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Photographs by Bob Trubshaw
My first visit to Avebury was in May 1980 and I came equipped with various cameras. Over the next few years I came with a great assortment of different film emulsions, and even a biscuit tin converted into a pinhole camera. Then, after digital cameras became sufficiently advanced, I came back – often at dawn. My earlier interests in experimental 'analogue' photography shifted to exploring the 'digital darkroom'. Subsequently I came to live at Avebury, although by then digital SLRs and camera phones were so commonplace that I rather lost interest in the more creative aspects of photography.
This page offers a small sample of these images, in approximate chronological order. The captions offer some information that may be of interest to fellow nerds, but don't worry if not!
Two photographs taken using a 6x6 cm Mamiya twin-lens reflex in the early 1980s using E6 emulsion.
The south inner circle at Avebury photographed using infra-red sensitive b&w film. Yes, back in the early 1980s cattle rather than sheep grazed in the henge!
Two 'pinhole' photographs from the mid-1980s. The negative was a sheet of 10x8 inch photograhic printing paper. The exposure time was three to five minutes.
The henge at sunrise, November 2007. This and subsequent photographs were taken on digital SLRs in 2007 and 2008. No fancy trickery – that's how things really looked.
The Cove at sunset. In the high-definition image Venus is visible to the left of the left-hand stone.
The Swindon stone at dawn.
The south entrance stones – with jackdaws – at dawn.
The 'head stone' in the north-west sector at sunrise.
My favourite dawn photograph – the 'dawn watcher' simulacra. One of the few stones of the north inner circle still standing.
The full moon rising between the Cove stones.
Looking in the opposite direction, about half an hour before.
West Kennett Avenue soon after dawn, with Overton Hill forming the left-hand skyline.
A puddle inside West Kennett chamber tomb reflecting the 'blocking stone'.
Silbury Hill at sunset.
The same image digitally 'tweaked' to look like infra-red sensitive b&w film.
Two more digital 'tweaks' to emulate old film emulsions.
The roots of the beech trees near the eastern entrance of the henge. Photograph taken on an extreme wide-angle lens and the tonal range reduced to monochrome.
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Articles about the prehistory of Avebury and environs
Overview of prehistoric Avebury and environs
Henges – brands or performances
Sound in the prehistoric landscape
Avebury and environs in the Roman period
Articles about Anglo-Saxons in and around Avebury
East Kennett: the church on the boundary
Articles about Medieval life in and around Avebury
Overview of medieval Avebury and environs
St James' – from minster to mother church
St James dedications in Wiltshire
Articles about aspects of Avebury's twentieth century history
Overview of twentieth century Avebury