Friday 8^th February 2020

Although it’s been a mild winter (yes, I’m on about the weather again, but it does have such an impact on our outdoor work!), we have had few opportunities to get out and get on with our photography at Skipton Holy Trinity churchyard. 

The answer's 42, Jen!

At last, on Friday, the weather proved perfect for RTI. We had a successful day – all the technology worked, and there was enough shade in large parts of the churchyard to enable us to select several ledgers for photographing. 

Setting up remote view from camera to laptop to ensure the ledger is framed well in photographs

Neither did it rain, nor did we get gusts of wind. It was cold, but we warmed up in the church café at lunchtime. The only real problem we had was that many of the ledgers were still very slippery, so we had to tread carefully – wherever possible keeping to the narrow grass paths. It’s surprising how much that slows you down. 

There is still much, much, more to do; but we felt we were making progress again. 

Ledgers ranged against a high wall pose a slight problem 

in that only half a set of flash-angles can be photographed

Our advice to any other group carrying out a similar project would be to have patience – RTI is so weather-dependent that you need to be willing to wait for the right conditions – and that may mean several months before you complete the outdoor work on your churchyard survey. 

Jane Lunnon