A Return to “That Angel”

Angel statue at Leicester's Welford Road Cemetery.
The angel statue at Welford Road Cemetery that has been drawing me back for years. Fujifilm X-H1 and 56mm f1.2 .

It had been a few years since I was last at Leicester’s Welford Road Cemetery, it would certainly have been before the first Covid-19 lockdown in the UK. The place is only about 2 miles from home but I just hadn’t been feeling like visiting. I had suffered multiple bereavements in 2020 so maybe part of it was feeling like I’d had enough of funereal stuff for a while. But also it was a place I’d visited quite often anyway as it was close to home.

I headed down there on Saturday morning and took my Fujifilm X-H1 and the full kit of lenses because I just “grabbed the kit bag”. I ended up only using one lens (how often does that happen?), the 56mm f1.2 .

It’s a lens which is ideal for portrait photography. 56mm on the cropped X series sensors works out to 84mm equivalent field of view, great for some head and shoulders shots and the f1.2 aperture can produce some excellent subject separation.

I only stayed for a little while, stuck around my favourite area and only shot my favourite angel and one other. I need to go back later in the day when the sun will be shining more towards her face.

A few more shots from Saturday morning below. I wasn’t feeling too inspired to experiment, too much on my mind maybe. Everything processed using a mixture of Adobe Lightroom, DXO Photolab and DXO Nik Collection.

Angel statue at Leicester's Welford Road Cemetery, surrounded by wild flowers.
“That Angel” with surrounding wild flowers. These old cemeteries can be a haven for wildlife. Shot at f1.2 to increase background blur. I deliberately underexposed a bit, it was a very bright morning and I wanted a slightly darker feel – it helps to bring out the colours of the flowers too.
Angel statue at Leicester's Welford Road Cemetery.
I remember when she still had that finger, lost it a few years ago now.
Angel statue at Leicester's Welford Road Cemetery.
Angel statue at Leicester’s Welford Road Cemetery.
Angel statue at Leicester's Welford Road Cemetery.
The only other statue I shot on Saturday. I was seeing the tree in the background as a dark halo around her head.