Matins

Updated September 2020

Photographically, I’m at an exciting point – there’s all the pleasure and reward of successfully finishing one project (What Has Photography Ever Done For Me?) and the anticipation of starting a new one (on Churches and Cathedrals). It makes waking up at 5am with a head full of ideas (almost) acceptable!

I’ve wanted to do an ecclesiastical project for several years and I now feel it’s the right time/right place. But for all my excitement, I’m feeling daunted by the prospect; whether I can do justice to the concept; tell the story of my emotional engagement with churches and cathedrals, a relationship going back to childhood; show you that it feels like green therapy, without being green!

The problem is that churches are ‘heavy’ with architectural solidity and strong lines – particularly if you stand in the nave of somewhere like Durham Cathedral or York Minster – whereas my feelings are intangible and unsubstantial.

So, this image ‘Matins’ tackles the idea from a different viewpoint – to help me get going! Instead of starting with the church and the feelings it triggers, I’m warming up by starting with a secular location that triggered feelings of being in church.

'Matins II'
Canal in Amsterdam and York Minster
From the 'Equivalents' series

I’ve written about the idea behind this image on another occasion (HERE …) about my early morning walks in Amsterdam, when the geometry of the canal, the light at sunrise and the quietude had a church-like feel.

And, on that previous occasion, I created the idea as a diptych (alongside) of the canal together with York Minster, an image which feels correct but somewhat formal. It’s as if I’m holding my emotional expression in reserve.

In contrast this new interpretation feels warmer and more intimate – emotionally more accessible. It feels the perfect link to my new project and has increased my confidence in tackling it.

So, watch this space!

Take care

Paddy

Post Script: The full title of this image is ‘Equivalents: Matins (II)’ as a nod to Alfred Stieglitz who did a series called ‘Equivalents’ almost 100 years ago; he was aiming to show that the content of a photograph could be different from the subject. But I confess, my series is only a nod – the similarity is quite superficial on my part; the Metropolitan Museum describes Stieglitz’s series as tracing his “emotional response to nature through periods of ecstasy and darkness, romantic engagement, and confronting mortality.”

I fear I’m exposing the inarticulacy of my engineering roots when I say that the occasion just felt a ‘bit like being in church’!!