Well, I haven't posted much on here after an early burst of activity. But, having recently invested in a new Sony Alpha 77, I thought it would be a good idea to give it a road test. Circumstances prevented me going after ships but I found a pair of quite obscure small churches not far from York that each produced a handful of printable images.

Here's the first one (I'll post the other church on a separate thread).

St Botolph's is the parish church of Bossall, the smallest parish in Yorkshire. It is late Norman having been built between 1180 and 1185 and it still contains a few original features. Although small it's built in the traditional cruciform style with a nave, a north and south transept, a chancel and a crossing tower. The interior was nice and bright and well lit even on what was otherwise a pretty drab day.

Exterior view:



The nave looking towards the chancel and the east window:



View through the crossing to the chancel:



The north transept and organ:



The altar and the east window:



Stained glass in the south wall of the nave:



Postscript - a curious little incident. I parked my car (quite legally) by the roadside close to the church, as I was walking back along the road to get my photographs a guy driving a large, metallic grey, Volvo estate came up behind me. When he saw my cameras he slowed a crawl to keep pace with me and as I stopped opposite the church, he stopped bang in front of the lych gate effectively blocking the shot that I wanted to take. He stared at me and I stared at him for at least two to three minutes but he clearly had no intention of moving. I crossed the road in front of his car and took the shot that is number 1 on this thread. Then I went in to the church to get the interior shots and when I came out, he had gone. Call me paranoid if you like but it appeared like a deliberate attempt to prevent me taking photographs - there was no one else around either inside or outside the church, so I presume he wasn't waiting to pick someone up. Strange.

J