If you are stuck at home this would be a great time to get creative and explore a new hobby.

This is all you need to get started.

A pack of white cards that are already ready to be folded, they come with envelopes, some photo paper for your printer and some double sided sticky tape. Companies such as Hobbycraft sell the cards, envelopes and tape. I have used HP photo paper but there are many different options.

Here is an example – I chose a nativity one for a Christmas card.

The photo is from Geography Photos

The original image was 2500 pixels in length and is available, along with 60,000 others, for £7.50 for Personal Use. One at 1500 pixels would be just as good at £5.00 but if you are doing a lot of cards of the same subject why not pay a little extra for the higher quality print?

I have been doing a lot to photography of churches over the last few years both where I live in Suffolk and also in Wiltshire. I am not at all a religious person but these buildings in addition to being places of worship are museums of village life and national history.

Most of them are open during the day and so you are able to freely explore their architectural and cultural treasures and artworks. There are all sorts of stories to discover about village life through the centuries. I started thinking about the oldest objects that I had found – there are medieval wall paintings, 14th century fragments of stained glass windows, historic carved wooden pews, Norman period door archways with their characteristic chevron pattern, but what is the oldest?

It think it must be the baptismal font in the village church at Potterne, Wiltshire, England.

This dates from the 9th century – two centuries or so or so before the Norman conquest.

It is the only surviving pre-Conquest inscribed font in Britain.

The rim inscription is in Latin:

SICVT CERVVS DESIDERAT AD FONTES AQVARVM [:] ITA DESIDERAT ANIMA MEA AD TE D(EV)S : AMEN

In English “As the hart panteth after the fountains of water; so my soul panteth after thee, O God.  Amen.”

The story of a hart ( deer) drinking from a fountain or pool of water goes back to very early  christianity and is a theme depicted in Roman mosaics.

The text beneath is taken from the ‘About ‘ section of Geography Photos

Since January I have been trying to get on with a much delayed task of revamping my website to get more images accessible and hopefully make it easier for Google to find image. At the moment I’m finding that Google doesn’t seem to find my pictures.

About Geography Photos

13 March 2020

Most recent images – Cardiff, Exeter, Swindon, Trowbridge

I have been creating Collections and Galleries so that more images are accessible through browsing. I am using locations –  counties and countries – to do this rather than themes. Working backwards I have completed this task for 2020 so far, 2019, and am half way through 2018. Please use the ‘Search’ function to refine searches and to go beyond the location-based Collections and galleries

• Geography Photos is an award winning stock photography site run by Ian Murray, a former geography teacher, author and adviser.  Over 55,000 high quality images are available for personal and education use, and for commercial publishing.  Images are also available for high quality prints delivered direct from Loxley Colour in UK.
• The online purchase system means that images and prints can be purchased conveniently and safely at any time. Alternatively, please use the Contact facility to discuss your specific needs.
• Recognition of the value of the collection to geography education was given through a Geographical Association award.  Geography Photos was a UK government approved supplier of digital content to schools in the Curriculum Online initiative between and currently provides images to Encyclopedia Britannica’s ‘Image Quest’ service.

Follow the Galleries link to view all the public galleries and from that section you can search the entire catalogue.

Not much happening with the weather and a few health things stopping me from getting out so I thought I’d upload a few pictures to Fine Art America. I’ve had couple of print sales over the years but probably not enough to cover the, admittedly modest, annual subscription. This detail is from a stained glass window by designer Henry Holiday. Details of this picture and others by the same designer are in a small gallery on my homepage. I am planning to photograph all Holiday’s stained glass in Suffolk – that will mean visiting Lound church to complete the coverage.

Close up of Simeon, stained glass window of Presentation in the Temple 1863

My rather random assortment of images on Fine Art America including these by Holiday is at Ian Murray Fine Art America

Who knew that Kate Moss and me both hang around this ‘ubercool’ Cotswolds town?

I first went there aged about 15 with my friend Jeff on a camping trip from Bath. We shared a breakfast of a still warm loaf of bread from the baker and then walked to Burford. So, obviously I have been latently ubercool for much longer than Kate.

I’ve been back a few times taking photos.

Always encouraging to see my photos in use but as I’ve mentioned before the fee for this will be tiny.  It is from today’s Daily Telegraph.

This one has just been ‘bought’ for the first time. It is scanned from an old film slide taken about 15 years ago. David and Juliet messing about waiting for the school bus to take them to Orford primary.

Here are six images that have been licensed recently – today and Friday. They show what my sort of stock photography is all about, namely, variety and clear subject matter that is straightforward to caption accurately.

Kubuswoning Cube Houses, Blaak, Rotterdam, Netherlands architect Piet Blom

Heritage steam railway, Sheringham station, North Norfolk Railway, England, UK platform buffet

Misrah Ghar il-Kbir, Clapham Junction, prehistoric cart ruts tracks over rocky limestone surface, Siggiewi, Malta

Basilica church and cafes in Saint George’s square, Plaza San Gorg, Victoria Rabat, island of Gozo, Malta

Rotunda domed roof of church of St John the Baptist, Xewkija, island of Gozo, Malta

Casas Pintadas, Evora, Portugal unusual 16th-century murals paintings of creatures real and imagined

The church of Saint Mary, Badley is a mile from the nearest road ( the B1113) between Stowmarket and Needham Market. There is an easy to miss sign and then a mile or so over a track to find it. It is in the care of the Churches Conservation Trust and it is worth checking opening times – generally weekends – especially if you are walking or cycling.

It is a small, humble church but with a stunning historic interior. Simon Knott who has a truly wonderful website cataloguing all Suffolk churches ( as well as Norfolk and other places too) writes that ”Badley church has one of the most haunting and evocative interiors of any of the near-3000 churches I have ever visited’. Suffolk Churches website

Simon rates Badley as fourth in his Suffolk top 50 – behind only Blythburgh, Westhall, and Thornham Parva. Out of those I must put a hand up for Westhall, also remote and with so much atmosphere and history.

Interior showing nave with wooden box pews bleached almost white by the passing of time. I have 45 photos of Badley on Geography Photos – just use the search function.

This is from Saint Andrew’s church at Ilketshall St Andrew, Suffolk. It shows the Wheel of Life which can be considered as the medieval model for change in life. At the top sits a king in his majesty representing ‘Happiness’. As life goes on the wheel turns in a clockwise direction leading to downfall and ‘Loss’. The bottom position, often represented by mud and muck shows ‘Suffering’. But as the wheel continues to turn this leads to ‘Hope’ and a rise of fortunes. The wheel never stops turning, life never stands still.  Use the search facility on Geography Photos to find 48 pictures of this church including other fragments of medieval wall painting, ecclesiastical heraldry in stained glass, and details of the church interior and exterior. It is a rather remote, rural church in a lovely setting and is well worth a visit.

North Cove Medieval religious wall paintings of Crucifixion of Jesus Christ, church of Saint Botolph, North Cove, Suffolk, England, UK

The church at North Cove has stunning medieval  religious wall paintings on both sides of the chancel. On one side is the story of the Crucifixion and the other wall has images of the risen Christ in his glory in Heaven. There are forty pictures of this church on Geography Photos if you search for ‘North Cove Suffolk’.  Use the word Suffolk to exclude pictures of coves in the north.

To visit you will most likely need to contact the nearby key-holder. The church is close to the busy A146 road between Norwich and Lowestoft next to the Three Horseshoes pub ( did not visit!).