Durham Cathedral Towers

Durham Cathedral towers

One of Durham’s most photogenic places is the cathedral.  There are a couple of what may be called iconic shots of the cathedral, but other than that it is not always easy to get a shot of the cathedral that makes it stand out.

I’ve taken a few images from different aspects and i’ll share them over a series of posts.  In this post i’ve put in two images as I can’t really make up my mind which one I prefer.

Durham Cathedral towers in monochrome

The colour image gives a sense of the morning with the tower reaching majestically up into a warm summer sky.  The monochrome image seems to give a sense of power, strength and solidness – a sense that the building is timeless and will be there hundreds of years into the future.

It never ceases to amaze me how changing an image from colour to monochrome can completely change the feel of a place (or an item or person, etc.).  I’ve seen images of warm inviting places, places where you would feel safe and want to be, turn into places that would send shivers up your spine and be places to avoid.

It used to be said that the camera never lies, but that has never been true.  It has always been possible to change what a viewer saw on the image.  It goes from the simple methods of dodging and burning using your hands or cut out pieces of cardboard on wire while exposing photographic paper with the negative in an enlarger (I remember it well) to sandwiching negatives together, right to the modern methods using Photoshop and the like.  The truth of it is more probably that the camera always lies.

Let me know what you think and which of the two images you prefer and why.