Tag Archives: Christ Church Cathedral

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Christ Church Cathedral – Planning Visit

Christ Church Cathedral is the College Chapel of Christ Church College and is comfortably Oxford’s busiest chapel.  Following a comparatively brief series of communications, today’s visit allowed me to meet the Operations Manager who conducted me around the site for the best part of an hour, showing me some of the hidden gems within the building.  Currently the cathedral is undergoing considerable conservation work and upgrades to the lights.  As a result, the entire Nave and Ante-Chapel are occupied by scaffolding.  To my surprise and delight, I have been granted access to this in my future visits, which will enable me an uninterrupted and level view of the East Rose Window, normally partially hidden when viewed from the ground.  Additionally, I will be able to photograph from a number of other raised locations typically closed to the public, eliminating the quality loss that comes from the need to correct converging verticals in post production.  Furthermore I have been granted access to a large collection of fragments of van Linge stained glass fragments found within the cathedral grounds together with the Cathedral’s large light box.

My return visit will see me having private access to the site, which is rather an honour and makes me a little nervous about being sure to do a good job!  My plan has always been to capture just one window within each chapel, but (as I feared) I suspect I will end up photographing much more than that.

Christ Church

Peter Marlow (2010) Christ Church Cathedral

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Christ Church Cathedral

I was made to feel incredibly welcome on my planning visit, but for this visit the terms of my photography were understandably strict within one of Oxford’s largest tourist attractions.  I was not allowed to hinder the routine operation of the Cathedral, nor impede the tourists and most significantly must not slow the work of the restoration team.  Sadly the internal lighting would have to remain on throughout my work.

Thus far, this is the only site that has required copy of my Risk Assessment and with the visit involving access to the scaffolding, within a construction site, I had to meet all PPE requirements (safety helmet; high-visibility top; safety footwear).

Today was the first day of school holiday for me – my first chance in a little while to refocus upon my MA.  I could not start my work until after Holy Communion, which was due to end at about 8:10am.  Notwithstanding, I opted to arrive at the Porter’s Lodge some 25 minutes prior to that so that I could plan, quietly.  The weather was not entirely onside: just a few clouds and bright sunshine, so I was anxious about the severity of shadows that this would create, in addition to pools of light coming from the various plain glass windows.  Once issued with a ‘Contractor’s ID’, I headed to the Cathedral and wandered the site confirming sight lines etc., to the calming accompaniment of the Common Book of Prayer 1662 Communion Service.

I did steal a panoramic photograph and have now spent three hours trying to get this to display in reasonable quality as a scrollable image…  sadly no joy, even when using the full 75MP resolution!  I will endeavour to revisit this predicament.

Christ Church (low res) (3) Panorama 01

Dominic Price (2019) Christ Church Cathedral panorama

With Communion over, I was advised that I would have access to the scaffold for 45 minutes from 1pm – during the workers lunch break, to minimise movement and shake on the rig.  I had the Cathedral to myself until 10am… almost.  There were routine interruptions in the form of singing lessons for the choristers of Christ Church Cathedral School (where I spent a happy six months doing my PGCE placement some 26 years ago!), which precluded me being able to take some shots, but did allow me to focus on the surroundings.

Christ Church (02) low res

Dominic Price (2019) St. Frideswide stained glass painting with light

It soon became apparent that the Cathedral has a significant problem with spiders webs particularly in and around the smaller tracery lights and panels of the various windows.  They are an ever-present feature of stained glass photography and have cost me many hours of additional editing.  Whenever possible I avoid editing lights that are heavily cobwebbed, but this may prove impossible here.

Christ Church (low res) (4)

Cobwebs on a tracery light

By 10am, I could focus on some photography from the sacristy – an area high above the visiting tourists where they would not get in my way.  I also opted to take a few interior shots of the architecture.

