This is part of the ceiling of the Canterbury Cathedral in Canterbury, Kent, UK. It is the cathedral of the Archbishop of Canterbury, leader of the Church of England and symbolic leader of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The cathedral has had a storied past, including this being the spot where Thomas Becket was murdered by King Henry II inside the cathedral proper. The king had frequent conflicts with Becket and is said to have exclaimed in frustration, "Who will rid me of this turbulent priest?" His martyrdom is the source for many pilgrims going to visit and pay homage to Becket. The stories of their travels inspired Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.
The ceiling here is actually the entrance to the Quire (or where the choir would be located). This is a gorgeous church and well worth the trip.
I had to sit down on the stairs up to the Quire, lean back and fire straight up, all done hand held as they wer not crazy about tripods inside the Cathedral.
Post challenge note:Gloda has had different experiences with bringing tripods in, so it is probably worth the try because the light is a bit sparse inside....
Editing: Adjustments of exposure, blacks, midrange, curves, saturation in Lightroom. Topaz adjust as separate layer followed by contrast adjustment and further single channel saturation adjusments. Finally some minor adjustments to perspective, resize, sharpen, noise ninja, and save for web.
This is actually a very special place to me for many reasons. I spent about one month in Kent during early 1995 for work. On most evenings and on the weekends I spent time sightseeing and taking in the history of the place. Whenever I could, I would visit the Cathedral, sit and quietly meditate or pray or just enjoy the beautiful music of the Canterbury choir. Whenever I visit the area again, I always pay a visit, a chance to visit a place where I find great comfort.
I hope you enjoyed this very special place.
Statistics
Place: 10 out of 341 Avg (all users): 6.6875 Avg (commenters): 7.8000 Avg (participants): 6.5604 Avg (non-participants): 7.0000 Views since voting: 2992 Views during voting: 233 Votes: 128 Comments: 20 Favorites: 4 (view)
Pete, this is just a great peice of art. Yes at first look it looks busy yet feels very peaceful. I can easily understand why you visit every chance you get and can feel peace comming through your photo, while at the same time not be to religious.
Love the story that goes with this! Very pleased to see it do well. A busy scene but presented in a non-busy and very peaceful way. Nice light hand with the processing, too - just the right touch.
well, I didn't get to do my comments before the challenge, but I did get to fly-by before it closed...this really, really stood out in my memory. Such a beautiful place and presentation of that place. And congrats on winning Tell us your story!!! Great job!!
it was a tough tough choice, but you did such a great job with your narrative, I must award you the coveted Purple Prose Award for best narrative in the June 2010 Free Study. Congratulations!
Nice take on the cathedral. I've never had any problems with a tripod there though. At most one of the guides would come up to me for a bit of small-talk about what I was doing. I might have to go back there a few more times before my time here is up.
Add photograph to your favorites
Add photographer to your favorites
Photographer found comment helpful.
