The Angel of Hope

Hope, is a small town in the Peak District of Derbyshire and it was there that I found myself on a grim, rainy August morning, waiting for my wife & daughter to return form a visit to a local shop.

With nothing to do, I could either sit in the car or put on my coat, grab my camera and brave the rain. The church was locked so that foiled my plan to shoot some photos in the warm and dry church. Walking back to the car I spotted this grave stone which looked like it had potential.

So I spent a good 10-15 minutes just photographing the “Angel of Hope” as I called her. Like many photographers I sometimes find myself just taking the obvious shot, especially when it's cold and wet. So I this time I challenged myself to look for different ways of photographing the angel. Moving around to find new angles, changing lenses and playing with apertures will make your images look unique.
On the photo above I’ve swapped to short telephoto lens (105mm) to compress the image and bring the church closer so it becomes a background.
This is probably my favourite shot. The 105mm focal length compress the image and that’s combined with a large f4 aperture to blur the background. Look closely and you’ll be able to the falling rain.

The lesson here is don't let the weather stop your photo fun.