Christ Church (low res) (7)

Dominic Price (2019) Christ Church College Cloister

Christ Church (low res) (8)

Dominic Price (2019) Christ Church Cathedral chancel vaulting

With camera battery nearly drained, I discovered to my horror that my spares were still docked in the charger at home! With Oxford now awash with tourists, progress across the city was not fast, but I still made it back to the Cathedral in time for my 1pm appointment.

Access to the top of the scaffold was via three ladders.  At each level it was quite a squeeze to fit myself, tripod and camera through the surprisingly small aperture.  The upper level looked pleasingly room-like and felt fairly stable, despite being some sixty feet up.

Christ Church (low res) (2)

Dominic Price (2019) Christ Church Cathedral restoration work – looking east toward my tripod and camera

Christ Church (low res) (1)

Dominic Price (2019) Christ Church Cathedral restoration work – looking west

The view from the top was worth the effort and afforded a superb view of the East Rose Window – revealing to my amazement that the bottom of the window is cropped by some trunking (not visible from the ground), which will require some careful editing.

Christ Church (low res) (3) Panorama

Dominic Price (2019) Christ Church Cathedral – view from the upper level of the restoration work scaffold

With over 400 images in the bag, I now have a mountain of editing ahead of me, but am welcome back whenever I like.

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Christ Church Cathedral – The Catherine Window

Catherine Windows postcard

The Catherine Window – postcard

The Catherine Window was the first I photographed on Wednesday.  Sadly this could not be captured appropriately in a single image as it was in part obscured by a sanctuary lamp hanging from the ceiling.

Designed by William Morris and executed by Edward Burne-Jones in 1878, it is also referred to as the Liddell Window, this features a central light of St. Catherine that was modelled upon the then dean’s daughter Edith Liddell (sister to Alice, the inspiration for Charles Dodgson’s work Alice in Wonderland).  St. Catherine is flanked on either side by angels: to the left representing Victory and to the right representing Sorrow.

I photographed separately each of the main lights as well as the three tracery lights that feature angels playing musical instruments.

All three of the tracery lights were heavily covered in cobwebs which added significant additional editing time.

For each of the three images below, 28 images were shot at 400mm using the Canon EF 100-400 mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens, at an aperture of f/8.0 and exposure times ranging from 1/500 s to 1.0 s.

Christ Church - Angel - pipe (low res)

Dominic Price (2019) The Catherine Window tracery light Angel (left) [Edward Burne-Jones, 1878 – Christ Church Cathedral]

Christ Church - Angel - cymbals (low res)

Dominic Price (2019) The Catherine Window tracery light Angel (right) [Edward Burne-Jones, 1878 – Christ Church Cathedral]

Christ Church - Angel - pipe 02 (low res)

Dominic Price (2019) The Catherine Window tracery light Angel (top) [Edward Burne-Jones, 1878 – Christ Church Cathedral]

I will tackle the more demanding main lights in a few days!

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Christ Church Cathedral – Vyner Memorial Window

Before a stained glass window is designed, preliminary sketches are produced.  The sketch below must be early in the process as it is significantly different from the Vyner Memorial Window in situ.

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Edward Burne-Jones (1871) Preliminary sketch of the Vyner Memorial Window, Lady Chapel, Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford

This window shares a frustration with The Catherine Window: it is obscured in part, but this time by a suspended hoop chandelier. Once again, this precludes the straightforward capture in a single image. Additionally, three of the four lower panels has dense foliage behind them, dramatically darkening their appearance on such a bright day.

My gaze was drawn to the only well-lit lower panel which featured another incarnation of Eunice and Timothy (previously photographed at the Chapel of St. Nicholas).  Interestingly, this features a very rare example of Burne-Jones’ initials on the wall just behind Eunice.  Being at head height, this would require little or no correction for converging verticals and featuring just one support bar, post-production work would not be too demanding.

The completed image was composed from 12 originals shot at 85mm using the Canon EF 85mm f/1.2L II USM, set to f/8.0, with an exposure times ranging from 1/160 s to 1/13 s.

