26-DEC-2010
Reverence, Cathedral, Belem, Brazil, 2010
As worshippers left Belem’s Cathedral, following a post-Christmas Day service, many of them touched a vandalized iconographic sculpture mounted on one of the building’s great bronze doors. The reverent hand of this worshipper incongruously reaches toward the damaged hand of the statue.
22-OCT-2009
Blessing, Old Court Church, Bucharest, Romania, 2009
This church, dating to 1545, is the oldest in Bucharest. Worshippers here participate in Orthodox Catholic rituals amidst gilded trappings that reach back into Romanian history. The eye goes to the hand of the priest as it extends his blessing – it full of both energy and mystery. Photography in Eastern European churches is often prohibited. Yet here in Bucharest’s oldest church, it was permitted. It is customary to make a donation to the church in return.
16-OCT-2009
Painting, St. Vladimir Cathedral, Kiev, Ukraine, 2009
It is hard to make an expressive photograph of a painting. After all, it is another person’s art we are picturing. However I saw an opportunity to express a sense of mystery by photographing this painting near the altar of St. Vladimir Cathedral. The gilded frame was reflecting light, and I used my spot metering mode on it. This held detail in the frame, and made the painting darker. The figure’s face in the painting seems withdrawn and skeptical, largely because of my diagonal composition. He could be a revered priest, or perhaps even a Czar, since he wears a crown. It is the kind of image that makes us wonder, and wonderment is very much expressive of faith.
24-OCT-2009
Entrance, Suleymaniye Mosque, Istanbul, Turkey, 2009
Istanbul’s most important mosque, Suleymaniye is the burial place of Suleyman The Magnificent, a ruler who extended the Ottoman Empire to its maximum extent by his death in 1566. While much of the mosque was closed for renovation, the pilgrims still crowded its entrance. I made this image from just inside the door, using a 20mm wideangle focal length. The key to the image is the expression of the woman at center, who holds her throat in a gesture of awe and respect.
19-OCT-2009
Priest, Lavra Monastery, Kiev, Ukraine, 2009
The operative word for this expression of faith is tranquility. This is holiest place for Orthodox Catholic Ukrainians, and the dappled light on the façade of the church with its bearded priest standing within the shadows of its doorway implies contemplation.
In a cruelly incongruous irony, a few moments after I made this image expressing respect for a religious tradition, my friend and colleague Tim May had his expensive Nikon lens smashed by a Ukranian Orthodox Catholic priest who violently took exception to having his picture taken. There were no signs of photo prohibition posted in the area. It was simply a random attack from a very unexpected quarter. It is sobering reminder that as photographers we may be perceived as threats and treated accordingly. We should try to exercise our rights a photographers in a respectful and unobtrusive manner, yet always remain aware that whenever a camera is our hands, unfortunate things can sometimes happen.
17-OCT-2009
The door, St. Michaels Monastery, Kiev, Ukraine, 2009
Three vividly colored painted saintly figures incongruously seem to be sternly watching a visitor exiting one of the doors to the monastery, while she takes no note of them. I liked the concept of bringing the past and present together in this way – the figures with the halos around their heads are painted larger than life in scale, and all of them have their eyes riveted on the area in front of the door.
08-APR-2009
Symbol in the light, San Xavier del Bac Mission, Tucson, Arizona, 2009
San Xavier del Bac Mission is considered the finest example of mission architecture in the United States. Located nine miles south of Tucson, on the San Xavier Indian Reservation, it spiritual home to their people since 1797. It is currently difficult to do justice to its striking Moorish and Byzantine architecture with a photograph, since it is undergoing extensive restoration, and much of the exterior is under scaffold. To express the feeling of this magical place, I concentrated instead on its interior, which is covered with richly colored murals and life sized carvings of religious figures. The timing of our visit coincided with the flow of light through a mission window, projecting a softly shadowed cross on the opposite wall of the church. I moved my position so that the silhouetted hand of one of the carvings seems to be gesturing towards the symbol of its faith.
08-APR-2009
The East Chapel, San Xavier del Bac Mission, Tucson, Arizona, 2009
One of the most impressive sights in this two hundred and twelve year old Franciscan mission church is a fully costumed Madonna figure under a canopy on a wall of the Church’s East Chapel. Its clothes are frequently laundered and changed and its 18th century crown of silver cleaned and polished. I watched as the light from a window on the opposing wall bathed the figure of the Madonna in dramatic light, and made many images of it as my subject. Yet as the light continued to slowly climb, leaving the figure in the shadows and illuminating a small portion of the painted canopy above it, it gave me an opportunity to take a more abstract and less literal approach. In this photograph, the splash of light symbolizes the mystical nature of spirituality itself, and the figure, now absorbed within the mysterious shadows, becomes part of the context instead of the subject.
11-APR-2009
Holy Saturday, Tumacacori National Monument, Arizona, 2009
We visited the Franciscan mission church of San Jose de Tumacacori on the day before Easter – Holy Saturday, when Christians commemorate the day that Christ’s body lay in the tomb. The old church, constructed between 1800 and 1823, was abandoned during the Mexican War of 1848. Its tiny cemetery is still intact. The largest grave was decorated with a double offering of flowers, no doubt an Easter tribute to the dead. The light had gone out of the sky as we walked among the silent graves. We had no idea who was buried here. Indians? Franciscans? In what centuries did they live and die? I did not seek answers -- only an image that expressed faith. To do so, I contrast the vivid colors of the Easter flowers to the stark, barren crosses that surround them, and to the two hundred year old scarred wall rising behind them. I moved behind a tree, probably bent centuries ago by an Indian, to anchor the scene within a foreground layer. The living tree seems to embrace the dead within its crooked trunk.
18-MAR-2009
Trinity Church Cemetery, New York City, New York, 2009
This cemetery is the only active cemetery remaining in the borough of Manhattan. Located on Broadway at the head of Wall Street, the cemetery holds the graves of Alexander Hamilton, William Bradford, Robert Fulton and Captain James Lawrence. I photographed the cemetery in the muted light and colors of a tapestry, building the image around its largest monument and contrasting Trinity Church to the windows of the office buildings that stand just across Broadway.
09-NOV-2008
Beyond the doors, Great Mosque, Kairouan, Tunisia, 2008
We were not allowed to enter this mosque, but I did have the opportunity to photograph this man at prayer through a pair of open doors. His kneeling posture, upraised hands, and Arabic garments work beautifully with the ornate rugs and delicate colors. The opening between the doors thrusts the viewer into the picture, as well. This room was very dark, but the very fast f2.0 lens of my Leica D-Lux 4 exposes the image perfectly at the stable shutter speed of 1/125th of a second.
18-MAR-2008
At rest, Jama Mosque, Old Delhi, India, 2008
Hundreds of Islamic worshippers rest in the shade of the arcades surrounding the huge mosque, which was built by Emperor Shah Jahan in 1656. I use a 300mm telephoto focal length to isolate and juxtapose two of them, one upright, the other not. There is a palpable sense of rest and reflection in the expressions and body language of these men, an important aspect of spiritual life among Muslims.