Tudor Barlow's photostream  

ALL MY PICTURES ARE MY COPYRIGHT UNLESS OTHERWISE STATED. I AM HAPPY FOR YOU TO USE THEM FOR NON-COMMERCIAL PURPOSES BUT PLEASE ASK ME BEFORE YOU DO SO. THANKYOU!


A retired person enjoying his camera and his life.

I wrote the above line in June 2006 when I first joined Flickr and it is still true today. But there is a difference now that I have been here for over two years and have, today (6th Sept 2008), passed 3000 images uploaded and had over 18000 views recorded.

The difference is the way my interests in photography and in the history and geography of my local area have been expanded by my involvement in Flickr and by the many contacts and friends I have made. I have learnt a lot about churches and the people who designed and built them. I have learned a lot about stained glass windows and the artists who created them and been fortunate to see a contemporary stained glass artist at work. I have developed an interest in one particular Victorian church architect and stained glass artist and am trying to record as much of his work as possible through my Flickr site.

Through the Oxfordshire Churches Flickr Group, ably led by Martin Beek, I have been fortunate to meet several well known names in the Flickr "churchcrawling" world and, now as an Admin myself, I'm hoping we can create a similar communities centered on Warwickshire and Worcestershire Parish Churches.

I'm not sure that my photography style has improved at all but I do try to post pictures that tell a story and are a record of something important to our English way of life.

(May 2009) Just upgraded my equipment. Now using a Canon 450d which I find excellent. The 3" inch screen and live view are ideal for tripod work inside churches. I use Tamron lenses-
Tamron10-24 Wide Angle. New to me this month and literally an eye opener!
Tamron 17-50 f2.8 Standard lens and invaluable in low light conditions.
Tamron 28-300 Telephoto. A budget lens but does a good job when I need it.

So thanks to all my Flickr contacts for your support and encouragement with a special mention to Martin Beek and all the members of the Oxfordshire Flickrmeets for their company on our days out, I look forward to many more!

Also a mention for the Webheath Digital Photography Club which started here in Redditch 2 years ago
and now has 30+ active members. The club has been an excellent place to learn about many aspects of our hobby with which I was not familiar and I have enjoyed my membership.

The best part of my developing "churchcrawling" hobby is that I can share it with my partner, Ruth, and we have great times out together exploring new villages, churches and churchyards. Invariably she will spot something that I have missed that makes a valuable addition to the images of the day! And may there be many more such days!

So here's to future years on Flickr and the next 3000 uploads. I'm looking forward to it.