Wharram Percy

For the last 18 months I’ve been coming back to the same site to take photos as part of a personal project. I love things that are old and decaying and about 5-10 miles from Malton in central Yorkshire is Wharram le Street. Wharram le Street is a fairly affluent area in which my mother lives so once in a blue moon I visit her. About 2 miles from her home is Wharram Percy medieval village and in between a disused limestone mine.

Granted in the 18 months I’ve only been there twice (that’s how long a blue moon is) but here are various photos that I took of this mine and it’s surrounding area. Eventually I’ll go back again to photograph more of the medieval village itself but here are my favourite shots.

HDR digital version of one of the pictures below. Shot with a 5D or 1d mk3, this was bracketed and HDR’d.

Looking out of Wharram Percy limestone mine.

One of the very first 6×6 shots I ever took. I mentioned elsewhere on this blog about drum scans and this is the image. I must post the none drum scan image on here but the above is crazy sharp as default. Good drum scans really show how sharp medium format lenses can be.

Inside Wharram Percy limestone mine. Square format image taken inside the mine.

Gate into the well at Wharram Percy limestone mine.

Digital version of the above. Completely different look to it.

Now this is just creepy! Inside the well it smells a bit strange and there were a number of dead animals inside. Photogenic but it creeps me out when I go here alone.

Looking into the mine. I had to bracket the hell out of this picture as the sun was coming across the window but I didn’t have the time to shoot it differently. Still, I like the way the sun angles through the corner of the window.

One of the outhouses to the rear of Wharram Percy limestone mine. Personally I wouldn’t want to walk down to it as it looks pretty scary (and there are a million nettles in the way) but it’s still photogenic.

Same outhouse but this time shot with film. Again shot with a Hasselblad. Has a very different feel to it but is really sharp!

One of my favourite images. This is a double row panoramic but shot bracketed so it really shows off the brickwork.

The above is a single row panoramic. Taken the day after the above panoramic with the sun coming in front a different direction.

Wharram Percy stream and bridge. This is easily one of the most difficult panoramic images I’ve ever shot simply because it was really windy but I managed to capture it with almost everything in focus.

The bridge was used to transport goods to and from Wharram Percy medieval village but is now used as a crossing for both cows and people.

This shed leads into Wharram Percy medieval village. I shot this solely to do a black and white test. Shot if I remember correctly with Fuji Acros 100 but with a green filter by B&W.

Wharram Percy medieval village. This old church has been shot many times and shot probably better than I could do if I photographed the whole building but I shot the above again with ISO 50 black and white film (Ilford something) on a blad. This is just one side of the building but something a bit different.

The above was shot with Velvia 50 and taken in the winter. An experiment with long exposures and film together.

The above was of the same scene as the photo above but shot in the summer. Completely different feel and the film had a strong green coluor cast. Personally I prefer the first of these two scenes but both have a different look to them.

I left this picture of a church at the bottom as it was neither a panoramic or film shot. This a delightful church in Wharram le Street which I managed to capture on a day of really gorgeous weather.