Channelling Edwin Smith in the churches and villages of Bottisham, Swaffham Bulbeck & Swaffham Prior

May 27, 2025

Channelling Edwin Smith in the churches and villages of Bottisham, Swaffham Bulbeck & Swaffham Prior

The font in Swaffham Bulbeck parish church

All taken with a Fuji X100F using Fujifilm’s default Acros simulation
Just click on any photo to enlarge it

I fell in love with the photographs of Edwin Smith (1912-1971) when I was in my teens thanks, initially, to the photos he provided for books about English parish churches, cottages, farmhouses, abbeys and priories by his wife, Olive Cook (1912-2002). These books served to fuel my interest and passion in the English landscape and its history, in photography, and because it was the means of transport that freed me to explore the countryside on my own, the bicycle. I cannot look through a camera viewfinder when I’m in a parish church, village or English landscape without Smith’s work influencing every aspect of my own photography.

Of course, I am not the great photographer that Smith was but, as Henry David Thoreau once said, “In the long run men only hit what they aim at. Therefore, though they should fail immediately, they had better aim at something high.” In these photos, I was aiming at something high. But, regardless of whether I hit the target or not, I hope you enjoy at least some of the photos here . . .