Monday, 16 June 2008  The Zen of Photography II  A fine window
dedicated to a former vicar dominates the interior of my church
from it's position in the East wall, above the altar. If you
were there on a clear morning with the sun shining through it
this is what you would see:  Raise your camera to your eye,
carefully compose the shot and press the shutter button and this
is what you'd get:  The reason the top is skinny and the bottom
is fat is because this is what it actually looks like. You don't
see it that way because you brain has recognised the effect of
things getting smaller the further they are away from you, done
some very clever maths, and compensated for it without you even
noticing. What you see in normal, everyday life is not the
actual window, but an idea of what the window should look like;
you're seeing an ideal version of the window, if you like. To
make the camera take the picture you have in your brain requires
one of two things: either a very expensive tilt and shift lens,
or some jiggery