autofantasia's photos with the keyword: haunted

Regular visitors to my photostream will know that I usually participate in the Sunday Challenge , but for a variety of reasons I've missed the last three. This week the challenge related to Dutch angle photography, a technique used to create or convey dramatic effects or portray a psychological uneasiness or tension in the subject being filmed. It's accomplished by simply tilting the camera so the horizon or subject is at an angle to the bottom of the frame of the shot and is something I often found myself doing before I even knew what it was called. Therefore, you'd think this would have been an easy week, but I'm afraid once again I didn't manage to get out with the camera. So, to avoid missing out again I've dipped into the archives and pulled out a previously unpublished shot, which I've then processed somewhat to add to the feeling of tension I was trying to convey. For those that are interested in these things the chuch in question is located in Harrogate and used to be called St. Mary's. According to Wikipedia the first church erected on the site had its foundation stone laid on 4 September, 1822 and was consecrated in 1825, but declared unsafe in 1903. The replacement church was built at the current site in 1916 to designs by the architect Walter Tapper and constructed in the 14th century English gothic style. Sadly, in 2007 closed as a parish church because of maintenance problems. More recently though it was revived by Mark Carey as a fresh expression of church, still within the Church of England, but now serving the whole of Harrogate and renamed as Kairos Church. Got to say though that when I was there recently the broken windows and boarded up doors made it look anything other than welcoming and I was left wondering if perhaps the project had failed. Please view on black for best effect.

Produced for this week's Sunday Challenge , which as you might expect had the theme of Halloween . This is a shot I took of a Halloween costume purchased from our local Wilko store. Although the material looked rather cheap, well it did only cost me £5.00, I liked the mask and felt it offered some real potential for the challenge. So I pinned it carefully to a large tree that stands at the bottom of our garden and took a few snaps before selecting this one to do some processing on. I played about with the levels etc. and added in the eyes using a mixture of PhotoShop and PaintShop Pro to create the final image you see here. For those that are interested in such things you'll find a copy of the original shot in the Notes. And all this goes to prove that ghosts do come out in the daylight ... they just wait for you in the shadows! Please view large ... that's if you dare! ;)