Taking a break from thinking about cameras and lenses in the Fuji shop, I wandered to Covent Garden and the entrance to the Actors’ Church. In the small grounds were these men and I grabbed a shot with my Ricoh GRIII while thinking about a Fuji camera that (unlike the Ricoh) has a viewfinder. As you can see, this photo is slightly soft (out of focus).
The church is a favourite of mine beyond the obvious attractions of the shops, the street entertainers, and even The Royal Opera House (recently renamed to the Royal Ballet And Opera.).
The church is to one side of the Square, a neo-classical building with four stone pillars supporting an overhanging pediment, and a large door.
Down a narrow pedestrian alley at the rear of the building is a path leading to the entrance. You can see that in the background to this photo.
It is St. Paul’s Church at Covent Garden, built in 1633, and it is known as the Actor’s Church because it is near to the theatres in Drury Lane and where the memorial services for many famous stars of stage and screen have been held.
Inside there are memorial plaques to Charlie Chaplin, Noel Coward, Gracie Fields, Vivien Leigh, Sybil Thorndike, and others.
On the plaque in memory of the director Lewis Casson is a quotation from The Bacchae, a Greek tragedy in which one of the characters says
‘What else is wisdom, to be from fear set free, to breathe and wait.’
Actually, there are many translations, and a friend of mine who studied the classics tells me the translations are mostly rubbish and do not reflect the original. Still, it’s a good quote.
Soft
The reason the photo is soft cannot be attributed to camera shake because I shot at 1/400th of a second. The aperture was f/ 3.5 and the speed was 400 ISO. I probably snatched the shot because I was close and didn’t want to draw attention to myself, but mostly I think it is because I was holding the camera out of in front of me and it takes a moment to see where the camera is focusing exactly, I know where it is focusing ‘approximately’ because I have the focus point set to the centre spot. But I think I would be quicker and more confident that I had the focus right if I shot with a camera with a viewfinder – hence looking for a small, lightweight camera with a viewfinder as a carry-around camera for casual outings.
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