TE Meeting, Buxton, 2014, a photo from Derbyshire, England

Photographer's Note

Another trawl through the archives has revealed some photographs from a delightful little TE meeting in Derbyshire in June, 2014 and here is a shot of the delightful opera house in the spa town of Buxton where we met.

Buxton Opera House was built in 1903 and designed by Frank Matcham, one of Britain's finest theatre architects, who also designed two famous London theatres: the London Palladium (1910) and the London Coliseum (1904). The building ran as a successful theatre, receiving touring companies until 1927, when it was turned into a cinema. Silent films were shown until 1932 when the theatre was wired for sound and could present ‘talkies’. The Opera House also became the venue for an annual summer theatre festival from 1936 to 1942.

However, the Opera House gradually fell into disrepair and in 1976 it was closed and rumours circulated that it would never reopen. But in 1979 it was restored and an orchestra pit was added to the original Frank Matcham design. Since then, the Opera House has been a full-time venue for stage productions, presenting approximately 450 performances per year, including opera, dance, musical theatre, pantomime, comedy, drama, children's shows and concerts.

I can only suppose that this opera house is now closed for the foreseeable future or until the threat of Covid-19 eventually leaves us.

But that meeting six years ago was a very pleasant one, spoiled only by the fact that it rained almost constantly for three days - the time when I took this photo was about the only time the sun shone! But the camaraderie of the TE group more than made up for the bad weather - and people there that weekend included the organiser, Will (willperrett), as well as Bev Robinson (Royaldevon) and her husband Len (lennoland), Ann Jackman (annjackman), Mike Wright (mjw364) and Claude (CLODO) and we also had the pleasure of briefly meeting up with Jasmine Wang (Tigerlily) and her husband, Kevin.

A wonderful time - apart from the weather!

Please take a look in the workshop where you can see another photo from outside the opera house - one of "un photographe de rue extraordinaire" in typical stance with camera - and ready to leap into action!

ISO 160, 1/125 sec at f/9, focal length 35mm.

Here are the co-ordinates of the Opera House: 53.258469, -1.916615

And here is a link to a larger version:
https://i1.trekearth.com/photos/48186/img_16728.jpg

Fis2, ikeharel, holmertz, jhm, jean113, COSTANTINO, Royaldevon, Ilonka1974, adramad trouve(nt) cette note utile

Critiques | Translate

Fis2 (153023) 2020-05-30 14:09

Witaj John!
Beautiful building, view makes impression.
I like it.
Good framing, colors and light.
Well done.
Nice sunday.
Krzysztof

jemaflor (133244) 2020-05-30 23:16

Hi John,
Well photographed this Opera house, perfect quality for the rendering, excellent sharpness and light management, good effect with the colors of the green leaves on the top and on the left side, a good memory of our Te meeting, tfs.

ifege (29355) 2020-05-30 23:49

Hi John
We have a small town called Buxton near us, probably named after this one. The weather actually looks fine for this photo of the impressive old opera house. It is always good to see such places restored and used again. A well taken and presented photo.
cheers
Ian

Silvio1953 (202616) 2020-05-31 0:33

Ciao caro John, great view of fantastic building, excellent clarity, wonderful colors, splendid light and fine details, very well done, my friend. ciao Silvio

holmertz (91036) 2020-05-31 1:28

Hello John,
It's a very fine building, or rather complex of buildings including the garden, and as usual it's a very carefully taken and processed photo. The trees on three sides complement the view of the Opera House perfectly. You may have enjoyed a brief spell of good weather during the TE meeting, but that brief moment allowed you a very bright and attractive photo.
Best regards,
Gert

rychem (72179) 2020-05-31 7:29

A very good architecture photo, great quality, perfect sharpness and light, and the building itself is really beautiful
regards Ryszard

jhm (200639) 2020-05-31 10:32

Hello John,

What a nice building, the architecture here, I like it, my my own style
Excellent sharpness and clarity.
Very well done, TFS.

Have a nice day,
John.

jean113 (20803) 2020-05-31 13:02

Hello John, a super sharp shot of the opera house.
Excellent light that enables us to see all the details very clearly.
Interesting notes, pleasing to read that until recent events, they have had a full calendar of productions.
I don't know how they are going to manage if some kind of social distancing has to take place.
Thanks for sharing, kind regards, Jean.

Tue (80264) 2020-05-31 13:56

Hello John,
I really like the architecture of the building, which has got everything you expect from an opera house built in the early 20th century. You captured it really well, I like the inclusion of the tree and the overhanging branch and the sunlight was pleasant, especially in combination with the clouds in the background.
Lars

COSTANTINO (101885) 2020-05-31 21:56

Hello dear friend and have a nice day
and a happy new week
excellent chosen point of view
in order to present in the best
way this building called Buxton
Opera House built in 1903
the weather actually looks fine
regards
Costantino

emka (149871) 2020-05-31 23:58

Hello dear John, Delightful view of this small Opera House, in a small village. I find it quite unusual that it is close to the Botanical Garden. Nature and music - is what we both love. Very nice composition, interesting note. I saw on GM that it is "temporarily closed", like most of the objects in coronavirus time. Nice to see also WS with our friend, whom I haven't met :(.

Best regards MAlgo

Royaldevon (72567) 2020-06-01 0:06

Hello John,

Oh, you have taken me back down memory lane!
I remember this place really well.
For such a relatively small place, the Opera House was a significant building. The other was The Crescent, if I remember rightly, which was surrounded by fencing because it was being renovated.

We did have to put our hearts into the photography here, being the only day with a hint of sunshine.
Your photograph shows excellent clarity, with superb details of the facade of the building, including sign details which explain its function.
The Winter Gardens, nearby, are well included, showing a real contrast of materials and styles, for different purposes.
And, as we were always encouraged to include, a strong f/g triangle.

Hope you are both well, keep safe,
Bev 😊

Ilonka1974 (8755) 2020-06-01 13:07

Hi John,
Beautiful architecture and nice colours!
Very good POV, light and sharpness! Well done!
Best regards
Janusz

CLODO (45000) 2020-06-02 5:35

Hello John

I prefer the WS!!! I checked it after reading your long note to the end! :)
Cheers
CLODO

mkamionka (58604) 2020-06-06 1:25

Hi John,
I see you are coming back to your archives from various TE meetings. Yes I think this website has inspired some fantastic meetings and gathered some extraordinary people. I wish I could do that more often but both my professional and private life are so busy, and if there is free time leftover, I feel obligated to spend it with my family.
Tough choices!
This is a beautiful photograph. You had a fantastic light on that day. I like very much this high quality postcard while the workshop made me smile as I met that Gentleman on another TE meeting in Manchester.

Occasionally I still dream about going north for example towards Glasgow, if I ever do, which may be quite last minute decision, weather dependent, I will let you know. Although for a while I suppose it will not happen yet as I rather stick to remote destinations.

Great work,
M

adramad (65726) 2020-06-07 10:13

Hi John.
A very interesting note that makes me dream, with those nights of opera and show, something very beautiful.
A great photograph, I like the tree on the left and those branches of another that frames the top a bit, an elegant building with character, although the one next door with its glass roof, I think it may have been a greenhouse with beautiful plants and flowers, the place I see appropriate.
Excellent POV, with very good lighting, color and sharpness to enjoy the details.
Very good work. I like
Enjoy a happy Sunday.
Very best regards.
Luis.