Show Me The Monet

The BBC have shortlisted this picture of the Beverley Minster for the second series of the show to be filmed this spring. The photograph, was taken by Keith Britton from Anlaby on a stormy day last October. Keith is very new to serious photography, having only been taking pictures like this since earlier in 2011.

“In March I went to spurn, with the DSLR camera my wife bought me for my birthday in 2010, to try and get to grips with how it worked and what it could do, Some of the pictures from that day turned out so well it inspired me to take more, and in the summer I decided to see if I could sell some of my work after friends and family praised them.”

Keith is a supply teacher so he took some of his pictures to retailers in Beverley and Hull once the summer term ended. “I went to people I knew first. I asked in about 10 shops, and five said yes.

“I now have prints of my work on sale in Ford Framing, as well as having one accepted for the east Riding Open, which is currently on show in Beverley Art Gallery.”

“The picture of the minster was taken when I was on my way home from Ford Framing, I had been to their framing unit in Market Weighton to discuss which images they wanted for the shop, and the sky was dark as I left.”

“It looked like the storm was heading towards Beverley, so I followed it, and got to the Minster while the clouds were still not there and the bright sun was still on the building. I used my tripod to take 3 bracketed exposures which, when combined, lets you see more detail in the sky.”

“I feel like the sky is the real star of this picture. The minster is an impressive building, but on a day like that one its grandeur can be overpowered by nature, that’s why I called the picture ‘power above’.”

The picture is now one of 300 being considered for the next stage in the process by the BBC which might eventually lead to it being one of 40 works included in a prestigious exhibition i n London.

Photos by Keith Britton