Taking only photographs – leaving only footprints
This modern stone sculpture at Heaven’s Gate is the centrepiece of a group of stone sculptures by Paul Norris on the Longleat Estate. I wasn’t planning on going to Heaven’s Gate, but after a quick search online I knew that I wanted to try to get a photograph of this circle / wheel. It is very similar to the “stargates” on a Sci-fi tv show that I have recently been watching called Stargate SG-1.
Longleat is a 16th Century English stately home in Wiltshire, seen here from nearby Heaven’s Gate. Not only is it widely regarded as one of the finest examples of Elizabethan architecture in Britain, it was the first stately home to open to the public and claims to be the first safari park outside Africa. I visited Longleat Safari park as a child and hopefully next time I am in the area will get more time to explore and photograph both the stately home and the animals in the park.
Stonehenge is one of England’s most famous prehistoric monuments, a World Heritage site and arguably one of the most iconic stone circles in the world. Over the past seven years I have travelled extensively across the United Kingdom and Europe but Stonehenge has always remained un-photographed until recently.
After writing a list of half a dozen places I wanted to take my camera to I realised this was at the top. I had this photograph planned for about three months and had expected to be publishing a black and white shot taken on a wet and overcast day. However I was very fortunate with the lighting and sky. Getting there at just after nine in the morning helped minimise tourists in my capture. It almost looks as if I had the place to myself.
Obviously religious buildings in Britain have many statues and the huge Anglican cathedral in Salisbury has some of the best. Many have been renovated or completely replaced with hand carved replacements. Here I focused the camera on the religious figure on the right of the frame. I took this with the intention of both converting the final photograph into black and white and throwing the other statues on the left of the frame out of focus.