Water light

Last weekend we went to see Hever Castle, the home for a few years of Anne Boleyn who became Henry VIII’s second wife. The reason for the visit was that currently here in the UK a superb BBC TV series called ‘Wolf Hall’ is airing based on the award-winning book of the same name by Hilary Mantel that is all about that period of history.

It was fascinating to feel that acute sense of history as I walked the floors, stood in the rooms, and looked at the portraits painted by Holbein. But I came away without any photographs: none were allowed in the Castle and its exterior just didn’t grab my attention.

As we walked in the extensive gardens, the sun finally appeared and the landscape acquired life, and images followed. The water around a fountain sparkled and shimmered.

There’s nothing to suggest the origin or provenance of these images – they happen to have been taken at Hever Castle but they are not identifiable of Hever.

I find that is so often the case. I go somewhere special armed with a camera, and more often than not I do capture images of that particular place, but at a guess I would say that very often more than 50% of the images I find are completely unrelated to that specific place. They arise because I am naturally in image-hunting mode and my eye has no particular agenda to follow. Sounds familiar?