Atkinson Coppice

Ok so it's not a Cathedral.. rather a deep Cavern known as Cathedral Cave due to the big main window overlooking the very dark interior.

This was part of a large quarry system in the area which mine Slate, and Green Slate in particular - (that can be seen in more detail shot here at the cave entrance, that I took back in November) - www.flickr.com/photos/pete37038/26310247689/in/dateposted/

As you enter the main chamber it is pretty spectacular and the acoustics are superb, with every tiny (or loud) sound amplified many times, the other thing that strikes you about it is that it is a total nightmare to photograph if you want to include the 'window in the shot due to the extreme contrast in light, for example I had to use a headtorch to set this shot up as I couldn't see the camera manual lens settings or the tripod adjustment levers without feeling them.

The last time I was in here I had shot from the other way round with the window to my back so while long exposure times were still needed, and there was high lighting contrast, the window didn't pose a problem at the time, but what's a Cathedral without a window...?

After managing to light the tunnel shot last time I wanted to have a go at this one, showing the detail inside the cave with the light coming in from the window, a very overcast day was needed ideally to go some way to balancing out the light - forget it in bright conditions, thankfully overcast days in the Lakes are never too far away..

Needless to say it isn't one exposure, it's nigh on impossible to shoot this in one image, in fact I can't remember exactly how many it was or what I used in the end, I think I shot 9 that would have been in 1 stop increments, but I won't have used them all in the final image.

Definitely a spot to return to time and time again to get different compositions in different lighting. The large stone pillar appears to hold the ceiling up, thankfully it's doing a great job! - I'll post another image from here coming up showing the pillar more isolated from the background.

**Edited to say - For those who haven't visited there is a second opening (much bigger) just to the right of the window in view which serves to illuminate the roof area, you can see how the light falls in from an unknown source that you can't see.... just that one viewer (understandably as you can't see it) thought the roof was all done in post processing with no light source, which isn't how I like to work.

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For the second image now in a row there no sky included in the frame at all, which for me is pretty unusual, this place had been on my list to do for ages and with the rain coming down outside it meant it was the perfect time to head underground...

Cathedral Quarry in the Langdales was a mining place for Slate, in particular Green Slate, in the main area of the quarry I couldn't really see any vivible vivid green type of slate (beautiful as it is) I had a good while shooting in there and got some results which I'll post up at some point. It was only on my way out that I inspected this entrance tunnel (that I had earlier walked through a bit hastily) a bit more with the flashlight and with the moisture on the walls there were some really interesting colours to be seen so I decided to shoot inside here for a while with the extreme wide angle to see what could be had.

The exposure inside here was pretty tricky with the light coming in from behind and also the light at the end with the extreme dark bits in the middle, I've used the flashlight on the central areas of the tunnel during the exposure to try and really bring out the detail and colours of the rocks, a smattering of Autumn leaves and the reflections into the still water adding a bit of something else to it as well.

I usually hate the rain, but today it made me come here, and as it was still raining when I was coming to leave it made me stop and take more of a look around me than perhaps I would have otherwise, something I'll try and do a lot more often from now on.

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