Old Shep’s Funeral – Part Two

On Friday 5th December, 2008, we travelled as a family to Barnsley Crematorium to say a final farewell to Ken Shepherd, Marie’s beloved granddad. ‘Old Shep’ would have been happy with where we went afterwards, and what we did. Here’s Marie’s dad, John, traversing the difficult South Face of The Midland Working Men’s Club, in Royston. Fine beer-carrying technique:

Nikon D300, Nikon 24-70mm lens at 42mm, 1/60 sec at f 5.6, ISO 1000, hand held with flash, shot in mono. For all shots I used the Nikon 24-70mm, which is ideal for this sort of close-quarters, indoor family gathering. Shooting in mono gives the images a nice newsy feel. Note John’s wife, Bev, seemingly growing out of his right shoulder. Not an ideal composition, and I could have cloned her out in Photoshop, but then John’s always complaining that Bev is constantly on his back…

And here is Bev, with the delightful Uncle Eric – Old Shep’s brother. Eric lives in a foreign land, namely Wakefield, but occasionally pops down Barnsley way to see how the lower classes live. He’s a polite, very sprightly young man and full of character.

Nikon D300, Nikon 24-70mm lens at 35mm, 1/500 sec at f 2.8, ISO 1600, hand held with flash to fill in, shot in mono. I use a Nikon SB-800 flashgun and I was – as always – experimenting with the settings. They were well backlit by the window (although the weather was dull), so I used the soft filter and angled the flash upwards to keep the light well balanced. To be honest, flash photography is one major area that I need to work on, and one day I aim to get myself off on a course – preferably one aimed at Nikon users with the SB flashguns. It’s very technical, and I have only scratched the surface despite having most of the kit for over a year now.

Below, I captured the emotional scenes when Old Shep’s widow, Jean, actually stopped talking for one precious moment in time. Marie’s brother, Craig, is both disbelieving and cynical (sure enough, it only lasted half a second), his granddad Ralph (partially obscured) is clearly ecstatic, and grandma Annie Oakley simply burst out laughing with sheer joy:

Nikon D300, Nikon 24-70mm lens at 58mm, 1/160 sec at f 2.8, ISO 1600, hand held with flash, shot in mono. Great high-ISO performance from the D300 as always. I’ve sharpened the pic in Paint Shop Pro, as usual, but that’s the essence of digital photography – in my opinion. Modern kit gives you all the help you need, both when shooting and in post production, and there’s no real excuse for an out of focus picture any more. But you still have to be there, you have to frame the shot, and you have to have the trust of your friends and subjects, so that they act naturally.

Here’s Jean back to normal:

Nikon D300, Nikon 24-70mm lens at 70mm, 1/60 sec at f 7.1, ISO 200, hand held with flash, shot in mono. This came out much darker due to the low ISO, so it needed some simple work in Levels to brighten it up. Note the evidence, in the foreground, of what the day’s main activity was. Not all of these glasses were Jean’s, although by the end of the afternoon she needed the help of three strong men to get her into the car.

Here’s John, Marie’s dad, wisely not commenting on Jean’s never-ending opinions:

Nikon D300, Nikon 24-70mm lens at 66mm, 1/60 sec at f 7.1, ISO 400, hand held with flash, shot in mono. When Marie saw this, she said: “Look at his ear, it’s like Plasticine.” John’s famous in the family for having a head formed from rubbery materials, particularly in the lipular area (see beer-carrying pic above). Marie’s inherited the lips, which was a bonus for me.

Our boy Devon and his granddad John snuck off for long periods to the pool table. I got so many good pics of them (mainly of Devon taunting his granddad), that I might do a separate blog at some point. In this picture, I think John strikes a suitably funereal pose, as Devon sinks yet another Stripe:

Nikon D300, Nikon 24-70mm lens at 29mm, 1/320 sec at f 3.5, ISO 1600, hand held no flash, shot in mono. I scraped through mainly without flash in the pool room, although most of the pool table shots will need sharpening considerably before they go on view. The above pic was representative, of average sharpness, but as always even at ISO 1600 there’s enough crispness in there thanks to the excellent 24-70mm lens on the D300 body. I like how the light strikes Devon in this picture.

Just before we all went our separate ways, the kind lady behind the bar cleared a space for us all to stand, and I got up on a Midland WMC chair to take this family group photo. So sad that Ken Shepherd himself couldn’t be in the picture, but then he’d stood at this particular bar many, many a time and we all felt his presence in the room – in a good way.

Nikon D300, Nikon 24-70mm lens at 24mm, 1/60 sec at f 7.1, ISO 400, hand held with flash, shot in mono. From left, we have:

Marie Hiseman (born Oakley, my wife), Denise (grandma Jean’s friendly next door neighbour), Joe (Jean’s grandson), grandma Jean Shepherd (Old Shep’s widow), Marie’s dad John Oakley (making a sarcastic remark about photographers taking too many pictures), Marie’s mum Bev Oakley (Old Shep’s daughter), old family friend John, Marie’s Auntie Linda (her dad’s sister), our boy Devon, generous grandma Anne and turbocharged grandad Ralph ‘Byyyy… Turn That Heating Down Annie’ Oakley, and finally Marie’s brother Craig Oakley, owner of Shafton’s least appropriate (but most handsome) pet dog, Marley the insane husky.

One of the better days, we all agreed, and the memory of Ken Shepherd will never fade in the many people who were lucky enough to know him.

See Part One from this day HERE.