Alone
One out of a series of 10 photographs I took of the Crucifix suspended above the altar of Westminster Abbey, Mission, B.C. *
For all its ornateness, it's not a work of art that seems to go with the simpler abstract stained glass windows that surround it. And yet the more time I spent gazing at it, and trying to determine good angles to photograph it, and 'capture' its 'essence', the more I saw a complexity of 'interpretations' of this figure on the Cross.
Depending on the angle one view it, one can discern a kind of inner movement within the static form--rather like the movements of Tai Chi, e.g. With eyes closed, the crucified one seems to go inward to find strength, a kind of centring that comes with meditation. And all the while suspended between Earth & Heaven, reflecting the glorious colours of the Light.
___________________
* A colleague from way back enrolled in a photography course, and the first assignment was to take a roll of film of one tree. He thought, a tree's a tree. How can I take 36 photos of one tree? But then the 'light bulb' went off in his head and he began to really see the tree.
Whatever our subject, can we begin to really see it, to study it, to simply be with it, to learn from its very essence? The challenge is to keep looking through the lens, closer, farther away, from different angles, in different light, with various backgrounds for context.
And so, this is what I attempted to do at the Abbey one afternoon. I felt went away with much more than I expected. It turned out to be a meditation of its own. Something photography offers us as a sheer gift of the time we might devote to it!
Alone
One out of a series of 10 photographs I took of the Crucifix suspended above the altar of Westminster Abbey, Mission, B.C. *
For all its ornateness, it's not a work of art that seems to go with the simpler abstract stained glass windows that surround it. And yet the more time I spent gazing at it, and trying to determine good angles to photograph it, and 'capture' its 'essence', the more I saw a complexity of 'interpretations' of this figure on the Cross.
Depending on the angle one view it, one can discern a kind of inner movement within the static form--rather like the movements of Tai Chi, e.g. With eyes closed, the crucified one seems to go inward to find strength, a kind of centring that comes with meditation. And all the while suspended between Earth & Heaven, reflecting the glorious colours of the Light.
___________________
* A colleague from way back enrolled in a photography course, and the first assignment was to take a roll of film of one tree. He thought, a tree's a tree. How can I take 36 photos of one tree? But then the 'light bulb' went off in his head and he began to really see the tree.
Whatever our subject, can we begin to really see it, to study it, to simply be with it, to learn from its very essence? The challenge is to keep looking through the lens, closer, farther away, from different angles, in different light, with various backgrounds for context.
And so, this is what I attempted to do at the Abbey one afternoon. I felt went away with much more than I expected. It turned out to be a meditation of its own. Something photography offers us as a sheer gift of the time we might devote to it!