Southwark Cathedral by Candlelight

Prayer station - Southwark Cathedral

On Wednesday evening I was at a ticketed event (limited to 50) to photograph inside Southwark Cathedral by candlelight. The Cathedral is a place I visit quite often, including other events they hold (they also have a lovely Refectory open during the day that serves nice food).

I arrived and queued with others inside the corridor near the side entrance. The bells were ringing in welcome. Nice touch, but I don't think it was for our benefit. Probably practice night. I noticed that most people in the queue were men carrying tripods. I only have a table tripod, and I didn't bother bringing it. It was just me, my bridge camera and my mobile. I felt rather under equipped!

From the top of the nave

Once inside, the Cathedral was dark and yes, just lit by candles, except at the end where there was more light. The men had set up at the head of the nave with their tripods and I felt myself shunted out. I'm no expert in photography, I'll admit. Since everything went digital, I've struggled with all the technical stuff. My last film camera was a Pentax which I bought when I was twenty-one. Even though the switch for the light meter had broken, I knew what to set it to, and even did a timed photo of lightning. I knew about depth of field and all that stuff. With my bridge camera there are limits, but a full DSLR is so expensive. I like the way my Panasonic Lumix bridge camera sits in my hand. It's not too heavy and has a good zoom. I've also taken quite a lot of moon photos with it at full zoom, and hand-held.

I got myself a place to take my photo at the top of nave in the Cathedral and changed my exposure compensator between photos so I'd have a few photos to choose from. I was experimenting. Music played from a sound system, but it was unintrusive and set the atmosphere.

Old Priory Door

I tried to keep away from the tripods and wandered off in my own little world. I wanted to take a particular photo in the Harvard Chapel, but there were two men in there, yes, with tripods. I saw something different to what they were photographing, but I left it as I couldn't get my shot without getting in their way. I did take the hanging light, but it's not great. I needed longer to sort it. I went back later to see if I could get my shot, but it was even busier.

Harvard Chapel

There was lighting high up by the top windows which made good photos. The darkest place was by the altar. I guess having a timer and tripod would have been best here, but I did the best I could with what I could use in the conditions.

Very dark altar

At the end of the church, behind the altar where the small chapels were, there was more light. Here was an Icon exhibition, which I had a look at. Very beautiful paintings they were, too. Once I had been round the Cathedral once, I walked around a second time and took more photos. I used my mobile as back up. It coped better when I wanted to take photos of the tea light candles.

Icons

We had an hour and half in which to take our photos, but I didn't stay until the end. I was there for about three quarters of an hour. I had what I wanted. The bells were still ringing when I left and I decided to walk back to Waterloo station along by the River Thames and take photos of London by night.

Glass doors at the side entrance

In the corridor

When I looked at my photos the next day, some hadn't come out that well, but a lot had. I quite liked the effect they had. It was certainly a nice place to experiment with my bridge camera because I tend to use my mobile for most of my photography. I won't say which photos were taken with which camera, though you might guess on some.

A moody photo on leaving and the bells were rang for just a few moments more!

These next photos were taken before and after the visit to Southwark Cathedral, mainly along by the River Thames between London Bridge and the Southbank. There is also a short video of the bells of Southwark Cathedral which I took on arrival.