Visiting The Moon
The above photo was taken by my daughter (phone), when she and her sister went to visit the moon in Exeter Cathedral (I looked after the grandson whilst they were in there).
It's there until the end of the month. It costs £5 to enter the Cathedral and see it - if you book tickets online they add 84p per ticket (we could have saved ourselves the booking fee by paying at the door, but online it implied you had to buy a ticket before visiting!). What makes it worse was, in other cathedrals it was completely free to see!
My daughters found it a little disappointing, the build up suggested there would be music and readings, but neither seemed to be there during their visit. There was also supposed to be exhibits............there was, but not as good as expected!
There didn't seem to be any restrictions on photography and although all the notices said masks MUST be worn, nobody seemed to enforce the rule!
If anyone does visit it, I'd love to see their photos!
It would seem that whoever was selling tickets online had persuaded Exeter Cathedral that they would sell more tickets if they had the 'honour' of selling - so often tickets on-line are a rip off - usually cheaper from the venue itself. Found that out by buying tickets direct from theatres. Probably your daughters' disappointment was amplified by feeling ripped off. Did she take the photo by phone? If she did I suspect that is why the perspective is odd - the difficulty with phone photography is that many allow the phone to slant the top away from the vertical - i.e. their face.
Quote: don't really understand why the moon is in a cathedral. Are there religious connotations?
To raise money for the very costy upkeep costs.
I have seen this in Gloucester Cathedral 2 years ago and at Tintern in 2018 below:
Quote:Sadly many cathedrals charge money just to go in. Usually described as a "donation".
As a photographer, I do not have a problem with this as these are amazing buildings with huge overheads. Someone has to pay as there are few worshipers now so why not tourists. When I visited Salisbury Cathedral a few months ago there was a large queue as some complication arose with one of the customers so several of us were waved though with a suggestion that we paid in the way out. After an hour or so of some great photography, I returned to the desk and offered the fee that I would have paid going in which was gratefully received but they seem surprised that someone had bothered which suggests that there is little honestly about.
Dave
Quote:Did she take the photo by phone?
Yes Angie, they both carry smartphones (I'm the one with the camera in my handbag!
).Quote:I don't really understand why the moon is in a cathedral. Are there religious connotations?
The exhibit is huge, there aren't many buildings big enough to house it! I believe it has been travelling around the UK since 2016.
Taken when the exhibit visited Peterborough Cathedral in 2018.
To answer the question "Why in a Cathedral ? " as has been mentioned already, the exhibit is huge and can only be shown to full advantage in an equally huge building.
Further. The idea of putting on exhibitions like this is to attract people into the Cathedral and to welcome new visitors.
However putting on such an exhibition costs the Cathedral ( It's not free ) Charging an entrance fee recoups the cost, plus assists towards the upkeep of the Church. Peterborough Cathedral cost £3,500 per day to maintain upkeep and keep the church open for everyone.
To answer the question "Why in a Cathedral ? " as has been mentioned already, the exhibit is huge and can only be shown to full advantage in an equally huge building.
Further. The idea of putting on exhibitions like this is to attract people into the Cathedral and to welcome new visitors.
However putting on such an exhibition costs the Cathedral ( It's not free ) Charging an entrance fee recoups the cost, plus assists towards the upkeep of the Church. Peterborough Cathedral cost £3,500 per day to maintain upkeep and keep the church open for everyone.
I visited the Moon exhibition when it was in Lincoln at The Collection- it was disappointing - wrong venue. I took some pictures on my phone as I had it with me at the time but they weren’t very good - it was hanging too low and people got in the way - not their fault but didn’t make for good opportunities either - also showed the limit of camera phones.
It’s in Lincoln Cathedral, a much better location.
It’s in Lincoln Cathedral, a much better location.
One of my club members has produced some excellent photographs when it was at Gloucester and you can still still see them on the Gloucester Cathedral website. Many of his shots were taken at night as he was given permission to stay the night in the Cathedral. He also produced a high resolution walkthrough of the Cathedral in early 2020. A friend of my wife, then bedridden had been a regular at the Cathedral but could no longer visit. She was given access to the walkthrough and it moved her to tears. Good photography can be very powerful.
Dave
Dave
