A Year in the Life of Glastonbury Abbey

I’ve just watched an 85 minute audio visual presentation of a year in the life of Glastonbury Abbey that took place in three sessions in the small hall of Glastonbury Town Hall on Saturday 13th March.

Meare based Keith Fakenbridge of Alcheny Photographic, the man behind the project, was inspired to compile this collection, while he was taking photographs in the grounds of the Abbey in February 2009, and decided to produce an audio visual production of a full twelve months.

Two or three times a month he visited the Abbey and took a series of themed photographs, which were then assembled into order with suitable background music for each season being chosen.  Tweaks were made as required, with images being added or removed until Keith had what he felt was the best montage for each quarter.

During the twelve month term, over 3000 photographs were taken and assembled into five seasons: Winter 2009, Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter 2010.  A score comprising 30 pieces of professionally produced music was added, and with over 400 hours of production and post-production the film was complete. 

With the film commencing on a snowy February morning in 2009 and concluding on a snowy January day a year later, it is immediately apparent how much time and effort went into producing it.  Major events like the procession of pilgrims and the Extravaganza were featured as well as more day to day happenings: ducks on the lake; a squirrel or a butterfly; people licking ice cream on a sunny day; and fallen apples rotting.  All of this backdropped by the remains of the majestic old Abbey.  

Seasons melted together seamlessly to weave an evocative and imaginative interpretation of a single annum.  On the whole this was a cohesive piece in which the accompanying soundtrack worked well in evoking the atmosphere.  It wasn’t a flawless piece however, and on a couple of occasions I felt the “more clever” visual effects used just came across as tacky and detracted from the intended atmosphere.   

At 85 minutes it was also a little too long, and I could see other viewers becoming fidgety,  and realistically the piece could easily have brilliantly captured the mood and feeling of this special place in around an hour.

In case you missed it, this presentation is available on a professionally produced DVD from Alchemy Photographic.  If you are interested they can be contacted on 01458 860841 or at www.alchemyphotographic.org.