(As Promised) A Few More Photos from the 125th

I took 285 photos by the end of the evening – rather a lot! Now they’ve been whittled down to a more modest 101 and will be on display in the church porch this weekend (and for a modest fee - 40p to 50p depending on size - a copy can be obtained with profits going to Beata Teresa de Calcutta Medical Project in Peru, which is being sponsored by the Sacred Heart Church, Hove, during 2013).

One day I promise to talk about the joys and challenges of photography. Being blessed with more enthusiasm than either ability or knowledge, my appointment as ‘official’ photographer for the 125^th anniversary was a mixed blessing. Among the joys was the discovery of the choir loft, a secret hidey-hole filled with jolly people, who showed no signs of altitude sickness despite being perched so high above the congregation. And then there was the freedom to wander at will, creeping up on unsuspecting souls and firing off the flashgun like it was the beginning of the grouse season. People were very charitable though, especially after a glass (or more) of red at the post-mass party.  

On the other hand, among the challenges was the discovery that elbows, legs and tables had somehow intruded into photographs, forcing me to crop, crop and crop again until the pixel count was positively anemic. Then there were the weird colour shifts, showing that the camera (and I) had got the white balance wrong, due to the unhealthy mix of daylight, flash, tungsten and fluorescent. Thanks to Adobe Photoshop, not every person ended with an orange permatan. Also, at one stage my old flashgun refused to talk with the camera and simply sulked, resulting in pictures in which the only visible parts were the whites of the eyes! Ah well, it was a great learning experience!

Now, a few photos:

A general view of the church interior, featuring the new red carpet (it was green until a couple of months ago).

 And we end with four photos from the party (out of the 57 that will go up in the church porch). It was a great evening, full of companionship and laughter, it really felt good to be part of a sociable, caring, loving, enthused, prayerful, positive Church. Roll on the 150^th anniversary ( - we’ve already booked the Bishop and, if I’m still around, I’ll make sure we get a decent photographer!)