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An Afternoon with Elgar
Malvern, Worcestershire, England, UK
June 30, 2024, 15:27 UTC (16:27 local time)
© 2024 Robert Bilsland, All Rights Reserved.
It's been 16 years, 6 months and 8 days since I stood on this very spot to shoot my previous panorama (A Misty Malvern Morning with Elgar) on the theme of "Wrinkle Tribute", a celebration of the 10th Anniversary of the original Wrinkle in Time panoramic shooting event.
I felt compelled to return to this spot and re-shoot the panoramic view as previously it was so dark and misty you weren't able to see much. Now you can clearly see Edward Elgar standing holding the railing, looking down Church Street towards the entry of Malvern Priory and then out over the Severn valley. Next to him is the Enigma fountain, originally fed by three natural springs, it now is dry with the water no more flowing down its central arch and away over ornamental steps.
Since the original, while the buildings have stayed the same, plenty of businesses have come and gone. For example the Tourist Information Centre has moved to further down the street. What has changed the most are all the surrounding plants. I couldn't quite stand in the original location due to plant growth and the view up to Belle Vue Terrace above is quite obstructed, but this probably isn't a bad thing as it hides the road. It really is a reminder how change creeps up on us, not always fast, sometimes slowly and in more subtle ways.
Taken with a Nikon D300 and a Nikkor 10.5mm f/2.8G fisheye lens. Mounted on a Nodal Ninja 5 panorama head and R-D16 rotator atop a Manfrotto 055XPROB tripod. Shots taken at 6 positions 60° apart, tilted 15° down, and another shot taken looking straight up. Raw files then processed in darktable v4.6.1 before being stitched together using PTGui 10.0.19 Pro and converted using Pano2VR 6.1.15 pro.