During the summer I was fortunate enough to spend a week camping in the grounds of an old abbey where I was able to spend an evening taking pictures without too many people around to get in the way of my creativity.

Nestled in the Yorkshire countryside

The abbey itself is an intricate maze of walls (or what is left of them) nestled in the Yorkshire countryside with its open spaces grassed over and surrounded by trees and wild (and some not so wild) flowers. From a distance the abbey blends into the scenery. This shot was taken from a distance across the field at 24mm (Using my 24-70mm lens) 1/500sec at F5 and ISO64.

I like the effect the clouds have on this image, they give an effect of a turbulent sky over a still setting.

Really accessible and some great information

The owners of the abbey have made the site really accessible and added some great information to help you get a great perspective on the abbey, to imagine what it may have been like in its prime. Of course the ruins provide some great features for your photography.

Hopefully you can see from some of my ideas in this article and my gallery, how much scope there is to be creative and to capture some images that tell the story as captured in your own imagination.

'picture-in-picture' effect

Whilst walking around the site I came across this position where, looking through the first archway I was able to align with the further archway. This captured my attention as I quite liked the 'picture-in-picture' effect that it created, almost an infinity mirror type effect which I felt I had to try and capture.

Of course there were far too many interesting photographic opportunities to feature all of them in this article, so I am showing just a few of my favourites. Take a look at the gallery at the end of the article for more...

Framed by wild flowers

Capturing the abbey through flowers or tress is a good way of framing the image. The flowers in the foreground of this image and the trees to either side, create a great frame for the abbey. Of course the bright sunny day did help with this shot as the blue sky and light clouds add another depth to the image making the whole image interesting.

This shot was taken from a tripod at 1/100th sec F8 and ISO64. I focussed on the lawn about a 1/3rd into the image to create a reasonably good depth of field for this shot.

Waiting for the sun to set over the abbey

While waiting for the sun to set over the abbey I was captivated by the peace and tranquility of the setting and that made me imagine how I might capture that in a picture. Having most of my kit with me in my camera bag, I set about setting up my tripod, remote trigger and off camera flash to see if I could capture the abbey (Give the low light I needed long exposure) while capturing a person (me) who is not the best at sitting motionless for several seconds (25 in fact).

This image used a tripod, off camera flash, remote trigger and employed a 'rear curtain sync' to freeze the person while having enough exposure to capture the structure in the background. 25 second exposure at F22 and ISO64

Capturing the setting of the abbey

The final image that I wanted to feature is the one that I feel really captured the setting of the abbey, it includes the statue of the lady welcoming visitors while the sunset sky over the abbey creates a colourful backdrop for the rich stonework of the abbey.

For me, the flash bringing the figure to life wile the long exposure of the shot enables the whole image to appear full of detail and colour which for me, makes this image really interesting.

Shot from a tripod at 2 second exposure (remote trigger), F22 and ISO64 with a hand held rear curtain sync flash directed at the figure (Hidden out of shot but in front of the camera).

A few more shots from the shoot