Edwin Young Gallery...

Firstly, let me thank you all for many Hearts and wonderful comments on yesterday's Oxford Blip, getting to #2 in the Spotlights. I would like to add that the elderly gentleman who asked to be picked up from the wrong station - well, I approached him slowly when he made his error but he was struggling to hear and kept complaining about the signal breaking up and so turned away from me and his body language was that he didn't want anything to do with me. The station was really busy, especially for 7pm and all the trains were running late, so there was an air of disjointed chaos about the place. He then left the station through the barriers, which I could of course, not follow, not without invalidating my own ticket. So, I have no idea what happened to him but I am not his guardian, or family member and have to presume that he soon found out and phoned them back. I had my own journey and connections to make, including a rather unwelcome 40 minute wait on a freezing cold Basingstoke station platform, for the final connecting train back to Salisbury.

EDWIN YOUNG

Edwin Young was a turn of the last century artist who lived in and was prolific in the Salisbury area. His collection was bequeathed to the public (now Wiltshire Council) a few years back and has pretty much been kept in storage, with bits and bobs occasionally getting an airing.

Wiltshire Council's Salisbury Galleries Curator Peter Riley, who I have blipped for that picture of him, has turned the Young Gallery into, at last, a permanent exhibition showing his work.

Most on display are of course, showing the local area and so now have become of historical interest as well as an artistic one. Rather like Constable's famous Salisbury Cathedral, Young's (both of them here) have taken some artistic licence in their setting and composition but look in LARGE and you'll find a high level of technical quality and ability.

So, on this rainy day, today, in recording photographically this gallery for Peter, in terms of archive and for web use, I hauled in the tripod and took all meticulous care in the photographing from every angle. All perspectively true and with neutral colour balance. I used my trusty old Nikkor D 17-35mm at f8 throughout, on the full-frame D700. I had to do all this during gallery open hours, so the public could get in the way, make 'comments' and even nick your stuff, if you left it unattended!

Despite the need for colour neutrality etc, I still added, to a set formula I found to be the best, of added 10% colour saturation, a touch of added sharpness (despite this being about the best zoom Nikon have ever made), a quick zap of contrast, just to make the image look a bit 'better'. This is especially useful for web use, as compression robs images all of the above, to an extent.

I will similarly be photographing the other 3 galleries and their revolving exhibitions throughout the next year. One or two might have to be an emergency Blip, like this one is. But a lot of effort and concentration goes into this type of work, plus the equally careful editing, so I most likely won't be photographing anything else that day.

You can, of course, see this and the other galleries for free, during library opening hours, which includes to 7pm on several days during the week.