View allAll Photos Tagged Thresholds
Tous droits réservés. Merci de ne pas copier, utiliser ou reproduire mes images sans mon autorisation préalable.
All rights reserved. Please do not use, copy or reproduce my images without prior written permission.
Ruins of Kumurdo Cathedral stand on the background of ill-favored and barren landscape of Javakheti plateau, in a distance of 12 km from Akhalkalaki. The extensive inscription curved on the stone slab that fortunately preserved up to now tells that the threshold of the cathedral was placed in May, 964 AD. According to that inscription the Bishop of Kumurdo John has initiated church construction. Name of an architect was Sacotsari. After reconsideration of the six-apse design five-apse configuration of the church was obtained, instead of being situated radial. Western rectangular arm of the church is three-nave, with internal narthex and three sided gallery arranged in its western end. External layout of the church is cross-shaped; in response to three-partite sanctuary two triangular niches are arranged on western façade, coupled with two others, one at each lateral façade. A porch-chapel is erected in front of the main entrance — the eastern one, with a tiny shrine arranged in the thickness of the load-bearing wall. Despite of the relative simplification of the design Sakotsari has managed to preserve all integral elements of the six-apse construction and provide sufficient dynamics through trapezoidal bemas running along the lateral apses and column-like protrusions that support sub-dome sagittal arches. All the aforementioned provides general elevation of the internal space and creates strong impression of motion and charge of life.
All elements of decoration – window headers and framings adorned with light, open-work-type fretwork, a complex, large frame of the sanctuary window, cornices decorated with different images are scattered over the vast surfaces of the building exterior, faced with most accurately hewn stones. Adornment is so perfect, clear and clean that they may be perceived as the embroidery instructed on the metal surfaces. Several risings still well noticeable on eastern sub-dome tromps include images of the church construction donors – Queen Gurandukht, her brother King Leon of Abkhazs and her spouse – King Gurgen of Georgians. All of those images coupled with those incorporated in the sanctuary window decoration are plain and tabular, while the heads or possibly the faces of archangels placed in the niches and over the southern porch, on the contrary, are rounded and volumetric. Motion is sensible even in symmetrical elements – inscription over the western façade is slanted northwards, interlocked tromp-like spaces are arranged on the corners of the church arm exteriors.
Even today, with missing dome and western arm the monument is perhaps as gorgeous and splendid as it was upon the completion of its construction. The temple has got several sections that were added to its body at later times the most important of which is southern porch constructed along the western arm. This attachment of the first of XI c was initiated by Queen Marry of Georgia.
All preserved fragments of wall painting, for instance within the sanctuary are relatively younger then the building itself. It seems, frescoes of the north-western apse were performed sometime in XIII c. Western porch of the cathedral bears footprints of XVI c refurbishment. Two X c steles are erected close to the temple.
a place and time of coming and going, approaching and leaving behind.
wishing peace, wisdom, and justice to all.
Sanaz Mazinani (b. Tehran, Iran, 1978). Threshold. 2015/2024
Acrylic mirror, silicone, wood, steel, paint, digital video & sound file.
Sound Composition by Mani Mazinani. Courtesy of the artist, Stephen Bulger Gallery, and Edward and Marla Schwartz.
“Mirrors are often regarded as offering a transparent and unbiased view of reality. In Threshold, mirrors are used to situate the viewer between reality and distorted images, encouraging self-reflection and self-awareness.
Sanaz Mazinani’s work uses intricate laser-cut mirror panels inspired by Islamic architecture. These mirrors reflect images of the viewer and intermingle them with video projections - a coming together within a fractured dimension. The video is created using multiple scenes of explosions taken from Hollywood movies, evoking Mazinani’s childhood experiences of war and conflict.
By mirroring and multiplying these scenes, Mazinani transforms the shocking explosions into kaleidoscopic compositions that captivate the visitor’s attention. Her artwork questions the over exposure and manipulation of conflict in the media industry and the distorted reality that these images create.
Sanaz Mazinani is an artist, academic, and educator based in Toronto. She works across the disciplines of photography, sculpture, and large-scale multimedia installations. Mazinani creates informational objects that invite us to rethink how we see. Her work has been shown internationally and is held in public collections including the Art Gallery of Ontario and the Aga Khan Museum.”
A staircase bathed in golden reflections, a quiet tribute to symmetry, steel, and light. Beauty found in the geometry of descent.
