Eglise Abbatiale Saint Pierre, Solesmes (Sarthe)

oh, I love this contrast :) between a small human being and the huge, large, big, immense church interior dear Dennis :) and great in B&W :) woww so tall ceiling :) I love churches, cause I feel small when I get inside :)

 

Biliana

... especially since I just posted this shot a couple of hours ago and haven't asked for critiques. Haven't so primarily because I'm not sure of the shot. Personally, I love the black emptiness of the vault of the church, but that may just be a conceit. But it was so lucky to have the light in exactly the right spot and this gentleman stepped in for a second to look, almost like he was posed. Thanks for the thoughts, and it is always a pleasure to see your name attached to a comment, my picture or another's. I do still wonder, how many languages do you speak?

Man stands before his god.

Nice job!

so immense and so humbling a feeling evoked by this image. very well done. my best, mary

... that feeling of man before the immensity was exactly what I felt the moment that he stepped into that single shaft of light. Appreciate your kind words.

Its a strong BW photo with great contrasts.

This is a strong image - one that gets you to stop, reflect and search for meaning and seek pleasure. The man is in the right spot in a light colored suit and that is visually appealing. I know you like the black part of the image but after careful consideration, I find it a bit distracting. I seek to find the answer about that black space and for me I would like to see 'light' instead of darkness in this context. Anyhow, that is my two cents - hopefully constructive as it was intended.

... that's why I left it up without critique for awhile. PJ thinks exactly as you do, and I myself am not sure. But my personal feeling is that we can never understand the nature of a person's faith is, only its power.

Dennis - it's been a long time since I was exposed to Latin but does your title means "Man in front of God elicits fear"? That is the first thought that crossed my mind upon reading it. If that is the case then the blackness symbolizes that fear. I think this is fantastically intriguing because you leave the viewer asking what is the man looking at?

... but is more commonly translated as "Fear in the world first created the gods". It is a quote from Statius, nothing that I made up! But your reaction is exactly the feeling that I have, that the immensity and the unknowingness is what man confronts in his soul, and that manifests itself in religion. We don't need religion or gods to get through our daily life. We need those gods in the long dark nights, in the shelter against a storm, and in the shattering loss of sudden death. We need to know that something watches over us and can give structure to the chaos. It needn't be true, it only needs to be plausible, powerful, and profound.

Human scale works well here,although I would prefer more light above.The message is clearly visible in this man's occasion,in this immensely spaced church,where someone really feels like an ant or worm inside. I have posted a very different example recently,in an Orthodox church, where s.o.feels like a giant,if you're interested.

... A.G. Fotini? Commented on that in your portfolio. This shot is not intended for the church itself to dwarf him, but his faith and the reasons for his faith. Philosophers talk about the abyss that we fear looking into. This man looks into it because of his faith, but it is still an abyss, it is still unknown. Don't mean to get too serious about what is merely a photograph, but that is what I was trying to explore. Meanwhile, it is fairly evenly split as to whether or not this is a successful exploration.

I'll upload to my folio some images of churches I've done in the past.I'm afraid they are all exteriors,and may not suit your taste.Folder:Churches.Tell me if you're interested in.

... I'll check them out!

For me, this phot is the most powerfull photo of all the amaazing ones you are sharing. I won't say anything about the technical aspect which is as in all your other photos perfect. But with this one you are reaching a mystical level which for me resonates very strongly. It is not ONLY a very philosophical image in the humanist level, but beeing completely ill today, I have time to write, but not much energy to think properly, so I won't go that way :-). Let me just give you my take on what this picture inspires me in relation with photography. You just defined in one image what is in my opinion the philosophy of photography. The gentleman obvioulsy, by its position is looking at god. But there is only darkness there. Now the thing is darkness and shadow can exist only if there is light somewhere ! and the stronger the light, the stronger the shadow. The light is only "hidden" and we spend our time looking for it, as the photographer is looking for the light too. And in your photo, the light is actually behind the man. He can't see it, but knows it is there somwehere. And only you the photographer were able to spot it.

 

This is a very impressive picture.

thank you very much

 

laurent

... and most surprising in a way because you added the dimension of the photographer to it. My personal bias is to keep myself out of the shot as much as possible, not to intrude and not to comment overtly. Am most interested in the "thing" itself. Of course this is a silly conceit because it is my finger that activates the shutter, but there is a reason. Most of my early life was spent as a director in theater and film (20 years or so) and I spent so much time interpreting and stamping with my image the work of others. Later it became more important for me to understand what "is", what has made it what it is. To understand the thing in itself. Without my conscious imposition of meaning.

 

To clarify ... we can all agree that war is bad. So for a photographer pose a shot of a bloody combat boot astride a child's doll is, to me, a silly exercise (and one which was recently posted on PN). That photo can merely say that "war is bad" and to preach to the choir. Now, if that photograph had been taken in a war zone under real conditions, as a by-product of the detritus of battle, it would be different. But the meaning would have been different as well. Is it a scared young soldier astride the doll? Is it a strutting conqueror? Is it a wounded infantryman? Is it a partisan standing on the rubble of his village? The meaning would be established in a powerful way because of the context. The photographer would CAPTURE the meaning in that context. That is how I like to approach things, even though my choice of subject is far less dramatic.

 

All of this being said, with your wonderful interpretation of the shot, the meaning is only possible BECAUSE of the photographer. What a surprising revelation to me. Thank you. I am sorry you are not well and wish you a quick recovery.

The photo exist BECAUSE of the photgrapher, as we know today, thanks to quantum theory, that the world exists only BECAUSE of the observer. The day there is no observer anymore, there won't be, by definition, no world anymore.

And I'll get better soon. ( I have to and will be back to work tomorrow I guess :-) )

... from god to Heisenberg in moments! Thanks.

hehe you see what your photo leads to ?

I?m glad if one of my photo reminder you good old times. Best regards! Emilian

I've just added this powerful image to my favourites folder.

Warm regards.