Yes by default and the demand that all those European nations just HAD to try to conquer England so many times you are a part of Europe, to us anyway. The U.S. is huge so it is easy to view other parts of the world as 'an area'. I know from other British friends that many Brits don't want to be part of Europe in any sense! 

LOL  So you went to church with your bow. Very interesting. Must have been hard sitting in the pews with all those bows! Alot of eyes getting poked. I imagine they had an armory. Interesting though how they seemlesly reconciled the house of god and worship with warfare. 


James

>R> Hi prosaic

Hi Ren, Thanks for stopping and commentating - welcome back, too.

>R> . . .I love the original of this work. Beautiful old church. . .

Thanks - that is most interesting: you are the second person to say that. To be honest, I took the shot because of its architectural value and editing possibilities; I actually didn't (don't, to be further honest) think it a good shot of the church per se - so I'm especially delighted others do. What a surprise!

>R> and the altered image has great merit. . .the church set on a dark background and the coloration of some of the brick. . .I'm a bit almost "disturbed" by the truncating of the image in the water. . .though I like the water. . .

Brill! I love evoking such responses. Yes the idea of the Devil at work in a church, or at last  a few bats line-dancing, was in my mind.

>R> and haven't decided what to make of the circle of light yet. . .as it seems to make the bottom of the pic a bit disjointed to me from the rest. . .

Shame but interesting again. I shall think on't.

Thanks very much for your thoughtful comments - much appreciated.

>R> Enjoyed.

Brill II 

p.

>James> Interesting that this church has a notched roof with crenels and merlons as a castle would have for defense.

Hi James, thanks for popping in.

Actually, this is the standard for old village churches throughout England. They tend to date from sometime in the 13th Century (1200s). Also, to this day, many churchyards (including this) have yew trees growing. There is a connection...

Men of the villages were required to attend church mainly for archery practice. This was because, as feudal subjects, they had to take arms when their lord required it - so had to be ready and trained.

The battlements atop church towers were both defensive and for his training. Church towers were good look-out posts in case of war. So churches had some castle-like roles.

>James> I like the unretouched photo. Have always been a student of European history, art, and architecture and the churches and castles of Europe have all three!

Thank you. (Though if I had been taking it for the view per se, I would have taken a different angle).

Well, I'll do my usual grumpy bit here and argue we are not in Europe but I know many people would place us there and geologically / geographically we are, indeed, just on the continental shelf. But I think, being an island nation - often at war with Europe - has informed our history vastly, so - at last in an historic context I think separating the British Isles and Europe is valid.

Thanks very much James.

p.

>T> Hello prosaic,

Hi Tim,

Thanks for your visit and comments.

As you can see, to assist matters, I have posted the original - well, original save for exposure-correction - which I have to do to all my images). I use an auto-setting for that because, try as I have, I have never bettered it.

>T> I am not familiar enough with software to put my finger on the coloration alterations to the building itself. It looks like a coloring/tinting of the building of each and then an inverse (or vice versa).

I would like to explain fully but the problem is: I never keep a record of changes. I experiment and tweak, tweak and experiment, until I have content I can do no better. Actually, I often produce several different versions because each seems to be about as good as I can make it but alternatives seem possible, too.

So, sorry, I cannot tell you the order of post-production editing, let alone the particular steps. However, I think I used "ACDSee Photo-Manager 10" alone for this. (Sometimes I use several programmes in sequence).

>T> What I find interesting about the color choice is the blue bricks with the...um...salmon(?) color looks similiar to a space pic of the earth with a body of water and swirling clouds or faint land mass.

Thank you. I am acutely aware that we are very dependent on monitor colours. However, as you may be able to discern from the original photograph, the final image is not very different in its basic colour of stonework.

Given the day's sunshine and the colour of the sandstone (just to the west is an area called the Cotswolds with honeyed buildings) we may have an explanation. The small patches of more determined brown are where, ovr the centuries, bricks have been used as a repair to the stonework. The crenellation is also brickwork.

The blue quoins are entirely of my post-production doing, as is the water; there was not a drop to spare in the churchyard.

>T> Within the context of the entire picture, the blue seems to be the 'water' this building is rising out of (as nas pointed out earlier). The 'stuttering' at the base is fun.

If anything at all links some of my images, it is the use of water at the base; I do it quite a lot, it seems.

>T> I don't understand is the background. The black semi-circle that cuts a swath around the right of the building, which looks added in...I think of a circular lens, like a telescope into a distant area...or, to a distant past and that is the reason for the nebulous background?

Yes, it is meant to appear added-in; it is a photo-frame provided by a asymmetrical vignette. I like your interpretations - brill, thank you.

>T> No, I'm lost there. I get the sense that this picture is the same as your poetry...up to the individual interpretation.

Well, actually, I think all art is for individual interpretation; all life is really.

>T> I sat on this picture for a couple of days and that's all that came forth. Thanks for sharing. I'll come back and mull over it some more. 

That's a lot, Tim; though more is always welcome.

Thank you very much.

p.

Prosaic,

Yes, your photo is visible and impressive in its unaltered state as well.

Diane

Hello prosaic,

I am not familiar enough with software to put my finger on the coloration alterations to the building itself. It looks like a coloring/tinting of the building of each and then an inverse (or vice versa).

What I find interesting about the color choice is the blue bricks with the...um...salmon(?) color looks similiar to a space pic of the earth with a body of water and swirling clouds or faint land mass. Within the context of the entire picture, the blue seems to be the 'water' this building is rising out of (as nas pointed out earlier). The 'stuttering' at the base is fun. 

I don't understand is the background.
The black semi-circle that cuts a swath around the right of the building, which looks added in...I think of a circular lens, like a telescope into a distant area...or, to a distant past and that is the reason for the nebulous background? 
No, I'm lost there. I get the sense that this picture is the same as your poetry...up to the individual interpretation.

I sat on this picture for a couple of days and that's all that came forth. Thanks for sharing. I'll come back and mull over it some more.


Namaste,
~Tim

Prosaic,

Very dramatic and beautiful.

Diane