Christ Church - He set my feet on rock (low res)

Dominic Price (2019) Panel from Vyner Memorial Window depicting Timothy & Eunice [Edward Burne-Jones, 1871 – Christ Church Cathedral]

Shot at 400mm using the Canon EF 100-400 mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens, there is a dramatically different theme to all of the tracery lights when compared with the early preliminary sketch:

Christ Church tracery lights (2)

Dominic Price (2019) Tracery lights (right) from the Vyner Memorial Window [Edward Burne-Jones, 1871 – Christ Church Cathedral]

Christ Church tracery lights (1)

Dominic Price (2019) Tracery lights (left) from the Vyner Memorial Window [Edward Burne-Jones, 1871 – Christ Church Cathedral]

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Christ Church Cathedral – East Rose Window

From the top of the restoration work scaffold there was a perfect head-on view of the rose window which allowed for its capture without the need for any post-production correction of perspective.  More importantly, this afforded something not possible from floor level: a view of the window in its entirety, or so I thought…

Christ Church (low res) (3)

Dominic Price (2019) Christ Church Cathedral – view from the upper level of the restoration work scaffold

While necessitating only minimal post-production editing, the addition of a recent piece of pipework or trunking across part of the rose seems inconsiderate in the planning of such work.  A detailed look at the window also revealed, to my dismay, a latticework of support bars.  Every light was split in half by a radial bar and then further subdivided twice more, with a total of thirty-one support bars in the entire window – far more than is sensible to remove in editing.

CC rose close up 01

Dominic Price (2019) Detail of the East Rose Window – trunking ad support bars

I was intrigued that the design seemed not quite to fit in the available space – most noticeable in the text, with characters missing either in part or entirely.  I wonder if the tracery design differed from that which was finally produced?  The image below reveals a partially missing ‘T’ from the word UTERUM; the next light has a partially missing ‘R’ from REX and the third light has a completely absent ‘C’ from CHRISTE.

CC rose close up 02

Dominic Price (2019) Detail of the East Rose Window – cropped glass

For the completed image, I did go to the trouble of removing the support bar that halved the roundel,  but opted to leave all others in place having estimated that this would have added 15-20 hours of additional edit time.  This does grate with me, so should I revisit the editing of this window, an initial step will be to remove the support bars that cut across each of the ten angels.

Christ Church - East Rose (Low Res)

Dominic Price (2019) East Rose Window [Clayton & Bell, 1875 – Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford]

The rose depicts Christ the King surrounded by adoring angels.  The text surrounding the roundel comes from the Te Deum:

Tu rex gloriae christe
Tu patris sempiternus es filius
Tu ad liberandum suscepisti hominem non
horruisti virginis uterum

You, Christ, are the king of glory,
the eternal Son of the Father.
When you became man to set us free
you did not spurn the Virgin’s womb.

To produce this image, 21 photographs were taken at 214mm using the Canon EF 100-400 mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens, at an aperture of f/8.0 and exposure times ranging from 1/15 s to 4.0 s.

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Christ Church Cathedral – The Catherine Window Pt.2

Christ Church - St. Catherine Window - The Angel 'Victory' (low res)

Dominic Price (2019) The Catherine Window – The Angel ‘Victory’ [Edward Burne-Jones, 1878 – Christ Church Cathedral]

After a brief respite to focus upon the Peer Review Presentation, I refocused upon the Christ Church Cathedral archive.  While this light is the most striking of the three from The Catherine Window, the removal of the support bars, which cover some notable fine detail, was always going to increase the post-production time.

Typically I anticipate an hour of editing time for the removal of each individual support bar, but in this case it took over six hours to remove the four bars!

Before progressing further with the remaining two lights it seems sensible to revisit the cathedral in order to compare this image (and those of the three tracery light angels), since the lighting on the day was far from ideal and for the first time ever I also had to endure internal artificial illumination.  It concerns me in particular that the skin tones for this angel are notably different to those of the tracery lights, when logic would suggest that the skin tones should be fairly constant within a single window.

