JOAN WRIGHT - Yorkshire, England

Joan is a 48 year old librarian living in Yorkshire, England. She is currently unmarried and has two cats and a dog. She has photographed and admired the gargoyles of York Minster (the largest Gothic Cathedral in Northern Europe) and Selby Abby (the Birthplace of the Stars & Stripes). In 1999 she went to see Notre-Dame's flying buttresses and "galerie des chimieres" (photos are below).

"As a small child my Sunday outing was a walk to the cemetary with my Gran, we called on the way for sweets or an icecream at a little corner shop and then went on to visit the "family". First her sisters in the old part, we collected a metal watering can at the gate, and filled it from the tap, in this part they still had those victorian glass domes with flowers and birds in, I really loved those, and then we would stroll down the hill to the more "modern" half to visit my grandad and his brothers who had three plots together, with up to three people per plot, we did a bit of weeding and tidied up a bit and left our flowers, I loved these visits and the cemetary held no fears for me, my Gran was a spitiualist too, so that helped, so I look in cemetaryies if I am away from home too, they tell local history and are a book of people really, the ones in Austria are nice as there is a small cameo photo on each grave, some so proud in their uniforms from the war."

EQUIPMENT: - Her equipment is a Boots APS 100mm Zoom Camera.

JOAN'S GALLERY - Click the images below to see larger photographs

Chimera - Great view of four chimera pearing down onto the city.

Gargoyles (Chimera), Notre Dame de Paris

Gargoyles (Chimera), Notre Dame de Paris

Gargoyles (Chimera), Notre Dame de Paris

Gargoyles (Chimera), Notre Dame de Paris

Many gargoyle enthusiasts consider the Cathedral of Notre Dam in Paris to be Ground Zero for the birth of gargoyle activitiy. It has some of the best known gargoyles however many of them aren't original and were added during a major restoration project in the late 20th century. But, in my mind, this may be the best cathedral to view "true" gargoyles and chimeras.

This is one of several functioning gargoyles hanging off of St. Martin's Church on Coney St. in Yorkshire, England. This is an interesting church due to the fact that the it isn't VERY tall so the gargoyles are actually closer to the ground then usual. PHOTO OPS!!!

Gargoyles - York Minster (Cathedral), England

Gargoyles - York Minster (Cathedral), England

Gargoyles - York Minster (Cathedral), England