Crowned by its medieval abbey, Mont St. Michel rises from a small, quasi-island, separated by one kilometer of waves from the mainland at high tide. A village, established in the Middle Ages, grew up below its fortified walls. Its ramparts and location repelled all assaults and the Mount became a symbol of French national identity. Mont St. Michel is now the second most popular tourist draw in France, topped only by Paris. Most visitors prefer photographs showing Mont. St. Michel as it seems to rise from the sea at high tide. That kind of photograph may capture its unique appearance, but it doesn’t tell you what it feels like to actually be there. My photographic goal was to give my viewers a medieval experience by capturing it’s feeling instead of its appearance. This image is my solution. I focused on a splash of dappled sunlight as it skimmed over the thousand year old stones in the interior of the Abbey’s Church. This interior is vast, dark, cold, and spartan -- very much as it must have looked and felt during the middle ages. I focused my spot meter on the brightest part of the light as it played across those stones, and the room went virtually black, with only the play of the brightest sunlight on a few of the church’s stones still visible to the camera. I know that I am taking a chance with this picture. Many people would probably prefer to actually see what the inside of that church actually looks like. But description is not my purpose. Expression is. I chose to interpret the church as an experience honed down to a highly abstracted glow of light representing a thousand years of spirituality. Some have told me that if they squint their eyes, they can even see the shape of a cross within this glowing area. That was not intentional. If people want to see such symbols, they can, and they will. I had simply hoped to characterize the essence the Mont. St. Michel experience by showing less and saying more. I hope this picture, as well as entire gallery, has helped you appreciate how to express more meaning through your own travel images of monuments, statues, tombs, and historical sites. If I’ve been able to help you do this with the examples in this gallery, I’d welcome your posted comments and questions. And if I haven’t, be sure to post a critique, with any suggestions you may be able to offer for improvement. Either way, I’d enjoy hearing from you. I’d be delighted to respond.