To produce this image, 15 photographs were taken at 241 mm using the Canon EF 100-400 mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens, at an aperture of f/8.0 and exposure times ranging from 1/10 s to 1/125 s.  As with all images photographed for my research project, it was taken using the Canon EOS 1Dx Mark II.

The photograph was taken perfectly head on, but at a slight angle (vertically) which necessitated a small amount of  distortion correction.  This is always applied as the final stage of editing, but for the purpose of the animated GIF below, I corrected and cropped one of the original images as well as the image prior to the removal of the support bars.

The Catherine Windows - Victory GIF.gif

Dominic Price (2019) The Catherine Window – The Angel ‘Victory’: animate GIF illustrating the editing process.

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Christ Church Cathedral – The Jonah Window

I have not warmed very much to the van Linge windows I have witnessed thus far (New College Chapel and University College Chapel), but this window is fantastic – incredible detail and such vibrant colours for a work of art that is almost 400 years old.  The fact that it does exist is something of a miracle: Christ Church Cathedral once housed a magnificent collection of windows by Van Linge, but almost all of them were destroyed not long after installation in the fury of Puritan iconoclasm during the English Civil War.  Damage to this window is evident – the only calmes should be vertical and horizontal, but the web of other leadwork represents repairs to the panes of glass.

This edit is only partially complete as there is much cleaning still to do: once again this window seems to be home to many spiders and their webs feature heavily in the topmost light.  It is a window that I would much like to complete editing, but then the same is true of most of those within the cathedral.  Perhaps I can interest them in a the production of a publication as there is currently no guide to the windows (indeed, possibly no guide to the cathedral) once I have completed my Research Project.

Christ Church - Jonah and the City of Nineveh (low res)

Dominic Price (2019) Jonah and the City of Nineveh [Abraham van Linge, 1630 – Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford]

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Man vs. Machine – the merits of HDR software

In light of the nature of this research project, it may seem strange that today was the first time that I have ever tested HDR Exposure Merging within an image editing program.  The test piece is a stained glass window I had recently photographed at Christ Church Cathedral and the images here show a small segment of that panel.  The completed image of this panel (detailed HERE) required just over four hours of editing so I am interested to see what software can achieve in just a matter a moments:

Dominic Price (2019) Panel from Vyner Memorial Window depicting Timothy & Eunice [Edward Burne-Jones, 1871 – Christ Church Cathedral]

DCP_9772 (ec)

Edited by hand

DCP_9771_68_65_62_Detail (HDR crop).jpg

Software-based HDR editing

It is interesting to note that I have opted for slightly greater saturation of colours and higher contrast (no surprise there) – however, this is an image that I have yet to moderate against the original.  The one area in which the software falls down (arguably) is in its handling of the clames, with the lead being represented more three-dimensionally, whereas I have endeavoured to represent the image two dimensionally with the lead being rendered black.

The results are mightily impressive and for occasions when I require a quick, yet imposing solution for social media (or indeed for inclusion as a small part of a printed publication), this could provide a pleasingly simple solution.  Of course, the digital removal of support bars can only be done by hand and that will add one or more hours per bar to the process!

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Exhibition plans…

615 GalleryWhile firmly settled upon the production of a guide book to the Stained Glass and Chapels of Oxford, I remain committed to the idea of an exhibition of the stained glass windows portfolio.  The most appropriate location is Christ Church Cathedral itself, so I have started that process by making a formal request to the Sub-Dean of Christ Church.

While his response has been most favourable, suggesting the North Transept as the best location, the final decision will be made in October at the next meeting of the Chapter.  This will leave precious little planning and development time between a decision and a potential exhibition, but there is nothing I can do to expedite that decision.

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Revisiting sites…

Clearly this week marks the end of the typical summer holiday period as a number of the contacts I need to see have returned to work.  This affords me the chance to re-photograph the Lady Chapel of Campion Hall and also to have a follow-up meeting in Christ Church Cathedral.  With the two being in pleasingly close proximity, I will not have to spend another day lugging a heavy camera case and tripod across Oxford!