Domestic Architecture in St Michael's Village

Darrowfield

37 St Michael's Street

92 Fishpool Street

An exhibition of photographs by John Bethell

By John Bethell

Click here for details of the exhibition at Verulamium Museum.

The exhibition was originally intended as a contribution of St Michael's church to the St Albans Heritage Week-end in September 2009. (The parish boundary runs across Fishpool Street just below the bend, and that marks the extent of the exhibition's coverage). When that proved impracticable, Jill and Adam Singer unhesitatingly offered Kingsbury Barn, and what a week-end it turned out to be! In the design and hanging of the panels I had the support of Messrs Cinicolo and Hazeldine - their work turned a collection of photos and other material into an exhibition worthy of the name - and the location.

Photography was carried out in the early part of the year, and was blessed with fine weather and, presumably because of the recession, a dearth of parked cars - both essentials for the architectural specialist. Much of my career has been spent on longer or shorter journeys to the site to be photographed; and it has been one of the joys of this project to have been able to respond immediately to favourable combinations of weather or absent motor vehicles.

It was my first major use of digital technology, and I now feel that this is simply a better medium than film. Quite apart from the convenience and control offered by digital, the quality of the images in print is superior, especially with fast ISO speeds. As the user of large-format monorail technical cameras throughout my career, I have been slow to accept this. And it is a joy to be able to make one's own prints - indeed the cost of wet-chemistry printing on this scale would have been prohibitive. The camera used was a Canon 5D featuring a "full-frame" sensor, that is of the same dimensions as 35mm camera film.

The converging verticals which result from pointing a camera upwards at a building are anathema to the specialist architectural photographer. The technical camera solves the problem with a film-back and a lens-holder which can be moved independently. For many years 35mm camera-makers have offered Perspective Control or shift lenses for the same purpose. These feature a dovetail joint in the lens-barrel allowing 11mm shift in any direction. Such movements require a much wider image-field than a normally constructed lens of the same focal-length. Shift lenses are also carefully corrected to avoid the barrel distortion characteristic of wide-angle lenses, zooms in particular.

So the Canon 5D was fitted with shift lenses in 24mm and 45mm focal-lengths for the majority of photographs to be seen in the exhibition. With camera on a tripod and a spirit-level in the accessory shoe, the camera is first levelled, then the appropriate shift-movement applied. Automatic focussing and exposure-metering are not possible with these lenses, so the process is perhaps a little cumbersome; but nothing compared to the elaborate procedures needed in the past.

So it's farewell, then, black cloth - and good riddance!