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Lee Iggulden
09/08/2010, 15:20
Meet at Undercliffe cemetery in the outskirts of Bradford at 11AM.
http://www.welshotimaging.co.uk/academy/workshops.php?id=28

The cemetery stands on a hillside overlooking the city, idea for trying your panoramic skills or using your long lenses to pick out distant details.
It contains some very impressive monuments, in a variety of styles. It is a notable example of a Victorian (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victorian_era) cemetery in which a number of rich and famous Bradford Dignitaries and residents have been buried. Some of them Mayors, Lord Mayors and Mill owners, notably the Illingworth's memorial, which is an Egyptian tomb which is very photogenic.


For the photographer, there is masses of potential, with:


old graves covered in brambles
beautiful grass paths lined with trees
long avenues of tombs
high imposing monoliths and little discrete graves

Ideas for photography include:


Practice using your long lens to focus on one stone, and have other stones blurred.
Maybe try using flash to create a dark brooding sky, then a normally lit stone
Try Panoramic shots on the main avenue
Use your wide lenses to produce creative angles on the stones.
Create a mini project – maybe seeking out all the sculptural detail on the stones, there’s some amazing craftsmanship gone into the memorials.

The cemetery is listed by English Heritage (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_Heritage) in their Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Register_of_Historic_Parks_and_Gardens) and is maintained by the Undercliffe Cemetery Charity and volunteers.
The cemetery was used as a location in the film Billy Liar.
Also here's a page with more information from the graveyard:-
http://www.hiddenhistory.webuildwebsites.co.uk/undercliffe_cemetery.html#galleria-1.0b/image/img/closeupegypt.jpg
Lunch
Will be at one of Bradfords famous Indian Restaurants.
Saltaire

A few miles out of the centre of Bradford lies the "model village" of Saltaire, it is named after Sir Titus Salt who built a textile mill and this village on the River Aire. In December 2001, Saltaire was designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.
The village consisted of:

Salts Mill, which produced 17 miles of cloth every day,
neat stone houses for the workers,
alms houses for the poor and needy,
a girls' and boys' school and an institute,
shops,
wash houses,
a hospital,
churches and a park


The Village still stands and most of the buildings have survived even if their function has changed, so plenty of variety for the photographer.

When arriving at Saltaire, we'll park in the main carpark behind the mill. Here we can walk around the mill and take in the huge size of it from close proximity – including the massive chimney that just towers above everything in the village.

From here we spend time looking around the mill, then on to the chapel – a unique rounded building where Titus himself is buried. The building is a real architectural gem and very photogenic.

Next we shall cross over the Leeds Liverpool canal and take a look at the reflections in the water from the bridge between the new and old mill. You can get some very striking patterns and abstracts from here.

Onwards over the River Aire, where we see a lovely weir to photograph, and also reflections of the main mill buildings in the still weir water.

From here we shall walk around the park – hopefully there will be a cricket match on so we can capture a very typical British summer scene. Around the park there are views of the mills and the chapel, and a huge statue of Titus, along with a tree lined avenue.

Depending on time, we can either head back to the village straight away, or take a short walk along the Leeds Liverpool canal – which at this time of year should be lush and green with lots of flowers to capture. There are a few locks on this stretch too.

Once back to the village, and depending on time, we can go into the Mill which is now an art gallery housing some David Hockney work, amoungst many others.

From the mill, we can then discover the village itself – there is the Victoria Hall, the old institute and a many other bigger buildings, but it's the small houses themselves that are the attraction here. All on a hill, all looking very similar and at the end of each row, there's usually a bigger house, which makes for lovely photographs if you make them black and white or sepia.

After an hour or 2 around the village, we will finish off – maybe with a pint in Fanny's Ale house.

Lee Iggulden
23/08/2010, 15:05
We are taking bookings for this now and if you wish to attend we can send you a booking form.

Lee :)

Adrian Wilson
23/08/2010, 15:13
Hi everyone,

I'll get some images from the areas we'll be visiting to give you more of an idea what to expect.

The cemetary really is something special - not just the huge area it covers, the massive headstones and variety of crosses, but the elevated view point above Bradford itsellf

Saltaire really is a gem I keep going back to, it's about 4 miles from Bradford and is "idyllic" to say the least! Loads to see and do.

I'll let the photos do the talking when i get them to upload.

Adrian Wilson
23/08/2010, 21:17
I've now placed a selection of shots from the 2 locations on this workshop into my gallery

http://www.welshotimaging.co.uk/gallery/index.php?photographer=29

There's quite a variety as you'll see

Adrian Wilson
01/09/2010, 00:13
I found a little more info about Undercliffe....


Undercliffe cemetery was opened in 1854 by the Bradford Cemetery Company. The 25-acre site, high above the city, contains many grand nineteenth-century monuments: tombs fit for pharaohs, finely decorated obelisks, extravagant mausoleums and huge columns abound.

It has been described as one of the most striking achievements of Victorian funerary design. Many of the Rich and famous and notable inhabitants of Bradford have been buried there, along with veterans of famous conflicts such as Waterloo, the Crimea and the Indian Mutiny, and many ordinary but no less interesting citizens.

After the original Cemetery Company folded in 1975 the cemetery was neglected. Local people began a campaign which led to Bradford Council compulsorily purchasing the cemetery from its private owner, declaring it a conservation area, and then sponsoring a two-year restoration programme.

The cemetery which is still in use for burials is now in the care of the Undercliffe Cemetery Charity, a voluntary group who maintain and promote the site as a valuable educational resource and monument to Bradford's Victorian Heritage.

The book "In Loving Memory - The Story of Undercliffe Cemetery" can be bought at Bradford Visitor Information Centre.