Peter Holzapfel

This is a view of Clevedon Pier, North Somerset, England. The rock formations provide excellent and dramatic foreground interest.

To emphasise the incredible beauty and fragility of nature.

This was taken at The Rock Cemetery, Nottingham, England which is a wonderful location for Victorian/Gothic statuary. Here I wanted to create an image of the angel in flight.

This was taken from a sculpture in Southwell Minster, England showing Jesus carrying His Cross to Calvary. I have emphasised the isolation of the figure within the crowd for, like any of us, it was a lonely journey carrying a heavy weight.

Being a clergyman is about constantly being in the public eye but people tend to see only what they want to see. There are many aspects to our personalities and some we choose to keep hidden even from ourselves. This is an image reflecting these sides of our personalities and the conflict that this creates within us.

This must surely be one of the world's greatest buildings and I feel privileged to have visited it. The shape is unbelievable and there are hundreds of photographic opportunities. I hope you like looking at this as much as I do.

This was taken at The Butterfly Farm at Stratford on Avon, England and was a chance shot against the light. Many things come about through inspired accidents and I like the Oriental feel of this image and its fragility.

This is one of the early works by Andrew Gormley situated in the flooded crypt of Winchester Cathedral, England. The water is completely still and so the reflections are amazing.

I took this whilst having a break from photographing The Guggenheim Museum and discovered this wonderful spiral stairway. All I had to do was wait until a figure appeared to add a human dimension and further interest.

Seville has many architectural treasures and not least among these are its bridges such as the one here taken into the light to emphasise shape and tone.

I was privileged to spend Holy Week in Seville, Spain and experienced the intense religious emotion as hundreds of thosands of people crammed into its city centre. There were many processions following statues of Jesus and Mary with hundreds of people hooded and carrying crosses, It was both frightening and awe inspiring.

This is the beautiful Pont Neuf in Paris: one of the many crossing points of The Seine. The sun was setting and there was a brilliant light. This was the image I had in my mind when taking the photograph. I was imagining Paris in the late 19th Century and I have tried to evoke some of the feeling of romance that I experienced.

The "void" is an expanse of deep water at the end of a board walk. The person has taken their clothes and shoes off but what has happened to them and why have they gone into the water? Will they ever return?

This was taken from a sculpture exhibited in Gloucester Cathedral of the crucifixion. The intensity of the agonising pain is conveyed through the facial expression and the piercing of the head. It reminds us that everyone has hammered in a nail into someone or something.

Visiting Barcelona was a wonderful experience and I enjoyed many aspects of the city and in particular the magnificent architecture of Gaudi. There were few, if any, straight lines and the curves were sumptuous. The Casa Mila was a particularly fine example and I hope that here I have captured some of the joy I had in being there. This reminds me of one of those posters for the early cruise liners with the central funnel shape and the black lines of the railings going across. It is my hope to return to this beautiful city.

This was taken on a recent visit to Salford Quays, Manchester, England where there are many opportunities for producing fine architectural images especially of an abstract nature. It was the balance that led me to photograph this bridge and the way you are led into and through the image.

This is a section of The Holocaust Memorial in Berlin which covers over an acre near The Brandenburg Gate. It is a series of concrete blocks at different heights many of which are above head height. The effect when walking through is one of disorientation as if you were in a maze or dark tunnel. It is thereby a fitting memorial to those who were lost during that horrific period. It is a moral maze for us the viewer as well as a black hole for those who were given no choice but to pass through it and which, for the majority, there was no way out in this life.

An image of The Louvre in Paris using a wide angle lens to add extra dynamism to the image and to incorporate both the new and the old features of the museum. There were excellent lead in lines and a wonderful sky on the day which hopefully add to the strength of the image. The monochrome treatment helps to concentrate attention on the shapes and forms.

I have always been attracted to graveyards and find the statuary wonderful especially that of angels from the Victorian period. No two statues are the same and I find their expressions stunningly beautiful and enjoy trying to capture just a fraction of this beauty. I was drawn to this because of the outstretched wings which gave the image a dynamic quality. I hope that you feel some of the wonder of its beauty as I did.

This was taken at Clevedon on the North Somerset Coast. I have always been a great admirer of the work of the Secessionist Photographers of the early 20th Century and the night time paintings by Whistler of the Thames. I like the painterly and romantic atmosphere of such images and their vintage quality. This is one of my attempts at following in their footsteps.

This was taken outside an old Church in Worcester where the figure had been removed, after many years, for restoration. In my view the impression left behind was more powerful and reminded me that the impression someone or something leaves is often greater than the person or thing itself. The figure struggles and is tortured and angry but there is no face and yet possibly everyone's face including that of God Himself. Suffering often seems so impotent to achieve any kind of good.

This is not a pleasant image but its subject matter is not pleasant. This is a still born lamb nailed to a First World War battlefield Cross. Jesus is often refered to as "The Lamb of God" and His death represents innocent suffering of which there is so much in our world. The use of the Battlefield Cross with the inscription "RIP" represents the millions of lives sacrificed over the years on the battlefields of time. You may also catch a glimpse of the redemptive nature of innocent suffering or you may not.