Photo 101: Mystery and lighting

It’s kind of hard to find mysterious light in the middle of the day in the outdoors unless you’re under a tornado warning, which I wasn’t today. The sun was splitting the sky with puffy clouds so I thought to myself what can I do to make the light mysterious. Well the answer was obvious to a Photoshop Jedi… so I played around with the white balance and did a bit of vignetting and hey presto, a mysterious light surrounding an old abandoned church!

The Mystery of the Abandoned Church by Agatha Christie

There are so many photogenic old buildings and barns in the Mid West, which I’d love to go closer and take a peek through the windows (then the light would be mysterious) but each and every one of them have a big NO TRESPASSING sign posted on them. Now if this had been back in Scotland no problem, a sneaky peek through the windows no bother, but this is Illinois and when they say NO TRESPASSING they mean NO TRESPASSING coz they have guns here! So I behaved myself and stuck to the road and snapped away.

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As a side note when I was driving along the back roads I came across a shark in a corn field. Yep, you read that right. A shark in a corn field. Now that’s a mystery!

Shark – cue Jaws theme tune!

ps. Shark in a cornfield would be a cool name for a band dontcha think?

Photography 101: Mystery

Loudoun Kirk, Ayrshire

Believed to have been built around 1198, Loudoun Kirk has been unused as a church since the 17th century.

It is the burial place of  the tragic Lady Flora Hastings, along with the Loudoun Family who owned nearby Loudoun Castle.

“There is an obelisk within the kirkyard, which serves as a monument to Lady Flora Hastings. Lady Flora was a Lady in Waiting to the Duchess of Kent (mother of Queen Victoria). In 1839 Lady Flora returned to Buckingham Palace after a holiday in Scotland and immediately consulted the Queen’s physician. The rumour began that she was pregnant and her honour was cast into doubt, despite two doctors stating that the symptoms were no grounds for suspicion of pregnancy. Queen Victoria, however, believed the rumours and the argument caused great public outcry against the Queen. Lady Flora died quietly in her sleep due to her illness (an enlarged liver) with no apology from the Queen. Her family were outraged and Lady Flora’s sister Sophie, whilst waiting by her death bed, refused to sleep in a bed belonging to the Queen. The family, in retaliation, attached postage stamps, bearing the Queen’s head, upside down.” Friends of Loudoun Kirk – http://www.loudounkirk.org.uk

Although photogenic in the daytime, I don’t think many people would venture there in the evening!