^A ring actually worn by William Shakespeare
The charm of heritage buildings is that the spots you touched and stayed could have been done the same by the people in history. Stratford-upon-Avon, the little medieval town where William Shakespeare lived, is a second most visited destination after London for its heritage relics.
It is an atmospheric town with many half-timbered houses ideal for a photographic trip too. But the place has been so extensively filmed and photographed that it is a challenge to give your photos a unique look, which is absolutely not helped by the grey grumpy British weather.
^If you go to Stratford-upon-Avon, I would recommend buying the ticket to visit the three houses related to William. The Nosh's House next to this site called New Place has the best guided tour among them. make sure you join the English gentleman briefing you on the history of the house.
As always, the best way to make the photos stand out is to think up a theme. You may not end up with spectacular keepers but the photos would not be commonplace. To come up with a theme usually requires the photographer to get some knowledge of the subject beforehand.
Here, Stratford-upon-Avon (By the way, Avon refers to River Avon running through Bath, Stratford to Warwick. And Avon is a Brythonic word meaning river) is a place reflecting the history of Shakespeare's time. It was where the playwright was born, brought up and buried. So before setting off, I had a rough idea about giving the photos a theme of reflection or echoing.
The theme threads through the photos taken at the place:
The above building is the Shakespeare Hostel, having been running since the Shakespeare's time as I was told. I scouted the site and tried to get a less humdrum shot of a building. Having walked across the street, I noticed the awning with stripes and rippled edges which interestingly echoed the timbered lines and zigzag roofline of the hostel. The awning also served to cover the boring grey sky apart from giving a modern-time reference to the old building in the photo.
The above old building is the famous Shakespeare's birthplace. The shots of it taken from various angles invariably appeared boring. The theme in mind inspired me to make use of the puddle to end up with this photo. Not spectacular but surely the best I could probably get. The puddle was used also for the next shot of the streetscape along the same street. 
The following shot was done with the theme in mind too. The scene was echoed by the old photo in the book I bought from the museum about the history of the heritage houses, hopefully adding a point of interest to the otherwise general shot.
Comments