Twilight bled across the sky like a slow wound, bruising the air in smoldering orange and amber. The hillside held its breath beneath creeping mist, its stones slick with memory and something colder—unspoken, unresolved. Each gust of wind dragged a groan from the staircase as if the path itself resented being walked again.
The castle loomed—not majestic, but accusatory. Its turrets clawed at the sky, black silhouettes trembling at the edges, refusing light. Windows stared like lidless eyes. The kind that watched, not welcomed.
Down the staircase, moss festered in the cracks, pulsing faintly in the gloom. What had once been passage now felt more like descent—each step shaped by burden and the whisper of warnings carved into stone.
Beyond, the forest twisted against itself, branches knotted in silent protest. A smell of iron and damp earth rose from its shadows, like the aftermath of ritual or ruin. Somewhere within, the air shifted. The kind of sound heard by bones, not ears.
And then—the hum. No longer imagined, but undeniable. Low and spectral, vibrating through rock and root alike. Not an invitation. Not a welcome. Just acknowledgment. As if the castle had noticed.
The dusk didn’t settle. It waited.
Exploring Chowmahalla Palace in Hyderabad, India, there was this singular moment when nobody was walking the passage.
(IMG_1282-Edit)
a solitary figure dissolves into the sky—caught between structure and light, silence and ascension. the city falls away, and only motion remains.
The British Library of Political and Economic Science, otherwise known as the LSE Library, is steeped in history despite the architecture looking far ahead of its time. The century-old building was converted into a library by LSE in 1973 and redeveloped in 2000 by Foster and Partners. It is the world's largest social sciences library, with 50km of shelving and more than 4 million items housed around a light-filled atrium and a helical ramp. I was recently fortunate enough to be able to visit and shoot the location with fellow London photographer Peter Li, and my first shot was this look-up from the bottom of the atrium.
My main aim with this image was a high-key finish that would convey the minimal and futuristic aspects of the architecture. Shooting outside the university term and early in the morning meant the location was almost empty, and renovation work in the lower ground floor meant the glass lifts at the centre of the atrium remained unused long enough for me to capture both of them at ground level. While this would usually be an ideal opportunity to let the shutter speed run for longer, I opted for a higher ISO to control the glare of the bright lights surrounding the atrium, as I felt these had the potential to become garish if they were too large. I bracketed nine exposures, and these were later blended in Photoshop using luminosity masks. This made it possible to gradually raise the exposure of the midtones and shadows and create a clean high-key finish without overexposing the skylight or the dome, which both contain portions of my darker exposures.
With the exposures blended, I gently desaturated traces of yellow and orange and used Colour Balance, Colour Lookup and Gradient Map adjustments to shift towards a colder tone, which helped to emphasise the surfaces' pristine finish. There was a small amount of glare from the interior lights along the metal on the right lift, and as I felt the lifts in the foreground would be one of the first places that viewers' eyes would be drawn to, I wanted it to be clear of distractions, so the glare was removed along with the fire sprinklers dotted around the building.
Inside Nik's Silver Efex Pro, I increased the highlight structure to give the edges of the walkways more definition, as well as gently increasing the Dynamic Contrast, before setting the layer with these adjustments to the Luminosity blend mode to retain the original blue tones from my workflow. Using Colour Efex Pro, I then used small amounts of the Pro Contast, High Key and Glamour Glow filters to adjust the tonality across the image and to add a final bit of emphasis to the soft and airy atmosphere of the building.
The postprocessing phase for this image was straightforward, which I hoped would complement the location's streamlined design and the grace of its architecture. Watching students go back and forth through the building, I couldn't help feeling a little envious of anyone able to visit this awe-inspiring location as part of their research and learning.
You can also connect with me on Instagram, Facebook, 500px and Google+.
In the foreground, is one of the 54 gods, which stand on the left side of the causeway to Angkor Thom. The right hand side of the causeway has 54 demons. There are 5 monumental gates, each 20m high, around the city. You can see the South gate in the background.
Angkor Thom is a fortified city, which was built by Angkor's greatest king, Jayavarman VII (1181-1219). The wall is 8m high and 12km in length and is encircled by a moat that is 100m wide. At its height, the city supported a population of one million. This is amazing considering the population of London at the same time was only 50,000.
Even the remains of this city are spectacular and a sight to behold.
Siem Reap, Cambodia
2006