The Limbo Connection's photos with the keyword: Avebury Stone Circle

The couple are at the stone called 'The Devil's Stone'.

Nikon D700 and Tamron 35mm f/1.8 lens.

Avebury, Wilts. Nikon D700 and Tamron 70-210mm f/2.8 LD SP lens.

Nikon D2Xs, ISO 100, 55mm, f/5.3, 1/160th.

They set sheep to graze among the stones. Frequently the henge is alive with sheep droppings, and insects which like that sort of thing.

It seems a long time ago that film processors used the term 'selective enlargement', but it is a perfect description. This is something of a test of the Tamron SP 35mm f/1.8 Di VC USD lens which I used to make the bigger photograph of which this is a selective enlargement. Nikon D700; ISO 200; 1/80th; f/4.5.

This stone overhangs the grass verge on the road as you leave Avebury going north. People from Swindon have taken to calling it 'the Swindon Stone'. For them it confirms they are on the right road and will soon be home. For everyone else it warns that they have made an error in navigation and should turn round.

There was a competition in a field near the Manor House. The headquarters for the event was abandoned when I passed by.

In mediaeval times the standing stones represented competition for the Church and thus many were rolled over and buried. Later the ones which remained were put to fire, hammer, and chisel to provide building materials. Sarsen stone is so hard that it was not unknown for a chisel to break off when struck; some stones still have remnants of ancient chisels stuck in them. On occasion the chisel would be resisted by the stone and fly back, poleaxing the man wielding the hammer.

ISO 200;1/60th; f/4

How appropriate that an astrolabe, an instrument used to locate and predict the future locations of the sun, moon, stars and planets, should be found in the garden of Avebury Manor. Astrolabes have been used to survey and triangulate since classical antiquity.

I think it's beech. There's lots of beech in Avebury.

This is photographed from the Marlborough Road junction where the stone circle ends and West Kennet avenue begins. The tractor is going south towards Beckhampton. A vast quantity of straw bales is moved around this district at this time of year. You can see the Devil's Chair stone beyond the beech trees on the right hand side.

I visited Avebury in August after the heatwave had ended. It was a bright day, but not unbearably hot. As I rounded the Devil's Chair en route to the beech clump by the Marlborough Road junction, I chanced upon this couple and impulsively asked if I could take their picture. I'm still getting used to using the 35mm fixed focal length, and my first shot was too much stone, too little people. The second was better, but not much. This was my third and final photograph; the couple remained good humoured throughout and I hurried off lest my intrusion became boring. I can never assess at the time I make a picture if it is going to be good. So many technical things can be wrong; I sometimes find features which I did not notice in the viewfinder; and with people, their eyes can be closed or I accidentally catch a funny expression. I was glad, therefore, that I cheekily persisted for this third shot. I prefer it in black and white.