May, 2007

St Magnus Cathedral Kirkwall, Mainland, Orkney
Click Mill, Dounby, Mainland, Orkney

TOUCHSTONES

The first photography class I took was based on John Szarkowski’s Looking at Photographs. For this book, an overview of the history of photography, Szarkowski selected images from the Museum of Modern Art collection. On one side of the page is a short bio and history about the photographer and the work, and on the opposing page is the image. Grudgingly I spent time looking at and learning about the photographs. At the time I had no idea how profound this approach to photography was when I began making my own images I realized that my exposure to the historical “greats” had opened my eyes.

It was in this class that I fell in love with the work of Eugene Atget and Fredrick Evans. Evans’ image in the book is a forest image that is more about space than trees. During the Christmas break the Philadelphia Museum of Art hosted a Fredrick Evans show. I went to the museum expecting to walk through the gallery, see the work and then move on. Instead I was stunned and mesmerized by his photographs of cathedrals. I had never seen anything like it. The 8x10 platinum/palladium prints not only showed me what the space looked like but what it felt like. In fact, the work was (again) about space, and not about stone. I spent at hours looking at and absorbing these images. I had lunch and came back and spent more time looking at them. The closest I can describe the experience is to say that the images resonated with me – or I with them. It will come as no surprise that Fredrick Evans has been a major influence on my work.

Imagine my delight, then, to discover a medieval cathedral in Kirkwall, Orkney. I felt like I had walked into a Fredrick Evans photograph. The construction of the St. Magnus Cathedral began in 1137 and its style appears to have been influenced by the design of the Dunfermline and Durham Cathedrals. It is thought that some of the stonemasons from these two churches were among the early stonemasons to work on the St. Magnus Cathedral. When I entered St. Magnus for the first time I felt as if I was visiting someplace I had been before. Fredrick Evans had photographed in the Durham Cathedral and with the similarities between the structures this probably contributed to my feelings of familiarity. But it was something more, an internal recognition of some kind. I knew this space and couldn’t wait to begin photographing. On the first trip I made only a few images but on every trip to Orkney since then, I have spent at least one day working inside the cathedral. I am always finding new ways to see this space. The administrators who manage the building are kind, supportive and understanding. Each visit they have allowed me to stay as long as I like and to make as many images as I want.








The Dounby Click Mill (plate 27) is a small, restored Norse era gristmill. It has a horizontal wheel and is the last of its type found in Orkney. (Though several similar mills can be found in the Hebrides.) It sits in the middle of the field and is only by a quarter-mile footpath. The mill itself is very small inside and the interior is illuminated by light from the doorway and a small skylight.

The day I made the trip was rainy so I began working inside. Soon tiring of the cramped conditions I went outside, facing the drizzle to look around. My philosophy about photography is simple: it is 99% perspiration and 1% inspirations. Each day I set myself a goal of how many images I need to make and when I am at a location I work it. I try to think cinematically, overall, middle distance, and detail. This image serves as both an overall and a detail image. It is an overall image of the streambed that once provided water to power the mill and at the same time is a detail of the greater landscape. It could have been paired with plate 12 as a “compare and contrast” layout in TOUCHSTONES, although it wasn’t. The click mill image is softer on the edges, with the lines gently leading the eye to the dark hole (or tunnel) in the center of the image. There is this wonderful “v” shape of rocks in the foreground. Like Plate 12 the center of the image is a pattern of stone, but the stone in the base of the streambed doesn’t have the sharp lines of delineation found in the patterned floor of the cathedral. It goes from lighter edges to a darker center. Both images are full of patterns and shapes. But they are also about the space within the frame. In both images there is a path or trail leading you to something in the background.