Helen Stephenson's Hever Castle Pictures, 20th December 2009

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The Beckenham Concert Band performed a programme of Christmas music at Hever Castle on 20th December 2009 as part of Hever's "Magic of Christmas" event. A heated marquee was provided for the band, but it was still pretty cold and I was glad that I wore two pairs of trousers! We expected that our audience would be mainly transitory as people moved between the points of interest at Hever Castle, but we did have several blanket-clad ladies who formed a dedicated audience, and who stayed for our whole performance.

After we had finished playing, more than one camera came out, including mine. There was just enough light left for some classic twilight pictures - with the added benefit of snow to make the whole scene really photogenic.

These pictures were captured using a Pentax K10D digital SLR camera.

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I was late getting to Hever Castle, but I ran off a quick snap of part of the Tudor Village and a snap of the Castle, mainly obscured by trees, before hurrying in the direction of the band's marquee as much as the snow allowed.


 

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Then it was down to some serious bassooning. Despite the cold, I really enjoyed playing, and got that great feeling of being "at one with my instrument". Since switching back to cane reeds, I haven't had that feeling, although I used to get it quite often with a plastic reed. I must inspire myself to practise more often and I might get that feeling of being "at one with my instrument" more often!

We finished playing a bit after 4:30pm, by which stage twilight was fairly advanced, but there was still a bit of colour left in the sky. With snow lying, everything looked very picturesque, and I set my tripod up with a view to making the best of the conditions.

The topiary garden had its dusting of snow; and the Christmas tree provided some twinkling lights.


 

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I wanted a picture of the Castle and set my tripod up, but just as I did so, a load of people arrived, so I changed my camera settings for a faster shutter speed so that I could capture the scene in the sytle of Currier & Ives. When the people moved, I stopped my lens down to produce a starburst effect from the light on top of the Castle and captured the picture I really wanted to take - but having looked at both pictures, I think the one on the left with the people in it actually looks better!


 

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I discovered another good vantage point for a Castle picture: I moved around at an angle until I was able to include the Christmas tree in the foreground. I composed so that the light on top of the Castle shone through the Christmas tree. With hindsight, I should have moved back a fraction and arranged that light so that it was behind the light on top of the Christmas tree - but maybe it would have been too bright and the picture I came away with would have been the better one anyway. I'll never know, as I didn't carry out the experiment.


 

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As well as the Castle, there were other interesting parts of the "Magic of Christmas" around the gardens. I didn't have the time or the light to explore them fully, but I did take a couple of snowy scenes including trees and lights. Note the snow down one side of the tree trunks.


 

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The light was pretty much gone by the time I'd finished my photography. I went into the relative warmth of the marquee to break my tripod down and put away my camera, and then we made our snowy way home.




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Last Revised: 26th December, 2009.