St Alkmunds Church
I stumbled across St Alkmunds Church while looking for somewhere to explore between finishing work and picking the little one up from the grandparents. Although I had spent the morning excitedly researching the church’s history, as I wrapped up work and started getting ready I began to feel something all too familiar. I started to worry about silly things like whether I had chosen the wrong location, what if I didn’t have enough time, what if the lighting wasn’t great because it was midday… the list went on and on.
This process of frantically trying to find excuses not to go and do something is a regular occurrence when I’m presented with the opportunity to use what little spare time I have on a hobby or interest. But rather than getting lost in my own head and wasting time, I decided to get all of my thoughts out on paper and then just head out. At the end of the day, even if everything I was worrying about came true, at least I would have been out with my camera, which is better than the alternative. Just before I closed my notebook I wrote the words “Just Go and Shoot!”, underlined them several times, and stepped out of my front door.
A brief history
This church is one of only six in England dedicated to St. Alkmund, an exiled Prince of Northumbria who was murdered in 800AD in Mercia at Northworthy (renamed Derby after a Danish Viking occupation in 877) by bodyguards sent by the usurping King Eardulf of Northumbria.
The first known record is from the Domesday survey of 1086 which referred to a church and resident priest. That building is thought to have been the Saxon church, built of timber and now lost without a trace to history. The present day church was begun by the Normans in the 12th century and as you’d expect, has been extended and altered with side aisles, galleries and chaplets to accommodate the growing congregation throughout the years.
As I approached Duffield I could see the church across a field in the distance. Even from the main road it looked impressive. This also solidified in my mind the first photo I wanted to create, now I just needed to find the right vantage point.
I started off walking around the church grounds, taking in the calming atmosphere and listening to a choir of birds singing in the surrounding trees. After a few minutes I found myself slowing down and spotting potential photos that I hadn’t noticed just moments before.
Putting myself in an environment such as a church and its surrounding grounds causes me to naturally slow down and become more aware of my surroundings. It was in that slower pace that another thought returned to me.
When I had the original idea for this project, I gave myself several rules, one of which was to only shoot in black and white. Although I find myself naturally leaning towards creating photos in black and white, I did experiment with a colour film recipe and was surprised by how much I liked the results.
Reminding myself that I don’t need to stick to rules or limit what I put in front of my lens, the only thing that matters is giving myself the space to be creative. Allowing myself this freedom has removed some of the self imposed pressure. I don’t have to worry about what orientation I use because it isn’t for social media. I don’t have to worry about whether or not it fits well with other photos on a feed somewhere.
Overall I am really pleased with some of the photos I came away with, and one thing I reminded myself of is that photos aren’t meant to exist in isolation on a phone screen. Going through the process of reviewing my photos from the day and selecting which ones I wanted to upload presented me with an opportunity I rarely got before. An opportunity to see my photos on a larger screen and really study them, to understand what I like about certain frames and, more importantly, what I don’t like about others.
It also reminded me that I should print my photos more and appreciate the joy of having something physical. But I won’t beat myself up too much for not printing more, not yet anyway. I’m just Not.Quite.There.