[Bell Historians] Re: Photographs

[Richard Offen]

> 
> Hello Richard
> I was SOOOOO gratified to read your rendition of the word
> 'camapanalogical', You, I, & Fabian Stedman seem to be the only ones
> who would spell it so.Most everyone else prefers 'camapanological'
> which may be good Greek but has nothing to do with the title of the
> book Campanalogia (which in my copy of OED is incorrectly spelt
> 'Campanolgia' shame on them.
> 
> Anyhoo  Congrats on your contributions to the webpage  - a very 
useful site
> 
> mew
>

Hi Ed,

I'm afraid to admit that my spelling of 'campanological' had more to do 
with a posting made late at night after a long day than any particular 
foundation in Greek or Double Dutch!

Thanks for the compliment on the web site.   We are very pleased with 
what we've achieved so far.    It has taken many hours of very 
enjoyable work on my part researching and editing and an equally long 
time for Peter Trotman who has made the site so easy to use.

I have also put together a Power Point presentation, which I first used 
for a lecture I gave earlier this year at the University of Western 
Australia.   We hope to make a version of this available on CD at some 
point soon.

There are still many more pictures I would like to add, but finding 
really good quality images is not always easy.   It seems that not 
everyone who takes photographs has an eye for detail.   Take the 
Cheltenham web site which David Bryant referred to in his recent 
posting for example,   that contains a potentially very good shot of 
the ringers in action, but the photograph is totally ruined (for me at 
any rate!) by the tat that has been left on the ringing room table 
(handbags, sweet jars, etc).

When I was doing picture research for the recent Central Council 
recruiting leaflet, I was supplied with a wonderful shot of a ringer in 
action at a ground floor ring, taken looking up the nave.   Magnificent 

except for the large cardboard box sitting on the font plinth beside 
the ringer and the pile of crumpled altar linen and surplices on a 
table to the right!   Oh dear!

Call me Mr Picky if you like, but years of commissioning the country's 
top photographers for National Trust photo shoots (and looking at Chris 
Dalton's near perfect bell shots) has left me very fussy about the 
pictures I use.   In a world where we are bombarded with exceptional 
images, we need to portray bells and bell ringing in as professional a 
way as possible.

Sorry, I'll get down off my soap box now!

Richard