Aylesbury Concert Band — Christmas Carols — St. Mary’s Church

A crisply cold afternoon in the warmth and welcoming atmosphere that pervades this Annual event hosted by the Town’s Mayor, Councillor Mike Smith, with the Reverend Douglas Zimmerman officiating.

The readings were given by the Town Mayor, followed by His Honour Judge Sheridan DL, Fran Bourgeois-Wheeler, CEO Youth Concern, Julia Upton, MBE, High Sherriff of Buckinghamshire, Group Captain Katherine Wilson, CO, RAF Halton, Alicia Foster, Thames Valley Police Cadets.

  The start of the afternoon’s ceremony was heralded by the Band playing the Pavane from Aylesbury Dances by Wiffin, which brought the general level of Audience conversations down as the local dignitaries filed in from the rear to take their designated seats at the front of the congregation, and the Rector of St. Mary’s welcomed all to the Season’s singing praises to God.

It was less easy than some years to cover the event, as I was shooting from a comparatively low viewpoint, and current etiquette requires avoidance of the young children, which is almost impossible, so I have tried to lessen the lighting on those in the forefront where possible. I hope however that I have still recorded the ambience of the event without causing offence.

Aylesbury Dignitaries Grace St. Mary's Carol Concert

The Aylesbury Concert Band played before the Mayor and other Council Member's at the Annual Carol Concert at St.Mary's Church in the centre of Aylesbury Town. My daughter who plays a Baritone Saxophone in the Band needed transporting there, so I arrived as the rest of the Band were setting up, and on this occasion I was playing a very low profile with regards the taking of photographs by only taking a handful of shots during the preparations and main performance and in the more relaxed and informal period at the end whilst the assembled dignitaries handed out mince pies and mulled wine. The lighting was in the region I tend to describe as 'Unavailable Light Photography' – to be truthful with modern technology it might more truthfully be described as 'Barely Available' and I found myself shooting at 12,800 ISO at often full aperture. In my defence, I have not applied any noise reduction to these shots and would definitely need to do so were any needed for print reproduction at more meaningful sizes than in the gallery, and some might not pass muster even then.

The music and the singing was thoroughly enjoyable and the church was packed to capacity actually requiring more seating to be found, and I could still see a few standing. By not using flash and using a long lens I felt I was being very restrained and this allowed me to retain the atmosphere even though this resulted in several either blurred or unsharp images that never made it into the final gallery.

This was my second Carol Service of the weekend the first having been at Fairford Leys where I was also treated to hearing an intimate Saxophone Quartet playing giving my tapping feet an airing!