Lacock, Wiltshire

A close up of the lid of the font in St. Cyriac's Church, Lacock, Wilts. Nikon D700 with a Micro-Nikkor 55mm f/3.5 AI lens.

Lacock Abbey, Wiltshire, photographed with a Nikon D700 and a 50mm standard lens.

Lacock Abbey, Wilts. Fox Talbot made the famous first calotype with the camera inside the room, propped on the mantelpiece opposite the window, from where a long exposure was made. It resulted in the first negative and the realisation that many positive images could be made from it. Nikon D2Xs + Tokina SD 50-135mm f/2.8 DX AT-X Pro lens.

Lacock Abbey, Wilts. Nikon D2Xs + Tamron Di II SP AF 17-50mm f/2.8 XR LD Aspherical lens.

Lacock Abbey, Wilts. Nikon D2Xs + Tamron Di II SP AF 17-50mm f/2.8 XR LD Aspherical lens.

Lacock Abbey, Wilts. Nikon D2Xs + Tamron Di II SP AF 17-50mm f/2.8 XR LD Aspherical lens.

Lacock Abbey, Wilts. Nikon D2Xs + Tamron Di II SP AF 17-50mm f/2.8 XR LD Aspherical lens.

Here there are no words, no monuments, no inscriptions, not even a crude carving of a protestation of affection, such statements being reserved for lesser trees in public parks where the knife-carrying classes are not over-taxed by distance, and mud. In this quiet corner the moss goes steadily about its business of covering static casualties with a warm green blanket. The insects scurry noiselessly retrieving and reassembling till satisfied with the outcome of their industry. The autumn leaves cling on to memories of grander days, blown by winds to settle next to new companions, yet no less morose over their condition. The wild garlic pokes through, supplying a confident breath. In time it will conceal the ceaseless rearrangement of death. And the differences betwixt last year and the year before: the great gale when the weak were vanquished and the sturdy tested; and the upheaval of the planting programme of eighty-three, and that afternoon the widow came stealthily to make a little hole for the ashes of her deeply loved and much missed husband, and the child who tripped and bled and cried, and the cuckoo which used to come here but now strangely does not - none of this is recorded. For here there are no words, no monuments, no inscriptions. Lacock Abbey, Wilts. Nikon D2Xs + Tamron Di II SP AF 17-50mm f/2.8 XR LD Aspherical lens.

Photographed in Lacock Abbey Botanic Garden using a Canon EOS 40D + Soligor C/D Wide-Auto f/2.8 28mm lens. I don't think Soligor actually made any of the lenses bearing their name. Like Vivitar, and several others, they drew up specifications and contracted optical glass people to produce the lenses with their badge on them. From the serial numbers it is possible to discover the manufacturer: in the case of the one I own (£21 on eBay) it was Sun who made the lens, in 1980 - see eastave5.wordpress.com/2013/10/29/soligor-serial-numbers It's not a stellar lens but it's well built and fun to use. I like to use vintage kit now and again. I even bought into the Canon EOS digital system for this purpose. Their mid range two-digit models from a few years back are well made and perform decently, and can be bought for quite modest prices.

Nikon D700 + AF Nikkor 70-210mm f/4 lens.

Sheep in the field between Lacock and Reybridge. Canon EOS 40D + Canon 100-300mm f/4.5-5.6 EF USM lens. There are plenty of these lenses on the secondhand market, and you don't need to pay much. The quality of the images it provides is pretty fair on a cropped sensor camera and at moderate ISO levels, stopped down a bit, and using the wider end, photographs can be sharp and vibrant. My copy has a bit of dust internally but adding contrast in post production soon sorts that out. Probably not a zoom lens to use at full telephoto and widest aperture in low light. But tell me one that is.

Bide Brook, Lacock, Wiltshire. The focus is way off; the result is almost an impression of the bridge. Not a particularly successful photograph but something of a little tribute to Claude Monet. Canon EOS 40D + Nikkor-O.C Auto f/2 35mm lens.

Nikon D700 + AF-D Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 lens.

At Lacock Abbey, Wiltshire, although it could be almost any National Trust property. Nikon D2Xs and AF-S Nikkor 35mm f/1.8 DX lens.

Photographed in the grounds of Lacock Abbey, Wiltshire, using a Nikon D50 with a Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 G lens.

Lacock Abbey cloisters, photographed with a Nikon D700 and a Nikkor 20mm f/3.5 AI-S lens.

Lacock Abbey cloisters. Nikon D700 + Nikkor 20mm f/3.5 AI-S lens. F/11.

A brave individual campaign for peace which I stumbled upon whilst trialling a Nikkor-H Auto 300mm f/4.5 lens made circa 1971. Inexplicably I had just about every camera setting wrong. ISO was far too low; shutter speed was ridiculously slow; aperture was much too small. I look back on this as something of a missed opportunity. It could have been so much better. I remain puzzled as to why the peace campaign should have taken place outside the gates of Lacock Abbey on that day, yet many interesting things seem to happen there.