Spooks Apprentice - Heysham Village

Background...

The Spooks Apprentice is a series of books written from the view of a 13 year old boy, who along with his master rid 'The County' of a host of dark evil creatures: Boggarts, Ghasts and Witches. Many of the places described in these books are based on real Lancastrian cities, towns and villages. One such place described was Heysham Village, and specifically the stone graves and ruined church. The following photographs have been inspired by these books. I have purposely chosen DLSR so that I had more flexibility when trying to create a creative atmosphere to match the books.

The date for this shoot was Saturday 2nd February. I chose this day due to the weather conditions. It had been forecast to be misty for a large proportion of the day. This was exactly the atmospheric weather conditions I was after to create the correct mood within these images.

This first picture is of the stone graves, they are on top of a small cliff. I have cropped the image so the focus is on the graves and not the background. I have also converted the image to greyscale as the graves were filled with water that had iced over in the night. This gave increased shape and contrast to the composition.

Camera date: Nikon D300, 18mm to 70mm zoom, focal length 18mm. F10 at 125th Sec. ISO 280

The next 2 images are of the church which replaced the original which is now in ruins. The first view is shot from the left hand side through the small graveyard. I have tried to give this image atmosphere by capturing the trees in the foreground. I have then used the 'cold tone' preset as a base, then messed about with the black and fill light sliders to obtain the eeriness of the image.

Image 2 of the church is how you would see it from the road. As you can see most of the gravestones are slightly angled off centre. I think this also adds to the final image. As with the 1st image of the church I have used the 'cold tone' presets and altered the black and fill light sliders. Camera data: Nikon D300 18mm to 70mm zoom, focal length 24mm, F6.3, 125th Sec. ISO 280.

Just opposite the church there is a small walled garden. Well I say garden, it's pretty much overgrown. However, whilst walking around I took these two images for the perspective aspect. Both shots draw the eye from one part of the frame to another. With both these images I wanted to explore were the path leads too.

I wanted as much detail in these shots as the light would allow - the first shot is at f11 and the second at f18. Both shot with a 28mm prime lens (this is roughly the same view as the eyes see - remembering the D300 is not a full frame sensor)

These 3 image are of the old church which is in ruins now. There is so little left that I found it difficult to obtain an interesting image. I think this church has been captured by so many photographers at nearly every single angle, that there is little room for originality. However, we must not let that stop us trying!

I have used the 'Selenium Tone' preset with this set of images, then slightly adjusting using the tone sliders in Lightroom. I used this effect to create the atmosphere as described in the Spooks books.

The above two images are variations of the church scene. They have been taken from a higher view point and Selenium Tone preset has been used. Both have been shot through the trees to add to the eerie atmosphere I was trying to capture. Both have been shot using the 18mm to 70mm zoom lens at different focal lenghts 24mm and 38mm respectively.

This next shot is of the cobbled road between the old church and new. Yet again I chose to capture this image for its perspective properties. The eye is drawn into the centre of the picture. I liked the aged feel to this road due to the cobbles. This is the kind of road I thought young Tom (Spooks Apprentice) would find himself traveling. This image also has 'Selenium Tone' preset to add the the aged feel of the image.

The final image of the set is of a gravestone I came across in the church. It had no writing on it but as the most beautiful Celtic carving. What it means - I don't know. I have employed the same Lighroom effect as above as it lends itself well to this imagery.

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