people at full time will always be prominent in my mind.

On a photographic note though, I was delighted of course to see this scene. I always take my camera to football games now and after doing the usual shots in and outside the ground, I had put my camera away waiting for the game to begin. After the thanks that were given for all the work by the people who have campaigned for years to get justice for the victims of this disaster, this huge mosaic was presented and I quickly got out my camera and took some more shots. I didn’t know it was going to happen and felt very fortunate to be in such a position to get a picture like this. The game yesterday ended up 1-1 but I honestly felt afterwards that I was so glad to have gone up and been there and wouldn’t let the results of yesterday’s game bother me that much