Bell tower interior (cramped, dangerous and dark)

DuncanDisorderly

DuncanDisorderly

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Duncan
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I'm interested to hear what you think of these.
The bell tower is a horrendous place to photograph. At the same event last year I got nothing worth keeping from this location, so I was pleasantly surprised by how these turned out.

Looking straight down it is possible to see the second layer of bells underneath. The egg boxes are for sound insulation and are on a paper thin ceiling with a monumental drop beneath; it was joked that the egg boxes were structural, but at least we couldn't see the drop.
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The tower was being used for a zip wire and abseil fund raiser. The public were belayed up the interior using a safety rope manned by a team of suitably qualified cavers (all with the patience of saints).
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This shot represents the most difficult part of the bell tower ascent; there is a beam just out of shot above their head and nothing to hold onto other than the bell wheel which moves freely. I was sat on one of the bells; it was like taking photos from a boat.
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The fisheye lens makes it look quite spacious; but I could reach out and touch that ladder. I'm standing in the arched doorway that exits the top of the spiral staircase; you can see the stone frame around the edge of the image.
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Here is a person climbing the final ladder towards the horizontal squeeze out onto the roof. It is easy to end up floundering with legs hanging in open space.
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The spiral staircase is sufficiently tight that I can almost touch the sides with my shoulders; it's rather steep!.
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You must be one of the few people in the country who has actually been so far up a bell tower - I thought I was doing well when I managed to get to the part where they actually pull the ropes attached to the bells (no camera with me though.)

As I have some kind of idea of the physical constraints you were under I hesitate to make any suggestions at all for improvement and the only one I offer is that maybe the one of the 'caver' would be better in B&W to support the idea of it being hard work in cramped conditions.
 
Chris, Jake - Thanks! :beer:
Hmm - I like the idea of the B&W conversion as I already had to back off the saturation on the tango orange glow from the cheap and nasty bulb next to him and taking it all the way might work nicely.
I'll let you know what happens.
The other thing I'm not sure about in that image is the brightness of the side-lit iris in his eye; kinda makes him look a bit cyborg. I almost reduced the intensity but decided to leave it as-shot - hmmm :thinking:

Regards the antics...
The amusing bit was that later on I went to photograph someone with a fear of heights doing the zip wire for fairly hefty sponsorship.
By then it had got busy, there was a queue up the spiral stairs and I couldn't get down!
After 40 mins I gave up waiting and the cavers send a harness up to me so I could go down the outside of the tower.
Only then did I realise something important...
I had no strap on the camera - it was massively getting in the way squeezing through the confines of the tower, so I'd taken it off to make things easier.
I'm quite happy without a strap, I only use one when I need to use both hands for something else.
However, I didn't reckon on having to zip-wire with the camera and no strap!!!!!
By this time I was dehydrated and sunburned and wanted off the tower ASAP.
Luckily one of the cavers saw my stricken face while I was deciding whether to risk it and offered me his backpack - phew!
 
Chris as a bell ringer at Priddy where these were taken and a friend of Duncan's until he took pics of my backside spilling out of my jeans on the zip wire last year, if you are interested in seeing the bell chamber there are many very spacious towers with access.
Priddy is particularly cramped because originally there were only 3 bells and another 3 were added in recent years.

Nice pics Duncan:)
Caroline
 
Interesting shots and very brave too. TP's Fred Dibnah:)
 
CarolineS said:
Chris as a bell ringer at Priddy where these were taken and a friend of Duncan's until he took pics of my backside spilling out of my jeans on the zip wire last year, if you are interested in seeing the bell chamber there are many very spacious towers with access.
Priddy is particularly cramped because originally there were only 3 bells and another 3 were added in recent years.

Nice pics Duncan:)
Caroline
Click to expand...

Thanks for that suggestion - the only bell tower I have been up was because a friend is a ringer there (and I was able to take some Italian friends to see them ringing) I had got it in my head that that was the only way to get in - I will ask around some local churches
 
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