2008 – My Year In Pictures

Title: Spick & Span
Location: Margaretting Church, Essex
Camera: Canon EOS 30D / 24-105mm EF f/4 L IS USM
Notes: I was intending to take a walk centred around Mountnessing Church this morning, but got distracted on the way by St. Margaret’s at Margaretting. It’s not often open, and I happened to notice the Church Wardens and a few other parishioners were in there giving it a Spring clean before Easter. There were half a dozen of them (the youngest about 4, wearing a Batman costume and brandishing a feather duster!) polishing brass, plumping up kneelers and hoovering the aisles. This picture presented itself to me as I wandered around near the Font; the brass ends of the ropes were looking very shiny in the sun, and contrasted with the lovely polished pew end.

Title: Sunset On St. Peter’s Way
Location: Near Margaretting Tye
Camera: Canon EOS 30D / 17-85mm EF-S f/4-5.6 IS USM
Notes: After days of rotten weather, the forecast perked up for this afternoon. So I went for a 3 mile ramble in the mud around Margaretting and Margaretting Tye. The light was beginning to fade, and I was worried that I wouldn’t get any more shots. Then I climbed a stile and came across this flooded bottom corner of a field, just as the sun poked out from under the cloud bank. Crouching down to maximize the reflections, I took quite a few over the next five minutes, and knew I’d got the shots of the afternoon by being in the right place at the right time – purely by accident!